Looking around the op-ed pages, we see Eugene Robinson asking a question that I’ve thought myself, but making it sound stupid and shallow in the process: “What Happened to Arthur Branch?” The way I would put it is that on Law & Order, Thompson does not come across as folksy; he comes across as confident, blunt, hard-charging; the kind of guy who could kick your butt and then utter some homespun saying about dogs not hunting or something like that. The Thompson we’ve seen on the campaign trail, while still likeable, isn’t quite that same figure (other than maybe his appearance at the NRA forum).

Robinson writes, amidst a very tired all-the-Republicans-stink whine of a column, “For one thing, Nancy would never have let her Ronnie show up for a televised debate wearing a jacket that draped so awkwardly at the neck.”

What is this man, a tailor? Has he been hanging around the Post’s political-fashion columnist, Robin Givhan?

Well, I guess Fred’s lost the haberdasher vote.