Republican South Carolina Debate: Live Blog Transcript CBS Debate 11/12/11
What: Republican presidential debate in South Carolina
When: 8pm EST and 7pm CST 11/12/11
Where: Airing on CBS and streamed on CBS.com
Live Blog Transcript as debate airs
POST DEBATE COVERAGE on The HillBuzz & Mrs. Fox Show at 930pm EST and 830pm CST
I will be writing a live blog transcript of this Republican presidential debate as it streams tonight on CBS.com. The last debate — moderated by CNBC — was an absolute disaster because the network did not provide a live stream on the Internet. I have not owned a television in many years and can only watch these debates online, so without a reliable stream from CNBC last time I really had to scramble to provide coverage.
I tried to plan ahead for tonight and asked a friend to find some alternative streams to watch the CBS debate in case anything happens to the CBS.com official stream. Here’s what she found for me:
1. This one is the main to CBS GOP debate streaming:
http://www.cbsnews.com/2718-250_162-1335.html
2. This one is at Shallownation site. Just scroll down to see the video. It’s below the flag image and below some silly advertising:
http://www.shallownation.com/2011/11/06/cbs-republican-presidential-debate-live-stream-video-nov-12-2011-wofford-college-spartanburg-sc/
3. This one is at Ustream:
http://www.ustream.tv/cbsnews
If you know of any other ones — or better ones — please add them to the comment thread below.
What are you looking for in this debate? How do you think the candidates will perform? Are you going to be watching the moderators to see how much they push Willard Mittens Romneycare’s candidacy tonight? Chime in below with your debate expectations and comment on whom you are rooting for and why.
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LIVE BLOG TRANSCRIPT begins at 800pm EST and 7pm CST:
And here we go….
Starts off with a little quote from each candidate….where CBS gives Willard Mittens Romneycare the most quotes…
They are calling it the “Commander in Chief” debate, with the focus on foreign policy.
I can’t even tell you how nice it is to have a debate on a network that will actually provide a livestream that comes through clear and professionally…it’s kind of Heaven after dealing with the CNBC debate issues.
Scott Pelly and Major Dad are the two debate hosts.
Pelly: Presidents deal with crises in their first year — Bay of Pigs, 9/11, etc. — what makes you able to be ready from Day One?
Major Dad: Here are the candidates: when Ron Paul’s name is said, huge yells.
CAIN: Asked about Iran weapon. First thing I would do is assist the opposition movement trying to overthrow the regime. Iranians are not our enemies the REGIME is. We need to get energy independence because Iran uses oil prices as a weapon. Oil is how they afford a nuclear campaign. We need sanctions. I know they have a program and are getting close to that weapon. Economic means is how they are getting the weapon. I would not use military means at this time. We need to deploy our Aegis fleet in that area if they have ballistic missiles.
ROMNEYCARE: This is President Obama’s greatest failing. He did not do what is necessary to deal with Iran. He should have encouraged the dissidents. He gave away our missile defense systems for nothing in time. (Romneycare throws a tantrum here…complaining about the time that he had…he starts shouting at Scott Pelly). Finally the president should have been credible about military action. If we re-elect Barack Obama then Iran will have a nuclear weapon.
It is worth putting in place crippling sanctions and working for regime change, then if nothing else works then use military action. It is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The current president is not doing anything to stop that. This is folly and I am Mitt Romney and I am throwing a tantrum over running out of time to speak.
GINGRICH: Both of these answers are superior to the current administration. There are number of ways to be smart and a number to be dumb about Iran, and the Obama administration chose all the dumb ones. There are many covert ways to take down Iran using spies and tricks. We should support the Israelis in all they do. We need to break the regime and bring it down economically. And if that does not work, use every means necessary to do that.
PAUL: It is not worth war to prevent the Iranian nuke. I am afraid what is going on right now is similar to Iraq War popaganda. That was all orchestrated. It is not worthwhile, but you get a declaration of War from Congress if you do.
