Fred Thompson wants to be taken seriously. After all, the onetime Republican senator from Tennessee has finally declared he's a candidate for president. After appearing--and announcing--on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Thompson posted a video on his campaign website saying he's running because this country faces "very serious challenges" and "grave issues affecting the safety and security of the American people." On his list is radical Islamic terrorism, health care (he's for a "market-driven" overhaul of the system), and Social Security (though he's short on details on this front; see item below). There's nothing on his to-do list about the environment or global warming. Why? It seems that Thompson may be a global warming denier.

In a commentary he wrote in March for his ABC radio show, Thompson made fun of people concerned about global warming. Look, he quipped, Mars is warming; it must be because of all those "alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle." As for the scientific consensus that the Earth is warming because of human activity, Thompson remarked with scorn-ridden sarcasm, "Ask Galileo." Meaning that the overwhelming scientific consensus regarding global warming (it's real, human-induced and poses a significant threat) is meaningless--at least for him. Though even George W. Bush accepts the current consensus on global warming (endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences and the World Meteorological Organization), Thompson considers it bunk and nothing but a set-up for a punchline

When it comes to engaging conventional national security challenges, Thompson talks tough. When it comes to global warming, he's all jokes. Maybe he should be a regular on the Jay Leno show.

LIKE REAGAN...BUT IN A BAD WAY? A Bloomberg story on Fred Thompson today begins:

Fred Thompson says a top challenge for the next president is fixing Social Security. Asked how his ideas for overhauling the system differ from those of George W. Bush, the actor and former Tennessee senator says: "I don't even remember the details of his plan."

Republican Thompson, 65, who styles himself as the heir to Ronald Reagan-style conservatism, entered the race today after six months of flirting with a run. With the earliest-ever primary campaign already in full swing, he doesn't have much time to convince voters that he is focused and prepared.

So Social Security is one of his top priorities, but Thompson cannot say how his approach would differ from the last major attempt at changing the system--because he cannot remember the specifics of the Bush plan (which were well detailed in news stories and White House hand-outs). That does sound like Reagan. Maybe next Thompson will confuse his film parts with real life. ("Last time I was president....")

FULL CREDIT. On Wednesday night, I attended a premiere of a new HBO documentary called Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a poignant, harrowing and straightforward account of Iraq war vets coping with serious injuries sustained in battle. In the film, James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano) interviews ten soldiers and Marines--most are amputees--about their experiences and injuries. Their tales are moving--and a reminder of the full and never-ending cost of the war. At one point in the movie, which takes no explicit view on the war, former Marine Corporal Michael Jernigan, who lost both eyes and his frontal cranium due to an explosion, says, "You really glorify war....You get there and you realize this is not glory. It's not normal to sit there and kill somebody....It takes a huge toll on you."

In the audience for this screening was Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense. Before the film was shown--and after the invited audience supped on delicious Middle Eastern food--Richard Plepler, the co-president of HBO, introduced the producers and makers of the film. The crowd applauded each. I then had a brief fantasy in which Plepler said, "And finally, HBO thanks Paul Wolfowitz for making this film possible." No such words, of course, were spoken. The film premieres on HBO this Sunday. (Connection declared: I am a consultant to HBO on another Iraq-related project.)

Posted by David Corn at September 6, 2007 12:34 PM