Fred Thompson is preceded by a video, depicting his life story. It mentions that he was influenced by reading Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative.” They include a picture of a young Ronald Reagan meeting an even younger Fred Thompson – it’s kind of like Bill Clinton’s boyhood meeting with John Kennedy.

He looks like a giant behind that podium. It stops at about his waist.

“All I’ll say to you young men out there with a full head of hair, enjoy it while you can.”

More: “It’s not just a matter of promises made, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a matter of commitments.”

“The solutions to all problems are not found in Washington, D.C.”

He modifies an old Gerald Ford line; “A government big and powerful enough to give you anything is big and powerful enough to take away anything, and we reject that kind of government.”