The Associated Press has published some interesting history on one of the Republicans who may be a 2008 presidential hopeful:

President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.

[…]

Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.

[…]

“Oh shit, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.

“Well, we’re stuck with him,” Haldeman said.

In a meeting later that day in the Old Executive Office Building, Baker assured Nixon that Thompson was up to the task. “He’s tough. He’s six feet five inches, a big mean fella,” the senator told Nixon.

Physical presence noted.

Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.”

“Not extremely so,” Buzhardt agreed.

“But he’s friendly,” Nixon said.

“But he’s friendly,” Buzhardt agreed. “We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination.”

Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the Dean cross-examination.

“I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day,” Buzhardt said. “Uh, perfectly prepared to assist in really doing a cross-examination.”

Later in the same conversation, Buzhardt said Thompson was “willing to go, you know, pretty much the distance now. And he said he realized his responsibility was going to have be as a Republican increasingly.”

What is it with all these Nixon-era discredited insiders running for office in America? Is there some kind of weird organization of conservative corporate moguls from that era who are now trying to prove a point by pretending the world has not changed? It’s like a flash-back to Soviet-era politics where the Politicheskoye Buro (political bureau or politburo) was in control of who gets to be a candidate and what they can think, regardless of what was going on in the world around them. Clearly Thompson did bidding for Nixon, although Nixon clearly didn’t care for the guy. Would not surprise me if he was told to pick Cheney to be his Vice President too, or maybe Rumsfeld, or…someone else who worked for Nixon.

I guess one thing has actually changed, the Nixon-era gang appear to playing games with public records (the modern equivalent of tapes) to limit their liability from future discovery.