Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
From a drunken debate hall in South Carolina to nightclubs in Iowa, the candidates for president and their supporters in both major parties spend a weekend whoopin' it up.
Jan 10, 2000 | For the first time this year, a bunch of unruly drunks have had a visible effect on the political process.
At the South Carolina Republican Party's "Silver Elephant" fund-raiser and GOP presidential debate Friday night, MSNBC anchor Brian Williams was just trying to ask Texas Gov. George W. Bush a question. But the event -- held in an enormous converted warehouse and attended by roughly 3,000 party faithful -- featured an open bar every 8 feet.
So, in addition to trying to get a straight answer out of Slick Georgie, Williams also had to contend with the obnoxious boos of hundreds of drunk Southerners. Not an easy task.
Williams, who somehow remained composed, was shouted down for merely asking Bush what he thought about the current controversy in the Palmetto state about whether it's appropriate for the Confederate flag to wave above the state capitol.
"Does the flag offend you personally?" Williams asked Bush -- who is campaigning as a "compassionate conservative" and is drawn like a magnet to African-American children whenever photographers are nearby.
But Williams was barking up the wrong Palmetto tree. Bush has shown in the past that, photos of him and kids of color aside, he's not willing to expend one iota of political capital if it risks costing him the vote of even one bigot.
"The answer to your question is -- and what you're trying to get me to do -- is to express the will of the people of the South Carolina is what you're trying to get on," Bush said.
"No, I'm asking you about your personal feelings," Williams said.
"Brian, I believe the people of South Carolina can figure out what to do with this flag issue," Bush said, to raucous applause. "It's the people of South Carolina's decision. If I may, I don't believe it's the role of someone from outside South Carolina and someone running for president to come into this state and tell the people of South Carolina what to do with their business when it comes to the flag."
Williams gamely tried again. "As an American citizen, do you have a visceral reaction to seeing the Confederate flag?"
"As an American citizen," Bush said, "I trust the people of South Carolina to make the decision for South Carolina."
"Yee-haw!" roared the crowd.
Williams' question was certainly relevant. In 1962, to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Civil War (which some die-hards down here refer to as "The War of Northern Aggression") South Carolina and other Southern states raised the stars and bars above their statehouses.
South Carolina, however, is the only state that has yet to take down the flag, which civil rights organizations and others see as a symbol of slavery.
Indeed, the issue has political implications. In November 1998, Republican Gov. David Beasley was defeated at least partially because he and the state Chamber of Commerce tried to bring the flag down -- largely in response to boycotts by pro-civil rights groups. And at the exact time as the GOP debate, a pro-flag rally was going on down at the statehouse, complete with the recital of the names of 18,600 Confederate soldiers killed "defending South Carolina from invasion."
From the first five minutes of the debate -- when Bush was enthusiastically applauded for his typical wussiness -- to its end, the event often took on the ambience of a WWF "Summer Slam." When a local TV reporter asked the candidates what their biggest personal mistake as an adult was, the crowd shouted her down in a tangible display of the hostility many feel toward the media.
"You know, in hearing that question," said Alan Keyes, "I think about the biggest mistake I might make as an adult would be to treat that as if it's a question that is appropriate to be asked... I think that we have to understand that there ought to be in our public life a certain decorum, a certain dignity. There are things that I'll tell my priest in the confessional that I will not tell you or any other American. OK?"
Arizona Sen. John McCain responded to the "mistake" question by recalling his role in the "Keating Five" scandal.
"The biggest mistake that I made in my life was attending a meeting with four other senators and four regulators," McCain said, "because of the appearance of impropriety. And it's something that will always be a mark on my record and something that people will judge me for the rest of my life."
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch suggested that his biggest mistake might have been throwing his hat into the presidential ring a little late -- on July 1. Intriguingly, when he was asked the same question by the Des Moines Reigster in December, Hatch said that his biggest mistake was his past opposition to a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps Hatch didn't think mentioning that mistake would go over too well with this crowd.
Publisher Steve Forbes -- who has been progressively fading from sight at these match-ups, evaporating slowly but surely like the Cheshire Cat -- owned up to penning some magazine columns in his 20s which perhaps were a bit misguided. "I saw merit in things like raising the gasoline tax, raising the age for Social Security retirees and things like that," Forbes said. "But I've learned and grown."
Bush, who many assumed the question was aimed at, had a joke ready: noting that when he was managing partner of the "mighty Texas Rangers, I signed off on that wonderful transaction: Sammy Sosa for Harold Baines."
Added Christian activist Gary Bauer, "Well, I just want to point out to you, ma'am, that if you asked the president of the United States that question it would be an essay answer."
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