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Glenn Greenwald :
(Thompson turned 20 in 1962, Gingrich in 1963, Giuliani in 1964). He was active in Republican politics as early as the mid-1960s, which means he almost certainly supported the war in which he did not fight.
http://mpa.utk.edu/thompson/biography.htm
. . . In 1968, he served as the campaign manager for the Tennessee Seventh Congressional District campaign of John T. Williams . . .
Thompson's first wife's family connections are probably what got him the gig as a campaign manager. Are there any records of Thompson being active in the G.O.P. before 1968?
And Nixon claimed to be the "peace" candidate in 1968. Not too credible, in hindsight, but at the time a lot of voters found Nixon more credible, as a peace candidate, than Hubert Humphrey.
Even in 1972, Nixon won partly by withdrawing troops, and convincing voters that he was as much committed to peace as McGovern was, and then announcing, just before the 1972 election, that treaty negotations had been successful and that peace was at hand.
Thompson seems to have become a loyal Nixon operative in his late 20s, so he probably endorsed and defended Nixon's Vietnam policies, at some point, but he may have merely been supporting Nixon's fictitious position as a "peace" candidate.
Doghouse Riley called it their Ghost Dance phase.
And don't forget their Ghost Shirts, which repel facts.
I will be your father figure
Put your tiny hand in mine
I will be your preacher teacher
Anything you have in mind
I will be your father figure
I have had enough of crime
I will be the one who loves you
Until the end of time
If you are the desert, Ill be the sea
If you ever hunger - hunger for me
Whatever you ask for, thats what Ill be
- - George Michael
Hay there, hoe there, bebop-o
Have some druid Time for me?
Here's a balloon song for ye.
Ninety-nine bebop balloons,
Launched this day from this saloon.
Unidentified eff ohs?
'Larm bells sound and so it goes:
Ninety-nine neocon jerks,
Each one thinks "I'm Captain Kirk".
Phasers fire; torpedoes too.
Fireworks! Fallout! Much ado
About ninety-nine balloons,
Each one blown to smitheroons.
Big baloons 'neath bamboo tree:
Tarry, marry, dance as bees
Do, when giant peonies bloom.
Cares and worries flee your room.
Match in the gas tank, boom-boom!