SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATE

Posted on | January 16, 2012 | 33 Comments

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
UPDATE: 11:57 p.m. ET: The debate’s been over for an hour, and all the dudes who were just Twittering have left. Bandwidth is now excellent, but I’m on deadline for The American Spectator.

UPDATE: 10:42 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum says he voted 100% with the NRA: “lifetime A-plus rating.” Takes a shot at Ron Paul for voting against a bill to protect gun manufacturers.

UPDATE: 10:39 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney says he’s in favor of gun ownership, but does not threaten to shoot the Wi-Fi provider in the filing center, who is a varmint.

UPDATE: 10:33 p.m. ET: Wonderful discussion just now about Social Security reform. Bandwith issues on the WiFi again. I’m convinced Bain Capital should take over this WiFi system. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE: 10:27 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich pronounces Chile correctly: Chee-lay. Because he’s not “relatively stupid.”

UPDATE: 10:25 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney has a plan for everything — except fixing this f–king WiFi system, which is ruining my night.

UPDATE: 10:15 p.m. ET: Perry just suggested a “gong” would be appropriate for Ron Paul. Also, he name-checks Daniel Pearl.

UPDATE: 10:13 p.m. ET: Rick Perry talks Turkey. He wants to “go to zero” with their foreign aid.

UPDATE: 10:11 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum says, “President Obama has dealt with it about as badly as possible.” The question was about foreign policy and Syria, but the same answer could apply to anything Obama has done.

UPDATE: 10:08 p.m. ET: The past five minutes of debate were deleted by this hopelessly screwed-up WiFi system, which is controlled by warmongers on behalf of international bankers who don’t want you to know how awesome Ron Paul’s answers were.

UPDATE: 9:55 p.m. ET: Two guys in front of me, who are in here on media passes, aren’t writing a damned thing. They’re on Tweetdeck, however, chewing up bandwidth that I’d like to use to liveblog. Because they’re racist or something.

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich is getting cheered for talking back to Juan Williams. Newt is pretty damned awesome in debates. Commercial break.

UPDATE: 9:52 p.m. ET: Excuse the long delay in liveblogging. The WiFi system here is discriminating against me. Because of Newt Gingrich, I think.

UPDATE: 9:41 p.m. ET: Ron Paul tries to distinguish between “military spending” and “defense spending,” and then wants to talk about “international banking,” but Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal won’t let him. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE: 9:38 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney just talked for about what seemed like 15 minutes. Maybe it just seemed that way because it’s Romney.

UPDATE: 9:36 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum is asked about unemployment benefits, and gives a good answer. Newt Gingrich gets a similar question and gives an awesome answer.

UPDATE: 9:32 p.m. ET: Rick Perry is asked about voting rights, and comes down somewhere to the right of John C. Calhoun. I’m pretty sure I heard a few rebel yells amid the applause from the audience.

UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. ET: After the commercial break, Mitt Romney is asked about Jon Huntsman’s “perfectly lubricated weathervane” comment. Mitt answers that he is not perfectly lubricated, but in fact sometimes squeaks when the wind blows.

UPDATE: 9:22 p.m. ET: Rick Perry jumps in and says, more or less, “States Rights!” That’s always an applause line in South Carolina.

UPDATE: 9:21 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum is tearing Mitt Romney a new one over Romney’s “super PAC” ads claiming Santorum supports felon voting rights.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. ET: Ron Paul is asked about why all the 9/11 Truthers love him — wait, no. He was asked about his attacks on Rick Santorum and said the regular stuff Ron Paul always says. Santorum responds: I’m from Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: 9:14 p.m. ET: Mitt was asked about something. Blahblahblah job creation blahblahblah put Americans back to work blahblahblah.

UPDATE: 9:12 p.m. ET: Rick Perry was asked about his “vulture capitalism” attack on Romney. He wants to get rid of Dodd-Frank. Mitt gets to respond, and sounds suspiciously vulture-like.

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. ET: The first question — with two follow-ups — went to Newt Gingrich, who was somewhat weaselly in his answers to questions about his attacks on Mitt Romney. Then Mitt got a chance to respond and sounded very Mitt-ish.

UPDATE: 9:08 p.m. ET: Sorry for the slow start on the liveblogging. More than 200 reporters in this media filing center, and the WiFi connection is strained to the max.

– – – – – –

We’re here at the Sheraton Convention Center on Oak Street, ready to bring you the liveblogging at 9 p.m.