PERRY: Let me answer the previous question and not the one you just asked me. The issue that has not been raised is that this country can sanction the Iranian central bank right now and shut down their economy and Obama needs to make that stand today. Now, let’s complete the mission in Afghanistan. The mission must be completed without a timetable given to the enemy. It is irresponsible from all standpoints. There should be no timetables given to the military. As Commander in Chief I would discuss with commanders on the field and make progress. We should train up the Afghan security forces to protect that citizenry. It is a very complex part of the world and our military is doing the best that it can. We can’t telegraph pullout to the enemy.
SANTORUM: Taliban is not a neutered force yet. They are still a security threat. This is the most important national security issue, the Iranian nuke. All of us should be able to answer that question. We need to put tough sanctions in place for Iran. President Bush and President Obama did not give money to the pro-democracy movement in Iran. Sanctions is not going to be enough. You need to read the IEA report. We should be working with Israel right now. Take out the nuclear capability. We need to stop this before we have a nuclear explosion in Iran and the world changes.
BACHMANN: Surge troops have made a difference, but Obama’s dithering resulted in just 30k troops and if only there had been 40k troops then the military could have dealt with the problem in both provinces, not just the south. There has been improvement down in Khandahar. Obama has made the fatal decision that by next September our troops will be withdrawn.
– NOTE: moderators are interrupting every candidate, this is a bad format for debate –
HUNTSMAN: There is a lack of security in certain parts of Afghanistan. It is time to come home from Afghanistan. We uprooted the Taliban. We killed Osama. Our nation’s future is not Afghanistan and Iraq. We must withdraw completely and come home because the future is Asia and the Pacific Rim so we need to focus there. We need a small component of tactical intelligence troops and some commitment to train the Afghan national army. We are fighting an asymetric counter terror threat as a reality of 21st Century military.
ROMNEYCARE: We don’t negotiate with terrorists or the Taliban. With regards to our footprint in Afghanistan, we have to make sure we keep our progress there. The Commander in Chief has decided to bring the troops home in the middle of the next election instead of asking generals when it should happen. The timetable by the end of 2014 is the right timetable.
GINGRICH: I don’t think you should negotiate with the Taliban. This is so much bigger and deeper a problem than what we have talked about as a country. Guerillas always survive with a sanctuary and that sanctuary is Pakistan. It needs to be a much larger discussion. Pakistan and Iran are the problems and Afghanistan is the least important of the three.
CAIN: We don’t know if Pakistan is a friend or foe. Pakistan is where Osama was found and eliminated. Pakistan has talked to Karzai and Afghanistan is going to side with Pakistan. There is a lot of clarity missing here in this whole region. Our relationship with Pakistan needs to be re-evaluated. What commitments is Pakistan willing to make to prove it is a friend? What commitments will it make regarding its military? What sort of regional agreement and strategy is possible? We need our allies to work together for things mutually beneficial to everyone.
PERRY: I think we are having an interesting conversation here, but Gingrich makes reference to foreign aid. We need to send a message. The foreign aid budget should start at zero dollars. Then we will have a conversation about whether a penny of tax dollars needs to go into those countries. Pakistan is sending a message to me that it does not deserve our foreign aid. Soldiers’ lives are being put in jeopardy. I say NO to foreign aid to countries that do not support the US.
Pakistan has been doing this for years. Their political people are not in charge of the country, their military are. I don’t trust Pakistan. We need to do foreign aid differently. American manufacturing, big companies, etc. who create economic aid need to be involved not just our tax dollars.
BACHMANN: Pakistan is a very difficult area because they have been harboring and training terrorists. I would reduce foreign aid to many countries. But Pakistan has a nuclear weapon. We have more Al Queda close to that nuclear bomb than anywhere else. We need to understand the intricacies of the middle east. Iran is working through proxies like Syra. The table is being set for worldwide nuclear war against Israel. Obama stands with Occupy Wall Street but not with Israel and he is not Israel’s friend.
GINGRICH: Perry makes sense. You should start at zero. We give Egypt $3 billion a year. You ought to start with zero and say “Explain why I should give you a penny”. The Pakistanis hid bin Laden for 6 years in a military city and then got mad at those who helped us find him. Why should we give them any money?
