Tonight at 9 PM EST, I'm going to be liveblogging the GOP debate out of South Carolina. I had considered actually foregoing the liveblogging and attending in person, but I figured it would be a madhouse and that I'd get more traffic out of liveblogging than actually attending and taking pictures. So, liveblogging it is: Tonight, 9 PM EST, make sure to tune in and refresh RWN while you watch the debate.
Update #1: Whoops! Originally in this post, I said the debated started at 8 PM EST. It's actually 9 PM EST.
8:54: Ok, almost time to rock and roll.
8:59: It goes without saying that this is a huge debate and don't be surprised if everyone takes shots at McCain, who is now poised to blow the race wide open. The latest polls in Michigan AND South Carolina have him ahead. If he wins both of those states, he probably wins Florida and then sweeps through Super Tuesday like plague wasting everything in his path and cruising to victory.
9:03: Oh boy! Ron Paul is in this one. That's just what we needed: a little more crazy.
9:05: Decent answer from Mitt. Not spectacular, but solid.
9:06: Ugh. I am not picking on McCain here, but the camera is putting a horrible angle on McCain's neck -- it's not looking pretty.
9:08: McCain emphasizing his fiscal conservative credentials, which is good. Lot of canned lines.
9:10: Everybody talks energy independence. Technologically, there is nothing on the horizon that will allow that to happen anytime soon. Maybe a miracle will happen, but what it will be, I don't know and neither do they.
9:11: Ok answer from Huckabee. Nothing that blew me away.
9:11: Way to explain the Laffer Curve, Rudy! Also, I like the mention of the Club for Growth. A NYC mention, 2 Reagan mentions in this answer. No 9/11 mention though. Still, I like Rudy's answer.
9:13: Oh, now McCain wants to make the tax cuts permanent. He voted against them originally. Now, he's invoking Reagan -- he's no Reagan Republican. I will give him credit though, McCain has solid credentials on fiscal conservatism.
9:15: Recession, depression, what? We're delaying the recession. The Housing market is in depression. He sounds like he's trying to say 8 things at once. That's one of the problems with Paul: he can't explain anything.
9:18: Fred's a little perkier than he was this week-end. Decent answer from Fred, but he looked at his notes a touch too much and got a little into the weeds, a little too deep for the audience I think.
9:19: Good question to Huckabee. Huck is really working to get all the conservative talking points in. Get job there. I kind of like his answer.
9:20: They're handing McCain a chance to beat up on Huckabee. He's going back to fiscal conservatism and the Bridge to Nowhere. Nice...ugh, now he's getting into climate change. All in all, still a strong answer from McCain. When he's off immigration and isn't being thin skinned, he's a lot better at these debates than people generally give credit for.
9:22: Mitt gave a decent answer, but didn't give a laundry list of his positions like Huck and McCain.
9:25: Fred is going for Huck's throat and he got a huge round of applause for it. Bravo, that was the first really good answer of the night. Outstanding.
9:26: Huck got a laugh on his reply, which is nice, but didn't respond to most of what Fred said. ...ooooh, a lot of things. The CFG would be against Reagan? Huck got a round of applause, but Fred scored on him with that exchange.
9:28: The
The Sundries Shack is also liveblogging.
9:29: Rudy a conservative? Please. It's embarrassing for him to even claim that. Still, Rudy is doing a decent job of emphasizing his strengths although I see no evidence he can compete in those blue states.
9:30: Ok, I can't complain about Ron Paul's answer. He asked them to please stop the Truther stuff and that he doesn't believe it. Ha! They cut to Mitt and he was looking at Ron Paul like something he scraped off of his shoe.
9:35: Did the commanders in Iran make the right call? Huckabee, they aim at us and they're going to the gates of Hell. W00t! Liked it! Hume's question is kind of ridiculous. He keeps inviting Huckabee to 2nd guess the people in the field. Of course he shouldn't do that.
9:37: Fred, agreed with Huck. They almost got to meet those virgins. Funny applause line. Heh. Fred is on fire so far.
9:38: Rudy: Be cautious about Iran. Okay answer.
9:39: Brit Hume keeps trying to get these guys to double guess our troops in the field. Come on, Brit, this is the sort of dumb question I'd expect from one of the lesser networks. McCain, be cautious about the Iranians. Okay answer.
9:41: Ron Paul -- We're not cautious enough? Gulf of Tonkin? What? No one advocated attacking them. What the hell is Paul talking about? He sounds like an idiot.
9:42: Brit Hume -- Your answer makes no sense. Ron Paul had an Admiral Stockdale moment. He can't hear them. Everyone is laughing at Paul. Does he even know what's going on up there?
9:43: Mitt scores an easy hit on Paul.
9:45: Good answer from McCain on the surge. He is always really good on foreign policy and this is no exception. McCain gives a nod to Petraeus. Applause line. Our troops will come home with honor. Good answer. McCain has benefitted by the focus on foreign policy in this debate so far.
9:49: Rudy, hey I supported the surge, too. Pretty much everyone on the stage except for Ron Paul did.