Category: Debates, Election 2012, South Carolina

Comments

33 Responses to “SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATE”

South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as ‘Just Like Obama’ : The Other McCain
January 16th, 2012 @ 9:06 pm

[…] in the history of divisive public figures. Because only he can beat Romney. That makes sense, right?LIVEBLOGGING HERE!Category: Debates, Election 2012, South CarolinaComments […]
Anonymous
January 16th, 2012 @ 9:31 pm

Sounds about as exciting as having a two foot chunk of rebar nailed down the center of one’s spine.
Netpoo
January 16th, 2012 @ 9:57 pm

You had me at “weaselly.”
richard mcenroe
January 16th, 2012 @ 10:35 pm

Stacy, you ought to check out clear.com about getting your own portable wifi/4g. They have PAYGO plans. I used it.
adolph.stephens
January 16th, 2012 @ 10:48 pm

Santorum comporting himself pretty well, but Gingrich kicking some serious butt, though he’s still got plenty of “splainin” to do.
Fox News GOP Debate South Carolina – Live Blogging | Maggie's Notebook
January 16th, 2012 @ 10:53 pm

[…] The Other McCain also live blogged. Catch it here and get a few laughs as well. […]
M. Thompson
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:02 pm

As I’ve said before, Newt would do much better in a Parliamentary system than ours.
Adjoran
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:15 pm

Ron Paul is losing it. They need to have a guy with a tranquilizer gun loaded with psychotropics on standby for the next debate (Thursday in North Charleston, the ugly smelly place just north of Charleston).
Anonymous
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:23 pm

If Romney wins Saturday, you can be confident this race is rigged.
Adjoran
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:25 pm

Ed Morrissey: “IMO, this was Jon Huntsman’s best debate ever!”
Adjoran
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:26 pm

Huh? He’s led in every poll this month by every news organization and polling outfit – that’s a pretty grand conspiracy you’re alleging. Are the Trilateralists involved?
ThePaganTemple
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:49 pm

Why do you ask, is the GOP establishment elites and pundocracy members of the Trilateralists?

Frank Luntz said tonight that Romney won the debate. Yet, we’re supposed to believe the establishment GOP isn’t in the tank for Romney. In what bizarro world do you spin this debate as a victory for Romney and expect people to take you seriously?

Newt won the debate hands down, and clearly so. Yet, all he gets from Luntz is a tacit, grudging admission that he got the most applause, including one standing ovation. Then he spends the rest of his allotted time on Hannity talking about how great Mitt was. Fuck that noise.
Anonymous
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:51 pm

I was actually astounded that Romney is leading considering what a dud candidate he is. Sorry the proper tone did not come across. there is no emoticon for bitter political destruction, either.
Anonymous
January 16th, 2012 @ 11:52 pm

Newt kicked butt- I love it
Adjoran
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:04 am

I agree Newt scored the most, mainly because of his slapping Juan around, but hardly the sort of win which would make a difference.

Which “GOP establishment elites and pundocracy members” do you think vote in the SC Primary?
Adjoran
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:05 am

He wouldn’t be leading except for the clown posse he’s running against.
Republican South Carolina Debate – And Then There Were Five | The Lonely Conservative
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:33 am

[…] too late for him. By now we all know he does well in debates, then shows his true colors. Anyway, The Other McCain live blogged it, too, and I think he would vote for anyone who could have fixed the slow wifi […]
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:35 am

Don’t be so sure. The GOP poobahs like legacy candidates and moderates. Romney fits the bill perfectly for those blue bloods types.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:45 am

Didn’t catch the debate, but unless Romney made some kind of breakout, he’s in trouble.

With the exception of that Reuters/Ipsos Internet “poll,” he’s had Gingrich pretty much within the margin of error (unless something changed earlier today — haven’t been by RCP to look), and Romney’s been trending down, while Gingrich (and Santorum) have been trending up.

If he doesn’t change that trend in the five days between now and the primary, he comes in second, possibly even third. And he can’t afford anything less than not just a win, but a convincing win.
Adjoran
January 17th, 2012 @ 12:48 am

The problem for Not Romney is that while Newt did the best and Romney had one of his shakiest outings, Santorum and Perry also did well enough to encourage their supporters and those leaning towards them. The only real chance for a Not Romney to win in SC was for at least one of them to have a major gaffe or a mental breakdown on stage like Ron Paul did, so his supporters would go to the winner.
Adjoran
January 17th, 2012 @ 1:25 am

Yes, they didn’t highlight that it was an internet poll at first, sent out results like it was a normal poll – RCP doesn’t even list it. But here’s the list of “real” polls for SC, judge for yourselves: http://tinyurl.com/6wuc6b3
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 1:36 am

Well, you’re right. Looks like Romney is up a bit now.

It’s probably too much to expect of Perry and Santorum that they would put the GOP’s prospects ahead of their own vanity campaigns and drop out in favor of Gingrich this week. He’s going to have to stop Romney himself, if he can.
Pathfinder's wife
January 17th, 2012 @ 6:43 am

Romney didn’t do well, and answered a few things in such a way as to actually hurt him badly. He won’t get much of a bounce off this (unless people within the media/the pundit class start preaching his inevitability). Sorry, but he’s looking more and more phoney-dodgey the more the heat gets applied to him.

