Grandpa Fred’s big day

General consensus is that Fred Thompson did OK in his first debate, neither lighting up the stage nor falling off it. I guess that is true but why oh why would he spend so much time talking up the great state of America’s economy while in Dearborn, Michigan. When one wants to witness the sorry state of US auto manufacturing, Dearborn and Flint are the absolute front lines. The unemployment rate in Michigan is 7.4%, way, way above the national average. Focusing on how super-bitchin’ things are elsewhere seemed to me kind of heartless and dismissive of the audience.