During his appearance yesterday on Fox News, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson mentioned that, since leaving the Senate, he has stayed active in public policy work, including serving on the "China Commission." What is that? Neither Fox News nor the follow-on media reports explained what that is, though it is very important, so I will.
The "China Commission" - which actually is called the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission - is one way that Sen. Thompson has remained active in important policy issues since leaving the Senate four years ago.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is, essentially, a think tank created by Congress to advise Congress in policy issues related to China. It is described as "a small, fast-paced, nonpartisan, legislative branch Commission responsible for monitoring, investigating and submitting an annual report to the Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China." The commission is specifically to focus on China's military buildup, proliferation practices, regional economic and security impacts, U.S.-China bilateral programs, economic transfers, energy, U.S. capital markets, WTO compliance, and the implication of restrictions on speech and access to information in China.
Thompson was a member of the commission for two years, ending at the end of 2006.
Today's front-page article on Thompson's possible presidential candidacy in the Nashville Tennessean, where Thompson now lives when he's not in Washington or off filming his latest appearance as District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order, says Thompson "has mostly stayed out of the political realm" since he left the Senate four years ago.
But Thompson has often campaigned for other Republicans during that time, and has cut campaign ads for Republicans. And - reflective of the China commission's focus on weapons proliferation issues - in 2005 Thompson starred in a short film designed to highlight the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue regimes and terrorist organizations.
The 45-minute film, Last Best Chance, was produced with support from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, with additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Nuclear Threat Initiative was founded by those rightwing neocons Ted Turner and Sam Nunn. The film's epilogue was voiced by that other noted rightwing neocon Tom Brokaw.
Now that Fred Thompson running for president is a real possibility, I have seen a few not-so-informed Lefty blogs dismiss Thompson as a lightweight, thinking he is, in the main, an actor. They could not be more wrong. But don't tell them.
» What If The Right Said Fred? from ElephantBiz
Those rumors about Fred Thompson running for president just won't go away. Paul Bedard mentions it in the latest U.S. News:We hear that his buddies are strongly urging him to jump into the already packed GOP race. "The draft-Fred movement... [Read More]
Tracked on: March 12, 2007 8:13 PM | Permalink to Trackback