1. Warm, folksy, relaxed — but hard-enough-hitting.

2. “Now, being a POW certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to be president. But it does reveal character.” Nicely formulated.

3. Had anyone ever before used “humility” in connection with John McCain? But it fits, in certain key respects.

4. “It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves: ‘Who is this man?’ and ‘Can we trust this man with the presidency?’” Excellent, even to the point of brilliance. Why? Because it’s both a positive statement on McCain and a negative statement on Obama.

5. “The Senate has always had more than its share of smooth talkers — and big talkers. It still has.” Real, real good.

6. Thompson described Congress as “unpopular” — I’m not sure I would have done that, because unpopular, as we know, is not necessarily wrong.

7. He said that there was nothing new, nothing unorthodox or fresh about Barack Obama — “It is basically the same old stuff they’ve been peddling for years.” True, true. I have a section on that in a speech I give. Obama acts as though the Reagan ’80s, and much else, had never occurred. He’s basically a McGovernite, which is strange for so young a Democrat.

8. Thompson stumbled a lot — cleared his throat, bobbled words and sentences — but got through all right.

9. This business about how McCain can’t lift his arms above his shoulders — I first learned that in a Rich Lowry piece (years ago). Thompson said, “He cannot salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much.” A striking line.

10. Thompson spoke of our needing “a president who feels no need to apologize for the United States of America.” Regular readers know that I quote something Vice President Bush said, in his debate against Ferraro: “I’ll be honest with you: It’s a joy to serve with a president who does not apologize for the United States of America.” Yes.

11. I’ve already mentioned in the Corner that I regard “peace in our time” as a blunder — there is (quite properly) a bad historical odor attached to it (Chamberlain, Munich, umbrella). But, oh well: People forget . . .

12. An effective speech. Maybe not a home run (and the Democrats hit a lot of home runs in Denver), but a solid double.