A couple of Matt's commenters beat me to it, but I don't think it's really accurate to say that Thompson is taking a stand on "federalist" grounds. He's never met a federal abortion regulation he doesn't like, for example, so as with 99% of the...
the federalism dodge
Fred Thompson:Speaking in Sioux City, Iowa, moments ago, Fred Thompson endorsed an amendment to the Constitution that would prevent state judges from altering the definition of marriage without the direction.
To follow up on Matt and Ezra, another angle to run at it from is to apply the logic to the civil rights movement. If one takes the Rauch/Brownstein argument.
Matt has one obvious rejoinder to David Brooks's pean to the mediocre character actor and undistinguished one-term+ Senator who seems to be the GOP's New Fresh Hope for '08. So instead I'll take issue with Brooks praising Thompson because "[h]e’s going back to Madison and...