The Other McCain

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

Newt Gingrich Mysteriously Cancels Press Conference at S.C. State Capitol

Posted on | January 18, 2012 | 56 Comments

COLUMBIA, S.C.
This morning’s schedule showed that Newt Gingrich would have an 11:30 a.m. press conference here at the Statehouse, and I drove nearly 100 miles from Charleston to cover it but Newt was a no-show, and no one seems to know why. I’ll add more information as soon as I can find out what happened.

UPDATE: According to the British Guardian newspaper, the press conference was actually held at 10 a.m. But here’s what was on the Politico‘s campaign calendar:

And it wasn’t just me who got misled by this scheduling mixup. Ben Adler of The Nation was there, as were Dave Hogberg of Investors Business Daily, Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times, more than a dozen other reporters and multiple TV camera crews.

While I didn’t get to cover a press conference, I did find time to read the inscriptions on the famous Confederate monument at the Statehouse:

On the north side, it reads:

“This monument perpetuates the memory of those who true to the instincts of their birth, faithful to the teachings of their fathers, constant in their love for the state, died in the performance of their duty: who have glorified a fallen cause by the simple manhood of their lives, the patient endurance of suffering, and the heroism of death, and who, in the dark hours of imprisonment, in the hopelessness of the hospital, in the short, sharp agony of the field, found support and consolation in the belief that at home they would not be forgotten.”

On the south side:

“Let the stranger who may in future times read this inscription recognize that these were men whom power could not corrupt, whom death could not terrify, whom defeat could not dishonor, and let their virtues plead for just judgment of the cause in which they served. Let the South Carolinian of another generation remember that the state taught them how to live and how to die, and that from her broken fortunes she has preserved for her children the priceless treasure of their memories, teaching all who may claim the same birthright that truth, courage and patriotism endure forever.”

Some other reporters, desperate to get something useful from their dry run to the press conference we missed, decided to try the old campaign-coverage trick of interviewing a “typical” local voter:

Perhaps unknown to this camera crew, the man they’re interviewing is the infamous Will Folks, a disgraced Republican political consultant who once claimed to have had an affair with Gov. Nikki Haley.

So much for the “typical” voter, eh?

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, South Carolina

Comments

56 Responses to “Newt Gingrich Mysteriously Cancels Press Conference at S.C. State Capitol”

  1. Anonymous
    January 19th, 2012 @ 2:46 am

    YOU/WE/US have allowed this Presidential race to get to this sorry, decidely non-Tea Party state.

    When will Conservatives learn?

  2. ThePaganTemple
    January 19th, 2012 @ 7:01 am

    When they finally find that candidate who is ideol0gically pure, is outrageously handsome and charismatic, and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Until then they’ll keep on supporting the candidate who comes closest, make him out to be the second coming of Christ, and utterly destroy any other conservative candidate in the race. And then two thirds of them will settle for Mitt.

  3. Anonymous
    January 19th, 2012 @ 8:16 am

    Bleach Obama, get Romney. There’s a difference?

    What I support is you and the rest of the fools getting sufficiently boned to perhaps learn that principles matter. Of course, in your case I doubt Ron Jeremy would be up to the task even with your head in the way.

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