Category: South Carolina

Shorter Ace: ‘Bitches Lie’

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A grossly unfair oversimplification of Ace’s argument? Sure.

But in a multi-candidate Republican primary campaign where everybody’s cutting each other to ribbons, who can complain — if anyone even notices — when I gratuitously play the sexism card?

And isn’t Ace calling the lady a liar?

Michele Bachmann lives in a strange world. People talk about “moral relativism.” Presumably they would claim she’s not a moral relativist.
But truth is an objective fact, is it not?
Ms. Bachmann seems to confuse premises which are politically helpful to her for premises which are actually true.
That seems like moral relativism to me — the world is not as it is, but as I perceive it to be.

Ace is talking about the assertion by Bachmann “that we’ve been hearing all across the country, that money is changing hands” — candidates paying for Tea Party support. Professor William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection says:

You know I have a big problem with Michele Bachmann making statements which are not supported by facts and then repeating them endlessly.
Her campaign is up to much worse in South Carolina, where her local campaign manager has suggested that the Gingrich campaign has paid off Tea Party leaders for support.

Professor Jacobson has hopped aboard the Gingrich bandwagon and is savagely lashing Newt’s critics, as is his right. But notice that this pay-for-play accusation comes from South Carolina, which is to the GOP what Chicago is to the Democratic Party: The dirtiest place on the planet.

A South Carolina Republican primary is always fought according to the Al Davis rule — Just win, baby — and they never heard of a “fair fight.” So either:

  1. Bachmann’s S.C. guy Wesley Donohue is just slinging mud against Gingrich; or
  2. Gingrich and perhaps unnamed others are indeed bribing Tea Party activists for their support.

Are the pay-for-play accusations unproven? Yes, but so were the sexual harassment accusations against Herman Cain, yet the accusations were enough to drive Cain out of the race. And furthermore, just because Bachmann can’t prove that the Gingrich campaign is paying for endorsements doesn’t mean that Bachmann is lying when she says she has “been hearing all across the country” that such shenanigans are afoot.

Maybe the people telling Bachmann this stuff are paranoid, and certainly it is irresponsible for a candidate to repeat such stuff without proof. But you can accuse Bachmann of being a loose cannon without saying she’s engaged in “moral relativism.”

Grossly unfair oversimplification, you see.

Being aboard the Santorum Express myself, I should be happy to sit quietly while Michele Bachmann is accused of lying. Bachmann and Santorum appeal to the same pool of social conservative voters who are crucial in Iowa, so if Ace and Professor Jacobson are calling her a liar, the “smart” thing to do would be to say, “They’re right! You can’t trust that lying hussy!”

Ah, but why do what’s merely “smart,” when genius is an option? Because Professor Jacobson is a Gingrich supporter, and the two-bank carom shot is this headline: 

Gingrich Supporter Calls Bachmann a Liar

But did I say genius? Here’s Ace proclaiming his own allegiance after Thursday’s debate:

I thought Perry did well. He’s still my pick.

Ah, so here we have a three-bank carom:

Gingrich, Perry Supporters: ‘Bachmann Lies’

As I’ve said before, Ace is ax-grinding against Bachmann because he’s still butt-hurt about the way she carved up Perry in the Tampa debate three months ago.

Dude: Let it go. It’s not worth it.

But I’m “Not Good Enough for BlogCon,” so nobody ever listens to me.

UPDATE: Ron Paul is a uniter, not a divider:

Ron Paul Takes Swipes at GOP Rivals,
Says Michele Bachmann ‘Hates Muslims’

That should boost Bachmann’s InTrade rating. Damn it.
 

Spartanburg Remainders: CBS Debate Inspires Media Fear and Loathing

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SPARTANBURG, S.C.
We had to leave Wofford College about an hour after last night’s Republican debate ended, because the Herman Cain campaign was having a private post-debate event at the Marriott Hotel. So I didn’t have time to upload many of my photos and video of the “spin room” activity, nor to register much of the headline reaction:

Foreign policy debate highlights
differences within Republican field 
— New York Times

CBS panned for Republican debate performance
— Politico

The Big Loser of the Night: CBS
— National Review

Bachmann, Paul Call Debate Moderators ‘Disgraceful’
— ABC News

Was it really that bad? The one glaring omission was that they never discussed the situation in Mexico, where narco-terrorist gangs and human trafficking pose a serious risk that our next-door neighbor could descend into “failed state” nightmare. It could be like having Somalia or Waziristan on our southern border, and yet Mexico was never mentioned last night.

