Of all the candidates on stage last night in the Republican debate, and arguably the most qualified, former Wisconsin Governor and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, looked the most uncomfortable and least likable. And that's a real shame, because last night may have been his swan-song.
I've had dreams of a Thompson-Twins ticket as Fred/Tommy or even Tommy/Fred, but Tommy looked so stiff and even angry at times--it seemed as though he was yelling at the audience each time he answered a question--that I think he would garner very few votes and be an impediment to the ticket. That's a shame.
It is a shame indeed the way we parade candidates out on stage as if for a beauty contest or for their movie audition. A candidate like Tommy Thompson, who has proven himself to be a very creative problem solver with school choice (he pioneered that) and welfare reform (the first Gov. to institute it successfully), doesn't stand a chance if he isn't slick like Romney or affable like Giuliani. Don't get me wrong, Romney is probably a good man, a good candidate, and would likely make a good President (unlike Giuliani, who claims to hate abortion but donates money to further its spread), but Mit doesn't have a truely conservative track record as consistent as Governor Tommy.
Someone needs to sit down with Governor Thompson and explain something to him; that coming off like someones hard-of-hearing grandfather yelling opinions across the kitchen table is not going to win him the laurels and garlands of this country's electorate.
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