I‘m suffering from debate fatigue, but there were a few good moments in tonight’s debate, and none more impressive than this sudden awakening by Fred Thomspon (video below), who I think emerged as the evenings clear winner. I hadn’t noticed Thompson using cue cards in the earlier debates, so maybe that was the key here. Regardless, he clearly came ready to play, and for the first time he seemed a bit desperate–almost like he wants to be president. He also one-upped Huckabee over the incident in the Gulf when Huck attempted to talk tough by saying that any Iranian who dared attack a U.S. ship would end up seeing the “gates of hell.” I thought that landed with a real thud (though Huckabee did have some funny lines over the course of the evening). It should have been red meat, but it sounded creepy and over the top–maybe because Huck just doesn’t have what it takes to play a convincing tough guy. When Fred got his chance to jump in, he didn’t disagree: “One more step, you know, and they would have been introduced to those virgins they’ve been looking forward to seeing.” The crowd reacted much better to that, and Thompson was on all night with his delivery. As far as McCain’s performance, I thought he did well enough, but unlike Continetti, I didn’t think his exchange with Paul was a big success. In the wake of the revelations this week about Ron Paul’s newsletters, it clearly diminishes the party to have him present, and it’s now clear that there was never anything to be gained from engaging him on his own terms. You can’t win an argument with a crazy person–or a guy who either doesn’t listen or can’t hear what you say. More debate coverage at the Campaign Standard: Stephen Hayes calls it for Thompson, Fred Barnes and Dean Barnett score it for Huckabee, and Kristol offers his take here.
