One more thought on what I saw at the NRA event Friday: When I watched his speech from within the ballroom, Fred Thompson seemed hitting on all cylanders – rather than the somewhat gaunt appearance we saw in his Jay Leno appearance, he sounded like the rumbling-thunder-voiced mountain of a man we all know from Law & Order. And he definately didn’t seem like a guy lacking “fire in the belly” – he looked and sounded like he was enjoying himself.

When I caught his same remarks on C-SPAN that night, he looked… still pretty good, but definately down a notch. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the room, the ability to see the enthusiasm of the crowd, or maybe something with the acoustics, but I’d grade Thompson significantly better in person than on television. (Kind of surprising, for a television actor.)