Jennifer Horn sat across from Fred Thompson in her living room and they chatted over tea and cookies.
Three excerpts caught my eye more than others but the whole thing is worth the read, so I will show you the three teasers and you can go to Jennifer's site for the rest.
It was an unusually beautiful fall day on a recent visit to the Granite State when the former senator from Tennessee made time to stop by. I couldn't resist showing off our finally completed backyard improvement project; he admired our "Field of Dreams" and spoke wistfully of his own home in Tennessee, where he enjoys sitting out on his screened porch.
Thompson the presidential candidate is a little intimidating, especially when you see him on television calling his rivals to the mat.
Thompson the guest for tea, on the other hand, is a warm and approachable gentleman, especially when you see him sink comfortably into a living room chair and reach for the oatmeal-cranberry cookies.
[...]
I, too, grew up in a house where family dinners were a daily occurrence, and I wondered aloud what had changed in our society that the value of such things seems to be lost.
"I think that's a complex subject," Thompson said. ". . . I think when people or countries get successful and have material wealth, we tend to get lax in other important parts of our lives . . . and when a kid can instead of getting on a bicycle and go across town can get in a car and go across the state, or get on the Internet and go around the world, we're subject to more things. . . .
"And parents have to be more disciplined instead of less, and yet, we're less."
[...]
Thompson speaks in a slow, deliberate drawl that might suggest a simplicity of thinking to some, but when the conversation turned to policy, he displayed an in-depth understanding of the complex issues.Al-Qaida, Iran, South Korea, WMDs, open borders, relationships with allies - there was no topic he was unwilling to address.
"That's the world we live in, and the question is, what do we do about it?" Thompson said. ". . . We've got to bring our allies along in understanding the nature of this threat. . . . We have to improve our intelligence capabilities - everything depends on that. . . . We've got to be prudent and knowledgeable . . .
"Great civilizations have gone down because they stretched themselves too thin. . . . We need to have leadership that understands this."
"I say some things that are not politically palatable to some people. I say . . . we are facing a religious fanaticism that many don't yet understand, we are spending the money of those yet to be born. . . . I talk about saving Social Security . . . who's talking about that? I am . . .
"So, credibility, having the courage to speak what's on your mind and say the obvious truth: If you've got a president who can do that, all things are possible."
Go read the rest...
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