I have often been accused of being “lazy.” Even by people who I know and love. Even, on occasion, by myself.

But what was the basis for the accusation?

Apparently, that I am not continually busy. That I often indulge in the very effective technique of “management by procrastination.” That I often do what needs to be done without breaking a sweat, and while waiting until the last minute to do it.

Once, in college (in the dark ages prior to word processors), I wrote a term paper, that I had known was due for many weeks, due the next day at the end of the semester, in an all-nighter, on a manual typewriter, with no notes, no citations, no…nothing. I had just been thinking about the subject for weeks, and the night before it was due, I sat down, and knocked out a twelve-page typewritten paper, with minor erasures, in a night. I got an A minus.

So I have mixed feelings when I hear that Fred Thompson is “lazy.”

Now, I don’t think that Fred Thompson is lazy. I just think that, despite the southern drawl, which many (mistakenly, as anyone who has worked with smart NASA employees and contractors in Houston, Huntsville and the Cape would know) think is a mark of a slow mentality, that he works smart, and cheap. Robert Heinlein once wrote that: “Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.”

I believe that.

I don’t want a president, or a presidential candidate, who is frenetically scurrying around, appearing to be doing something, particularly two years before the swearing in. If he’s really a conservative (as he claims to be, though I’m not necessarily), I’m perfectly happy with a president who, when demanded to do something, just stands there. And as a libertarian, opposed to big government, I’m happy to have a president who will think before acting, and who believes that the first instinct should not be to pass yet another federal law.

I’m actually quite pleased with Fred Thompson’s campaign style to date. It saddens me that so many others, who would be otherwise disposed to vote for him, are not. I’m saddened that they think that he needs to stoke a “fire in the belly,” rather than simply employ the minimum resources needed to win the election. You would think that the warm-mongers would be pleased at Fred’s lack of energy and want to vote for him, to help save the planet. As an engineer, I’m extremely impressed with his efficiency. As a result, it’s very frustrating to know that, if everyone who would vote for him “if he only had a chance” would actually vote for him, that he’d have a chance. It’s kind of the reverse of Yogi Berra’s old saying that “no one goes downtown any more; it’s too crowded.”

So here’s where the mixed feelings come in. As an engineer, one needs margins. I’m concerned that he cut it a little too close. I’m afraid that in waiting just a little too long to get in, and in waiting just a little too long to finally go after the Elmer Gantrys and other pretenders to Republicanism and conservatism, that he’s just missed the boat.

Despite this fear, I will continue to support him, and hope that I’m wrong, into South Carolina and beyond. Because if so, he will prove to be the most parsimonious president in American history. And I think we could use not just a little, but a lot of that right now.

From Tim Noah:

It was 10 years ago on Jan. 12 that Linda Tripp notified Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s office that she had audiotapes of Monica Lewinsky telling her that she’d had an affair with President Bill Clinton, and that he’d urged her to lie if asked about it under oath.

Hint for the terminally clueless. This wasn’t “getting a BJ.” It wasn’t “lying about getting a BJ.” As clearly stated by Noah, it’s called suborning perjury, in order to prevent a vulnerable young woman from getting a fair trial in a civil suit under a law that the suborner had signed with his own pen. Not to mention bribing and/or intimidating a witness to perjure herself, which is a more egregious instance of same.

Maybe I’m weird, but it seems very hard to reconcile that with upholding an oath to see the nation’s laws faithfully obeyed. King William didn’t think that the law should apply to him, either when in Arkansas when he allegedly raped a woman as the state Attorney General, or as President of the United States.

That was what the Lewinsky scandal was about.

And when considering whether or not to elect his wife, who helped orchestrate the attacks on the women that he wronged, to the highest office in the land, that is something to be considered. Particularly if one considers oneself to be a feminist.

I would also point out to Mr. Noah that, there is one person who, throughout, told the truth in this affair, and was never caught out in a lie, or lack of probity, despite all the attacks on her weight, her looks, or her “infidelity” to the “friend” who asked her to commit perjury. Her name was Linda Tripp.

And his comments about Jonah Goldberg are pathetic. If he doesn’t like the idea of the book, he should read it and give it a serious review, something that no one else in his camp seems willing to do. And if not, like them, he should STFU.

To paraphrase Euripides, those whom the modern-day gods would destroy, they first give too much oil and power.

We have today two stories of oil-fueled despots in alliance. First, Iran’s Ahmadinejad’s economic illiteracy is coming home to roost:

Ahmadinejad, with his peculiar and literal belief that he has divine backing, was not inhibited by this record of prudence. With a total oil revenue in the first two years of his presidency of $120 billion (

Marcy Kaptur is an idiot.

Marcy Kaptur is an idiot.

Marcy Kaptur is an idiot.

Since Drudge broke the story of Clinton’s intern, that Newsweek had been sitting on.

Since Drudge broke the story of Clinton’s intern, that Newsweek had been sitting on.

Since Drudge broke the story of Clinton’s intern, that Newsweek had been sitting on.

I’d love to get a transcript. I hope that Team Thompson was listening to Elmer GantryMike Huckabee’s Michigan concession speech in South Carolina, because the mendacity in it will be fodder for several campaign commercials this week. The man who wants a federal smoking ban wants government to leave us alone?

Please.

[Update]

Finger to the wind?

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has reversed his position on a federal ban aimed at workplace smoking and now believes the issue should be addressed by state and local governments.

The about-face is apparent in a Huckabee campaign statement, sent to The Hill Tuesday evening in response to questions about the smoking ban proposal. It clashes with the stance Huckabee has taken during his race for the White House and with his record as governor of Arkansas, when he signed into law a measure prohibiting smoking in most indoor public places.

Must be pre-emptive against the inevitable ads in SC. Maybe they should just be pictures of flip flops…