While listening to ABC News on the radio early this morning, I heard Fred Thompson do a segment on American Heroes. He shared a brief story about the courageous actions of a soldier in Iraq. Then, to my surprise and chagrin, the segment turned into a commercial with Thompson extolling the virtues of some company’s service. He passionately pleaded: “I urge you to contact Lifelock.”

I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.

Why is Fred Thompson using patriotism to peddle products and services? Does he not have enough money? And even more than that, is it ethical for someone who is going to run for the highest office in the land to use his political star power to sell Americans something? That is akin to John McCain doing a commercial on Centrum Silver, or John Edwards becoming the spokesperson for Vidal Sassoon. His attempts to earn an extra buck sure are in contrast with Romney’s recent statement to forgo the presidential salary.

Now, some may argue that Thompson has to do the commercial bit of the segment, but I wonder if ABC would really make their beloved political celebrity do it if he said he wouldn’t. And some may say that he could have recorded the segment long before deciding to run for president, but I don’t buy that. As Lincoln once said, once a person gets bit by the president bug, it’s tough to shake, though it takes a while to finally give in. Thompson’s been thinking about the Oval Office for a while. Granted, Reagan may have done a few commercials in his Hollywood days, but that was decades before he ran for office, not days.

In the end, I’m left to wonder if Thompson, like Giuliani, will be likely to seek more of the perks of elected office than the American people, who desire a self-sacrificing leader, would be comfortable with. At the very least, he's not acting the way I'd want my future president to act.

Thanks to Evangelicals for Mitt, the Washington Post blog and the National Review Online's The Corner are reporting that McCain lost it at a fellow Republican Senator, using expletives, after the Senator questioned McCain's prized immigration bill.

It was also noted that McCain has missed 43 straight Senate votes. Is this the man we want for President?

Romney is now the frontrunner in New Hampshire according to a brand new poll of GOP voters there. Here is the breakdown:

Romney--32% (up 11% from a similar poll in January)
Guiliani--23% (down 10%)
McCain--22% (down 10%)
F. Thompson--11% (NA)

Joe Scarborough calls it pretty straight in this article:

Last night’s debate also showed a huge gulf between the reporters who cover such events and Republican voters who follow campaigns. I hope it is not a shock to anyone that most journalists covering D.C. politics relate to Democratic world views much more than those held by Republicans. My peers do a great job of putting their biases in check (myself included, I hope) but many are tone deaf when figuring out why Republican primary voters would embrace a guy like Mitt Romney...

During the debate I was flooded by e-mails from Republican activists and voters who told me Romney was dominating the debate. Meanwhile, my friends from D.C., Manhattan and L.A. were calling him “creepy,” “fake” and “scary as hell.”
By that reaction alone, Mitt Romney carried the mantle of Reagan off the stage last night. Like Romney, the 40th president was derided as a jingoistic right-wing nut. The greatest Reagan moment for the former Massachusetts governor came when he was asked what he hated most about America....

But Mitt Romney did, and he delivered an answer that would have made most angst-ridden reporters (and Democratic candidates) wince. It was an unapologetically delivered sermon on American Exceptionalism. The sort of speech that made media elites roll their eyes at Ronald Reagan while American voters were electing him in landslide margins.

And while most media commentators missed Romney’s victory, they also underplayed John McCain’s stumbles. That’s probably because McCain still scares reporters less than the Sam Brownbacks of the world. Regardless, this first debate was not good for John McCain, a politician for whom I have great respect and admiration. Reporters gave his uneven performance a free pass. GOP voters may not be so forgiving.

I’m not saying that Romney is Reagan anymore than I’m predicting the collapse of John McCain’s campaign. But there were clear winners and losers in last night’s contest. Among those Red State Republicans (who will elect their party’s next nominee), Mitt Romney won while McCain and Giuliani failed to meet expectations.

That may not be how it looks in Georgetown or the Upper West Side, but that’s how it is playing in Kansas. And what’s the matter with Kansas? Not a d*** thing.