An update about those debates …

Fred Thompson has officially declined Mike Huckabee’s acceptance of his request for “Lincoln-Douglas” style debates.

According to his spokespeople, he will focus on one-on-one debates in the general election, when there are only two candidates running.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

More and more, I look at Thompson and think that he’s more an actor than a politician. He didn’t really want debates at all, he just wanted the press for criticizing the debate format. Maybe he didn’t expect anyone to pick up on it.

Or maybe he just watched what Gov. Huckabee did to Rep. Paul at the last debate, and didn’t want a piece of that. There might be wisdom there, but to a certain extent it smacks of Zaphod Beeblebrox from the “Hitch-Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy.” Please forgive me while I paraphrase: Discretion is the better part of valor, and cowardice is the better part of discretion. Zaphod valiantly hid in the closet.

Thompson valiantly turned down  Gov. Huckabee’s invitation to debate, I guess.

Debates

Fred Thompson has, famously, called for a new series of debates, one-on-one. Mike Huckabee has taken him up on it. Now, it remains to be seen if Senator Thompson, the front-runner who has only recently bothered joining the Republican primary race, really meant it. Apparently, he’s not sure that he’s going to take up his own challenge.

Perhaps Thompson heard Governor Huckabee take Ron Paul apart during the latest debate in New Hampshire. Or perhaps he was intimidated by Gov. Huckabee’s wit on “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me” this past Saturday.

In any case, I’m still interested in a President who has courage, not one who talks tough. So, Senator Thompson, let me join the chorus of voices calling for you to put up or shut up … Did you really get into the race? Did you really mean this challenge you put out

… or was it just another bit of Hollywood theatrics from the man who was using not joining the race as a way to gain publicity?