Thompson Announces, Republicans Debate in N.H.

Former U.S. Senator and television star Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, has formally announced his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination. Thompson began airing a television ad describing his campaign goals even as the rest of the Republican field of candidates debated in New Hampshire.

Demonstrating the power of the Thompson presence in the campaign, the very first question of the debate, posed by Fox News Washington Chief Britt Hume, centered on Thompson's contention that having armed students at Virginia Tech could have prevented the massacre unleashed by Cho Seung Hui.

The Second Amendment was a recurring theme during the debate, as the candidates made sure that listeners understood that they each support the individual citizen's right to bear arms.

However, the record shows a different story. When compared to the Democratic candidates, each of the Republican candidates come out smelling like a rose. But Giuliani, McCain, and Romney have less-than-stellar records on their support of Second Amendment rights.

The most exciting segment of the debate occurred when Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee sparred on the War in Iraq. Hume allowed the two great leeway in their exchange, given that it was one of the more spontaneous and interesting segments that has occurred in any of the debates in either Party.

Concerning Ron Paul, The Liberty Sphere continues to have great difficulty with the candidate's assertion that the 9/11 attack was due to the American troop presence on the Arabian peninsula--the reason given by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Mr. Paul makes the mistake of taking the words of Osama bin Laden at face value.

Why should we believe him? Bin Laden is one of the least trustworthy individuals on the planet.

The truth is we were attacked because radical Islamists, i.e., the Jihad, wishes to kill us all in the name of Allah and usher in Sharia Law under the Koran.

And this is why we have maintained all along that Ron Paul will not win the GOP nomination. This shortsighted point of view on what our nation faces in the Jihadists is enough to deny him the support of most Republican voters.

This is, no doubt, a shame, for Mr. Paul is otherwise an attractive candidate with many laudable ideas.

The clear winner in this debate, in our view, continues to be Duncan Hunter, R-California. He has the honor, the integrity, the grasp of the issues, and the ability to articulate his stance on the issues that place him at the head of the pack.

If there was a clear loser in the debate, it would have to be Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, who seemed to lose his train of thought a couple of times. This was not a good night for the Senator, although his lackluster showing did nothing to effect his stance on the issues, which for the most part is strong.

The Liberty Sphere rates the candidates who participate in the debates based upon eight key issues impacting personal liberty--taxes, healthcare, gun rights, immigration policy, abortion, national defense, U.S. foreign policy, and the War on Terror.

Based upon these key issues, we rate the Republican candidates in Wednesday night's debate as follows, with 10 being the highest score:

Duncan Hunter--10
Mike Huckabee--9
Sam Brownback--8
Tom Tancredo--8
Ron Paul--7
Rudy Giuliani--6
Mitt Romney--6
John McCain--5