On the Fred Thompson front, ABC's Jack Tapper explores his time on the Watergate committee, and finds that "the reality is far more complicated than conventional wisdom and campaign puffery would have it." Thompson writes in his own book that he tipped off the Nixon White House that investigators knew about the secret taping system, "even though I had no authority to act for the committee." And "new transcripts from the Nixon White House tapes reveal that the Nixon administration regarded Thompson as a useful idiot -- 'dumb as hell,' in President Nixon's words, but 'friendly,' " Tapper reports.

For the Fred watchers out there, his non-campaign yesterday unveiled "Version 2.0" of its Web site,( http://www.imwithfred.com)  If there was a new version for every staff shakeup, wouldn't we be getting into the double digits soon?.

To quote Nixon, if you're "dumb as hell" and need a hint, ABC's Christine Byun reports on this update from the site: "One can't help but see that Thompson again might be hearing the call to serve." "Can't help but see" that he "might be hearing"? Clear to me . . .

The New York Sun's Seth Gitell looks at Thompson's wait-it-out strategy and finds the thinking to be "flawed." "Since when has 'strategy' been an excuse for laziness?" Gitell writes. "The next four years is not the time for a slacker president."