FEATURE, NOT BUG

Although the Politico is right to say that Fred Thompson's GOP opponents will try to attack him on his trial-lawyer past and on his past support for McCain-Feingold, legalized first-trimester abortion, and a guest worker program, this is nuts:

... Thompson will have to neutralize questions on the campaign trail and in the media about his centrist votes in the Senate, his stances on litmus test conservative issues including abortion and -- perhaps most significantly -- his work as a lawyer and lobbyist.

Thompson's biggest challenge will likely be cementing his image as a conservative country lawyer fixin' to shake up Washington -- before his opponents brand him as an influence peddler and trial lawyer.

(Emphasis mine.)

His opponents? His Republican opponents? They're going to attack him as a highly paid tool of big business?

Come on, Politico, get serious. In the GOP, that's not a bug -- it's a feature. No one will attack him for that. Republican voters love the rich. Republican voters love powerful people who game the system to their advantage, even if those Republican voters themselves get screwed. He once supported campaign finance reform, and for that they'll say he was against "free speech." But they're not going to attack him for this.