Right now we do see a split of the NR vote, which is causing the others to to poll as high in comparison, and if Perry doesn’t do better in SC he needs to get out (and he didn’t flub tonight, but his populist stupidity was out for display again — it gets pretty old, does he even have a platform? or does he just talk soundbits he thinks will do well?). This is may be bad, but then again maybe not (I’m not convinced of Romney’s inevitablity, and I think 4 is a good number of canidates now); people need to have choices.

Gingrich did win the debate, Santorum was a close second, and as for Paul — well, despite what many like to say about him he once again brought up some very valid points (although that gun rights thing from Santorum did take him back a few).
Pathfinder's wife
January 17th, 2012 @ 6:44 am

Romney didn’t do well, and answered a few things in such a way as to actually hurt him badly. He won’t get much of a bounce off this (unless people within the media/the pundit class start preaching his inevitability). Sorry, but he’s looking more and more phoney-dodgey the more the heat gets applied to him.

Right now we do see a split of the NR vote, which is causing the others to to poll as high in comparison, and if Perry doesn’t do better in SC he needs to get out (and he didn’t flub tonight, but his populist stupidity was out for display again — it gets pretty old, does he even have a platform? or does he just talk soundbits he thinks will do well?). This is may be bad, but then again maybe not (I’m not convinced of Romney’s inevitablity, and I think 4 is a good number of canidates for now); people need to have choices.

Gingrich did win the debate, Santorum was a close second, and as for Paul — well, despite what many like to say about him he once again brought up some very valid points (although that gun rights thing from Santorum did take him back a few).
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 7:11 am

What? Are you telling me that Ron Paul did not have a good debate? Ruh-Roh, according to Fox you must have been watching a different debate. According to them Ron Paul did so well in this debate he scored better on their blue bars than anybody, including Gingrich. Why, if one did not know better, one might be led to assume the establishment wants to encourage some undecided conservatives to support Paul so he could drain votes from one of the other Not-Romneys, might one not?
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 7:12 am

Santorum did quite well, and he might have been second to Gingrich, or that might have been Perry, who did surprisingly well. But there was no “close” second to Gingrich, not Santorum or anybody else.
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:02 am

How about Nikki Haley, who’s bound and determined it seems to become an integral part of the establishment? What else explains her endorsement of Romney?

If you watched the debate, it would have been clear (well, to an objective viewer) that she seemed more impressed with Rick Perry than with anybody else. At one point I halfway expected her to take her panties off and throw them to Perry.

How about Jim DeMint, who may or may not be a member in good standing of the establishment, but who evidently doesn’t want to step on any toes regardless by endorsing a candidate who might not meet the GOP Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?

Why else stay neutral? It’s not like endorsing a candidate besides Romney would cost him a lot of support in South Carolina. In fact, with his base among the conservative Christians he would probably be inclined to endorse Santorum. So why doesn’t he?
WyBlog - Free us from the South Carolina Five
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:53 am

Free us from the South Carolina Five…

I didn’t watch last night’s debate. Stacy McCain live-blogged on-site, The Daley Gator caught Ron Paul in another lie, and Professor Jacobson sums up my impression of the trainwreck that is Mitt Romney’s impending nomination….
Greetings from Charleston! : The Other McCain
January 17th, 2012 @ 5:31 pm

[…] More news later. Please hit the tip jar.PREVIOUSLY:Jan. 17: Is Fox News the Problem?Jan. 16: SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATEJan. 16: South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as […]
Pathfinder's wife
January 17th, 2012 @ 6:01 pm

Perry did well?
He was an gaffe machine again — Predator drones on the border (with a fence now!) and kick Turkey out of NATO? The only thing positive was that there was no “ooops” — out loud at least.

He delivers nothing but boilerplate…and dumbass boilerplate at that.
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 6:34 pm

Kick Turkey out of NATO? How about kicking the motherfuckers out of existence, that would be even better. As for the Predator Drones on the border, is that supposed to be some kind of problem? They are used primarily for intelligence gathering, finding out where people are. In this case they would be used to spot people crossing the border. Just because they are used to see what’s going on that doesn’t mean you see a bunch of people and you start firing missiles at them. And he was always an advocate of strategic fencing, there was nothing new here on that score. He just doesn’t believe in trying to build a massive multibillion dollar boondoggle fence over the entirety of the Mexican-American border, which by the way would entail building a fence in the middle of the Rio Grande. I happen to agree with him.
Fear & Loathing: Breakfast of Champions UPDATE: Rick Santorum Wins Iowa; Perry Will Quit and Endorse Gingrich : The Other McCain
January 19th, 2012 @ 9:53 am

[…] State CapitolJan. 17: Who the Hell Does Newt Think He Is?Jan. 17: Is Fox News the Problem?Jan. 16: SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATEJan. 16: South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as […]
Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Somewhere, There Is an Island … : The Other McCain
January 22nd, 2012 @ 10:34 pm

[…] State CapitolJan. 17: Who the Hell Does Newt Think He Is?Jan. 17: Is Fox News the Problem?Jan. 16: SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATEJan. 16: South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as […]