SPARTANBURG, S.C.
When Rick Santorum entered the post-debate “spin room” here at Wofford College, I was the first to greet him. “How’s it going, Stacy?” and his lovely wife also said hi. Quickly switched to video and started the interview, before the scrum assembled around us:
I’ll have more later, but have to get out of the media filing center in five minutes, as we’re running late to an important post-debate event.
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 9:03 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 8:44 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?
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.
DUBLIN, Va.
We pulled into a McDonald’s here about 9:40 a.m. so that I could hop on the WiFi and get some work done quickly before gassing up the econo-rental (a black Ford Probe, $86 for the weekend) and heading back out on the road to Spartanburg, S.C., for tonight’s Republican presidential debate at Wofford College (8 p.m. ET, CBS).
Mrs. Other McCain let me bring our 12-year-old son Jefferson along for the trip, because every eighth-grader should be helping their dads cover presidential campaigns instead of lounging around all weekend playing “Call of Duty.” Jefferson’s career plan is to be elected president of the United States in 2044, but I’m afraid he’ll be haunted by the gaffe in this video:
Spartanville? That blunder may have looked rehearsed, but it was actually spontaneous, as was his clever recovery. And of course, no child of mine could ever forget The Five Most Important Words in the English Language: Hit the freaking tip jar!
Addendum: While we were driving down the road this morning, we heard “Freebird” on the radio and Jefferson declared that when he becomes president, he’ll make “Freebird” the national anthem. I shared this on Twitter — via cellphone, while driving 75 mph abd steering with my knee — and Jon Henke responded:
You WILL stand for 9:06 & you WILL hold your hand over your heart for 9:06. Or you’re an unpatriotic America hater!
Accept that working through the IMF to help out Europe is a good idea.
Accept the continued evil of the Federal Reserve.
Accept the existence of the IRS, and want to change the shade of lipstick on the pig.
Accept that the existence of Fannie and Freddie is justified. Unwind them. With a shotgun.
Think that bi-partisanship is possible. You make the case for liberty. Reaching across the aisle to mix with fascism is ++ungood.
Think that Social Security is some kind of moral imperative. ‘Moral’ is a subjective, religious call. However, Social Security is not even an ethical consideration. It’s a 10th Amendment violation. Screw Social Security. To the wall. With a bridge abutment. Liberty, Mike Foxtrot: liberty!
Accept that federal involvement with individual student funding is acceptable.
Would dare to panda to China. Everyone knows that China eats, shoots and leaves.
From the Department of Just Sayin’:
Overall, it was a good debate, modulo one moment of sheer agony brought on by Rick Perry. Come on, man!
UPDATE: At the first commercial break, I Tweeted, “This will be remembered as The Debate Ron Paul Won.” Being an Austrian (i.e., Mises, Hayek) in economics, I swear I get a thrill up my leg when Ron Paul talks purty like that.
Meanwhile, when they tried to bring up the accusations against Cain, the crowd booed the moderators and cheered Cain’s strong response.
UPDATE II: At the second commercial break now. Jon Huntsman is getting waaaayy too much time. We’ve heard from Rick Perry maybe 3 minutes, and it seems like we’ve had 15 minutes of Huntsman so far.
Man, the media loves ’em some Huntsman, don’t they?
UPDATE III: Perry can’t even remember all the three government agencies he wants to eliminate. Ouch, that was ugly.
Herman Cain never forgets 9-9-9, by contast.
UPDATE IV: Allahpundit was impressed by Herman Cain’s response to the attempt to raise the accusations: “He knew he’d be asked about it and he came prepared. If, if, there are no more accusers, I think this’ll be seen as the moment that the bleeding stopped.”
Herman just now got a laugh with a repetition of his 999 mantra.
UPDATE V: Debate over, Larry Kudlow said Cain had an “unbelievably good debate tonight,” and called Rick Perry’s brain-freeze “devastating.” Video:
When I was mocking Perry on Twitter some guy said, in effect, would you pick Romney over Perry in a head-to-head? To which I replied, “You posit a hypothetical” — and it’s a farfetched hypothetical, at that. Perry is now 4th (10.2%) in the RCP Average, and is unlikely to improve any time soon. So exactly how and when will this Perry-Romney choice be presented to Republican voters as the only choice they get to make, except in the minds of Perry’s supporters?
