Fred Thompson Watch: Like McCain?

Fred Thompson speaks before the Orange County, California Lincoln Club

Fred Thompson fervently backed the Iraq war, railed against an expanding federal government, took stands that occasionally annoyed his party and rarely spoke about his views on social issues during his tenure as a senator from Tennessee or in his writings and speeches since leaving office.

In short, the man some in the GOP are touting as a dream candidate has often sounded like the presidential hopeful many of them seem ready to dismiss: Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

With some in the party clamoring for an alternative to their current field of presidential contenders and Thompson’s allies hinting strongly that he will run, 400 conservatives flocked to Newport Beach, Calif., on Friday night to hear the actor-turned-politician-turned-actor address the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group that credits itself with pushing Ronald Reagan to run for governor of California in the 1960s. Thompson delivered a vision of cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, overhauling Social Security and staying in Iraq until “there is some semblance of stability.”

He also called for “reform-minded, change-minded leaders,” a profile that McCain — whom Thompson described as “a man of the highest integrity and courage” in 1999 when he co-chaired the Arizonan’s presidential run — has worked hard to lay claim to over the past decade. Thompson was one of only four GOP senators to back McCain’s bid in 2000, and a former aide to the Tennessean said McCain “was far and away his best friend in the Senate.”

Well, almost the same except: McCain was

1. McCain-Feingold author

2. Kennedy-McCain Immigration Reform Bill, co-author

3. The 2000 Presidential campaign against President Bush calling Evangelicals “intolerant.”

4. Gang of 14

5. Opposed President Bush’s tax cuts

You get the picture……..

But, should Fred Thompson run, McCain will NOT make nice and Thompson’s views on other subjects will be contrasted.

Does anyone think that negative piece’s will NOT start appearing regarding Fred Thompson – from McCain AND Romney?