We need to rethink all of this. The degree to which the Arab Spring is an Anti-Christian Spring concerns me. The Coptics in Egypte are being persecuted. We should not support governments that are hostile to religions other than Islam.
SANTORUM: Pakistan is an nuclear power. We can’t be indecisive. We must make Pakistan our friend. As friends we need to get over our difficulties. We should treat Pakistan like Saudi Arabia. The terrorists come from there but we need to maintain our relationships despite that. We need a solid and stable relationship.
– BREAK: Note, the Lincoln-Douglas style debates without moderators are so much better. When there are moderators like this, all the candidates get interrupted. There’s no reason for this interruption. It really defeats the purpose of having a debate. There should also not be so many people up on the stage: Huntsman and Santorum need to be left out of future debates. In December, one or two others need to be cut as well so that more time can be spent by people like Cain and Gingrich talking about their plans for our country. My suggestion is to cut Mittens Romneycare and Rick Perry in December, and have the debaters be Cain, Gingrich, Bachmann, and Dr. Paul.
GINGRICH: I think Romneycare brings up things on his radio shows and so do I. Compared to this administration, everyone on this stage is a huge improvement over Obama. I would specifically adopt the Reagan/Thatcher/John Paul II policy towards Iran. I would repudiate what Obama has done with the United Nations. I would apply LEAN Six Sigman to Defense to save the Navy.
CAIN: The approach to making a critical decision: first, surround yourself with the right people. I will use that thinking to put together the Cabinet and ask experts for alternatives. Because I will have a multiple group of people making multiple recommendations, I will get the best answers but I will make the decisions.
SANTORUM: My agenda is to surround myself with people who do not share my point of view. I follow through and do what I say. I follow through. I surround myself with people who will execute what I promised the American public I would do. The issue we talk about before is that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon. I hope that some of the things that we talk about here like covert activity…there are scientists turning up dead and computer viruses taking down Iran…I hope the US is behind all of this and I will do more of this. My laser focus is to prevent a nuclear Iran.
PERRY: I remember the Department of Energy tonight. I have been thinking about it. (big laughs from audience). Well, there are plenty of places that should have oversight on nuclear energy. The most important thing from a strategic point of Commander of Chief is important because I am Commander in Chief in Texas and I have had hands on commander in chief experience. I have met generals and dealt with the Department of Defense. I have people help me make decisions. I surround myself with extraordinary people who have backgrounds. I will put the country on secure tract and secure the southern border with Mexico.
CAIN: Stance on torture. I believe that following procedures established by the military. I do not agree with torture period but I trust the decisions of our military leaders on what is torture and what is not. Now Cain is asked about waterboarding. I agree that waterboarding was enhanced interrogation technique and I would return to that policy. I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique.
BACHMANN: If I was president I would use waterboarding because it was effective. Barack Obama is using the ACLU to run the CIA. We have no CIA interrogation anymore. It is as though Obama has decided we wanted to lose the war on terror.
PAUL: Torture is illegal by our laws and international laws. Waterboarding is torture and many other things. It is illegal under our law and international war and is impractical. There is no evidence you get good information. That is what you get because torture is uncivilized and unAmerican.
BACHMANN: I have to say something on this — get interrupted by the moderator and shut down.
HUNTSMAN: I am lonely in Siberia. I have two boys in the United States Navy. We have a name brand in the world. I have lived overseas four times and been an ambassador three times. We project liberty democracy and human rights. Waterboarding is torture. If we lose the ability to project values, then we lose it all.
ROMNEYCARE: Absolutely it is important for an American president to order the death of an American citizen who is supporting an enemy abroad. That person is fair game. Let me talk about foreign policy. I would be guided by an overwhelming conviction that this is an American Century where America leads the free world and the entire world. America is an exceptional nation. I believe the way to conduct foreign policy is by making America stronger.
Moderator scolds audience and tells them not to boo anyone.
