There are few people more profoundly different from me than Sen. Fred Thompson. I am, or so I have been told, a high-energy New York Italian-American. He is a laid-back Tennessean. I root for the Yankees. He couldn’t find Yankee Stadium even if his plow horse knew the way up the Major Deegan blindfolded. I come to an opinion quickly. Fred takes his time to look at all sides, study the implications, review the options and then proceed with the dedicated focus of a laser. He is what New Yorkers may describe as “folksy,” and by doing so they miss...