I believe Ace has used the term “wishcasting” to describe such ideas.
What struck me about Mitt at the Defending the American Dream Summit was how Romney will hang onto a consonant when giving a speech. The way Brokaw sounds, as if consonants get lodged in the sinuses. Mitt sounds like a congested Buckley serving bumper stickers without brilliance. The effect, like the rest of Romney’s campaign, seems directed at somebody who isn’t me. Possibly somebody above me in the food chain. He’s still got that Bruce Campbell thing going, though, so at least the presentation looks swell.
Enter Newt. William Jacobson deftly rebuts Jennifer Rubin’s efforts at recycling anti-Newt charges:
It will not work. Gingrich has done for his past indiscretions what Romney refuses to do for Romneycare: Apologize.
People will forgive those who make mistakes, own up to them, and move on to better things. Romney supporters will have to do better than tearing down other Republicans to unstick Romney from his 25%.
This is likely the case. If Newt has come so far that he can actually apologize to Doug Hoffman for the NY-23 debacle, perhaps he shall have truly repented. I’d expect some variation on the Buckley rule. Breath not held.
Looking forward to the foreign policy debate at Heritage on 22 November, Newt’s command of facts and history could seriously threaten Mitt’s bumper sticker collection and blue state diction. Herman Cain, of course, will be beset by allegations he sexually harassed a woman from Vanuatu, or maybe Xanadu. Would you sexually harass Olivia Newton John? I can admit to a crush on the bad Sandy from Grease, those decades past. Governor Huntsman could be interesting if his conversation with his supporter in New Hampshire is complete, and he attends. We still haven’t heard enough from Santorum. Paul can be relied upon for to do Ron Ron Ron, de do Ron Ron, and Bachmann will support the Israeli dude that #OccupyResoluteDesk has to deal with every day.
Watch here. Watch Now.
I’m not without qualms about either fellow. However, having potential leaders do more than stand there and trade bumper stickers is such a breath of fresh air that I could even foresee. . .the meltdown in the bunker when You Know Who finds out. . .
Update: stand by for the National Security Debate on 22 November at Heritage.
I predict that Mitt sounds like the preppy dude who completely over-studied, Newt sounds a polished old hand, Paul remains Non-Interventionist (to the extent anyone thinks that would work), and the rest amount to a barbershop quartet with a guest solo from Michele singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot“.
Almost every day, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain ishanded a one-page briefing from his chief foreign policy adviser on news from around the world.
It’s one of several things his campaign says the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, who has never held elective office before, is now doing to bone up on foreign policy — especially as he faces a big test in November at a GOP debate on national security issues.
“He’s really getting up to speed a lot more so than people give him credit for,” J.D. Gordon, Cain’s foreign policy and national security adviser who prepares the briefings, said in an interview with The Daily Caller on Monday.
When Alex sent me the article this morning, I replied: “Good Lord! A one-page briefing? Just read the NY Times at breakfast!” The article continues:
“I have no idea what Mr. Cain’s views are other than being generally pro-Israel,” said Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who served as a deputy national security adviser for President George W. Bush.
“He needs to say a lot more to be a serious candidate for Commander in Chief,” Abrams said. “He has been far too casual about this subject and does not seem to be taking seriously his need to explain his views.”
This is what I’ve previously described as the Cult of Experts, “a widespread attitude within the foreign policy/national security elite that expertise is essential in all such matters.” Expertise being the foreign policy specialist’s stock in trade, he esteems others insofar as they are themselves experts, or else demonstrate a seemly deference to such expertise.
But how’s that workin’ for ya? It was experts like Ken Adelman who assured us Iraq would be a “cakewalk.” And as I’ve pointed out, John McCain brought a lifetime of national-security policy expertise to his 2008 campaign, and what good did it do him, politically?
Nevertheless, the thing is what it is, and Cain must therefore spend time acquiring sufficient awareness of these issues in order not to look foolish during the Nov. 15 CNN debate at sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and AEI. Let’s hope Cain’s briefings include the latest from Vanuatu, “Linchpin of the South Pacific.”
