Fred! Locks Up the Jack Bauer Caucus

In an apparently widely unwatched hour-long interview with Charlie Rose last night, Fred Thompson waffled all over the place about torture:

Thompson: I'm telling you, as President, if the lives of a bunch of American citizens were at stake and I thought that there was a good chance that an individual had information and could impart information that would help save those lives, I'm just saying, that I would do whatever is necessary to get that information from that person. I would authorize that. Whatever is necessary to save a number of American lives (emphatically).

That was the official Perfunction transcription (i.e. me typing furiously while hitting the pause button every 10 seconds). The entire interview is here, with torture discussed at the 40:40 mark.

I smell a comeback.

UPDATE: Hi guys (thanks, Ace.). Welcome, Stop the ACLU (thanks, Jay).

UPDATE: Hey, thanks for coming by fellow Instapundit readers (thank you, Glenn).

UPDATE: Swoon away! Thanks, Allah.

For-the-hell-of-it Update: I was looking for a "stern Fred" pic to jazz up the post, but was stopped short by a nice family pic. You're welcome:

Comments

[Amish]

Good interview.

Congrats on the Acealanch.

[A. weasel]

Once again you manage to catch the good stuff,Cuffy.

Good job
AW

[Cuffy Meigs]

Thanks, Amish & A. Weasel. This interview is simply amazing, both for it's audacious content and remarkable media invisibility. Seriously, I both Google News searched for a mention, THEN a Google Blog search. Nuthin, so I posted.

McCain, ffffft --- THIS was Straight Talk.

[bmac]

Fred says all the right things.
I just wish he could say them with a little more passion.

[Cuffy Meigs]

I agree, bmac. There's not much in that interview that I wasn't nodding in agreement with. I just wish he hadn't lost all his momentum. Perhaps a similar Limbaugh interview is in the cards?

[Sobek]

You need to get this out, Cuffy. Have you sent it to Instapundit?

[Cuffy Meigs]

Sobek, I sure did. And NRO. And of course our pals at HotAir. Wouldn't hurt if helpful readers dinged 'em as well. Like Fred, I'm just saying.

[cheeseball]

I've had my Thompson bumper sticker on my car since June. Fred is the Man!

[Lipstick]

Fred is like the strong, steady man that you end up with after flirting with the other bad boys.

He's been there all along, just waiting for you to come to your senses.

[Vince]

Fred is spot on about torture, and I expected nothing less from him. But im getting a little tired about the "lack of passion" criticisms. Fred is clearly not disinterested in the topic, as he has obviously thought the matter through, and hed exudes gravitas and credibility when he says "whatever is necessary". I believe that he would bring out the can of whoopass on a terrorist should we think he is in possession of information which could prevent ANY kind of attack, no matter if it were an assassination, car bomb, or nuke. Would Romney, if he had said the same thing in his salesman type of delivery and style, be as believable as Fred? Methinks not.

[Cuffy Meigs]

And Lipstick arrives just as I put up the Jeri pic! Coinkydink?

[Dudley Smith]

I'm getting excited about Fred all over again. No candidate is more consistently conservative on all the issues, and doesn't have an area that alienates a major constituency of the Republican Party the way the other four major candidates do. It really is a shame the way that we've become so much more about style over substance in picking our candidates. Nobody has developed the kinds of policy papers on nearly every major issue the way Fred has, and yet he's become an afterthought because we deem that he isn't energetic enough.

Nevertheless, the way this election has seen candidates waxing and waning every month, perhaps the Huckabee boomlet will be ending just in time for the wheel to stop on Fred on 1/3/08, at least enough to make a top 3 showing and give him a shot at pulling off South Carolina.

[Amish is Link Whore]

Just sent this to Instapundit. maybe you will get a link.

[Cuffy Meigs]

Amish, you magnificient bastard!

[azlibertarian]

In spite of my nom-de-internet, only this week did I re-register as a Republican. I did this precisely so I can vote for Thompson in the upcoming primary.

[Vote Amish - Vote Often]

yeah, im not really amish either. I just changed my name so i could vote in the Pennsylvania primary.

[Amish is Hot For Malkin]

Hot Air o Lanch

[Lipstick]

Total coinkydink Cuffy.

I loves me a strong steady man!

[Justacanuck]

Nice job Fred!

Hey Cuffy, here's some additional eye-candy you might like to add to your post:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7193/fred08allahreimaged1ke5.jpg

(Swiped from IMAO.US and tweaked slightly.)
http://www.imao.us/archives/008622.html

[Robert Bostrom]

I posted this link at www.fred08.com Thanks
Fred the True Conservative just ask Rush(or me)

[Peg C.]

One by one the Republican candidates appear to be weeding themselves out. Fred is my man, but if Giuliani gets the nomination I'll vote for him without hesitation. I have reservations about the others, and Huckabee's love of big gov. solutions and his stance on the GWOT eliminates him for me. I know too many libs who are seriously (and openly) anti-Mormon bigots to the point that I am not at all sure Mitt could beat a Dem.

Fred has a lot going for him, firm, conservative principles among them, and could well end up the last man standing on our side -- especially since, if Hillary! doesn't get the nomination (in a sane world, she wouldn't have a prayer), that greatly lessens Rudy's chances of getting our nomination. Just sayin'.

Go Fred!

[spacemonkey]

Fred's campaign is getting it's sea legs now.

[Tom]

I am a troll from AOSHQ. I love Cock.