Live Thread: South Carolina GOP Presidential Debate on CNN 8 P.M. EST

Thursday, January 19, 2011 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

And then there were three and a half minds left campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Link to CNN livestream page.

Hosted by CNN's John King at the North Charleston Coliseum.

[MissMagnolia]

I don’t know if Virginia allows write-ins for their Primary

They don't.

[tsowellfan]

I’m sure Ron Paul will continue to be in the debates with Newt even if Romney’s a no show

[A. Morgan]

LOL

[kristinn]

Thanks. Ron Paul is dangerously ignorant on foreign policy. Especially because he is influencing young minds. Here he is going on about the Taliban in a completely fact-free statement from the previous debate.

"I would like to point out one thing about the Taliban. The Taliban used to be our allies when we were fighting the Russians. So Taliban are people who want — their main goal is to keep foreigners off their land. It’s the al-Qaeda — you can’t mix the two. The al-Qaeda want to come here to kill us. The Taliban just says, “We don’t want foreigners.” We need to understand that, or we can’t resolve this problem in the Middle East. We are going to spend a lot of lives and a lot of money for a long time to come."

Andrew McCarthy at NRO exposes Doctor Paul's idiocy here:

SNIP

Everything in this statement is wrong. Everything. Let’s start with the most basic point. The Taliban most certainly were not “our allies when we were fighting the Russians.” How could they have been, considering that the Taliban did not exist at the time of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan?

SNIP

It's worth clicking through to read the complete takedown. Here's one more snippet, though:

Contrary to Paul’s offensive depiction of a ravenous, empire-building America ever on the prowl for the next military conquest, the Bush administration did not rush to war. As I’ve pointed out before, in the weeks after 9/11, even after Congress authorized the use of military force, President Bush pointedly asked the Taliban to hand bin Laden and his organization over to the United States so that they could be tried — bin Laden having been indicted years earlier by an American grand jury. The Taliban repeatedly refused. Our choice at that point was either to invade, overthrow the Taliban, and smash al-Qaeda, or to let it be known that the United States would tolerate a massive attack on our homeland. That was no choice at all...

[cotton1706]

Get ready to rumble, people!

[Danae]

Ugh, the toe-sucker.... but he’s right on. You know, during the Clintoon years I would have sworn that Morris was a Democrat. What happened to that?

[sillsfan]

I agree.
I want balls out Newt tonight.
Take no prisoners.

[SamAdams76]

Regarding your drinking game rules...I don't think I have enough alcohol in the house to play by those rules!

I'll settle for a drink each time Romney flashes that creepy smile. That alone will have me passed out by the 11PM news.

[angelcindy]

So why is Newts wife coming out with all of this? and this happened when???? If it was sooooo important to her why did she not come out earlier???? MONEY....willard or obama is paying her off... If thats all they got..they must be desperate...

[jpsb]

Thanks for the thread. This is going to be a huge event, hope CNN does not play got ya. Be back later after the debate, good luck to all.

[Raebie]

bkmk

[Proudcongal]

I wish when Newt is introduced, the crowd would give him a standing ovation just for the heck of it.

[katykelly]

She gave the same interview to Esquire Magazine in 2010 , IIRC . Nothing new .

[show]

[Proudcongal]

This is going to be a huge event, hope CNN does not play got ya.

Even if they do -- and they will -- Newt seems to perform his best under such circumstances.

[kristinn]

Thanks. It was fun while it lasted :-)

[lonevoice]

Oh, dear. I didn’t realize that John King and his rutting pig sounds was moderating again. Unfortunate. But we’ll muddle through somehow.

[Belteshazzar]

kristinn wrote:
“And then there were three and a half minds left campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.”

Three and a half, huh? Well, let’s see. Mitt is and always has been of two minds, one thinking leftward thoughts and the other, smaller one, thinking rightward thoughts. Newt has one very well-tuned mind that definitely thinks rightward thoughts and only occasionally sputters. Santorum seems to have a mind that mostly thinks rightward, but isn’t as sharp as Newt’s. So, it must be that, according to your audit, Mitt has a mind and a half, which tends often to send him into flip-floppery (more often flopping left), Newt has a rightward and very sharp mind, and Santorum has rightish mind. That’s leaves nothing for Paul.

OK, I think I’ve got it.

[Kenny]

I wish he’d thank Perry and get a standing ovation, first of several tonight.

[Christie at the beach]

It is time to unite against Obama.

Newt for me!