My thoughts on Fred Thompson in the debate tonight.

a) He looks really bald on TV.

b) They quizzed him like a schoolboy.

“What is the importance of a strong dollar?” is an unwieldy question designed to see if he could explain a boring, complicated topic in terms that are easy to understand. And he couldn’t. His answer wasn’t ignorant, I suppose, but it came across as too simplistic. Of course, if he had dealt with the technical issues more it would have appeared like he couldn’t communicate. It was a lose/lose for him, and he needed to find a way to latch onto one single, understandable, relatable issue and blow it up.

“Who is the Prime Minister of Canada?” was just condescending; the question itself made it look like he was dumb, even though he answered correctly. And, in fact, I was a little surprised that he answered it correctly.

Great comment: “I’ve enjoyed watching these guys, but I’ve gotta admit it was getting a little boring without me.”