crossposted at streetprophets
In the minds of some Southern Baptists, the Second Coming is nigh. Jesus again? Ha! Far more important than that. Try Ronald Reagan.
How else to explain Fred Thompson? It sure ain't the leased red pickup truck.
Here’s what media-acolyte Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention had to say about Thompson in early April:
"Fred Thompson reminds me of a Southern-fried Reagan," Land said. "To see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint."
Last week Rembrandt, Reagan, er Thompson was in South Carolina painting, er campaigning, uh giving a talk. Not long ago Tony Beam, a leading voice of SC Southern Baptists said this about Thompson:
He sounds like us, for one thing. When he talks, he just sounds like Uncle Fred.
Any more names for this guy? Such free associations suggest that people are projecting their hopes onto him. That's fine, it happens all the time in politics. See Clark, Wesley, 2003; and Obama, Barack, July 2004-present. Those projections do much to explain Thompson's current appeal. So is this guy Reagan redux? Let's count the parallels.
- Like Reagan, Thompson's rhetoric and record on abortion rights are unclear. See this AP story:
Faced with questions about where he stands on abortion, he cites a National Right to Life endorsement in his 1994 Senate race and brags, "I was ranked 100 percent on abortion-related issues." But the group gave him a less-than-perfect score in subsequent years, and a Project Vote Smart candidate questionnaire from 1994 indicated that he backed abortion rights in the first trimester.
- Like Reagan, he doesn't seem to attend church much, a point that has been discussed on this site. Thompson has pointed out that he "was baptized into the Church of Christ" -- a Clinton-esque parsing of words. That only stirred the debate. In early June a political science professor at a Church of Christ-affiliated college called Thompson a "lapsed member" of the denomination and offered $100 for anyone who could produce evidence that Thompson has done any of the following in the last 20 years:
Taught a Bible class,
Presided at the Lord's table,
Served as a greeter,
Or led singing ("If it was 728b and you can prove it, I'll give you $100," [the prof] wagered, referring to the hymn, "Our God, He Is Alive," which is considered an anthem in the Churches of Christ).
So far the wager remains on the table.
- Like Reagan, Thompson is a successful Hollywood actor. I guess their Hollywood values are the right ones?
- Like Reagan, Thompson's first marriage ended in divorce and he remarried.
- As in the late 1970s when Reagan finally became the anointed one in his third run for the White House, Thompson finds the Republican Party in disarray.
Hmmm, what else? Maybe, just maybe, possibly these Southern Baptists just like the guy:
"Another Southern Baptist called Fred Thompson the Ronald Reagan of the South, and I think he has some of that appeal," said SBC executive committee president Morris Chapman, adding he hasn't settled on a candidate yet. "He is a magnetic personality. He seems to articulate his opinions clearly. He seems to be unflappable."
For millions of Americans, these criteria are sufficient for a presidential vote. I wish more was needed, yet I can accept such an evaluation.
Just don't present it -- not for a moment -- as some kind of morally superior choice. It's a pragmatic one, as it was in 1980. As it was for the Democratic Party in 2004.