Last night’s debate was immensely entertaining, as I relate in today’s New York Post. And it ought to put paid to the notion that the Fox News Channel is a Republican shill machine, since it featured the toughest and most pointed questioning in any presidential-primary debate ever. But the debate highlighted a very strange aspect of this race: Just how second-rate the candidates are. When it comes to speaking seriously about issues, showing appropriate demeanor, and connecting both to an actual political record, there are only two candidates in the race now that seem remotely plausible in the arena with Barack Obama, and one of them (sorry, Abe) knocked himself out of the race last night for good.
Tim Pawlenty is a mystifying candidate. He’s fluent. He’s smart. He’s quick on his feet. He knows policy. He’s a conservative and he has mainstream credentials and a history of accomplishment. What he doesn’t have is…it. He’s lacking it, whatever the it is that a candidate who can connect to voters has. And when he decided last night to tussle with Michele Bachmann, who is a stone killer of a politician, he literally shrank before our eyes. Read more »
