No conspiracy theory is necessary to explain Fred's poor performance. He tried to play outside the rules and got burnt. Plain and simple. Saying that, Fred as Romney's VP is a victory in my book since he has run such a terrible campaign (i.e. got in too late, has been forced to play catchup to raise dollars and infastructure, all of which has prevented him from focusing on getting his message out).
Fred will not be anyone’s VP. The other front-runners are just left of middle and he is a conservative.
Ron Winter at "Ron Winter's Site"
But after watching the ABC debates on Saturday night, and the Fox News forum on Sunday night, it is obvious that the only candidate who will really provide change is Fred Thompson! How so, you might find yourself asking yourself?
Simple, after being declared the hands down winner of the Saturday debate by ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos, an astute observation, I also watched the GOP candidates' performance closely on Sunday. After only 10 minutes or so a pattern emerged.
Fox moderator Chris Wallace spent inordinate amounts of time monitoring a verbal menage a trois starring Mitt Romney and John McCain, with Mike Huckabee jumping in from time to time. In terms of time on camera, Rudy Giuliani was allowed a distant fourth, followed by Thompson, who was jumped over by Wallace on several occasions.
Yet, when he did have an opportunity to speak, Thompson was direct, open, honest and on the money.
When the issue of immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens arose, the rest of the panel tried all manner of contortions to redefine 'amnesty' and who was for it or against it.
But Fred Thompson jumped right to the heart of the issue - social and economic conditions in Mexico that are generating so many immigrants in the first place. Thompson chastised the president of Mexico for bad-mouthing the United States on our desire to police OUR border. Thompson also said that while both countries benefit from trade, Mexico needs to clean up its own act - which in my opinion includes astronomical unemployment, wanton pollution, criminals in and out of government, corruption and drug smuggling to name but a few issues.
This response was classical Thompson, right to the heart of the issue without all the window dressing and posturing.
Compare Thompson's response in immigration to the biggest issue of the night between the other candidates:
"Governors are smarter than Senators."
"No they aren't!"
"Yes there are!"
"Senators are smarter than Governors!"
"No they aren't!"
"Yes, they are!"
Scintillating debate I'll tell you.
At first I thought Thompson was being deliberately shortchanged by Fox, what with Wallace ignoring him in favor of the other candidates, but then a patten emerged: Giuliani, Huckabee, Romney and McCain squabbling over inconsequential nonsense, while Thompson quietly waited his turn, then KAPOW! Thompson drove straight to the heart, showed he had complete command of the issues and the ideas on how to deal with them.
How does Thompson represent the candidate of real, positive change? Simple, he isn't bombastic, he really cares about the future of America, he will do what he says he will do, he doesn't bury the voters in an avalanche of verbosity, he has ideas that will work.
That is not only a change from the onslaught we have seen from the rest of the candidates for both parties, it is a refreshing change, and one that can work.