Mark My Words - commentary on news, politics, religion, philosophy, science and social issues

Though Barack Obama has stumbled a bit in New Hampshire, he still remains formidable due to his ability to connect with and inspire voters. Of course there is also his very real lack of solid experience and his campaign seeming to be more charisma than substance. But can some conservative pundits really criticize Obama for being style over substance with any credibility?

It will be interesting to see, should Obama be the Democrat candidate or even get the VP slot, to see Michelle Malkin or Allahpundit at Hot Air try that against the senator, when they've been complaining about the style of Fred Thompson for some time now. Of course Thompson's campaign has made mistakes, but name one campaign that has been run perfectly? Yes, Delaware was a debacle, as she notes, but I know that as of January 4th that Mike Huckabee was not yet registered in a state that has its primary in May. The cut off date for registering there is Feb. 22nd. In the issue of fairness, wouldn't mentioning the Huckster's slow move on that be appropriate?

Putting other campaigns aside, it's rather silly for Michelle, though I love her, to get all defensive and say Thompson's problems are all his own creation. Is Michelle claiming that the MSM has more effect on conservatives than she or other conservatives have or that the MSM has none at all, or is it just that because some conservatives happen to say the same as the MSM this time, it can only be observation, with absolutely no vicious circle possible this time?

Michelle has tried to say it isn't just the MSM pushing this meme, by noting that the New Hampshire Fox News debate focus group made similar negative comments about Fred Thompson.

That’s a regular citizen saying that, ok? Not the Evil Conspiratorial Media.

Sorry, but am I really supposed to be impressed when they say Fred Thompson says all the right things, has a lot of knowledge but they falter over his style? Before the Iowa caucus, someone noted elsewhere that an Iowa focus group said they didn't like attack ads because they were interested in issues, then went on to discuss shallow matters and politicians needing to kiss up to the voters, with the only real issue brought up by a Fred Thompson supporter. With such cognitive dissonance in the country, it's no wonder Barack Obama is still strong in the race and Mike Huckabee is such a looming problem. Appealing to that New Hampshire focus group, is hardly making ones case, unless one wants to claim to be just as confused and wanting to be stroked as much as the voters sampled therein.

So, how can some conservative pundits have any credibility criticizing Barack Obama for only having style and no substance, when they've ignored the substance of Fred Thompson because they didn't like his style?

Sorry guys, but I think eventually you may find yourselves saying *oops* didn't think that would bite me in the ass. Unfortunately, that short-sightedness may also bite the country in the ass as well.

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