We know that our credibility for being objective on this isn't exactly high. And we're big on not attacking the Republican candidates who are not Fred Thompson, because that must be hard enough on them as it is. But this semantic debate treads into - or more accurately, litters in - our academic home turf. If this exchange happened in a class, we would be forced to openly mock the student:

Thompson says "Bin Laden is a powerful symbol who resonates globally with jihadists, which in turn calls our attention to the frightening scope of the War on Terror and our need to fight it." McCain says "No he's not! He's a powerful person who resonates globally with jihadists, which in turn calls our attention to the frightening scope of the War on Terror and our need to fight it." And this attack was still less obviously silly than what Romney said: Bin Laden is not a "symbol" but rather the metaphorical personification of "the face of evil." Umm...

If this is really what the other candidates are going to be coming after Thompson with, then he should have taken another month off to get good and rested before bothering to enter the race.

References:
* Thompson Calls bin Laden "Symbolic"; Draws GOP Fire [ABC News]

Previously:
* NPR In Denial About Sexism On the Left, Gets MR Exactly Wrong On Jeri Thompson
* Your End Of the Week Fred Thompson Fix
* Fred Thompson Oppo Research Strongly Correlated With Fred Thompson Winning Polls. Which He's Doing.