And the least nuanced answer for all is when one is not even permitted to speak.

Global warming is a complicated issue. It is an issue that has the potential for wasting tremendous amounts of the World's wealth. It deserves more than a hand raise.

Is this how all progressives are?

Well, think about it for a minute, stlpatriot. If you had to make their arguments, how long could you do it with a straight face, without resorting to namecalling?

When you're losing the game, sometimes your best move is to flip over the board.

I think that Fred did the right thing. I think this debate has exposed a major liberal media bias. I think Alan Keyes was there just to make Republicans look bad. No one (not even the candidates) even knew Keyes was running. He failed 2 of the qualifications to enter the debate. He acknowledges that he doesn't have an office or a staff in Iowa (or anywhere else). The liberal media will not allow Kucinich or Gravel in the Democrat debate and they stated 2 reasons - the same 2 that should have eliminated Keyes. Keyes is basically a lunatic that hates 90% of the country. The ONLY reason that I can think of for him to be there is bias against Republicans. When is the national media going to report these types of facts? The candidates didn't even know that Keyes was running for president until they showed up for todays debate. The media needs to report the facts and quit trying to influence elections.

"The media needs to report the facts and quit trying to influence elections."

If they did that, a Republican might win, and that will just not do...

Yeah, Gridlock, a complicated issue indeed. But, it would have been a good first step to see who among the Republican candidates agreed with the moderators statement - especially given the depth of denial in the conservative community on the issue of global warming.

Thanks to the conservatives in the U.S., the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that hasn't signed on to the Kyoto accords on global warming. ONly in the conservative community do you have people that still deny that global warming is a reality or, if they do agree it's happening, don't agree that humans are contributors. And, this level of incomprehensible denial comes after YEARS of near-unanomous agreement in the scientific community.

Even the idiots in the Bush Administration agree with both those statements even though their response is to do nothing. Reports out of the meeting in Bali on global warming going on now are that the U.S., once again, is the lone holdout resisting mandated reductions. Add to that, they refuse to sign on to the industrialized nations helping the poor third world nations to cope with the problem AND, for their grand finale', they blocked a proposal asking the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for an updated report before the next round of talks in 2009. Yeah, that's our President!!

All of this while the U.S. is the GREATEST contributor of global warming emissions: with 5% of the world's population, we contribute around 25% of the emissions. Do you think that, as the world starts to deal with catostropic consequences as this unfolds that the U.S. is going to be seen as a pariah nation intent on pursuing it's own good at the expense of the world? And, what do you think will happen when that comes to pass? Love to hear what all you smart, articulate right-wingers have to say to that.

Fred Thompson was GREAT in today's debate! He will do better than anticipated in Iowa, then on to South Carolina, sweep the South, garner the GOP nomination and on to the White House! Poor Hillary, she won't know what hit her!!

Were you aware that the United States has come closer to meeting the goals of Kyoto than any signatory nation other than the nations of the former Eastern Bloc, who have failed their way to success?

Fred's performance in today's debate shows why he IS the only candidate to vote for.

Why didnt Clinton/Gore sign Kyoto when they had the chance?

"Why didnt Clinton/Gore sign Kyoto when they had the chance?"

Why did the Senate vote unanimously, 99 to 0, to refuse authorization to the Clinton Administration to negotiate the Kyoto Treaty? Not only every Republican in the Senate, but every Democrat voted against Kyoto.

But there was a Democrat President back then. The Democrats did not want to saddle their President with a turkey of a treaty, and the Republicans were not willing to destroy the US economy in order to score cheap political points.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, and there is a Republican President, the Democrats are showing no such unwillingness. They are more than happy to destroy the US economy if it means they have a chance to demonize the Bush Administration.

BTW, did you know that the United States has the lowest CO2 generation per unit of GDP of any nation on Earth?

I think that Fred Thompson could see that this was a biased debate. The moderator was unbelievable. The candidates walk in and see someone they didn't even know was running for president or going to be there. I want to know why Alan Keyes was at the debate. I am going to write every internet column, news channel, and newspaper until someone looks into this. It is well known that he is an off the charts radical. Why would the liberal Des Moines Register allow him in a debate when he did not comply and not allow Kucinich and Gravel in the Democratic debate? I think that most people know that Kucinich and Gravel are running for the office. I don't think any Republican knew about Keyes until he appeared on the stage.

yes i did Gridlock, and TY for the "Articulate" answer...

India and China are exempt i believe.. whys that?

I wonder if ABC would have referred to this as a tantrum if Obama or Clinton had done it?

From Johnbo: "All of this while the U.S. is the GREATEST contributor of global warming emissions: with 5% of the world's population, we contribute around 25% of the emissions..."

It depends on what the meaning of "GREATEST" is.

China produces more CO2 than the United States.

Every nation on Earth produces more CO2 than the United States per unit of GDP.

The emissions of CO2 of every industrialized nation outside of the former Eastern Bloc is going up faster than the United States.

True, our per capita production of CO2 is reletively high, but that is merely a reflection of our extremely high levels of productivity. Productivity is a good thing. If a certain amount of goods are to be produced in the World, it is better that they be produced cleanly in the United States than someplace else that is less efficient.

Anyone who stands up to someone from the MSM is thorwing a tantrum.

Fred wasn't throwing a tantrum. He was putting you in your place.

You pitiful ABC liberals... I bet if the same thing happens today and Hillary or Obama refuse to "raise their hands," the headline would read:
"Hillary/Obama takes charge of debate from moderator" or something along those lines.

Wonder why your ratings are dropping?

Stop editorializing your news, and start reporting the facts, or see your ratings fall just like NBC's have.

The only reason I FOUND this site was a link on a trusted conservative website.

"Tantrum." How pitiful.

Tantrum? I have a 5 year old and I know a tantrum when I see one.
How in the world are these people getting away with this. We see something with our own eyes, and they come right out and tell us we didn't see it.

Well, who are you going to believe? An ABC blogger, or your own lyin' eyes?

Cuz I'm an ignernt conservative and never lernt nuthin... I had to look up troglodyte, and as I expected its used in Dungeons & Dragons.

ABC and the left-wingers are just plain nuts. They are so in the bag for the dems, they will lie like the dogs they are. Good Thompson for calling out the librarian like creator who served as a debate moderator, who looked like the one woman even Bill Clinton didn't grope. The raising hands thing is so juvenile, so un-American, so misplaced in a DEBATE, that it was about time it was challenged. I guess the feminists at the Des Moines Register and PBS think free speech applies to everyone but white republican men.