Fred! post of the day

There was an article the other day in Politico hammering Fred Thompson for an appearance in Iowa. I almost posted it, just to show that I am more balanced than my left-of-center readers may think. Then I just got lazy. Or maybe drunk.

Anyway, there are lots of doubts about that story. Glenn Reynolds (one of the most respected bloggers out there, and the proprietor of Instapundit) has a post regarding his skepticism about it. Here's the telling exchange, and it shows exactly why I love Fred and want him to be the next president. I think anyone who doesn't like pandering in politics can appreciate this:

AKD: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?

FT: (laughs)

AKD: You knew this was coming, right?

FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. There’s a lot of programs we’ve got out there, some of which are good programs, some of which are not. And I think that we need to work our way through that and make sure we’re doing what’s good for the country, not just the farmers, not just the people of Iowa, not just the people of Tennessee. But good for the country. A sound policy that makes sense. I think there’s a lot more that we could do for the working farmer in terms of ecological programs and environmental programs - land conservation, soil conservation - that would be fair and it would be beneficial to the nation and to Iowa and to our country. We’re going to have to phase out the corporate welfare system we’ve got, however. There are extremely rich people living in skyscrapers in Manhattan that are receiving subsidy payments. I think that’s wrong. I’d put a stop to that if it was within my power. That still continues in this latest Farm Bill and it’s not right. There ought to be a cutoff at some level and it’s not right ot have millionaires receiving farm subsidies.

You have no idea how long I've been waiting for a serious presidential candidate to say something like this.