The torch is officially passed:

Former Sen. George Allen is bullish about former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the actor who hasn't even gotten into the 2008 presidential race yet.

Thompson has the right philosophy, is articulate, has a record and is "the best voice in America," Allen, a Virginia Republican, told a lecture series audience yesterday.

He likened Thompson's voice to that of a "modern-day Rex Allen," drawing a reference to a now-deceased cowboy actor....

Perfect: One phony good old boy who's actually made most of his money in Hollywood and Washington being endorsed by another phony good old boy whose father made most of his football-coaching money in L.A. and Washington. The "only person in Virginia who wears cowboy boots" endorsing a guy who drove his signature red pickup truck "the final few hundred feet before each campaign event, and then ditched it for something nicer as soon as he was out of sight of the yokels."

(Via Instaputz.)