Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant
TWO OTHER VIEWS:
—Ten Things About Fred Thompson Participating In His First Republican Presidential Candidates Debate
—The Elephant In The Room Has Stature
UPDATE: TMV’s Joe Gandelman did this post on Thompson and it almost sounds as if The Washington Post’s David Broder read it. Broder writes:
Fred Thompson did not disgrace himself in his first formal debate as a Republican presidential candidate, but he also did not dominate the stage full of White House hopefuls in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday.
….Thompson was treated respectfully by his rivals and his positions differed little from theirs: support for free trade, tax cuts, spending restraint and regulatory relief. He was specific — and politically courageous — on one point, recommending a change that would index future Social Security benefits to prices, rather than wages, a change that over time would modestly reduce monthly benefits and help keep the system solvent. That is a change that opponents can criticize easily, even though it’s good policy. But Thompson’s frowning expression conveys less optimism than Romney’s or McCain’s, and his slow drawl has little of the urgency of Giuliani’s message.
Broder felt the real stand-out was someone else:
It was hard for the leading candidates to acknowledge any serious blemishes in the current economic scene. That was left to others — most notably former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a populist preacher who has been gaining traction among religious conservatives and disaffected working people. He admonished his colleagues that people “hear Republicans on this stage talk about how great the economy is, and frankly when they hear that, they’re going to probably reach for the dial.”