If I released 1033 criminals from prison including 15 murders, raised taxes over and over again, and fought the federal government when they tried to deport illegal immigrants from my state, THIS would be the ad I would run:
An expert explains why this ad works here:
Some guy named Andy posed the following questions on our post about the debate excluding Ron Paul when we said ““I’m also looking forward to seeing how the Ron Paul crowd reacts to their man being left out.”
Here are our answers:
What is it that you are looking forward to see?
You guys spray paint and hang sheets from overpasses. It’s weird, and kinda cool all at the same time. If you have the passion to do that, what will that passion force you to do when your man is left out of a debate? The answer to that is what we are looking forward to seeing.
What do you expect?
Honesty, we have no freakin’ clue, but it should be pretty passionate.
Are you looking forward as some form of gloat or are you simply curious to see what they’ll say?
Just curious…
Are you expecting outrage or complacency and given either, what is your particular interest and opinion?
For our interest, see above. Our opinion is that you should spray paint sheets that say “F Fox News.” Just use the letter F. Don’t use the word. Little kids can see the sheets hanging from overpasses also. Parents can just tell their kinds that the F stands for “Fart On.”
Why did you think there were too many people on stage before and at what point did the number of participants EVER figure into time allowed per candidate?
“At what point did the number of participants EVER figure into time allowed per candidate?”
That’s a dumb question. Basic math. Let’s use one hour for example. One hour divided by 7 candidates equals 8.5 minutes. One hour divided by 5 candidates equals 12 minutes. Yeah, we know there are questions and other breaks, but you get the gist of it.
We thought there were too many people because no one had time to explain their solutions to our nations problems. How can you give your solution to the illegal immigration problem in 30 seconds or by raising your hand? It doesn’t make sense.
How do you feel that it affected the debates of the past and will improve the upcoming debate?
See previous answer…time to explain solutions.
Is there something that you wanted to know about that eluded the list of topics covered?
Yes. REAL SOLUTIONS! Not 30 second stock answers.
What is it that you still need to know?
SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS!
What more can you learn about these people that you didn’t know?
Their solutions.
Does it affect you either positively or negatively that the field of qualified candidates was arbitrarily pared down by some corporate executive or corporate/political committee?
That didn’t happen. The field was narrowed down by polling, which is a direct measure of voter opinion. In essence, the voters narrowed the field.
Does this alarm you in any way that small groups of men sitting in their high board rooms can make decisions regarding what is important or how much a nation is to hear of any given subject or idea?
See previous.
Or do you find this perfectly acceptable. And why are you alarmed or placated by such manipulation?
Yes, we do find it acceptable. And we don’t accept the premise of the question.
Did it bother you that Kucinich was dropped from the last debate?
We didn’t watch it. But if we had, probably not.
Was that fair to the American people to lose such a large percentage of alternative opinion and ideas because of an elite group of individuals decided the American people had heard enough of that particular idea?
See 5 answers up - the American people decided.
Are you tired of watching Republican debates with eight to ten candidates fighting for time?
Are you sick of seeing your favorite candidate passed up for questions on key issues because there are simply too many people on stage?
Well, you’re in luck because today Fox News announced their next debate on January 6th in New Hampshire will feature only five candidates. Finally we’ll be able to see Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Romney, and Thompson go at it without those annoying second tier candidates.
I’m also looking forward to seeing how the Ron Paul crowd reacts to their man being left out.
Ron Paul’s comments this weekend on Meet The Press regarding The Civil War were very interesting. Check it out:
We just received the following email from SC Romney campaign manager Terry Sullivan who says that a group supporting Mike Huckabee is push polling in SC. Here is the email:
Dear friends – I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending a few days with family and friends. Unfortunately, a group making push-poll phone calls in support of Mike Huckabee did not take the holidays off, as we’ve been getting reports about anti-Romney push-polls from across the state. The Associated Press talked to the leaders of this group a few days ago and reports that the group will make one million push-poll phone calls into South Carolina over the coming weeks (see the article below).
With just 24 days to go until the South Carolina primary, we need your help to combat these shady groups. If you are targeted by groups with anti-Romney push-polls, emails, or anything else, please let us know by emailing asandoval@mittromney.com or calling 803.726.1111.
If you’d like to join SC Team Mitt for the home stretch, we can use your help at events with the Governor, phone banks, or putting up yard signs and distributing bumpers stickers. We have opportunities to help Governor Romney all over the state, so no matter where you live, you can be a part of the team. If you’d like to be a part of the team, please contact Anthony at asandoval@mittromney.com or 803.726.1111.