My other big gripe about Saturday’s debate? Two words: Jon Huntsman.

Reports swarm the man I dubbed “Governor Asterisk.” Jon Huntsman represents no significant Republican constituency, he worked for the Obama administration, and his poll numbers are less than the margin of error. So of course, the media love him.

Reporters interview Eric Fernstrom, a top adviser to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Here’s an interview I did with Romney’s state campaign chairman, South Carolina treasurer Curtis Loftis:

“I fully expect to win South Carolina,” Loftis says. “People love Mitt Romney.”

As I said, however, there was no time to upload that last night, because we all piled into our cars and did a caravan over to the Marriott for the Cain campaign post-debate party.

Linda Hansen and Mark Block of the Herman Cain campaign. A few minutes later, Block held up his cigarette pack, a signal that it was time for a smoke break. We went outside and I asked how the campaign was going. Block said, “We’re kicking ass, Stacy.” The event ended while we were out smoking, and pretty soon the Cain entourage poured out the doors, loading into two SUVs. I saw Cain briefly and he said they were flying back to Atlanta, then to Wisconsin on Monday before going to Iowa on Tuesday.  Then they roared off. “A million miles an hour,” as Block says.

Here’s an interview with a South Carolina supporter of Herman Cain who attended the post-debate event at the Marriott:

When the Cain event ended, our blogger caravan across town to the home of a Tea Party family who showed us some true Southern hospitality:

Grassroots conservative operative Austin James relaxes and discusses the 2012 campaign as bloggers gathered at an after-party that went on into the wee hours.

Herman Cain supporters Donna and Dennis Thorstad hosted a crew of bloggers who stayed up talking politics — and singing oldies — until 2 a.m. Mrs. Thorstad got up Sunday morning and fixed breakfast for everybody. They’re awesome.

My 12-year-old son Jefferson did an excellent job as my blog assistant on this trip. We are about to get out on the road and head back 450 miles north toward home. Hit the freaking tip jar!






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

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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.

On the Road to Spartanville … Oh, Wait, No, Better Make That Spartanburg

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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!

And frankly, if you don’t hold up a lighter every time you hear the national anthem, we’ll question your patriotism.

Hell, yeah.

Nevada Sets Caucus Date for Feb. 4, Averting December Primary in N.H.

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Florida set off a predictable chain reaction by jumping its primary to Jan. 31, and one consequence was the threat by New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner to move that state’s primary to as early as Dec. 6. The problem was that Iowa had moved its caucuses (originally scheduled Feb. 6) to Jan. 3, and Nevada initially announced its caucuses would move to Jan. 14. But New Hampshire state law requires their primary to be on a Tuesday at least seven days before any nominating event other than the Iowa caucuses, which made Jan. 10 unworkable.

The thermonuclear option was averted Saturday when Nevada voted to hold its caucuses Feb. 4. While Gardner has not yet officially announced the date for New Hampshire, it is likely that the schedule for the first five events will now be:

Iowa caucuses ………………… Tuesday, Jan. 3
New Hampshire primary …. Tuesday, Jan. 10
South Carolina primary …… Saturday, Jan. 21
Florida primary ……………… Tuesday, Jan. 31
Nevada caucuses ……………. Saturday, Feb. 4

This is not ideal — I’ll still have to leave for Iowa the day after Christmas — but it is better than if New Hampshire had jumped into December.

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‘Howdy. Thank You, Erick.’

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Those were the first four words of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s announcement speech at the Red State Gathering in Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 13. At the time, I was the only one who saw Perry’s diss of Iowa Republicans — his deliberate attempt to upstage the Ames Straw Poll held the same day — as an ominous portent of doom.

Perry’s decision to make his announcement in South Carolina was widely viewed at the time as a genius move that would lock down his support in a crucial early primary state, and once he emerged as the most viable conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, Perry would have no trouble making up whatever he’d lost in Iowa by dissing Ames.

