The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Greetings From Spartanburg!
REPUBLICAN DEBATE ON CBS
UPDATE: ‘No Runs, No Hits, No Errors’

Posted on | November 12, 2011 | 62 Comments

SPARTANBURG, S.C.
UPDATE 9:27 p.m. ET: Just caught Carl Cameron on his way out of the filing center. “What’d ya think?” he asked.

“Seemed pretty standard, except for Ron Paul,” I said.

“Yeah — no runs, no hits, no errors,” Carl said. “And Perry’s still alive.”

That’s a neutral, objective fact — and quite important. After Perry’s big flub Wednesday, it looked bad for him. But he came back very strong tonight.

Also, I’d say that Herman Cain came in well-prepared. Foreign policy is his weakest suit, so for him to escape without a major gaffe is a victory for Cain.

The debate is over and I’m heading to the “spin room.”

UPDATE 9:19 p.m. ET: Gingrich is saying something very smart-sounding, but I’m looking over at the post-debate “spin room,” where the campaign proxies are starting to assemble, so I’m heading that way for a minute just to scope out the scene. Will be back in a few.

UPDATE 9:16 p.m. ET: Jim DeMint asks a question, which goes first to Romney, then Huntsman. Eventually, they’ll get around to the non-Mormon candidates.

UPDATE 9:14 p.m. ET: Michele Bachmann isn’t wearing a gay tie, and doesn’t agree with Ron Paul.

UPDATE 9:12 p.m. ET: Rick Perry goes upside Ron Paul’s head, calls Paul’s ideas a “travesty.”

(Friends on Twitter point out that Ron Paul’s tie is as gay as Jon Huntsman’s.)

UPDATE 9:10 p.m. ET: Ron Paul hates lawless warmongers like Barack Obama.

UPDATE 9:09 p.m. ET: Herman Cain would reverse everything the Obama administration has done, as would Rick Santorum.

UPDATE 9:08 p.m. ET: Lindsay Graham wishes he was wearing Jon Huntsman’s tie.

UPDATE 9:07 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney gives the Mitt Romney answer.

UPDATE 9:06 p.m. ET: Ron Paul gives the Ron Paul answer.

Linked by The Lonely Conservative.

UPDATE 9:05 p.m. ET: Gingrich talks Syria. Name-checks Assad. He wants “mostly convert” response.

UPDATE 9:03 p.m. ET: Herman Cain talks “Arab spring.” The revolutions “have gotten totally out of hand.” Expresses concern about Muslim Brotherhood taking over Egypt. Obama has been on the wrong side of everything.

UPDATE 9:02 p.m. ET: Congresswoman Bachmann — that’s “Michele” to you, Rick Santorum — talks defense budgets. Turns it into repealing ObamaCare.

UPDATE 8:58 p.m. ET: Perry wants foreign aid to start at zero. Now the East Coast loses live TV coverage on CBS. And everybody in the Eastern Time zone is switching to TheOtherMcCain.com, for crucial coverage of Jon Huntsman’s gay tie.

UPDATE 8:52 p.m. ET: Huntsman’s gay tie — is that purple or fuschia? — is all about free trade. He likes young Chinese bloggers. IYKWIMAITYD.

COMMERCIAL BREAK!

UPDATE 8:50 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney hates him some Chinese! He’s anti-eggroll.

UPDATE 8:49 p.m. ET: China! Rick Perry talks China — the Communist Chinese government! He wants to win the Cyber War against those commies!

UPDATE 8:47 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich gets huge cheers for explaining that enemy combatants don’t have no dadgum rights.

UPDATE 8:46 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney bashes Obama. Scott Pelley hates booing.

UPDATE 8:44 p.m. ET: Jon Huntsman has a gay tie. He’s anti-waterboarding.

UPDATE 8:42 p.m. ET: Michele Bachmann also supports waterboarding. And looks lovely saying so, don’t you agree?

Did I mention my wife reads this blog? Did I mention I love my wife? Because that’s kinda important.

UPDATE 8:41 p.m. ET: Herman Cain supports waterboarding as an “enhanced interrogation technique.”

UPDATE 8:40 p.m. ET: Rick Perry starts with a joke about his memory. He talks about being commander-of-chief of the Texas National Guard. He feels “very comfortable from Day One.”

Day Two, also. Day Three … uh, wait. Day Three … ?

UPDATE 8:38 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum will surround himself with people who will execute his policies. “Laser beam focus.”

UPDATE 8:36 p.m. ET: Herman Cain will listen to his generals.

UPDATE 8:30 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum just called Bachmann “Michele.” The media won’t notice, but he’s gonna get the evil eye from his wife. Santorum meanwhile talks some serious stuff about Pakistan. He just used the word “nexus.”

COMMERCIAL BREAK!

UPDATE 8:28 p.m. ET: Gingrich loves him some adverbs! He’s also “insistent” about protecting Copts in Egypt.

UPDATE 8:26 p.m. ET: Major Garrett reminds us that Michele Bachmann serves on the House Intelligence Committee. And is indisputably the most attractive member of the committee.

