Fox News Republican debate in Greenville

... last night at the Peace Center, was rowdier than I expected.

I refer to the action outside the venue, where us scruffy anarchists and sign-carriers were assembled under the watchful eye of Greenville's Finest. In addition, it was Cinco de Mayo and downtown Greenville was packed with inebriated revellers.

I was verbally assaulted upon arrival, as a drunken right-winger asked me if I knew what L stood for????? He was leering/grimacing at me, and if there had been no cops around, I think there is an even chance he would have hit me.

I answered, "Love!"

He sneered. (I know he was thinking some variation of: Damned hippies!) He shouted in my face, stinking of beer, that it stood for LIBERAL and LIAR.

"I think it stands for love," I repeated. He wasn't having any.

"One reason! Just ONE! That you hate Fox News!"

I thought a second, "Glenn Beck," I answered.

"What about him?" he demanded, red-faced.

"He's insane," I answered.

"You just said A LOT about yourself just now!" he half-grimaced at me, yelling, "You just said A LOT!!!"

"I hope so!" I smiled, and backed away from him. In doing so, I nearly backed into Mark Sanford, about 3 feet away, babbling into a microphone. (((scream))) I turned in the other direction, as a low-country accented woman with hair piled high, accosted me. "You have NEVAH seen Fox News, if you believe that! NEVAH!" Republican onlookers offered some scattered applause, and I shouted, "I've seen far TOO much of it!"--the Ron Paul boys guffawed, as various other Republicans filing into the Peace Center offered some boos.

The overt hostility reminded me of the old days of you-know-who back in 1980, the last time a Republican screamed at me over a sign.

The Greenville News accounts of the Fox News debate are here and here, but the links may not work... as stated before, they usually nab me by the end of the day. A Republican account (warning, not safe for liberals, click at your own risk!) is here, in which Herman Cain (!), the black conservative former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, is regarded as the winner. The other participants were Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Gary Johnson and the redoubtable Ron Paul.

The Ron Paul people are just so likeable and INVOLVED, you can't help but get enmeshed in conversation with them. Most are respectful of all views, unlike the nutjobs who verbally assaulted me upon arrival. All stopped and complimented our anti-war signs. And I think it DOES matter that they seem like nice people.

When I heard that during the debate, Ron Paul had actually proposed legalizing prostitution, marijuana and even heroin and bringing all the troops home from God-knows-where, well, I was practically ready to sign on... even as I worry he would destroy the social-service safety net and Medicare. The sheer BALLS of talking this way on Fox News; you just want to reward him. Damn, why don't the other candidates (including the president and everyone on the left) TALK LIKE THIS??? They talk about money, money, save money, but where are they gonna GET that money? Dr Paul has figured it out; he doesn't talk about saving money without, you know, talking about where that money will actually come from, as Lindsey Graham and other pro-war neocon hacks do.

Suddenly, the hypocrisy of the Republican Party is shown in stark relief, and as I said, you just want to give the dude a medal.

Keep holding their feet to the fire, Dr Paul. It's fun to watch them squirm.

In fairness, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson also offered an anti-war line, so good for him.

~*~

Photos below:

1) Ron Paul supporter I talked to for about 15 minutes, very nice person.

2) Fox News people wait for their close-ups. (Those TV-lights are incredible; I need to take them with me from now on, particularly whenever I shoot photos at night!)

They deliberately backed their chairs up to a turn lane on the corner, so we couldn't get right in back of them with our signs. Cagey!

3) Herman Cain supporter. A Fox News poll at the end of the evening, declared Cain the winner of the debate.

4) Police.

5) Demonstrators.

6) Gregg Jocoy, my co-organizer and co-chair of South Carolina Green Party. Yeah! The anti-war sign got mentioned on TV, woot!

7) and 8) Rev. David Kennedy and his group Chimuranga, added some fire to the sidewalk action.

And more photos HERE.

~*~

Huckabee claims he could have won SC primary

Mike Huckabee, currently out pimping his "book" (read: presidential campaign preview) titled A Simple Government, told Greenville Online that he would have won the South Carolina Republican Primary in 2008, if not for a "deal" between candidates Fred Thompson and John McCain.

In the primary, McCain was the clear winner, with Huckabee placing second and Thompson third.

According to Greenville Online (apologies if link doesn't work, they always nab me by the end of the day!):

Huckabee, who may run for the White House again, said Thompson had planned to drop out of the presidential race following the New Hampshire primary, but McCain persuaded him to stay in — a move that split the conservative vote in South Carolina and helped deliver the election to McCain.

...

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said Thompson spent most of his South Carolina campaign in Greenville and Spartanburg, a stronghold for Huckabee.

Thompson “didn’t have a significant vote, but he had just enough, and our polling showed that it was coming off of me,” Huckabee said. “And it kept me just a couple of points under McCain, and you know the rest is history. But that’s life.”

Huckabee said he doesn’t have any hard feelings “for the deal they made. I know they did it because I’ve had close aides to both of them who told me.”

Campaigns are about winning, so “it’s never been something that I was upset about because I would have done the same thing if I could have,” Huckabee said.

Dean Rice, Thompson’s national campaign manager in 2008, couldn’t be reached, nor could Trey Walker, McCain’s campaign manager in South Carolina that year who now works for Gov. Nikki Haley.

Interesting, indeed! If Huckabee had won South Carolina, he would have taken the lead.

McCain won the support of more than 33 percent of South Carolina Republicans in 2008 on his way to secure the party’s nomination.

