Thompson’s luxury is that, in his stint as senator, he was basically a party regular. So he doesn’t have to shout his fealty to the right from the rooftops. He can send out more subtle signs. ~Jonathan Chait

More subtle signs?  If his anti-Michael Moore YouTube, his RedState blogging, his work on behalf of Scooter Libby’s defense fund, his close association with Cheney’s advisors and one of his daughters, and a trip to go suck up to Margaret Thatcher are subtle appeals to “the base,” I don’t want to see what overt and clumsy moves look like.  There may be nothing terribly politically stupid about most of these moves (his foreign policy speech in London was as appalling to me as it is probably going to be hugely popular with GOP primary voters), but subtle they are not.