During a Fox News interview about Fred Thompson's campaign, author/blogger/radio talk-show host Tammy Bruce casually remarks, "I think I'd probably make a great president," prompting an amusing exchange with Democratic operative Bob Beckel -- here's the video via Hot Air:



More on the Fred Thompson campaign at Memeorandum, and Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times today has an exclusive report from Ames, Iowa:

Campaigning heavily here over the past two weeks, Mr. Thompson has refined his message and yesterday released a 15-minute Web video laying out his qualifications and telling voters they need to pick a Republican nominee who is willing to call out Democratic leaders for abandoning their principles.

"They're all NEA, MoveOn.org, ACLU, Michael Moore Democrats," Mr. Thompson charges in the video, which is on his campaign Web site. "They've allowed these radicals to take control of the party and dictate their course."

Here's the Thompson campaign video:

Maybe if Fred had some of that Ron Paul money…

UPDATE 4:40 p.m.:

Some controversy has developed over the Fox News exchange between Miss Bruce and Mr. Beckel. Remember, the context was a discussion of whether Fred Thompson has the "fire in the belly" needed to be president:

Tammy Bruce: I'm concerned about the future as well, I think I'd probably make a great president -- I'd also rather not run. . . .

Bob Beckel: By the way, running for president, Tammy -- keep your day job. I think you do a great job. . . . I can't vote for you.

In an update at her blog, Miss Bruce calls this "a gratuitous personal shot" from Mr. Beckel, and in an update at Hot Air, Bryan Preston says:

I don't know where this myth of Bob Beckel being one of the "good" Democrats came from, but it's not grounded in reality. . . .

He's not one of the "good Democrats." He's a snake. I wish Tammy would have clocked him.

Far be it from me to defend Mr. Beckel. However, a couple of months ago, I interviewed Mr. Beckel along with Cal Thomas, with whom he's co-authored a new book, "Common Ground." So the first point in Mr. Beckel's defense is that he's a friend of Mr. Thomas -- and any friend of Cal's can't be all bad.

The second point in Mr. Beckel's defense is that he almost certainly intended the remark as a good-natured jibe, rather than as a "gratuitous personal shot." Mr. Beckel is a professional political operative, and when a non-politician muses about a potential political career, it's obligatory for the professional operative to reply, "Keep your day job."

Third, and this is probably the most relevant point, that's just Bob Beckel being Bob Beckel. It's who he is. He's a meat-and-potatoes, beer-and-a-shot, blue-collar partisan Democrat. He's been doing this shout-show routine for years -- he once co-hosted the Sunday edition of CNN's "Crossfire" -- and for him to make this kind of "keep-your-day-job" wisecrack during a back-and-forth exchange is simply the nature of the beast. It's what he gets paid to do.

Finally, if any Republican ever wants to respond in kind to a "gratuitous personal shot" from Mr. Beckel, perhaps the best way to do so is to remind him that he is a world-class loser. As campaign manager for Walter Mondale in 1984, Mr. Beckel organized the worst defeat of a Democratic presidential candidate in modern history. Ronald Reagan won 49 states -- losing Mr. Mondale's native Minnesota by fewer than 4,000 votes -- and racking up nearly 59 percent of the popular vote. With Mr. Beckel running his campaign, the Democrats lost by a record margin of nearly 17 million votes.

Any Republican could throw that fact up in Mr. Beckel's face, but that would be so . . . mean-spirited. Here's a graphic, just in case any mean-spirited Republicans want to use it (click to enlarge):

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times