Work took me away from watching the debate so all I can gauge how it went on is other bloggers and man o’ man, does it look like Fred took it or what? The best take on it tonight comes from Jim Geraghty:
Tonight, Fred Reminded Me of Roy Hobbs.
Winner: Thompson. This performance was so commanding, I wanted his last answer to echo back to the lights in the back of the auditorium, blow out all the lamps and spotlights, for the theme to “the Natural” to play, and for him to trot around the stage in slow motion while sparks showered down in the background.
Classic!
Even Mitt Romneys biggest cheerleader, Hugh Hewitt, called it for Fred:
Fred had a great night, Mitt a good one and Rudy did fine as well.
The debate is finished. Fred will be declared the clear winner. There are a lot of folks on our side of the blogosphere who were pulling for him. He delivered his one-liners better than anyone else. He aggressively attacked Huckabee, showed humor, and looked comfortable on stage.
Fred … win, place and show.
Thompson came out of the gate swinging tonight!
Winner? Fred Thompson. And that isn’t based on my bias, he actually won the debate.
The Fred is finally in the house, he is killing
Society for Independent Thinking:
Fox’s focus groups just called Fred Thompson the Big Winner of the Debate. I think out of the group of 40 only 4 didnt pick Fred as the winner. A great Debate for Fred tonight!
[Fred]…is not only winning this debate, he is giving the most commanding debate performance we’ve seen from any candidate in either party since the beginning of this endless primary process.
Fred Thompson owned this debate. He owned it. He dominated.
The Republican debate in Myrtle Beach was a clear win for Fred Thompson, and that seems to be the building prevailing sentiment. Everyone else seemed content to play defense and just attempt to hold ground. They failed.
Who put the vitamins in Fred Thompson’s oatmeal? We have waited for Thompson to show up on the campaign trail, and tonight he finally did. He had energy, focus, a command of detail, and a willingness to finally engage with the other candidates on the stage. He took almost everyone else aback, and seized momentum that he only occasionally relinquished.
~~~ UPDATE: Fred ate more Wheaties between the debate and his appearance on Hannity & Colmes. He’s smacking Alan Colmes around on Iraq and Iran. He’s looking for battles and winning them. It’s pretty amazing.
It’s official: Fred? is finally a Presidential candidate. He’s got my vote, and may even lose the obligatory question by the middle of his first term if he wins.
He’s got the fire in the belly we’ve been waiting for.
I thought Fred Thompson was the best he’s been in any of the debates and he was the best on the stage tonight. What I liked is that he could clearly articulate conservative principles. Sometimes I feel that these candidates are just mouthing slogans but don’t really believe in any of these principles deep down. Or if they believe in the conservative ideas of small government they can’t explain why and would not be able to persuade anyone who didn’t already agree with them. Tonight, Fred Thompson could do that. All I could think was, where has that guy been?
Pundits and regular people are starting to realize that Fred is the most intelligent, well-informed, thoughtful and GROWNUP guy in the race. I’ve known that all along but not everyone can read subtle signs like I can and they need to sometimes be hit over the head with a ten-pound claw hammer – claw-side down.
The rest of the horses in the race are clever – like sophomores are clever. Only Fred is wise like a grown man should be.
More as I come across them. To think the one night I couldn’t watch it Fred demolishes them all….dammit.
Here are a few of the videos going around right now. First up is Fred’s take on the Iranian boat’s rushing our ships:
And next up is his take on Huckabee. He’s nothing but a Democrat:
Here is too hoping Fred gets a bump out of tonight…..
Here is the focus group:
And Sen. George Allen’s take on the debate:
South Carolina State Senator Ray Cleary on Fred tonight:
This from The Corner:
Just got off the line with someone close to the Thompson campaign–and, more to the point, to Thompson himself. His reading of what took place tonight? Fred Thompson was riled. “Nothing ever upset Fred Thompson more than the story [on the day of the Iowa caucuses] that he was considering dropping out to endorse McCain.” Thompson, my friend explained, has a kind of Reagan-like innocence about him. He can’t understand why anyone would circulate such a rumor–or how the rumor has remained alive. “He’s just not the sort of person who would drop out. And he likes John McCain, always has. But endorse McCain? Are you kidding? He took a swipe at McCain tonight. Didn’t everybody see that? That’s not how you get to be somebody’s running mate. Anyway, the idea that Fred is the kind of person who would run for vice president is just absurd.”
Also, he may be getting major endorsement tomorrow.
Until then, please drop a few coins into Fred’s warchest today:
UPDATE
Check out Right Wing News and their poll of bloggers about who they wanted for President. 57% want Fred out of the whole field. In different scenerios of candidates he won them all. The big one was when he is put against the other major contenders. Mitt, Mike, Rudy, & John. 72% want Fred.
California Conservative runs down Fred’s answer on the recession:
Fred had a great answer, saying that he’ll defend Rudy’s tax cut plan because “it sounds an awful lot like the plan I introduced months ago.” He then stated that revenues are always more than the so-called experts predict before saying that “we’ve got too many two-handed economists”, saying on the one hand this, on the other hand that.
While I would have no qualms about voting for Rudy if he was the nominee (well, maybe a little. He is a bit too socially liberal for me but strong on national security), I have to agree with Fred. That tax plan of Rudy’s was a few months too late and was almost taken verbatim from Fred. But maybe thats a compliment. He liked it so much he copied it.
