Fred Thompson. He's such a wonderful, gosh-golly-gee-whiz kind of guy. (Now that he's running for president, of course.) We here at BNF are real big fans. We recently took his presidential announcement and crafted it into a bit more honest message.

Sometimes though, there are messages even we can't make better. This is from the Associated Press this afternoon:

"Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson seemed taken by surprise when asked Tuesday about oil drilling in the Everglades, apparently unaware it's been a major Florida issue.

"Before answering, he laughed at the question.

"Gosh, no one has told me that there's any major reserves in the Everglades, but maybe that's one of the things I need to learn while I'm down here," Thompson said after talking over state issues with Gov. Charlie Crist.

"Thompson, who has called for seeking U.S. oil resources wherever they exist, was asked by an Associated Press reporter whether that included drilling in the Everglades.

"I'm not going to start out by taking this, that or the other off the table in terms of our overall energy situation," he said."

Seems someone needs to shuffle his advisors around. Again. For the third (or is it fourth) time.