One way you can tell that David Broder is smarter than mere mortals is his observation that Fred Thompson was the life of the Republican nomination contest.
You would never realize how big the stakes are in Tuesday’s winner-take-all Florida Republican primary if you judged only the behavior of the leading presidential candidates these last few days.
Their final pre-primary debate was bland to the point of apathy…
But their televised confrontation in Boca Raton on Thursday was haunted by the spirit of the departed Fred Thompson. It was as if the actor and former senator had left a blanket of boredom behind when he exited the race after finishing third behind McCain and Huckabee in South Carolina.
The big Tennessean departed so quickly and quietly it was hard to remember the trumpet fanfares that had greeted his entry into the race as the last of the “major contenders” to announce.
Yes, in Broderland, Grandpa Fred Thompson is the tonic for apathy whose departure from the field left a ‘blanket of boredom’ on the race.
