Mary Katharine Ham on Fred: Where's the beef?

I’m swiping her video of his speech to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation so I won’t say much about her post in order to force you to click over there. Suffice it to say, she’s the first person whose judgment I trust to have reviewed Fred on the campaign trail and after watching the clip I agree with her completely. I can also see, though, how he might make a better impression on the average voter than on journalists or bloggers. His rhetoric about terrorism has been old hat in the right-wing blogosphere since 2002, his rhetoric on immigration old hat since last year, at least. If you’re not knee-deep in punditry every day, it must sound much fresher. His fundraising take this quarter was a million dollars more than the early projections last week, in fact — although still behind Rudy, which surely isn’t where the conservative savior expected to be after his big splash entry into the race.

MK also says Jeri looks even better in person. Damn.