When caught just the latter part of this interview on Fox News before I had a chance to go back and watch all of it, I thought maybe it was just Neil Cavuto who had lost his mind, but apparently the brilliant idea of having former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson drafted to run for president originated with The Mustache of Misunderstanding, Thomas Friedman.

From Tim Murphy at MoJo -- The Alan Simpson For President Movement Comes of Age:

When we last heard from Alan Simpson, the former Wyoming Senator and GOP co-chair of the Simpson-Bowles Debt Commission was railing against today's disrespectful youths, "walking on their pants with their caps on backwards listening to the Enema Man and Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog." All of which make the calls for him to run for president as inevitable as they are inexplicable.

It began over the summer, when New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said at the Aspen Ideas Festival that "If Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles want to run as president and vice president, I will vote for them." Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer reprised the idea in an interview with Simpson on CNN a few days later. For folks like Friedman, who pride themselves on the boldness of their ideas in the face of a crippling status quo (accurate or not), Simpson is a tantalizing choice. And now, with Republicans still freaking out about their choices for President and Friedman still pining for some sort of third-party savior capable of making tough choices and magically transcending checks and balances, the calls for a Simpson candidacy have picked up again (even though he's not running). [...]

Simpson is a pro-choice Republican who opposed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and doesn't actually seem to understand how Social Security works—despite making it a signature issue. He is also, reportedly, old. But maybe this is his year.

To his credit, when Cavuto asked Simpson if there "was any situation under which he would consider running for president," Simpson laughed and told him "God, that's absurd. I mean, that really can't be... you're a bright guy." To which Cavuto responded, "Not really." Hey, Neil said something on the air I agree with for once!