...a good window into the Villager brain was provided by Margaret Carlson when she did an "exit interview" of Thompson when he left the Senate. Here are the questions she asked, responses omitted.
CARLSON: Senator Thompson, let me ask you the sad question first. Why are you leaving us?
CARLSON: And you didn't even -- you didn't even run on term limits, and you just went into the sunset.
CARLSON: What's the tipping point in a Washington scandal?
CARLSON: Many of us in the press and many of your colleagues thought you would run for president. Your good friend, John McCain, did. You never did. Why not? And will you ever?
CARLSON: Friendship's never stopped any ambitions in Washington.
CARLSON: You were too tall...
CARLSON: Now, who are you going to miss in the Senate?
CARLSON: You can have a club.
CARLSON: Any Democrats?
CARLSON: I hold the record for watching "Law and Order," reruns in particular!
CARLSON: So I know that...
CARLSON: I've been -- I've caught a few of the ones that you're now in. Are the writers accommodating a loquacious ex-senator?
CARLSON: And you would filibuster anyway.
CARLSON: Well, now that you're in that life, you're kind of a Hollywood actor, maybe your foreign policy views will be taken seriously.
Are you and Sean Penn -- are you going to join...
CARLSON: Oh. Are you going to join Sean Penn in Baghdad?