Kristol: ‘Lackluster’ Jeb Reminded Me of Fred Thompson

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol stated that GOP presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s “lackluster” debate performance reminded him of Fred Thompson and made him wonder if Jeb’s running “because everyone told him ‘You’ve got to run,'” on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead.”

Kristol was asked if Jeb met his standard in the previous night’s debate. He answered, “If so, I mean, barely. I just thought he was sort of lackluster, didn’t seem to have the fire in his belly, to use a cliche. You know, he reminded me of someone I know very well, and felt would have been a president, Fred Thompson, who ran in 2007, 2008, entered the race really with a lot of promise, it turned out he didn’t really have the — his heart in it. And I really looked at Jeb Bush last night and thought, fine man…very good governor, a real policy wonk. Is he running because everyone told him ‘You’ve got to run,’ or is he because he really want to be president?”

Earlier, Kristol said that Carly Fiorina was “terrific” and that Marco Rubio was “particularly strong” in the primetime debate.

Kristol also criticized Donald Trump’s refusal to say that he would support the nominee if he didn’t win the primary, saying that Trump “hurt himself a lot.” Although, Kristol did admit that he has been saying Trump has peaked for the last two weeks, and has been wrong about that.

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