My hacks this week are all ten Republican debaters from last night. I was at an ISI function all day, but listed to the debate over at MSNBC when I got back. From my listening, I could barely tell the difference with most of the field. Romney seemed slick, McCain seemed old, and Giuliani seemed to not be in focus. The rest of the field is a blur, and I've been following this thing since January of 2005! OK, Ron Paul distinguished himself. As a loon.

The picture to the left is making me laugh now. From right, Romney-bot, Brownback looks like he's sneezing, and Ron Paul looks like a gnome of some sort.

No one did poorly, they all did mediocre. It seemed like most of the second-tier candidates got lost in the shuffle. Quite a shame, and I think it may be a fault in the format rather than in the candidates themselves. As for who won?

Well that brings me to this week's hero, Fred Thompson.
By 'not-running' for President, he's able to keep distinguishing himself, and the informal 'Draft Thompson' movement seems to be picking up steam. Go Fred, go!

UPDATE: Peggy Noonan has great points on Reagan fixation:

This is a piece about Thursday night's Republican presidential debates, but first I would like to note that the media's fixation with which Republican is the most like Reagan, and who is the next Reagan, and who parts his hair like Reagan, is absurd, and subtly undermining of Republicans, which is why they do it. Reagan was Reagan, a particular man at a particular point in history. What is to be desired now is a new greatness. Another way of saying this is that in 1960, John F. Kennedy wasn't trying to be the next FDR, and didn't feel forced to be. FDR was the great, looming president of Democratic Party history, and there hadn't been anyone as big or successful since 1945, but JFK thought it was good enough to be the best JFK. And the press wasn't always sitting around saying he was no FDR. Oddly enough, they didn't consider that an interesting theme.

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along. They should try instead a pleasant. "You know I don't think I'm Reagan, but I do think John Edwards may be Jimmy Carter, and I'm fairly certain Hillary is Walter Mondale."

Labels: 2008 Watch, Fred Thompson, Giuliani, McCain, Romney

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, May 04, 2007 at 10:55 AM | Permalink |