FOLKSY, AW-SHUCKS NICE GUY SLANDERS CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS HE'D WORK WITH AS PRESIDENT

At first, there's nothing unusual (or particularly original) in Fred Thompson's latest bit of radio commentary -- he lashes out at Harry Reid for criticizing General Peter Pace using nothing more than GOP boilerplate ("First, Harry Reid voted for the war, like a majority of our legislators. America decided as a nation to free Iraq and the region from Saddam Hussein's tyranny...").

But soon Thompson's radio piece turns ugly:

Harry Reid, though, has taken a different route. He made his statement about General Pace on a conference call with fringe elements of the blogosphere who think we're the bad guys. This is a place where even those who think the 9/11 attacks were an inside job find a home.

And why shouldn't they think that? Reid has led the attack on the administration, with Nancy Pelosi, charging it lied and tricked America into supporting the war. Ignoring multiple hearings and investigations into pre-war intelligence findings that have debunked this paranoid myth, they accuse an entire administration of conspiracy to trick us into a war.

That's right -- according to Thompson, crazies believe 9/11 was an inside job because of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

(Oh, and of course Reid and Pelosi's criticism of lies leading up to the Iraq War is responsible for the belief that there are lies about the origin of 9/11 -- because 9/11 and the Iraq War are really the same thing, right?)

If Thompson's the nominee, we'll hear endlessly what a genial, easygoing guy he as (in contrast to that shrill ideologue bitch Hillary). We won't hear about little items like this.

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UPDATE: Steve Benen has more at the Carpetbagger Report. (Yes, Steve, why is ABC still paying this guy to do commentary? He may not be an announced candidate, but he's a candidate by any reasonable person's definition of the term.)