I missed the GOP debate, but this seems to be the hook in most stories about it:

President Bush drew sporadic, startling criticism Tuesday night from Republican White House hopefuls....

"I would certainly not send him to the United Nations" to represent the United States, said Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and one-time member of Bush's Cabinet, midway through a spirited campaign debate....

Thompson's answer was the most startling, coming from a man who had once served in the president's Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services....

OK, but remember: this is a Republican talking to other Republicans. To Republicans who hate the UN -- which is a hell of a lot of them -- that's a compliment. It's like saying, "I wouldn't send our president to clean toilets with his bare hands at the contagious hospital."

****

I'm not impressed with the other criticisms, and I don't think they represent a real break with GOP orthodoxy as we've known it. Bush was criticized on immigration? Republicans have always considered it OK to attack him from the right on that issue. We were told that mistakes were made after the fall of Saddam? Bush has said the same thing, at least since the November elections. As far as I can tell, the only criticism of Bush last night that hasn't been pre-approved and pre-digested on the right was Mike Huckabee's fleeting reference to "the way we bungled Katrina" -- and he ascribed that to the Republican Party, not directly to Bush. Sorry, I'm not impressed. It's a baby step.