CNN SOUTH CAROLINA DEBATE:
GOP MADNESS @ FINAL FOUR

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 65 Comments

by Smitty

UPDATE (RSM): Shortly after the exchange among the candidates about abortion, Rick Santorum’s press secretary Matt Benyon appeared in the media filing center, distributing a stack of papers headlined: ROMNEY SIGNED PRO-ABORTION PLEDGE.

On the questionnaire by the Planned Parenthood ADvocacy Fund of Massachusetts is dated April 9, 2002, and signed by Mitt Romney. To the question, “Do you support the substance of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade?” Romney answered, “Yes.”

To the question, “Do you support state funding of abortion services through Medicaid for low-income women?” Romney answered, “Yes.”

21:55 EST Santorum: agreeing with Romney on the stakes. I am the candidate with the true contrast.

21:54 EST Mitt: liberty is the pursuit of happiness. BHO is creating an entitlement society.

21:53 EST Newt: we must defeat #OccupyResoluteDesk. His radicalism will be truly frightening in a second term. We must have a series of debates to convince Americans that a Saul Alinksy radical must be avoided.

21:52 EST Paul: I will protect individual liberty. That benefits everybody. The debt is the threat. I will cut $1 trillion from the budget.

21:51 EST SC has the record. Make your case.

21:47 EST Wow. The Santorum/Paul exchange on abortion really made the debate. Santorum played the Declaration of Independence card, and Paul shot back with the the 10th Amendment, arguing that returning the question to the states would repeal Roe v. Wade overnight. My head ‘sploded.

21:44 EST Paul: hey, medical topic, and I’m a doctor. When a woman is pregnant, you have two patients. The morality tanked, and the law reflected it. Abortion is an indictment of government-run medicine.

21:43 EST Newt: I have an enviable pro-life record. Did my best.

21:42 EST Mitt: I have further details supporting my pro-life record. Did my best.

21:41 EST Santorum: if you don’t explicitly preclude abortion, you know the courts will require it. Social issues are not a check in the box.

21:38 EST Mitt: I have excuses for every detail raised on every issue by every rival. So there.

21:37 EST Newt: why yes, Mitt has some weird details about his pro-life record.

21:36 EST CNN: can I get you to fight on abortion positions?

21:35 EST Newt: Drop federal prosecutions of states for supporting the law.

21:33 EST Paul: we are not looking at the economic incentives.

21:31 EST Mitt: I’m holding my position of four years ago. Mitt deftly co-opts any position that gets applause.

21:30 EST Santorum: I’m the son of an immigrant. Mitt has flip-flopped. Newt is like BHO. We need a clear contrast; somebody who has always held the correct position.

21:27 EST Romney: illegal aliens is among the more manageable challenges.

21:25 EST Newt: controlling the border, English as the official language of government, and modernize visas, and speedier deportations. A better guest worker program. And, yeah, some kind of way to handle people who are here for multi-decades.

21:25 EST CNN: ‘amnesty’ is such a lonely word. What about immigration.

21:24 EST Paul: no big changes, but maybenotspeakingsofast.

21:23 EST Santorum: wouldn’t change a thing. I am proud of doing it the old-fashioned way.

21:22 EST Mitt: I would take back all the time spent on other candidates and drop in on #OccupyResoluteDesk.

21:21 EST Newt: I would scuttle the first three months of standard rent-a-dolts.

21:21 EST CNN: admit your biggest screwup.

Linked at The Camp of the Saints and The Lonely Conservative.

21:15 EST Santorum: I agree with the need for freedom, and SOPA goes too far, but that intellectual property needs protection. The internet is not a wild-wild West.

21:14 EST Paul: I was the first Republican to side with Democrats against SOPA.

21:13 EST Mitt: we need freedom, and use existing law to go after pirates.

21:12 EST Newt: I favor freedom. The World’s Youngest Blogger concurs.

21:11 EST CNN: Time Warner wants SOPA.

21:10 EST Santorum: I’d sign a national right to work bill.

21:09 EST Paul: don’t oversimplify the trade question. Car companies are a bigger problem. The union problem is worse. We need more right to work states.

21:06 EST Santorum: cut the corporate tax to 0 for manufacturers.

21:05 EST CNN: Apple computer. Half a million employees in Chinese sweat shops. What gives?

21:04 EST Mitt: Hey, why don’t you quit carrying the Democrat party water and attacking people for being successful?

21:03 EST CNN: Mitt, will you follow your father’s example and drop 12 years?

21:02 EST Santorum: they’re on my computer, I do them myself, I’m not home to release them.

21:02 EST Mitt: I’ve been successful, and will release them if the nominee.

21:01 EST Mitt: I’ll get them out.

21:00 EST Paul: don’t intend to, too embarrassingly broke.

21:00 EST Newt: did an hour ago.

20:59 EST Question: what about releasing your taxes?

20:57 EST Newt: let me double down on history by contrasting Carter and Reagan. Let me pat my self on the back while sound just a little teeny bit like Elizabeth Warren.

20:56 EST Mitt: yeah, this Santorum/Gingrich catfight is perfect evidence of the need for an outsider.

20:54 EST Newt: I have shown 88 miles of courage, against the wishes of the party’s leadership.

20:52 EST Santorum: Pelican beak, hummingbird backside. I was in the House at the time of the anti-Newt coup, and the House checking scandal.

20:51 EST Newt: My resume can thrash anyone. Grandiose? I shop at BMF Wallets.

20:49 EST CNN: Newt said you should just punt, Santorum. Rick: Grandiosity has never been a problem for Newt. Beat him in IA and NH, for all he outspent me. I should get out? I’m steady, solid, and going to beat Barack Obama.