Wait — it’s sexist to notice that, isn’t it?

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

UPDATE 8:23 p.m. ET: Rick Perry hates him some foreign aid. He don’t trust him no Pakistanianese, either.

UPDATE 8:22 p.m. ET: Cain talks Pakistan with great fluency. Just wait until they ask him about Vanuatu.

UPDATE 8:20 p.m. ET: Mitt’s blue tie is very hetero.

UPDATE 8:19 p.m. ET: Jon Huntsman looks unserious in a gay purple tie. Because I’m homophobic, too.

UPDATE 8:18 p.m. ET: Michele Bachmann sounds serious talking about Afghanistan, and also looks serious, wearing black with her hair up. Yes, I know: It’s sexist to comment on her wardrobe. But she’s standing on stage with a bunch of guys in dark suits.

UPDATE 8:15 p.m. ET: Santorum reminds us of his foreign-policy credentials And runs over time talking about Iran.

UPDATE 8:13 p.m. ET: Rick Perry gets through his first answer without saying anything stupid. But he doesn’t answer the question, so he gets a follow-up. He does good.

UPDATE 8:11 p.m. ET: Ron Paul gets applause from Ron Paul fans.

UPDATE 8:10 p.m. ET: Gingrich opens with some great sarcasm about Obama’s dumb policies. “I agree entirely with Governor Romney.”

UPDATE 8:09 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney wants more time!

UPDATE 8:06 p.m. ET: First question to Herman Cain, about Iran’s nuclear weapons. He sounds pretty well-prepared. He gets a follow-up and handles it pretty well, too.

UPDATE 8:05 p.m. ET: Scott Pelley opens with a lecture and lays down the ground rules, hands it over to Major Garrett, who introduces the candidates.

UPDATE 8 p.m. ET: We’re LIVE nationwide on CBS.

EXPECT FURTHER UPDATES . . .

* * * PREVIOUSLY 6:56 p.m. ET * * *

We’re here at the Republican presidential debate at Wofford College (8 p.m. ET, CBS). Ali Akbar and Karen Martin have got a group of us bloggers into the event. I’m being assisted in this endeavor by my12-year-old son Jefferson:

Carl Cameron of Fox News and Jefferson McCain. Let’s face it, how many eighth-graders get official media credentials and hang out with network anchors at a presidential debate?

Ali Akbar and the ladybloggers of Politicalistas.com.

UPDATE: A couple more quick photos:

The stage it set, the lights are lit, the candidates are getting ready backstage and we await the moment when the moderators for CBS ask the crucial question: “Who’s buying Stacy’s beers at the after-party?”

You might not think that the warning sign at the right would be necessary, but this is South Carolina, after all. They take their Second Amendment rights very seriously down here.

The world’s loneliest Romney girl was asking people to take stickers. Not a lot of MittMania here in Spartanburg.

This family of Cainiacs was doing a standout by the entrance to Wofford College, surrounded by about 50 screaming Ron Paul fanatics. I’ve got video of the Paulistas and will upload shortly.

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Category: Debates, Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Spartanburg, South Carolina

Comments

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  • http://www.redstateeclectic.typepad.com AngelaTC

    And that’s the mindset that has given us the left leaning party and government we have today.  

    The Constitution defines treason, outlines the trial process, and specifically gives the power of deciding the penalty to the Congress.  Damn those Libertarians for insisting that the Founders meant what they wrote

  • http://www.redstateeclectic.typepad.com AngelaTC

    Paul had 89 seconds.

  • Anonymous

    Once again, when a signatory to the Conventions is fighting someone who isn’t following them, the signatory is under no obligation to extend the benefits to the pirates/ terrorists in question.

    If the signatories on what ever list you have are wrong from the get-go, I really don’t care how many there are.

  • Anonymous

    Do you speak Farsi? I’ll trust people who do and who have first hand experience of what happens when you don’t take dictators at their word.

  • Anonymous

    Which is why those same Founders gave the Tories three choices after the Revolution: leave, STFU, or die. The Constitution is not a suicide pact.

  • Pingback: Spartanburg Remainders: CBS Debate Inspires Media Fear and Loathing : The Other McCain

  • Tennwriter

    The Libertarians are the enablers of the Left.  A strong man wants to hold back the enemy and he makes ready with sword and shield, but then up comes his chihuahua, Libertarian, and starts biting at his ankles just as he’s about to cleave the vomitous orcs in twain.

  • Anonymous

    That would explain why nobody’s answers were particularly dispiriting.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    In this Metrosexual Age, one’s Gaydar has amuch tougher time of it.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Pahk-ee-stan can never be a true ally until it rejects Islam.

    Taqiyya and all that.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    The world would be a lot better off if the Indians nuked that Godforsaken place.

  • http://therepublicanmother.blogspot.com Republicanmother

    This statement is hilarious. All these “conservatives” advocating traditional liberal foreign policy.  It really cracks me up. They are the true enablers of the left, using fear of government expansion, while spending 25% of the federal budget on a black hole of a defense dept to ever expand that area of the budget. 

    The name-calling is proof of the intellectual bankruptcy. 

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