Where’s the “uh-oh” squad when you need ‘em? We already knew Former Republican Senator Frederick Dalton Thompson (R) was a Hollywood actor, but (some trivia here) not everybody realized he actually co-starred in “Deep Throat”.

No, no, NO, y’all — not THAT “Deep Throat” (get your heads outta the gutter, y’all) — THIS “Deep Throat”:

Fred Thompson aided Nixon on Watergate

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.

Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.

Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House’s effort to discredit the committee’s star witness.

It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes. They eventually cinched Nixon’s downfall in the scandal resulting from the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the subsequent White House cover-up. …”

(Snip!)

“… Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel. …”

(Snip!)

“… “Oh s—, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.

“Well, we’re stuck with him,” Haldeman said. …”

(Snip!)

“… Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.”

“Not extremely so,” Buzhardt agreed.

“But he’s friendly,” Nixon said.

“But he’s friendly,” Buzhardt agreed. …” – Yahoo! News

This news happens to fall within a twenty-four hour window since the revelation of the fact that the latest Great GOP Hollywood Actor Hope had once been a pro choice activist. The Hollywood saviour for the GOP has just deemed himself “irrelevant”. OUCH. Bad news.

This means Former Senator Thompson now has a direct association with President Nixon and the Watergate scandal along with multiple comparisons to President “Surge” W. Bush — one of the FEW Presidents in history to have an approval rating comparable to President Nixon’s (26% right now according to the latest Newsweek poll). This isn’t going to help the Frederick Dalton Thompson camp very much at all.

I had posed the question in my previous rant — “Who’s next up for the Republicans” since their new “Great White Hope” shall be falling out of contention soon enough — but I had failed to toss a few “constructive” ideas to my conservative friends. I shall do so at this very time (you’re welcome, guys and gals — The GTL™ is lookin’ out for you):

Let us start with a short list of well-known and/or suspected Republican Hollywood actors (courtesy in part of Free Republic) who, unlike Frederick Dalton Thompson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Ronald Reagan, have NOT yet been seriously courted by the Republican Party for either a Governorship or the Presidency yet:

Chuck Norris
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Bruce Willis
Dennis Miller
James Woods
Adam Sandler
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Bo Derek
Stephen Baldwin (Alex’s brother and fellow actor, of course)
Tom Selleck
Clint Eastwood
Kurt Russell
Andy Garcia
Kelsey Grammar

A rather short list, indeed. But, it doesn’t seem to matter much to the Republican Party these days. MY advice to the GOP is: pick anybody from this short list and annoint them as your deity for the Oval Office in ‘08. THIS time around though, STICK WITH ‘EM through thick and thin; even long after those skeletons in their closets (we all have ‘em, after all) have been exposed. Don’t dump those Hollywood deities of yours so quickly; it sends out a “Republicans are anti-Hollywood” message you just MIGHT not wish to send…

I must be missing some Hollywood Republicans here. GTL readers, please feel free to add to this list in the comments section in order to help our Republican friends out with their “next presidential candidate” search. I suggest they just go ahead and pick Dennis Miller to take Frederick Dalton Thompson’s place; the guy’s already “in tight” with the FoxNews extension of the White House.

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See also (H/T to MemeOrandum): The Reaction; Hot Air

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