Will Fred Thompson Be Ready For Prime Time Today?

Today at the 1pm Eastern time Republican debate to be aired live on CNBC, LAW & ORDER bit actor, Fred Thompson gets his first real matchup against the other 8 Republican hopefuls, most of which are far more informed on the issues than Thompson. In the last few days, a crew of Thompson handlers which included the son-in-law of Dick Cheney hoped that they could prepare Thompson enough that he won't make a complete fool of himself onstage by being poorly informed on the issues.

Today's debate is on economics, and could provide for some very humorous answers from Thompson unless his handlers crash course in issues pays off. It was only a few days ago, for example, that Thompson refered to Russia as "the Soviet Union" and lumped our huge trade partner and national bond holder, China, into a silly Cold War era answer that only someone living in a cave would have thought of. If Thompson's answers are of similiar comedy quality, then he could begin the process of being laughed away as any serious choice by many Republicans. Already both James Dobson and Donald Trump have been highly critical of Thompson, viewing him as wholly unqualified to be president.

Certainly the strong debate performances of Hillary Clinton have lifted her into position as the definate front runner, and have especially hurt Barack Obama's hopes to stop her as his inexperience has become clear to many voters. In the same way, Fred Thompson may break himself with a bad performance with today's debate as well and undo his stake as the hope of many conservatives, some of which mistakingly think that he is like Ronald Reagan.

More than any GOP candidate, Thompson has a great lot riding on today's debate performance. If he gets bad reviews, then the unraveling process starts.