South Carolina Primary Day: Before My Saturday Afternoon Nap in Charleston
Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 52 Comments
The National Affairs Desk, 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Squinting at my computer screen while blogging about Will Folks.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
Last night I lost my temper and blew up at Ben Howe, who was defending Erick Erickson’s pro-Perry bias as if it were an inconsequential thing to be shrugged off, despite its disastrous impact on the Republican primary campaign. There was a bit of back-and-forth and obviously, I recognized that Ben was arguing as a special pleader, obligated by the duties of loyalty to defend his Red State boss. But I was also personally invested, having predicted the failure of the “Phantom Menace” — and the likely consequences of that failure — before the fateful launch of the Perry bandwagon.
“What I fear will happen is that Perry will spend several months sucking up media oxygen and burning through GOP donor cash, only to collapse early next year. This will have the effect of suffocating other conservative candidates, and thereby lead to … Romney 2012.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Aug. 9, 2011
My argument Friday night with Howe was one of those situations where wisdom would have advised, “Drop it. It’s not worth arguing about. Agree to disagree.” But sleep deprivation and too much coffee had made me irritable, and Howe seemed to me to be disingenuously dismissive of Red State’s complicity in the Perry debacle.
On the one hand, you see, Red State constantly boasts of its enormous influence among the conservative grassroots. But on the other hand, having spent many months trying to convince the grassroots that the Smilin’ Texan was The Only Man Who Can Beat Romney, now Howe was trying to pretend that this catastrophic misuse of Red State’s influence was something trivial, and that Erickson should not be held accountable for it. Tired of Howe’s refusal to acknowledge the importance of Erickson’s role, and the enormous responsibility thus borne by Perry’s leading New Media advocates, I finally blew my top when Ben mockingly asked why Erickson should ‘fess up to his error.
“BECAUSE HE WAS F–KING WRONG, AND I WAS F–KING RIGHT, AND HE WON’T F–KING ADMIT IT, THAT’S WHY!”
And then I walked out to have a cigarette and regain my composure. My sudden outburst of rage was embarrassing, despite my own certainty about the essential point: Being right should count for something in the realm of political punditry.
Perry’s botched candidacy had enormous consequences: It discouraged other candidates (including Sarah Palin) from entering the race, it encouraged Tim Pawlenty to quit the race, it robbed Michele Bachmann of the boost she otherwise would have gained for winning the Ames Straw Poll and it prevented anyone from noticing the surprisingly strong fourth-place finish at Ames by Santorum’s low-budget campaign.
Well, I could write a book about all that, but I felt like an idiot for blowing up at Ben Howe, erupting in a fury like Hitler in a Downfall parody. I should have just walked away and let the topic drop, but didn’t. So I mention it here only as a “colorful highlight” and will drop it now to give you some of the latest headlines via Memeorandum:
Gingrich Is Well-Positioned
as South Carolina Votes
— New York Times
Doubts creep in as an awkward Mitt Romney
tries not to lose the GOP nod
— The Hill
Poll shows big swing as S.C. votes
— CBS News
Mitt Romney Campaign Begins Preparing
For Possible South Carolina Loss
— Huffington Post
America hates Newt Gingrich
— The Washington Examiner
Here’s video of Craig Robinson interviewing Rick Santorum last night:
Santorum’s party tonight will be at the Citadel in Charleston, while the other candidates will all be having their Primary Night events in Columbia. If Perry’s supporters are in a mood to celebrate tonight, they should go to the party thrown by the Romney campaign, to which they unwittingly lent such valuable assistance.
Now I’ve got to take a nap, so I don’t get irritable again. I’m so tired I almost forgot the Five Most Important Words in the English Language: Hit the freaking tip jar!
PREVIOUSLY:
- Jan. 21: Iowa Republican Party Finally Admits That Rick Santorum Won Jan. 3 Caucuses
- Jan. 21: Rick Santorum Crashes Blog Bash, Impresses Conservative New Media
- Jan. 20: Will Folks: Now His Sacred Honor Compels Him to Gay-Bait … Me?
- Jan. 20: Deadline Hell in South Carolina
- Jan. 19: Some Things Never Change
- Jan. 19: Is There a Real ‘Elizabeth Reichert’?
- Jan. 19: Perry Campaign Post Mortem: Doomed From the Start
- Jan. 19: Fear & Loathing: Breakfast of Champions UPDATE: Rick Santorum Wins Iowa; Perry Will Quit and Endorse Gingrich
- Jan. 18: Newt Gingrich Mysteriously Cancels Press Conference at S.C. State Capitol
- Jan. 17: Who the Hell Does Newt Think He Is?
- Jan. 17: Is Fox News the Problem?
- Jan. 16: SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATE
- Jan. 16: South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as ‘Just Like Obama’
- Jan. 16: How Low Will They Go? This Low.
- Jan. 16: A Fitting Finale to the Huntsman Flop
- Jan. 16: My Son, the C-SPAN Star
- Jan. 15: Good-Bye, Governor Asterisk
- Jan. 15: VisitMyrtleBeach.com
- Jan. 15: Santorum in S.C. Says Obama Views America as a ‘Mistake,’ Divides Nation
- Jan. 15: Greetings From Myrtle Beach
- Jan. 14: Romney Leads by 21 Points in S.C.?
Comments
52 Responses to “South Carolina Primary Day: Before My Saturday Afternoon Nap in Charleston”
January 22nd, 2012 @ 9:55 pm
[…] Newt Gingrich Stops Mitt Romney’s ‘Inevitability’; Rick Santorum Places ThirdJan. 21: South Carolina Primary Day: Before My Saturday Afternoon Nap in CharlestonJan. 21: Iowa Republican Party Finally Admits That Rick Santorum Won Jan. 3 CaucusesJan. 21: Rick […]
January 23rd, 2012 @ 7:35 am
Methinks your should heed Dr. Pat’s advice.