Someone Else! Someone Else!

The Weekly Standard has an interesting profile of Fred Thompson.

According to an adviser to one of the leading candidates, the rationale for a Thompson run is best illustrated--as so many things are--by The Simpsons. In one episode, Homer Simpson's civic-minded neighbor Ned Flanders tells a large crowd of fellow Springfield citizens that they must choose someone to lead an anticrime campaign in the town.

"Who should lead the group?"

"You," shouts a man from the crowd. The entire mob begins to chant.

"Flanders! Flanders! Flanders!"

When Flanders humbly begins to explain that he doesn't have much experience in such matters, Moe the Bartender cuts him off.

"Someone else!"

The crowd joins in.

"Someone else! Someone else! Someone else!"

One obvious advantage Fred Thompson has is that he's someone else.

To be honest with you, I'm a little tingly about the prospect of a Thompson candidacy. But I'm concerned that my tingles are caused by the fact that he is just someone else. Thompson is famous, but we don't really know that much about him. When that happens, we tend to fill in the blanks with what we hope is true. But I haven't seen anything that's scared me off yet, and that's more than I can say about any of the other Republican candidates. We'll see.