Fred Thompson 2008??

Tonight I got off the phone with my father. He’s a staunch conservative from Kansas, evangelical Christian, listens to Focus on the Family on the radio and has friends in political positions. So I thought I’d ask him if he’s been following the GOP primaries, and which candidate (if any) he liked. I was somewhat surprised by his answer.

“None of them,” he said. “I wish Fred Thompson would run.”

“Fred Thompson?” I responded. I had no idea who he was talking about.

“He’s on Law and Order.” My dad responded. “He plays the guy in charge of the prosecutors.”

“The Republican party does like it’s actors,” was what I said, and was actually the only thing I could think of to sublimate my impulse to spout out “You’re fucking shitting me.”

“Exactly. Shades of Reagan” was his response. “He used to be a senator.” A senator from Tennessee, who once lobbied on behalf GE, who coincidentally now owns the television network on which his show currently airs.

Not just that, but he’s also played a director of the CIA, and FBI agent, White House chief of staff, and a rear admiral in various films and television shows. Now, in his current role as Arthur Branch he portrays a character whose conservative positions seem strikingly similar to his real life political stance, prompting me to wonder where the line between political stumping and character acting actually is..

And even more to the point, how surreal is it that an actor would pull more weight with a Kansas Republican than a presidential candidate from their own state. He pointedly disregarded Sam Brownback when I asked, stating he’d much rather see his friend Todd Tiahrt run for office than Brownback.

Nor is he the only one.. following a few public appearances where he’d indicated his interest in possibly running for president in 2008, a number of polls have been conducted and a draftfredthompson.com site has sprung up. He’s not nearly as obscure as he seems, he’s got a fan base, and Republicans do love their actors.

Do conservatives really exist that far divorced from the understanding of the nature of simulacra that actors continue to be their dream candidates? Sure enough, Fred08.com is up and running strong. The reality is that the core of the Republican party, that elusive thread that ties the constituents together, is the ability to ignore facts in favor of conviction. As such, image truly is everything. The candidate for the Republican party that can master image, who can inspire conviction, will be able to call upon the evangelical networks and sweep the Republican primaries. The true believer doesn’t want truth, they want someone to believe in… and who better than an actor who has already triggered this groups suspension of disbelief while starring in such conservative action-thriller favorites as Iron Eagles 3, or The Hunt for Red October?

Now, this isn’t to say that there hasn’t been the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Martin Sheen should have run for president on the strength of his own acting career, having played a number of presidents, most notably President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing. And we certainly can’t overlook the grassroots suggestions that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert should be forced to run for 2008… and honestly my cynicism leads me to believe Colbert might garner a fair share of conservative votes from those who believe he’s sincere in his schtick.

But the difference between Democrats and Republicans seems to be that while Democrats may joke about such things, Republicans would actually vote for an actor. Personally, I think America has moved beyond the need for actors or politicians, and that only an honest-to-goodness Ogre can save the US now.