GINGRICH: It is the rule of law that if you engage in war against the United States you are an enemy combatant. You should not go to court. There is a huge gap here between criminal defense being in American law and waging war against the United States being outside law. The correct thing in war is to kill people who are trying to kill you.
PERRY: Some say the 21st Century is the century of China, but I don’t believe that. Reagan said that Russia will end up on the ash heap of history. I think the Communist Chinese government will end up on the ash heap too. It is important to have virtues. We need to use all of our resources, including the private sector. We need to fight the cyber war. It is a great issue to face and we must win int.
ROMNEYCARE: China has an interest in trade. They have 20 million people coming from the farms and into the cities every year. We need them to understand that they must play by the rules and not hack into computer systems and take patents and designs and counterfeit them. They can’t manipulate their currency. They have to play by the rules if they want open trade. They should want to collaborate. We can’t just sit back and let them run over us.
You need to bring an action to the WTO to hit China as a currency manipulator. We can’t sit back and let China run all over us. There is already a trade war.
HUTNSMAN: Well, I speak sophomore high school level Chinese, so I am an expert here. China is about to embark on a generational transition. We need to reach out to the Chinese so they will like us when they take over the world. The young Chinese people are going to control the world and we need to reach out to them and befriend them.
– BREAK: CBS moderators are AWFUL. One of them tried arguing with Gingrich that killing terrorists is wrong and that these people should be taken to criminal court, like they are bank robbers or car thieves or something. I swear, these people who end up in “journalism” are a special blend of crazy and stupid.
PERRY: Every country needs to start at zero in financial aid. Israel is our good friend and that is a special case. Zero Based budgeting is where we need to go. Every country needs to make their case on why we should give them aid. Why in the world should our federal government get a pass?
NOTE — this is the end of the first hour, and most CBS stations are leaving the debate now. Coverage on line will continue. Next up, Lindsey “Bette Davis Eyes” Graham and Jim DeMint will be asking questions.
It was weird they went to commercial, talked to Perry for like 30 seconds, then went to another commercial. What a poorly planned debate segment/news coverage. Shame on CBS.
Technical note: for some reason, the stream is now acting up. It was great the first 40 minutes, and now it’s cutting in and out. Looks like we can’t ever win on this.
BACHMANN: Is asked about military spending. Talks about having a fixed cost system for defense weapons development. Talks about the need for modernization with just about everything. We continue to abide by outdated models when everything is now affected by technology. No one wants to be in Obamacare. I will repeal Obamacare — she gets cut off again by Moderator.
CAIN: talks about Obama mishandling all the Middle East revolutions and allowing Islamist governments to take over. Scolds Obama for saying the president of Yemen should go.
Moderator asks about Syria and the Arab League voting to sanction Syria.
GINGRICH: Obama has made people feel they cannot depend on the United States.
PAUL: Asked about covert operations in Syria. No — it’s a tragedy and it would be nice if they would accept different views but we should not get in the middle of that and prop up those different dictatorships. We get in trouble propping up these different dictatorships we have supported.
ROMNEYCARE: Of course it is time for the Assad dictatorship to end and we should use covert activity to do that. In Syria, you have Syria in place and we need to help Turkey and Saudi Arabia who are putting pressure on him.
CAIN: I would reverse all of Obama’s policies. I would keep Gitmo open, I’d allow enhanced interrogation techniques against terrorists and would not pamper them,
SANTORUM: Civilian courts are not for terrorists.
PAUL: We’re in a mess because we have a bad foreign policy. We are at war against a tactic and there is no limits to it. We create monstrosities and come up with all these vacillations and allow the President to decide who must be assassinated. If you want to live within the law and obey the law, because otherwise it will be very bad for all of us.
We can’t make the President the prosecutor, the jury, and the executor.
Bachmann wants to speak but the moderators don’t let her again and disrespect her — the moderators treat Bachmann like she does not even exist and she lets them do it.
– Do you notice, that while Bachmann is never allowed to speak, almost every other question is given to Willard Mittens Romneycare?
