The thing about Fred over Mitt is that Mitt comes across as a career polititian, selling snake oil...”step right up, 2 for a dollar, it soothes smoothes, turns a sandwich into a banquet, it will fix your back, fix Iraq..your satisfaction is gauranteed”.
Fred strikes me as a Statesman
Fred would have been obliterated tonight - he talks way too slow and his answers aren’t suited for 30 seconds at all.
Romney did very well in this format.
I can’t say I agree with you at all. Romney comes across as the consummate business executive and family man. So many of his answers have an economic theme to them. Time and time he’s shown he understands the way businesses work and the way the legal system works. He’s by far the most competent politician I’ve seen in a long time, and he’s got the record and the speaking skills to pull it off. Washington could seriously use a big dose of Wall Street about now.
That said, Thompson’s strength is in his firmness, his bulldoggish straightforwardness. He’s a very affirming character. If he wasn’t so eloquent and on his toes, he’d fall into trouble by being compared to Bush. I think he’ll escape that more than okay. I think Americans are tired of Bush’s stubborness and (more than that) his unwillingness to explain himself thoroughly. Thompson has a way of getting his points across.
Right now I’m going to stick by my earlier belief:
Romney > Fred >>>>>>Anyone else. But I’m very interested in seeing them debate. And I think either would make an excellent candidate, and both can (and IMHO WILL) defeat the Rats.
I guess I expect my politicians to come across like politicians. I think Romney comes across as presidential, and since we are a movie-of-the-week kind of world, it doesn’t surprise me that he looks like “movie-of-the-week” presidential to some.
Fred definitely has a different delivery. It will be good for him to get into the race when there are fewer candidates — I’m not sure his style would have stood out on the stage tonight, although I’m certain he would have done well.
I think Romney benefited the most from Fred not being there, because Romney came across in my mind as the leader in framing the answers, and not just because he got to go first so much. I think Fred would have done just as well with it, which would have detracted from Mitt.