Thank you for your help,
Terry Sullivan
SC Campaign Manager
Hey guys - we are “half back” today and we will be “full back” tomorrow. Because we have to return some really bad gifts we received yesterday, we wont have time to update our news links. We may or may not throw up some new content.
Have a wonderful day!
SCGOP Chairman Katon Dawson did two smart things this year. First, he offered a two for one sale on spark plugs at his auto parts store. Second, he brought Jay W Ragley back to the state party, this time to head things up in a very important year. Not only do we have “The First in the South” primary, but even more important in state politics, every single seat in the General Assembly is up for re-election.
Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post says:
Remember this name: Jay W. Ragley. The new executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, Ragley has long been the boy wonder — he’s 27 — of Palmetto State GOP politics. He first came on The Fix’s radar as political director for the party in the 2006 cycle before jumping over to serve as the South Carolina director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
In Ragley’s new post, he will get plenty of national attention early next year when Republican presidential candidates descend on the Palmetto State for its Jan. 19 primary.
We here at The Shot couldn’t agree more with Cillizza. At only 27, Jay W Ragley “The Boy Wonder” has an impressive resume and more experience than many veteran political operatives. And the party activists love him. He is exactly the right person to lead the SCGOP as Executive Director.
Jay W - Suck it up buddy. You’re going to be stuck with this nickname for a good while. Congrats on the new job!
We are going to take a few days off to spend with our families. In a year when Republican presidential politics has centered on the role of religion in government, we simply remember these words from Isaiah 9:6:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, [a] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“To us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders…”
Merry Christmas folks. See you on Wednesday.
In case you missed it last week when the Governor’s Office once again leaked out information to their Spokesman before the MSM (like the time they said Jake Knotts has a illegitimate black child and the time they leaked news about Chief Stewart’s resignation) , Governor Mark Sanford won’t endorse any presidential candidate.
Unlike our Governor’s Office, Clyburn’s office has been a little more tight lipped.
Here’s Robert Behre’s story from the Post and Courier:
Clyburn, Sanford won’t publicly support any presidential hopefuls
Two of South Carolina’s biggest political heavyweights said they will remain on the sidelines during the upcoming presidential primaries, but for very different reasons.
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said he has all but made up his mind who he will vote for, and he said staying out of the fray is hard. Still, he plans to do just that to preserve South Carolina’s future as an early primary state.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mark Sanford said he also plans to remain on the fence, but his reasons are more personal in nature. He said hitting the campaign trail on behalf of a presidential hopeful would take too much time from his work as governor and from his family.
As the state’s most prominent black politician, Clyburn’s endorsement could prove pivotal in what’s shaping up here as a close Democratic contest between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — both of whom have aggressively courted the black vote.
As governor, Sanford is the state’s most visible Republican to not jump in.
Asked Friday if he planned to remain neutral, he replied, “You never say never in the world of politics, but essentially I’ve said never.”
Sanford said he has had pleasant visits with several of the candidates, and he said the closeness of the race — no fewer than six GOP hopefuls have polled above 10 percent at times — is a reflection of the party’s lingering turmoil following its nationwide basting in the 2006 elections.
“I think this unrest, this inability of the Republican electorate to lock in behind one candidate, is a function as much as anything of the times that we’re in, and the degree of frustration that conservatives have felt with the Republican Party in general, as it is where any of the candidates are,” he said.
Unlike Clyburn, Sanford said he hasn’t made up his mind. “I’m probably as undecided as everyone else,” he said. “I think there is something interesting going on out there which is a whole lot of soul searching by people in the conservative movement and by Republicans.”
South Carolina’s Democrats, who were some of the few nationwide unable to capitalize on the nation’s dissatisfaction with Republicans, hope to rebuild their party by relying on early presidential primaries to identify and energize their base.
Clyburn said if he were to weigh in during the presidential campaign, that could make national Democrats more hostile to the state’s early status.
I’m not going to be humble here. I called this about week ago after I noticed an interesting press release from the Tom Tancredo.
Immigration hawk Tom Tancredo endorsed Mitt Romney today after withdrawing from the Presidential race.
This should further help Romney establish himself as the strongest candidate on the issue of immigration, which has been proven to be one of the most important issues in the GOP primary.
At the same time Tancredo is only polling at one-percent in most early primary states, so this certainly isn’t the end-all-be-all of endorsements.
And at the end of the day I’m one BAMF when it comes to prognostication.