Fred Thompson Thinks the Soviet Union Still Exists?

Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson interviewed former Sen. Fred Thompson today, and she posted a partial transcript to her blog.

She asked him about Iran, and his answer included the statement, “I’m afraid that the Soviet Union & China are not ever going to do anything that’s going to hurt them that badly but we need to ratchet those up if at all possible.”

Here’s Kay’s transcript of the Iran question (emphasis added):

Henderson: “How, as president, would you deal with Iran?”

Thompson: “I think we need to understand first of all the threat that Iran poses to us. They have been killing our people for some time either directly or indirectly through terrorist organizations. They are convinced that their god tells them that they should be rulers of the Muslim world and they should kill us off and (dropped words) and millions of innocent people will have to die in the process so be it, including their own people. This is a different kind of threat and enemy with a different face as far as their ideology is concerned than we’ve ever faced before. It’s religious in its origin but it’s twisted and warped so it presents a threat to us especially in Iraq. They want to take over Iraq. They’re doing everything they can to try to drive us out of there. We’re seeing some success with some minor economic sanctions right now. I think the best way to describe it as probably aggravating the Iranians more than anything. It’s not really hurting them. I’m afraid that the Soviet Union & China are not ever going to do anything that’s going to hurt them that badly but we need to ratchet those up if at all possible. I think that the diplomatic route still has some possibilities. I think also what’s going on inside the country has to be taken (dropped words). We have a lot of people inside that country that do not want that kind of regime ruling them and the things that they’re doing. They’re killing and imprisoning innocent people. Their economy is on its way to a shambles. Inflation and unemployment and violence have become commonplace in that country and so these people (dropped words) in large part take care of this situation themselves. You don’t know what will be the aftermath of that, but it’s certainly an option that has to be considered and ultimately you know if they arrive and they have 3000 centrifuges right on their way to enriching uranium which would allow them to have a nuclear program, then we have to make sure our intelligence is good as to exactly what they’re doing and where they’re doing it and we cannot exclude a military option.”

No, I did not mistype. Thompson said Soviet Union rather than Russia.

Two possibilities: Thompson believes he is his character from the film The Hunt for Red October, or he’s trying really, really hard to sound like Ronald Reagan in as many ways as possible, even if to do so he has to resort to anachronisms.