Fred Thompson has a blog post on Redstate which responds to an article claiming he doesn’t care much about running for president. Thompson writes:
It is clear that there are those in the media who will exact a high price for candor and from those whom they consider to be insufficiently ambitious. But it is with increasing amazement that we see that those who are willing to slant or leave out important parts of a story to make their point.
If a candidate succumbs to this he will be reduced to nothing more than a sound bite machine.
He reproduces a transcript, that I first saw over here, which states his desire to serve as president and his belief that he has the experience to do so. He paints himself as a citizen candidate, not ambitious for political power, but willing to serve the country. This is the man who declined to run for the senate again because he had agreed to the principle of term limits, meaning he would serve only two terms. He says:
I’m saying that I have the background, the capability and concern to do this and do it for the right reasons. I’m not particularly interested in running for president, but I think I’d make a good president.
Nowadays, the process has become much more important than it used to be.
I don’t know that they ever asked George Washington a question like this. I don’t know that they ever asked Dwight D. Eisenhower a question like this. But nowadays, it’s all about fire in the belly.