Stay true to your school.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19263100/site/newsweek/

Newsweek is out with commentary on Fred. As Glenn Reynold's says, read the whole thing.

I'll add my two cents on the main bits.

Georgette Mosbacher, and Fred the bachelor.

I'd lament missing a trip with Georgette Mosbacher, too. She's smart, savvy, connected, and wealthy. Europe with her. Ten out of ten. Newsweek's point?

Cigars and Clinton

The cigar reference is, to me, an equivocal statement, and can be read to be either supportive of Clinton and a gentle ribbing, or needling of Clinton and a gentle ribbing. I understand that not every conversation or attitude needs to be vitriolic. Attorneys do it all the time. One can have an acerbic presence in the courtroom, and still remain congenial in the hallway and in correspondence.

Fred's archives at the University of Tennessee

I'm glad Fred's records and correspondence are open for review. Today's candidates run from their history. I don't know, and I bet neither does Newsweek, if Fred believed that, "he had forever traded Washington for Hollywood when he agreed to put his eight years of Senate records, including personal correspondence, in a public archive at the University of Tennessee."

Of course, the implication is that this was somehow a tactical error, since any smart candidate would have withheld the records from public review. (Get it? It's smarter, and more politically savvy to hide your personal record from the people who have the most interest in reading them. We wouldn't want any of those pesky constituents learning the truth and making informed decisions.) I'm not so sure The Fourth Estate wishes to endorse secrecy, but by inference, they sure seem to.

Abortion

I don't see inconsistency in Fred's prior statements. See his most recent statement, below. (Straight Shooter http://fredthompsonscourt.blogspot.com/2007/06/straight-shooter.html)
Formerly, he has endorsed the rule of law, while disagreeing with the rationale. Upholding the law while not agreeing with it is not inconsistent, it's a belief in the system and the rule of law. I think not calling for anarchy is a good thing. I've always felt the logic of Roe v. Wade was squishy, and even more so today with advances in neonatal care. (Really, explain the nuance of trimester calculation and the medical intervention based upon that, and we can have a discussion or three.) I'm not sure who Fred's "opponents" are on this issue. Is it the Right to Lifers? The Pro-Choicers? Fred states he disagrees with abortion, upholds the law and seeks a political and legal solution to the issue. Is there a there, there?

McCain-Feingold

Fred led the investigation into campaign fund-raising abuses. As a former prosecutor, he did what a good former prosecutor should do, and that is, follow the evidence. So he does, and sees some untoward things by Democrats AND Republicans, and has the audacity to pursue it, and earns the enmity of his party machine, and gets bitten by the ego of Trent Lott. And now after seeing the results of this reform, Fred thinks there could be some tweaking. The result? He's being criticized by both sides of the aisle for his change of mind. I guess Congress just hates new learning curves. Once you get the money and power thing down, any change to that machine just cuts into the bottom line.

Stay true to your school, Fred, you're doing just fine.