Look, I know that Fred Thompson played a guy who wasn't from Washington, D.C., in Law and Order. That's cool. That doesn't mean he isn't actually a Washington insider. All of this is my way of saying that Chris Cillizza is both Teh Gullible and Teh Ridiculous.
For two days running now, the Washington Post's political/gossip hybrid guy has beenbreathlessly reporting on how Fred Thompson is signing on all of these D.C. insiders, even as Thompson plans to run as the D.C. outsider in his Presidential bid.
Here's the hilarity of it. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for 18 years (he lobbied for S+L deregulation) and a U.S. Senator for 8 years. I'm not sure it gets more insider than that, no matter what TV show you appeared on.
Meanwhile, his campaign manager is a former V.P. of corporate public relations at Altria, all of which sounds like a really fancy way of saying "tobacco lobbyist."
Still -- this pair -- the two lobbyists -- will mount a D.C.-outsider campaign. Nevermind that two of the three top tier Republicans -- Romney and Giuliani -- are actually relative outsiders for the realm of Presidential politics.
This is D.C. folks, and Chris Cillizza's writing. The facts need not apply.
