Folk Ways

His principles, he says, come from "the standpoint of an ol' boy" who "started out workin' in a factory in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee." He worked in Washington as a congressional staffer but decided "I ain't never comin' back to this place."

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

He wants to "bring our folks back home" from Iraq but not "with our tail between our legs." He still believes that Iran's nuclear energy program is for weapons, because "here's this country settin' on all this oil."

Thompson also makes it clear that he doesn't much like the idea of illegal immigrants, abortion, same-sex marriage and judges "makin' up the law as they go along."

"Let's go together and get it done," he exhorts in closing, then corrects himself: "Get 'er done." The South Carolinians chuckle over their fried chicken. Thompson grabs a bottle of water, takes a swig and lets out a loud "ahhhh" as fiddle music comes through the speakers.

He dispatches a few of the usual questions about gays, job losses and energy, but he lights up when somebody asks him to sign for his mother a book Thompson wrote years ago. "Well, well, lookee here," Thompson says of the author photo. "Looka that ol' boy with all that dark hair. All I can think of is that ol' song, 'Precious Memories.' "

Lest anybody think he was a big-shot author, he adds: "I knew somebody had bought that book -- I just didn't know who it was."

The audience loves it. This ol' boy may not be going to the White House, but this is definitely his neck of the woods.