BACHMANN: Paul might disagree with this, but we should not treat terrorists like they are citizens. We need to take these people out and we need to use all means to get information from them.
PAUL: I authorized the effort against Osama. But the rest of the last ten years were a waste. We should not give up so easily on our rule of law.
Senator DeMint’s question now: (Bette Davis asked her question earlier).
Of course, it’s Romneycare who gets to talk first.
ROMNEYCARE: We need to eliminate programs like Obamacare that would save $94 Billion a year. We all love public broadcasting and the national endowment for the arts, but we can’t afford them and we should not borrow from China to have them. We need to devolve almost everything to the states. The federal government is too overburdened with excessive personnel and the public workers should not earn more than private sector workers.
HUNTSMAN: We need to recognize that debt is a security problem. Greece and Japan have their GDP going to debt. We need to tackle the debt and spending. The Ryan Plan sets out a template that puts it all on the table. We need to send Medicaid to the states. We need spending down to 19% of GDP.
NOTE: It looks like so many people are now trying to listen to the stream online that it’s crashing.
The stream keeps cutting in and out because too many people are trying to use it.
CAIN: I will make a decision on Pakistan after consulting with commanders on the ground and having conversations with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is unclear where we stand with Pakistan. It is unclear where we stand with Afghanistan. We have to tread lightly and get all the info. Pakistan is one of 9 nations with a nuclear weapon.
Victory needs to be clearly defined. The mission and definition of victory need to be clear.
ROMNEYCARE: The right way to deal with Pakistan is to recognize it is not like other countries. This is close to being a failed state. It has four centers of power: intelligence services, military, political, and Islamists. We need to get a better handle on all these groups.
SANTORUM: talks about Pakistan moving nukes around in delivery vans and other weird security lapses.
GINGRICH: We rely too much on “friends” for intelligence.
HUNTSMAN: There is a crisis in Europe over debt and contagion. Let me just say about Pakistan because it is clear. There is one man in charge there. General Beanni is in charge. The president is not in charge. I would call special ops in Tamps and call a SEAL Team in and take out the loose nukes. That’s my leadership. Europe has a few problems.
We need to keep Europe’s problems from spreading to our banks.
Almost out of time in the debate now
PERRY: Talks about French and Germans dealing with Euro crisis and how Euro was supposed to be a competitor to the dollar.
Don’t forget to listen to The HillBuzz & Mrs. Fox Show tonight at 930pm EST and 830pm CST immediately after the debate for recap and commentary. The episode auto-archives as a debate recap for podcasting if you missed the debate entirely.
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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- Live Blog Transcript of GOP presidential debate in Tampa, Florida September 12th, 2011 UPDATE: Bumped to top and awaiting debate to start. Chime in live with your comments if you’re watching.
- CNN Western GOP Debate Live Blog Transcript
- Do you live in South Carolina? If so, delurk and help us start getting a handle on the state
- Live Blog Transcript: GOP presidential debate in Michigan November 9th, 2011 at Oakland University
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Mitt spanked a mod for cutting his time short. Mitt wins, mod APOLOGIZES.
pelly is a BOZO as a moderator. Dosen't know the score. Interupts speakers Rude and stupid
Michelle Bachmann's hair looks awful. Great suit though. But what is with her hair?
I don't think her hair looks awful at all. I think she is trying to show a seriousness to the topic of Commander in Chief – you know, the way Sarah puts her hair up when she's in work mode.
I'm with you. I think she looked more professional with her hair pulled back.
remind me to mention ron paul's answer on iran…this is why i can't support him as much as i like a lot of his ideas.
Hi Megan, here’s my take: Iran’s Imaginary Nuke: Why It Doesn’t Matter
newt is killing it tonight. killing it! cain seems to be having an off night. i think he's tired.
I think it's just because pizza never played much of a part in foreign policy, at least to my knowledge. And why does Ron Paul's answer on Iran bother you? Pakistan already has a nuke, and they harbored Bin Laden. Should we go to war with them first, and then sort out Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya? Or should we just mind our own business and focus on keeping our own country from collapsing under the crippling debt of imperialism and socialism?
