I thought Fred Thompson did pretty well on Leno last night. (A very brief excerpt is here; if I see something more complete, I'll update.) He didn't offer anything spectacular--some vague talk about the important (though unnamed) decisions facing the country, a bit of hawkish blather on Iraq and Iran, a few chuckle-worthy jokes--but he did project the sensible, avuncular persona he's counting on pretty well. And his comments on Sarkozy (i.e., that his election proves that French people like us, it's just the political class that's a bunch of effete, America-hating snobs) gave a clever, Franco-populist twist to the de rigeur France-bashing. But what struck me most about the appearance was Thompson's central rationale for staying in Iraq: that it's crucial we "show resolve," or else we'll embolden our enemies. This is a common enough line and not entirely devoid of truth. (For my part, I suspect having our armed forces stretched thin and nearly exhausted emboldens our enemies a great deal more.) But Thompson's not just talking about America, of course; he's talking about himself: He's the kind of guy who will "show resolve," unlike all those craven defeatists who probably would have voted for Segolene Royal if they'd had the chance. Jon Chait has written brilliantly on the way the GOP has tried to make recent presidential elections hinge on "character" rather than policy substance, and this is clearly the kind of campaign Thompson intends to run, probably to a nauseating degree. After all, there's no real ideological rationale for his candidacy and his political accomplishments in the Senate were paltry--but he is a professional character actor. So steel yourself for a campaign full of empty references to "leadership," comparisons to Reagan, and talk about how the multi-millionaire actor/lobbyist is just a regular guy. It's basically all he's got. --Christopher Orr