Huckabee won every county along the Interstate 85 corridor except Oconee, but it wasn’t enough to overcome McCain’s advantage in the rest of the state. Huckabee claimed just under 30 percent of the vote statewide.

Thompson garnered 15.6 percent to take third and push former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney into fourth.

Presidential aspirants tend to pay special attention to South Carolina because of its first-in-the-South primary.

Other Republicans eyeing a White House run who have visited the Upstate in recent months include Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, another potential Republican candidate, spoke in Spartanburg on Saturday.

This year, the Fox News Channel has agreed to televise two GOP presidential debates from South Carolina, the first set for the Peace Center in downtown Greenville on May 5.

And YES, friends and neighbors, I plan to be outside the Peace Center on Cinco De Mayo to welcome them in my own special way. (grins)

I have been chatting with the energetic youth at Suite 8 in Greenville, and some of them will be there also. We may actually have a REAL DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE GOP DEBATE IN GREENVILLE! ((faints)) That's a bit optimistic here in DeMint country, but I just wanted you to know: talks are underway. We may require a permit. Also, I am quite familiar with the terrain of the Peace Center, and it will be ridiculously easy for them to cordon us off into various alleyways. But I am ON THE CASE, and wanted DEAD AIR denizens to know that!

In addition, DEAD AIR will be blogging the next SC primary and the next election to a bloody fare thee well. STAY TUNED, SPORTS FANS!

Ron Paul at the Peace Center Amphitheater, Greenville, SC

I forgot to charge up my nice new camera's battery... d'oh! ...and thus, cribbed these ultracool photos from the Greenville News. If they make me take em down, oh well. But in the meantime, I can show you where I went, and who I saw tonight.



Republican presidential candidate, Congressman Ron Paul gave a speech to hundreds of revved-up followers in the Peace Center Amphitheater, in downtown, Greenville, South Carolina, this evening. I was dumbfounded (and impressed) by the fervor. There was music, food, and almost balmy weather. I actually enjoyed the event.

I used to call this place Mayberry, but in the last decade it has turned into what David Brooks calls a Latte Town. It was interesting to see Ron Paul's middle American populists in the pricey mall-atmosphere that downtown Greenville has become. Greenville was built by working class people, like those at the Ron Paul rally. Now that the mills are gone, and once-humble Reedy River neighborhoods transformed into the millionaire's River Place (with appropriately upscale restaurants and hotels), I could easily guess which families were headed for swanky Soby's, and which were headed for Ron Paul. Many of the people in the surrounding, trendy, spanking-new restaurants and apartments came out on their decks, cocktails in hand, to have a look at the spectacle. I felt the impact of them looking down, quite literally, on us.

Not the money people, in other's words. Not your father's Republican party.

Standing around beforehand, sipping hot chocolate with Carolina fans for Ron Paul, I tried to sort out his appeal. Lots of these people were saying they don't usually get involved in politics, so what brings them out for Ron? Let me count the ways. The GrannyWarriors, with their pet monkey, never tire of telling you how much they love Ron. The collapse of the dollar, among other concerns, is one motivation. But overwhelmingly, I heard young men especially say that the trashing of the constitution in fighting an undeclared war (with no end in sight), was something that they felt strongly about.

Ron Paul was introduced by a conservative talk radio guy from Charleston (whose name and radio station I didn't catch), who promptly confused me by trashing Sean Hannity. Huh? Again, not your father's GOP.

"Why is the national media talking about Huckabee in Iowa when Ron Paul has more money and bigger crowds? Why do they patently ignore the actual numbers, in favor of coverage of Giuliani and Romney?" he asked. Indeed, I hadn't thought of it, but Ron Paul doesn't get much mainstream TV coverage.

Living in an early primary state and deciding to become a Political Blogger(tm), I dutifully signed up for all the campaign updates. It's been an illuminating exercise in what politicians consider important: money. Most campaign emails do not discuss policy, ideas, intentions, plans for the country, etc. They discuss CONTRIBUTE HERE, with a bright red button you can click to take you to the contributors page.

Here, as in other respects, Ron is far ahead of the rest of the pack. Certainly, he asks for money, but he always includes strong political statements in his email. He actually assumes people on his mailing list care about what is happening. And he doesn't talk down to them. Decidedly not a movie star of any sort, he repeatedly says WE instead of "I"--as in WE can do this together, not I will do this for you.

There is the sentiment in the crowd that he is a savior, but also, somehow, that he is an ordinary person. I find the confluence of the two sentiments odd, but thoroughly American and completely fascinating.

One of my political mentors, the late Steve Conliff, taught me to think strategically about elections. A radical and Yippie, he nonetheless deliberately ran as a Republican candidate for governor, not as a Democrat. He used to counsel us to vote for the most liberal Republican in the primaries, drawing the most conservative party to the left, which he felt was crucial. Then, cast your vote according to precinct in the general election. If your precinct can't waste a single Democratic vote, you know what to do. However, if the GOP has the election sewn up in your neighborhood (as SC is a predominantly GOP state, and there is little chance of that changing in 2008), get creative. Send messages. Vote for the Green Party, or Ron Paul, or a write-in candidate. Do something.

Let them know that Tweedledee and Tweedledum are simply no choice.

Ron Paul: Missing weapons put soldiers at risk
Ron Paul: No escalation with Iran

----------------
Listening to: Magazine - A Song from Under the Floorboards
via FoxyTunes