09/09: A Thompson-Huckabee Debate? No Way!
Category: Campaign 2008.5
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Ed Morrissey's Captain's Quarters reports that Mike Huckabee has challenged Fred Thompson to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. This week Thompson made clear his disdain for the superficial format currently in use, and Huckabee moved quickly to become the first candidate to challenge Fred to put his money where his mouth is. Good move on the part of the Huckabee campaign. The former governor of Arkansas is funny, a good debater, and he does well on TV; nevertheless, he has not penetrated the consciousness of GOP voters. For Huckabee, a debate with Thompson would be a ticket to the big leagues.
On the other hand, Thompson has nothing to gain from facing Huckabee, who may be the most charming and quickest of all the Republican candidates, even as he is virtually unknown.
What could happen in a head-to-head encounter between Thompson and Huckabee? Thompson could very possibly lose, which would likely kill the long-awaited campaign in its cradle. At the very least, a first-tier player gives an opening to a nobody, who, if given a chance, might turn out to be the somebody who wins the whole ballgame.
Fred is a nice guy. Mike is a worthy fellow. But Fred is playing for keeps, and he is not stupid. I will be shocked if this debate comes off. The advantages are too sparse--and the downsides are potentially devastating.
Fred needs to be debating Rudy head-to-head Lincoln-Douglas style--not Huckabee. A more substantive debate (or series of debates) is probably in the offing with several combinations of candidates--but a Thompson-Huckabee face-off, if it comes, will not be before Thompson squares off against Giuliani or Romney.
On the other hand, Thompson has nothing to gain from facing Huckabee, who may be the most charming and quickest of all the Republican candidates, even as he is virtually unknown.
What could happen in a head-to-head encounter between Thompson and Huckabee? Thompson could very possibly lose, which would likely kill the long-awaited campaign in its cradle. At the very least, a first-tier player gives an opening to a nobody, who, if given a chance, might turn out to be the somebody who wins the whole ballgame.
Fred is a nice guy. Mike is a worthy fellow. But Fred is playing for keeps, and he is not stupid. I will be shocked if this debate comes off. The advantages are too sparse--and the downsides are potentially devastating.
Fred needs to be debating Rudy head-to-head Lincoln-Douglas style--not Huckabee. A more substantive debate (or series of debates) is probably in the offing with several combinations of candidates--but a Thompson-Huckabee face-off, if it comes, will not be before Thompson squares off against Giuliani or Romney.
An Iowa Non-Farmer wrote:
Newt is the most brilliant political thinker of this age. He is the modern Churchill. And like the British Bulldog before him, Newt, too, is prophetically warning of the looming threats on the horizon, but alas, no one listens.
Maligned for his past moral failures, and criticized for his cutthroat tactics of the 80s and 90s, Newt is no longer the same man that was Time Magazine's Man of the Year. He is different. He has changed. Going into exile nearly a decade ago, Newt has emerged from the political wilderness as a changed man, a broken man, with the limp of Jacob, with the lisp of Moses. He is a Newt that even the Left has grown to respect and appreciate, even if they do not agree with him.
Earlier this year, Newt appeared with former New York Governor Mario Cuomo at an event at Cooper Union in New York City, hosted by NBC's Tim Russert. At one point Russert truned to Cuomo and asked, "Who do you think would make the best candidate in your party?" Cuomo responded, "Shouldn't you ask me, 'Who do I think would make the best president?'" Then in the deafening silence of rebuke, Mario looked past Russert to Newt, saying, "Well, he still needs to announce." To which the auditorium, full of New York liberals, erupted in applause.
Once hated. Now respected. That's the man from Georgia.