The Fred Thompson Epiphany

The South Carolina debate the other night is resulting in an epiphany for many in the Palmetto State and elsewhere after a feisty Fred Thompson attacked the issues ( and other candidates) in a way that GOP voters have been looking for:

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — John and Ann Berenberk dutifully watched the umpteenth Republican presidential debate on television on Thursday night and had an epiphany. It was about the candidate they had previously referred to as the tall, silent one. Fred D. Thompson.

The last of the candidates to enter the race, Mr. Thompson, 65, a former Tennessee senator, has so far seemed to distinguish himself mainly by a laconic style that has made him almost invisible beside the others on the stage in past debates, the Berenberks said.

“But then last night — we hadn’t even been thinking about him — all of a sudden it was clear he was the one,” said Mr. Berenberk, a retired teacher. “The bluntness, the forcefulness. He was really impressive.”

Whether this was a new Fred Thompson, or just a sign of mirage-inducing campaign fatigue among voters, many people attending Mr. Thompson’s campaign rallies here on the day after the debate reported having similar revelations.

Mr. Thompson, who remarked Friday that he had “always been laid back — laid back when I became a U.S. prosecutor at 28, laid back when I became staff counsel to the Watergate committee at 30, laid back when I ran and won election twice to the United States Senate” — was clearly more combative on Thursday night than he had been in past debates.

I was a fan of Fred's from his first Fox News interview in early 2007 and anxiously awaited his entry into the race. However, like many others, my enthusiasm waned when his campaign was pushed further and further into the Fall and then seemed to stall on day one. The Fred of the South Carolina debate is the guy we were hoping would show up, a commanding presence who espouses the same ideas we believe in and in a one-on-one debate would make Hillary Clinton look like a bratty mouse and Barack Obama look like an inexperienced schoolboy.

With less than a week to go in South Carolina there will have to be a pretty significant move in public opinion to propel Fred to the top, but we saw a big swing in New Hampshire at the last minute so we know it can happen.

Oh, and I don't expect that Fred will need to cry to bring voters to him.