There are a lot of moving parts under the surface of the brief clip above. Bob Krumm writes:

I don’t know what’s the best part of this video response to Michael Moore’s publicity stunt: the cigar, the appropriate disdain, the lecture, the humor, or the quickness of the response, but what I do know is that Fred Thompson is the first politician anywhere to understand how the speed of the internet can change politics.

This is something that should alarm Fred’s opponents–both Republican and Democrat. In certain military circles there’s this concept known as the “OODA Loop.” OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. The late Colonel John Boyd, a Korean War pilot, came up with the concept to try to explain why American pilots were so much better than their opponents in dogfights. He determined that through a combination of training, aerodynamics, and cockpit design, American pilots and their aircraft could more quickly observe a stimulus and respond. It allowed them to react and act again and again so quickly, that at some point, the American fliers were an entire decision cycle ahead of their opponents. It’s called “getting inside your opponent’s OODA loop.”

Somewhere I recall reading that one of the (many) things that sunk George Allen's reelection campaign after his "Macaca" gaffe was the in-fighting amongst his staff for the proper response of a potential presidential candidate (ahh, hubris) such as Allen to being hammered endlessly by the Washington Post. Similarly, I can't imagine Hillary knocking off a quickie YouTube clip such as Fred's without having to go through at least a dozen different handlers, advisors, and speech writers.

And note the timing of it:

By the way, Thompson’s response to Moore will have a much greater impact on the presidential campaign than anything said at this little shindig tonight. It’ll be seen by many more people too.

Plus a soundbite such as the above clip is infinitely more digestible than having to wade through 90 minutes or so of debate, particularly this early in the race.

As Mickey Kaus adds:

More important, I think: quite apart from its advantages as a campaign tool, the video is itself evidence of Thompson's actual presidential qualifications. You can't make a quickie spot like this unless a) you know what you think (or have a really fast pollster) b) you can react to new situations quickly, and c) you have some sense of theater. Those are all extremely important things for a president to have.

George Bush was reelected in part due to New Media, which discovered CBS's Ra^therGate scam and acted as a force multiplier to the Swift Boat Vets' ad budget. But I'm not sure how much the Bush team fully understood the dynamics of the Blogosphere. (Remember, prior to both parties' 2004 conventions and Ra^therGate itself, blogs were far from a household world--and note that a certain former CBS producer later said that she hadn't heard of any of the big players on the right until after the fact. Thanks again, Dan!)

It's too soon to fully gauge the impact, but we may just be witnessing the first Republican presidential candidate who actually knows what he's doing in the world of New Media.

Update: Welcome Bob Krumm readers; Krumm notes that Moore brought a knife to a gunfight: "While Michael Moore wrote a letter, it was Thompson who bested the 'film maker' on film"--even better: digital video, on the brand new Breitbart.TV.

More: "This stuff matters. And Thompson's damn good at it."