At that point in time

Did y’all know Fred Thompson wrote a book about Watergate? Well, he did. At That Point in Time It’s not in print anymore, but I got my grubby little paws on a grubby little copy this weekend.

See:

And yes, it’s a little rough around the edges, but the darn thing is 32 years old. (Younger than I am, though.) My dad brought it over. It had been languishing on his bookshelves for years, apparently.

It’s a signed copy, to my grandfather. He apparently thought so much of it, he passed it on to his son-in-law within a month. I guess he was a pretty fast reader.

My dad thought I’d get a kick out of it. And I have. But I’ve gotten an even bigger kick out of the fact that an autographed copy is selling for almost $750 – and that’s without the dust jacket.

My dad doesn’t want me to sell it, but it’s sooo tempting when I know the book will return to its normal low,low value after Fred’s campaign crashes and burns.

I know what my granddad would do. Oh yes, he’d sell. This was a man who sold junk antiques into his dying week and had a price tag on the walker he used to get around the shop. (For $5 more than my mom and my aunt paid for it)

Of little account

VolDad phoned me the other day and amongst his general news and asking after Cletus, he told me he’d found a family heirloom – maybe.

At some point, Fred Thompson had signed a book for my grandfather – I guess it was this one. And at some point, my grandfather had loaned or given the book to my dad. Since my dad hasn’t been his son-in-law for almost 20 years, it had to have been a long, long time ago.

My dad and I speculated that the book would soon be valued at a lot more – or a lot less. But at any rate, he’d give me the book if I wanted it.

I told VolMom, a life long Dem, about the rediscovered tome and she said “Well, I hope it stays worthless.”

The feud is off!

My great aunt Tiny probably carried her grudge to her grave. Many other proud Lawrence-burgers weren’t too happy about it either. One night, many, many years ago apparently Johnny Carson announced on The Tonight Show that Lawrenceburg, TN shared the honor (along with Detroit) of being the American city with the most unsolved murders. And apparently he didn’t say it in a helpful way.

I never saw the episode, but I heard about it. Even in my 20s, people ocassionally asked me about it. I used to say – it’s not the murder rate, it’s the unsolved murder rate. That means no official clear up. In Lawrenceburg, we have our own justice, I’d say.

But I guess the hard feelings are over, ’cause The Tonight Show was filmed in the Big Burg yesterday. I mean it must have been since Fred Thompson was going to announce in town and he threw his hat in the presidential ring on the show last night.

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To be fair, I did read somewhere on the Internet that he’ll be having a homecoming in Lawrenceburg on the 15th. (I hope VolMom can tell me all about it, but I bet she doesn’t go.)

The Vol-in-Law said “I bet if he wins, he won’t even put the presidential library in Lawrenceburg.”

Would you?

Gettin’ ready for Freddie

A recent edition of the LA Times features Lawrenceburg, Tennessee Woo-hoo. It’s all about how the town is getting ready for Freddie – that is Fred Thompson’s announcement of his intention to run for the presidency. Apparently folks are convinced he’s going to announce in the Big Burg. My old home town has cleaned up the square and forbidden trash by the side of the road. Does this mean they’re getting rid of those old guys who inhabit the benches on the square? Has VolMom planted up the town square with flowers as she is wont to do – or has the drought and her librul politics overcome her civic pride and gardening passion?

Chunky Moore’s menswear and the Ledbetter drug store sure are getting some good press out of all this. Here’s a tip – Ledbetter’s used to have awesome real milkshakes made right in front of you at the counter. I don’t know if they still do that, but it’s worth asking if you’re a visiting journo or political junkie. The Vol-in-Law and the rest of the groomsmen rented their tuxes from Moore’s – I don’t know if you need to rent a tux while you’re in town for the day – but maybe Chunky will sell you some wing tips real cheap.

As for me, I just think it’s pretty wild that people I know are written up in the LA Times. I recognize every name in that article.

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HT: The Tennessee Politics blog

It’s not about the next election

I’m still not blogging about the 2008 Presidential election until, ya know, it’s an election year. But this is about the process, so it doesn’t count. John H hits on the forever backwards creeping primary dates in post entitled

In a blazing round of ‘Who’s on First’, Tennessee proclaims its Presidential Primary to start RIGHT NOW

and says:

If Tennessee could somehow become an actual meaningful primary instead of the afterthought of the backwash and therefore often ignored or taken for granted (nice job AL!) by moving the primary up a bit, I guess I wouldn’t object.

I didn’t vote in the Tennessee primary last time. Partly cause I never registered with a party (yes, I know you don’t have to in Tennessee, but you do if you want to receive a meaningful primary absentee ballot), but also because I gave up my vote so I could participate in the UK Democratic caucus with hundreds of other American expats. It was so much fun I’d advise everyone to move to Iowa for one electoral cycle (or here, or Paris whose caucus attendance numbers we beat, so a hearty yah boo to the Americans in Paris) Seriously, it was like a big ol’ grown up pep rally

We’ve got spirit, yes we do
We’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?

But in place of spirit plug in, rational foreign policy and non-punitive tax code for expatriates (we deserve it – after all just who do you think is minding the empire?)

So maybe Tennessee should get a caucus – or since we’re such a great online community, why not a blog-cus. The candidates with the biggest online word counts win*. What do you bet we’d be the only contest to return two native sons who aren’t even running.

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*written by registered TN voters, of course