Photo curtesy of RSM:

20:43 EST Paul: I thought you were prejudiced against doctors. ObamaCare can be diminished, but government involvement in medicine is going to be hard to walk back. And Santorum has supported government involvement. We need to protect those dependent on medical care, and we need to follow the money.

20:42 EST Santorum: you ate the individual mandate for ten years.

20:41 EST Newt: I fought against HillaryCare. I will debate ObamaCare Lincoln-Douglas style.

20:41 EST Mitt: man, I got wrecked on taxes last time, and now RomneyCare. These debates suck.

20:40 EST Santorum: you’re defending a turd.

20:38 EST Mitt: Santorum is wrong, and the people of Mass. favor it 3:1. [Really?]

20:37 EST Santorum: RomneyCare sucked, and we should worry about trusting him when he’s standing by it. And Gingrich has been for an individual mandate. Mitt and Newt don’t have the clear contrast that I do. Wow.

20:34 EST Newt: people don’t trust Congress. To the people: elect Republicans, so the kids can move out and get their own insurance.

20:32 EST Mitt: the Day #1 Executive Order is the beginning, and then follow up with the Congressional repeal. Replacing it with a Bill That Does Not Suck.

20:31 EST Audience: can you really stop ObamaCare?

20:30 EST Newt: my dad went to college on the WWII GI Bill, and the tax cuts that kickstarted the economy. We should emulate it.

20:29 EST Romney: watch me break hard federalist, since Perry ejected. Furthermore we can’t eat BHO’s DoD cuts.

20:26 EST Santorum: veterans should have some preferences. BHO says he will cut benefits and military budget, but not a penny out of social welfare programs. Why does Rick not understand Democrats buying votes?

20:25 EST Paul: if we fix the economy, the veterans would be taken care of. Veterans need medical support.

20:23 EST CNN: should federal government tweak the market in favor of veterans returning from Iraq?

20:22 EST Santorum plays a strong populist capitalism card, in contrast to ‘high finance’. Points to economic squalor from Barack Obama. Rather well played.

20:20 EST Mitt had invested in Dominoes? No wonder “Godfathers” Cain had to be taken down. He’s going to stuff Adam Smith down BHO’s throat. Woo hoo!

20:19 EST Mitt parries the Bain jobs number by pointing to capitalism.

20:18 EST Mitt understands the need to speak slowly, and focus on #OccupyResoluteDesk. Crony capitalism. Solyndra, Keystone XL, NRLB.

20:16 EST Newt is determined to outspeak Ron Paul, going from the Panama Canal to the USACE to ports. My neck nearly snaps. Newt slows down for a gentle Bain drive by.

20:14 EST Ron Paul gets the ball and beats the currency, regulation, policy and mali-investment drums. Washington DC nearly executes evacuation plan.

20:12 EST CNN does Santorum want to take a swing at Newt? No, Rick leaves Newt to the people. Mitt wants to get to the issues. Paul piles on the corporations that run the media. And is proud to have his wife of LV years with him.

20:11 EST CNN has just given Newt a couple of points in the Primary. Newt turns the attack on him into an attack on the ‘elite media’ that is ‘protecting Barack Obama’.

20:09 EST Newt: I am appalled that you would start with that.

20:08 EST CNN: Newt, are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Swinger Party?

20:07 EST Introductions: Santorum celebrates his late Iowa victory, Romney has 16 grandkids, Gingrich is glad to be there, and Ron Paul is the only veteran.

20:05 EST The Citadel cadets, in a surprise attack, win the entire debate with a rocking rendition of the national anthem. Game over, we can all relax.

20:03 EST All four on stage, Santorum looking alive, while the other three stand stiffly.

20:00 EST 35 hours to the SC primary. The intro is fitting for a WWF spectacle. Get some!

19:51 EST Vodka Pundit is drunkblogging.

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PREVIOUSLY. . .
Stacy will be in fine form, reporting live from the debate:

The polling going into the primary on Saturday has Romney by a carefully positioned follicle over Newt, splitting under a third of the vote each. The Perry departure and endorsement of Newt has the potential to give Gingrich his first taste of triumph thus far. Or not. The Newt Ex-Wives Club is deploying Marianne, unexpectedly, to sandbag him in an ABC interview. Expect a statement from the Romney campaign decrying such tawdry muck-raking in 3. . .2. . .ummm, wait.

Rick Santorum goes into Saturday polling in the caboose, despite the news that the final Iowa result had him winning by 34 votes over Mitt. Welcome to the modern age, Rick, where the facts are less important than whatever news leaked first out of the media diaper.

Slightly ahead of Rick in the SC polls is Ron Paul, featuring some of the best domestic policy ideas around. . .in some of the least electable packaging.

Also happening in SC this week: Herman Cain is to appear with Steven Colbert.

In support of their non-candidacies, this Friday, January 20th at 1:00 P.M. at the Cistern in front of historic Randolph Hall at the College of Charleston, Colbert and Cain will co-hold “THE ROCK ME LIKE A HERMAN CAIN: SOUTH CAIN-OLINA PRIMARY RALLY.” The area will open to guests starting at noon.

and, four days later:

Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest tea party political action committee, is announcing that Herman Cain will be delivering the Tea Party State of the Union response at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the evening of January 24th, 2012.

Herman Cain has endorsed “We the People” on CNN, and promises to support the nominee. Reacting to Marianne’s character assassination of Gingrich, he declares her “irrelevant”. Cain says we’re sick of the negativity and lack of focus on issues.
Go, Herman!

U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, appearing on CNN, with a ‘highly coveted’ endorsement. . .of no one. It’s your decisiveness we admire. Oh, you’re against SuprePACS. “We’ve got to regulate them.” Hockey puck Linsdsey: why don’t you let people spend money on ads, and viewers make up their own minds? Graham: “The wind is to Newt’s back.”

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