If it’s Fred Thompson announcing for President, then it must be the 4th of July, right?  Oh, wait, he was three months late.  Maybe Fred just thinks it is Hollywood fashionable to be late.

Does that mean if he gets elected President, he’ll wait until April for the inaugural ceremonies?  The question is what was Fred hiding from during those three months.   Why would he have not wanted to jump into the campaign and get up on stage and answer voters questions?

[ Insert Law and Order Sound Here ] Something is wrong with this picture and it most likely has to do with a piece of Senator Thompson’s history he was cleaning up to prepare for the rigors of the campaign trail.

Best of luck Fred.

Fred Thompson couldn’t come up with better than, “I don’t recall”?  It must have occurred to Mr. Thompson that the American public is no longer amused by the phrase, “I don’t recall”.  It went over like a lead balloon when Nixon used it, it wasn’t funny when Regan trotted it out and at least Clinton said he did NOT have sex with that woman Ms Lewinsky — at least he THOUGHT he could recall.

Now, after six long horrible years of the Bush administration being unable to recall the most fundamental decisions our government faces on a day to day basis and the voting public having to put up with scandal and inexcusable pardons from the President, Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee actually had the will to use the words, “I don’t recall”.

Has Fred been hiding under a rock for the past six years?  No clue what has been going on with the current administration?  If there is a God in Heaven he will get the Republican nomination just so the people can have the satisfaction of voting against, “I don’t recall”. 

So?  Where was the big announcement from Fred Thompson on the Fourth of July?  Millions of Americans gathered around their televisions sets, foregoing hotdogs, hamburgers, watermelon and fireworks to wait all a breath for any news that a savior had come to rescue the Republican Party from defeat at the hands of Democrats in aught eight.  Sadly, there was nothing but stone cold silence.

Not even a firecracker from the Thompson camp – no, not the candidate Thompson, the actor, Thompson.  Geez, it will get confusing with two Thompsons in the race won’t it?

Here are several conspiratorial possibilities as to why Freddy let us down on Yankee Doodle Day.

The first possibility is that the Libby pardon left Thompson more in a dilemma than he let on.  That his terse statement that, “I am very happy for Scooter Libby” covered a more visceral reaction – maybe Thompson actually had the wind taken out of his sails by the Bush pardon of Libby. Yeah, yeah, commutation – but everyone on earth knows it will be a pardon before Bush leaves office.
 
Another theory might be that Thompson’s recently divulged role in the Nixon Watergate scandal as a Congressional mole for the White House might have the Thompson camp regrouping.  Is it possible there are more questions as to exactly what Thompson’s role was during that scandal and he needs time to formulate some answers?

It also is worth mentioning that Senators Clinton and Obama were throwing around numbers that together added up to over almost 100 million dollars in quarterly campaign contributions just before Thompson was supposed to have used the July 4th holiday as a springboard to the White House.  Maybe Thompson was taken back by the daunting task of raising so much hard cold cash – after all this is the man who was supposed to provide smooth sailing for Harriet Miers in her Senate confirmation process.

Lastly is it at least possible that Fred D. Thompson will not announce his standing as a candidate for President?  Maybe - just maybe - the Former Tennessee Senator is reviewing the paths taken by Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and Mario Cuomo and isn’t as convinced as his adoring fans that he will one day hear “Hail to the Chief” as he enters the room?

Nagh, that can’t be it, can it?

Here’s what the 2008 Presidential Candidates are saying about the Libby pardon:

Clinton:
“Today’s decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration’s politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House’s efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”

Giuliani:
“After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct.”

Obama:
“This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law. This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people’s faith in a government that puts the country’s progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years.”

McCain:
(Nothing – no comment, no press releases, no statements to the press, just dead air.)

Romney:
No official press release.  However the Boston Globe Reports:
“Defending Bush, Romney said at a campaign stop that ‘the president looked very carefully at the setting’ before deciding to commute the 2 1/2-year sentence of Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was convicted in the CIA leak case.

The prosecutor in the case ‘went after somebody even when he knew no crime had been committed,’ Romney said. ‘Given that fact, isn’t it reasonable for a commutation of a portion of the sentence to be made?’”

Edwards:
“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world. In George Bush’s America, it is apparently okay to misuse intelligence for political gain, mislead prosecutors and lie to the FBI. George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today.”

Fred Thompson:
In an oral statement as reported by PBS News:
“I am very happy for Scooter Libby. … This will allow a good American who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life.”

How in the name of all that is holy in the heavens could George W. Bush justify his actions yesterday?  In giving Scooter a get out of jail free card, he in one stroke of the pen neutralized every single word he uttered during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

What became of the Governor from Texas who said at every campaign stop, that when he took the oath of office for President of the United States he would also, “swear to restore dignity and respect to the Oval Office” –This is what he meant?

According to Mr. Bush’s thinking it must only be wrong for a government official to lie about having oral sex.  It wasn’t the oral sex for which Bill Clinton was impeached - according to then Governor Bush; it was the perjury before a court of law. 

Then, the Republican controlled House of Representatives championing the virtues of the rule of law, impeached President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice.  The Republicans argued, pleaded and begged the American people to understand what a serious and dangerous crime perjury is.   50 Republican’s in the Senate (Including Fred Thompson) voted to convict President Clinton for perjury.

Has the rule of law changed?  Has perjury become less of a threat to our system of justice?  How can the very same Republicans – who so eagerly condemned President Clinton and called for the removal of a twice duly elected setting President – now be so thrilled that Scooter has received what amounts to a pardon.

Oh there may be some technical difference between a pardon and a commutation of sentence.  But, President Bush will pardon Mr. Libby in due time.

Shame on President Bush for being so treacherous and shame on the Republican ditto heads for not seeing the double standard they are declaring.

Oh, yeah, and welcome to Like A Native!  What a day to start a new blog.  Well, at least there is meat to chew on today.

Think Like A Native.