Left: Bush with pilot on aircraft carrier in 2003. Right: Fred Thompson, the former K Street lobbyist

Chris Matthews, the host of “Hardball” on MSNBC, has a bad habit of developing man-crushes on tough-acting politicians. He’s just getting over one of these affairs of the heart, and is showing signs that him may be ready to get back on the pony of love and ride.

Like his former crush, the new one is a macho-acting Republican. And like the ex, he’s an obvious phony to anyone not smitten with him. Poor Chris. Here’s how he gushed over his new bff, the erstwhile presidential candidate, Fred Thompson:

MATTHEWS: Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man‘s shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of — a little bit of cigar smoke? You know, whatever.

He has also recently flirted with Sen. John McCain, whose “jib” he said he liked (whereas about the New England preppie, Mitt Romney, Matthews said, “He’s got a nice chin, which I noticed.”)

Matthews’ long, lamented ex, of course, is Pres. George W. Bush. Here’s a snippet of Matthews’ perving on the president during the coverage of Bush’s landing on an aircraft carrier in a fighter jet, on May 1, 2003:

Here’s a president who’s really nonverbal. He’s like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was [that] the best picture in the 2000 campaign?

And:

MATTHEWS: The president there — look at this guy! We’re watching him. He looks like he flew the plane. He only flew it as a passenger, but he’s flown —

[A PRO-BUSH PUNDIT]: He looks like a fighter pilot.

MATTHEWS: He looks for real. What is it about the commander in chief role, the hat that he does wear, that makes him — I mean, he seems like — he didn’t fight in a war, but he looks like he does.

But he wasn’t for real, and Matthews had his hopes crushed, and now it appears he’s about to make the same mistake.

Unfortunately, Fred Thompson is not the down-to-earth, Reaganesque figure he appears to be. In reality, he was a professional lobbyist for 18 years — twice as long as he served in the Senate.

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