Fox News Angles for Rabid GOP Debate

The GOP debate Wednesday in New Hampshire kicked off with a question that established an aggressive tone for the rest of the evening: Where's Fred Thompson?

The fifth debate sponsored by the New Hampshire State Republican Party and Fox News was by far the liveliest yet. Fox News looked for every hot button and pushed them fast and furiously.

The opening push was aimed at the candidate not present: Thompson. The lumbering Tennessee politico/actor chose to skip the debate to announce his candidacy on NBC's Tonight Show With Jay Leno, but that didn't stop his fellow candidates from ripping into him. Indeed, Fox, apparently miffed at being upstaged, dangled the Thompson candidacy before them like a bagful of kittens before a pit bull. "Maybe we're up past his bedtime," sniped Sen. John McCain.

It seems Fox News read about Mitt Romney skewering Rudy Giuliani on immigration. Chris Wallace asked Giuliani about his sanctuary policy, and Giuliani was prepared. He dodged the sanctuary issue, but he did point out that the Immigration and Naturalization Service refused to respond to law enforcement requests when he was mayor. What could Giuliani do but create policies to deal with a problem he didn't invent that was perpetuated by the federal government?