Thompson's height, along with him being placed directly in the center, helped. The body language from Romney was interesting. His hand was raised, but came down with a "what he said!", followed by applause and a step to put distance between he and Thompson. I have no clue what it means, but it was interesting!
I do know that Romney was reluctantly raising his hand and appeared glad someone else spoke up.
Yes that’s how I saw it too. It was a little strange.