Such was the conventional wisdom in August, but now today (via Wombat’s “Live at Five” aggregation) we see this headline:

Cain Takes Lead In South Carolina
ATLANTA — Herman Cain holds a decisive lead in the South Carolina Republican primary, according to a survey conducted Sunday for The Augusta Chronicle.
The InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll of 476 registered voters likely to vote in the GOP primary gave Cain 32 percent, twice the share of Mitt Romney’s 16.
Rick Perry holds 12 percent, making him essentially tied with Romney because the difference is within the 5 percent margin of error.
“In this case, South Carolina is a three-man race,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. . . .

In a telephone conversation over the weekend, a Perry supporter tried to convince me that the Texas governor is still the only viable alternative to Romney, that Herman Cain can’t possibly win the nomination, and that anyone who is supporting any candidate other than Perry is therefore effectively pro-Romney.

Believe what you want to believe, sweetheart. And for all I know, you may be right. I don’t even get invited to BlogCon, so I must be a complete idiot, which is why Perry is in fifth place — single digits! —  in recent Iowa polls, while The Guy Who Can’t Possibly Win the Nomination is leading Romney by eight points in the Hawkeye State.

I’m a complete idiot who knows nothing about politics or blogging (just ask Tabitha Hale), so it is beyond my ability to explain that, or to fathom why Rick “Viable Alternative” Perry is in sixth place — trailing Jon Huntsman! — in the recent New Hampshire polls.

By the time you get to the Stacy Wasn’t Invited Conference in Denver, my dear Perry-loving friend, maybe all of this will have changed.

Maybe Rick Perry will have bought $15 million worth of debate mojo, and maybe Herman Cain will have forgotten how to tie his own shoes. And then all the bloggers in Denver can laugh at me some more, just like you’ve been laughing at me all along.

If you don’t think I’m an idiot, please: Hit the freaking tip jar!

UPDATE: By the way, I mean to get an explanation from the Cain campaign about this video snippet from ABC News:

Either (a) somebody in Iowa isn’t doing their job right, or (b) ABC News invented a story. Either way, it’s not encouraging.

462 Days Until Jan. 20, 2013

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Inauguration Day, when four long years of endless misery known as the Obama presidency come to an end. And I’m counting the days.

It’s 79 days until Jan. 3: The Iowa GOP caucuses.

And it’s 107 days until the Jan. 31 Florida primary.

To give you a sense of proportion, it’s been 72 days since I departed from Reagan National Airport — where I set up the National Affairs Desk in the airport lounge —  for my 10-day trip to Iowa leading up to the Aug. 11 Fox News debate and the Aug. 13 Ames Straw Poll.

Yesterday I talked to Dan Collins, who gave me the name of his Rumanian friend who lives in Iowa City, about 30 miles from Cedar Rapids. A one-way ticket from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Cedar Rapids departing the day after Christmas — Dec. 26, which is 71 days from today — would be $281 if I booked it now. So I’d have a full week in Iowa before the caucuses on Jan. 3.

And a flight departing Jan. 4 from Des Moines to Boston’s Logan International Airport would be $145 if I booked it now. Continue reading 462 Days Until Jan. 20, 2013 →

Looking Up From Here, It’s Barely Possible to See the Bottom of ‘Down’

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BREAKING: South Carolina
to hold primary on January 21

A friend sent me that on Twitter and then, via Memeorandum, I saw this:

Nevada Republicans decided Saturday to move up the GOP presidential caucuses to January to preserve the state’s early voting spot, although it will cost the Silver State half its delegates at the national convention.
The GOP executive board voted to go ahead with plans to hold its caucuses on the Saturday following New Hampshire, once that state decides a new date. It will be after the traditional first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

This just confirms what I wrote Friday at The American Spectator:

A Jan. 31 date for Florida’s primary would result in four other events on the presidential campaign calendar — the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, and the Nevada caucuses — also leap-frogging to January dates.

But nobody bothered to read what I wrote on Friday, and nothing I write about it now could possibly make any difference.

Because I don’t know nothing about no Florida primary.

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