Free Republic

WASHINGTON – It is the kind of story you could write a book about: A 35-year-old single mother of three is fired from her state job after refusing to go along with a scheme to pardon criminals who bribe aides to the governor. The plot cries out for a good lawyer to save the day. All the better if he has charm and a commanding presence. Enter Fred Thompson, a 6-foot-5 cigar-chomping Southern gentleman. He saves the day; the woman is vindicated. And best of all, for a man with a presidential campaign in his future, it is a true...

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...