See author page
Big Fred was the man tonight! With the way the world is today, along with the threats of tomorrow, this election is not the one to roll the dice and gamble on who MIGHT be the right choice to lead us over the next four to eight years. We need to play the percentages and go with the man (sorry Hillary) who’s been around the block a few times and has the knowledge, temperment and consistent message to lead the country. Go Fred!!
I think Fred did extremely well tonight in the debate and I also believe that he won the debate as well. I wasn’t paying too much attention to the others except for RP just to see how much more of a lunatic he can be
Rumor is that tomorrow’s endorsement will be George Allen.
Strike that. Allen already endorsed him.
Haha, GO FRED!! He was fantastic — Huckabee got his clock cleaned!
Fred showed tonight, what I have known all along. If you are really a Conservative — there is no candidate other then Fred Thompson.
Since I don’t watch TV, I didn’t watch the debate. Yahoo’s story suggests to me that all these candidates need serious economic advisors. The story in the economic community is one of stagflation, which if you haven’t lived in Japan or in the U.S. during the ’70s you can’t realize how destuctive stagflation is. Regan’s advisors had to crash the economy to get rid of it. Japan’s “cure” was zero percent interest for 20 something years. The recent economic report is inflation is increasing along with unemployment. Cutting taxes and lowering the interest rates will increase the money supply which would increase inflation, but it probably won’t stop this massive debt induced recession. Those $300-$1000 more rebates (cutting taxes after already cutting taxes) from the IRS are not going to go far when people are paying off $3,000 debt on their credit cards at 29% interest or paying off their homes at those overly inflated prices. What those candidates were doing was encouraging stagflation.
My take on it is to raise interest rates to kill off inflation and focus on retraining. If you didn’t know, people are working the wrong jobs. Remember the baby boomers are retiring. The first set of baby boomers will be hitting 65 in 2 years. 27% of those baby boomers plan to still work which means that 73% of the slots will be open when they hit 65 (76 million of them between 2010-2018). I think every candidate should start with something like this artical.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185894_boomers21.html
The U.S. already has a 100,000 shortfall on troops, most of the teachers now are baby boomers, there is already a shortage of prison guards, boarder patrol agents, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, port workers, rail road workers etc. Even if job positions are cut and some baby boomers stay and work, there will probably be at least 20 million job slots open in an 18 years span. These aren’t low paying jobs that only migrant workers take. In 2007 at an unemployment rate of 4.5% ment that 6.8 million U.S. citizens were out of work at any one time for whatever reason. Even if it jumps to 9% unemployment, there should still be enough well paying jobs out there after retraining to at least list any resession as mild till even the remaining people could find work. Once these people get jobs, they will be paying taxes, rather than getting unemployment/welfare checks, which would have paid for their training.
Fred can, and will beat any Democrap offered. He handed Upchuck his behind and proved his conservative credentials. Oh by the way did I ever tell you how bad Mcshamnisty is.
Hey Curt. I was a big Thompson supporter, then went to not really having anyone to support. This debate got me back into the excitement of the race. Fred did great!
You have one of the best blogs on the Net, btw.
Hey Curt, I might suggest that you miss a few more of Freds appearences if this is the results.
Last night is what many Fredheads have been waiting for. The dumbfounded look on Huck’s face (and most of the other candidates) as Thompson directly hammered him was priceless.
“You know that things are going well in Iraq, because you here so little about it in the New York Times” Classic!
Now all we need is a “surge” in SC for Fred to become viable in this race.
Worst case scenario—–If McCain continues his mojo and pace to knock out the others, I would not mind seeing a McCain/Thompson Ticket destroy the pathetic duo that the dems have presented to the electorate. Even if the economy is an issue this fall, the entitlement givaways and the tax increases the liberals are promising at the expense of the taxpayers pocket book will not bode well.
I can pretty much guarantee Fred will not be a Veep. He is in it to ensure that this country goes in the right direction and a Veep can’t do that.
No, if he doesn’t get the nod he will go back to private life.
Rofl….yeah, seems like I should.
Thanks Scott, always nice to hear stuff like that and welcome back to the land of FredHeadum.
Remember Curt, I said “worst case scenario” and my thought would be that McCain would only run for one term—-which would put Fred in the best place the grab the reins.
Fred did what he needed to do. I had observed a beginning of a rebellion among his supporters on various blogs who DEMANDED that he shows some passion (usually it’s his enemies that do that) and Fred gave them what they wanted. I myself descried on another blog minutes before the debate the character that Fred needed to play in the debate or it would be all over, and he played it down to the last detail. I’d give him an Oscar, but I’m biased. I don’t care why he did what he did, the country needs him.
The way he went after Huckabee was strategic, classy, and just fun to watch. The big question is, that’s asked EVERYWHERE, what’s the deal with McCain, especially him being the front-runner? Is the buddy factor, is it that Huck is the real threat, is it the Michigan “strategery”? Of course nobody knows.
In reality what amazed me was how nice Fox was to him. Magically, all the animosity is gone. The focus group was not stacked. Luntz was fair. Sean was fair, but he often is. What the hell happened? I like it though. I noticed some gradual improvement since the O’Reilly appearance. Perhaps Fox actually heard the massive complaints about treating Fred like pariah, or perhaps after the way Ron Paul’s supporters attacked Sean he is the designated dump-on guy.
Anyway, Fred needs to stay in this energized state and go after Huck like a bat out of hell. I think all that his potential or dubious supporters in SC need to see that he is not a one-hit wonder and he’ll have the nomination.