Did anyone hear the exchange between Bill O’reilly and Jerry Thompson? It was very terse and defensive.
I am a strong Thompson supporter, but (in the spirit of constructive criticism,) he has to learn to use humor to let things roll off his back. He also handed attention back to Romney in the debate when he asked him about health care. Fred needs to learn to keep that attention and be more competitively assertive. If you look at the air exposure time in the debate, his was most likely near the bottom.
In response to the President’s question, he was given a golden opportunity to enumerate the enduring conservative principles that will guide his decision making. He chose to wax philosophically on the Constitution and completely waste the opportunity he was given to clearly delineate himself from the rest of the pack. He is way too analytical. He needs to think and speak in outline form.
The American public is used to contestants in reality shows on the tv who are “hungry” competitors. If they aren’t, they are sent packing for not really wanting it enough. Fred made a huge mistake on that one and his perceived lack of hunger is not resonating with the American public. He also has a problem with women. Statistics show that Huckabee resonated highly with women in the Iowa caucus. Their issues would most likely be family related. Fred is at a disadvantage as he is strong state’s rights and doesn’t believe in federal child care, health care, education and social programs. That puts him at a disadvantage. He needs to explain that he supports local community control of these issues.
Terse and defensive because of O’Reilly’s overinflated ego not being staisfied with Jerry Thompson and wanting Thompson himself...
I don’t blame them at all for not being asked what their positions are on issues and wasting their precious little airtime on these trivial side issues.
I also find it interesting that you think citing the Constitution as a guide was a mistake! It was a good answer, but not a great one. The critcism here seems a bit nit-picky to me. One could actually engage in this level of critcism on every single answer he gives. He coulda said, he shoulda said....