Who is the obnoxious commentator…not Major..the other one.
This is not a debate when half of the debaters don't even get equal time to speak.,, lets just call it
the Romney Forum and let him continue to dominate …if i were the candidates out away from the
center stage I would probably just walk off and not even dignify this as a legitimate debate..
i would like to ask herman cain if he plans to answer aquestion that i asked him about a month ago? will he or any of the others ask congress to send an invoice to the following countries for
services rendered, saudi arabia, kuwait, bahrain , and iraq for about three trillion each ?
Ron Paul clearly ignored for the most part. Nice job CBS!
CBS gets an "F" for its handling of this debate. The moderators were terrible. (Who is this self-impressed Scott person anyway? He seems to constantly preen himself and try to imitate some old-time news anchor). The format was horrible. The fact that CBS broke off the TV broadcast at one hour and the debate had to continue via online streaming (which kept breaking up) was terrible. IMO, Newt was a standout. Perry partially redeemed himself. I'm suspicious that the BO-approved Huntsman seems to have perhaps "bought" himself some attention lately, not only in this debate but on Fox where he appeared on Hannity last week with his three grown daughters. Bizarre.
CBS sucks. They think the drivel of their line up is more important than choosing our next GOP candidate?
Newt once again shows himslef to be the man with all the answers. It is comforting to know someone has the answers and can demonstrate a command of all the issues.
I didn't know Major Garrett had left FOX and gone to CBS.
Major left Fox News over a year ago to resume his career as a print journalist at the National Journal. The National Journal and CBS were co-sponsor's of last night's debate.
CBS did a terrible job with this debate. Scott pelly was very rude. SIMPLE fix would be to make a T with your hands and THEN say, "20 seconds please sir"..this is old news guys.
Bachmann, solid, wiht jsut a little humming and hawing.
Huntsman, continues t be an embarrassment to this country. He is weak, and like Obama he will embolden our enemies. . His every word evokes weakness.
Gingrich – great job.
Mittens, solid performance but, as always you hav eto wonder what he really thinks.
Ccain, proved he can learn foreign policy. Obviiously he was not prepared for the torture question, and danced a bit (unlike Perry) to buy himself time while he considered his answer.
Ron Paul – spot on as usual.
Santorum – a putz as always.
The questions were horrible. Particularity regarding assassination. You had to interpret the question and both Newt and Ron Paul interpreted it differently and responded appropriately given their vantage on the question. That question needed a definative context.
After watching and hearing GOP candidates that Mr. Obama will be reelected by default as none of the candidate looks like serious contender.
Hey, Troll, if you want to play with the BigDogs on HillBuzz, you could at least learn to post comments in American English with proper grammar and syntax. Your post appears to be missing an explanatory clause after "GOP candidates" that would relate the "That Mr. Obama…" to the previous part of the sentence. Also, your blather lacks the lather to soap a point worthy of comment.
Go back to hoping that Obama's porkulous money will build you a new LibTard Troll Bridge bridge under which you can live.
As an outsider, seeing that response from RP is enough to make me shudder. The man is worse than Østupid and Jimmah Carter combined. His answer was totally foolish.
As for the commenter above who mentioned the Pakistan nukes. They have been around for more than 20 years. You can thank China and Russia for the fact that Pakistan got hold of the nukes. India also wants nukes if they do not have them already. Pakistan is a far more dangerous place because of those nuclear weapons.
What some people need to understand is that the Iranian leadership has nefarious motives for wanting those nuclear weapons. If those motives are being ignored (like RP is ignoring them) then the world will continue to be endangered.
The fact is that we cannot overlook the aims of those who want to bring on Armageddon in the belief that some kid who fell down a well more than 1400 years ago is going to return. Also, it is just plain stupid to ignore the fact that many of these Moose Limbs want to establish the world wide caliphate.
India has had nukes for as long as Pakistan if not longer sir othewise you can bet Pakistan would have invaded them a long time ago.
I am yet to come to terms with Sarah Palin choosing not to run and am stuck on stage three.