9:49: I can't disagree with Paul on the Israeli/Palestinian question. We're not fixing anything over there. It has been going on forever and we're no closer to fixing it than we were 50 years ago. Incidentally, that was the only good answer Ron Paul has ever given.
9:51: John McCain mocks Ron Paul with a funny line about trading with Al-Qaeda.
9:51: Now Ron Paul is back in rant mode.
9:52: John McCain. It's American casualties that matter, not the time we're there. True.
9:53: Fred Thompson? Go against a poll? My goodness. Then a shot at the New York Times. Fred is rocking this debate tonight.
9:56: Mitt's answers tonight have not been bad, but he comes off a little light compared to Thompson, McCain, and Giuliani on foreign policy and the whole debate has been about foreign policy.
9:58: Speaking of "light" on foreign policy, Huck is weak, too. I do agree with him that we should defend Israel and think it was smart for Huck to hit Paul on that and score some points. Still, I agree with Paul that we should get out of the peace making business between the Israelis and Palestinians. Wow, did Ron Paul give another pretty good answer? Twice in one debate? Has that ever happened before?
10:00: I can't agree with Rudy because Israel is a step child of ours in a lot of ways. We make them do all sorts of stupid things.
10:02: Fred took another chunk out of Huckabee. He made him look kind of Mickey Mouse there on Pakistan.
10:05: Funny answer from Mitt there. Voters want change, not experience. Also, Mitt is getting back to domestic policy away from foreign policy. Emphasized his resume, talked issues. This is Mitt's best answer of the night.
10:07: McCain is going back to the surge and spending. That's probably because he really doesn't have much going for him besides that. I'm scared of having McCain change things and a lot of the changes he made as a senator were for the worse.
10:09: The schools in Arkansas went from 49th to 9th? That is pretty good. Still, he didn't take on the big government Republican charge, which is what he should have hit head on. They really did him a favor by asking him that.
10:12: Fred is just beating Huckabee to death tonight. He has done everything but whip out a cane and just thrash him. D*mn, Fred is good tonight.
10:15: Rudy got in the funny little lines about change, but he's now repeating the same old things again. Truth is, Rudy does have a weak record on foreign policy.
10:16: Now McCain is back to foreign policy again, which benefits him. Fox has really structured this debate to help McCain out, if you ask me.
10:19: A wife must submit to her husband? Mike Huckabee with a funny answer on religion. It is true. Very funny. Brilliant answer. Mike on marriage, Mike sticking up for God, Mike being funny. Huck turned this into a towering home run.
10:20: Ron Paul is unelectable because he's a kook who appeals to other kooks. Who listens to this crap and goes: "Yeah, he sounds a little crazy and shrill and has tons of ridiculous positions, but he says constitution and small government in every 3rd or 4th sentence, so I love him!"
10:24: Immigration, finally. I have never seen any evidence that John McCain knows how to secure the borders or intends to do so. So, amnesty for 10 million if John McCain is President.
10:26: Tell 'em, Mitt! No special pathway or privilege to stay in this country for illegals. Get in line with everybody else! Good answer, Mitt.
10:27: High fences, wide gates and we decide when to open and close the gates. Good answer from Fred. We will have enforcement by attrition! Bam. We have to be worried about another 12 million people. Bam! I disagree with Huckabee who wants tuition for illegals. Very good answer for Fred.
10:29: Ron Paul, if you subsidize something, you get more of it. Bingo, Ron. Welfarism is a problem. Naturally, he had to spoil it by getting into Iraq.
10:31: Huck is right. Hispanics are not all pro-illegal immigration. The government didn't round up the illegals to bring them here, we don't need to round them up to send them home. I like Huck's language on this. People should be here legally so they can hold their heads up.
10:33: Rudy is back on the defensive on illegal immigration and sounds canned again. Also, no one is going to believe he is the best guy to end illegal immigration.
10:34: Wasn't this debate supposed to be over 5 minutes ago? Oh, there we go.
Summary: If you ask me, Fox really structured this debate to help John McCain. He really didn't get a lot of tough questions while Huckabee did. They spent a lot of time on foreign policy, they didn't hit McCain on the vast number of issues where he differs from the conservative orthodoxy.
PS: This was the most energetic and watchable debate that has occurred in quite a while.
6) Ron Paul (Loser): In my opinion, this was Ron Paul's best debate ever and yet, he's still in the bottom slot.
5) Mike Huckabee: Mike had a nice moment or two, but Fred Thompson beat him half to death tonight.
4) Rudy Giuliani: Rudy did a little better than in the last two debates, but was still a little canned and was tough on illegal immigration.
3) Mitt Romney: Mitt was good tonight, but McCain was very good on foreign policy while Mitt is just so-so -- and they spent a lot of time on foreign policy.
2) John McCain: It was very tight between Mitt and McCain, but McCain benefitted from all the foreign policy questions.
1) Fred Thompson (Big Winner): He was energized, funny, gave good answers and just tore Mike Huckabee up. This may have been Fred's best debate yet.
Score:
John Hawkins | 08:54 PM |
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