Two of Fred Thompson’s early lines hit the same notes as the observations of many of my NR colleagues: “Listening to them you’d think that we were in the middle of a great depression; that we are down, disrespected and incapable of prevailing against challenges facing us… We also know that we live in the freest, strongest, most generous and prosperous nation in the history of the world and we are thankful.”

A very good line to refute the snarky liberal bloggers who have been arguing that McCain’s sentence structure has been “noun, verb, POW.”

Thompson said, “Now, being a POW certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to be President… But it does reveal character.”

“Character you can believe in” also garnered its share of nods and applause.

Ouch: “The respect he is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad.”