Another Round of "You're So Reagan..."
Fred Thompson raised the rhetorical stakes of his otherwise lethargic campaign by saying that a struggle for the "heart and soul of the Republican party and its future" is underway. Then, demonstrating that he finds no candidate conservative enough not to lump with Mike Dukakis, Thompson proceeded to label Mike Huckabee a liberal in the mold of the Democratic party.
In a debate where significant time was devoted to questions about the party's adherence to the ideological formulas of its past, calling the man who claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses largely on the strength of fundamentalist, evangelical votes a liberal seems a bit out of place.
Nevertheless, such formulations have helped Republican candidates win elections with stunning regularity since 1980, and if last night's debate was any indication, the liberal label will again feature prominently in this cycle.
: GOP Primary, South Carolina, Conservativism
Fred Thompson was John McCain's best friend in this debate. Striving to save his campaign with an all or nothing approach in South Carolina, Thompson decided to be aggressive and negative. Obviously believing that his best chance to win lies in stealing Mike Huckabee's evangelical support, Thompson attacked Huckabee for being liberal. He even accused Huckabee of wanting to ban smoking everywhere on state's rights grounds. It is South Carolina, so this long shot strategy may work with the voters, and immediately following the debate, the members of the FOX focus group seemed impressed. Their strong image of him seemed to fade, however, as the post-debate period unfolded, and I would expect the same to happen among the GOP primary voters. This debate seemed to shape the South Carolina primary as a two-person contest between McCain and Huckabee.
McCain's answers to the accusations of abandoning Reaganism were more effective. He was able to tap into his age by reminding people he was a "foot soldier" in the revolution. Soldier is a good rhetorical image for McCain anyway. He was able to tap into his image as a straight talker by admitting that the 1994 revolution changed the party and caused it to drift from the Reagan principles. Through it all, he was able to stay above the fray. He did not have to attack Huckabee, because Thompson was doing that, and he avoided attacks pretty well. He did go after Romney again, but it seems like he can't stop himself from that, and kicking Romney seems like one of the favorite sports for this group of candidates right now anyway.
