Aware that only five days remained before a South Carolina primary that could clear Romney’s path to the nomination, his four opponents offered some of their most strident rhetoric of the campaign.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, when asked about the Justice Department’s rejection of South Carolina’s voter-identification law on the grounds that it discriminates against minority voters, said: “South Carolina is at war with this federal government and with this administration.” His comments brought cheers from the conservative audience, which was sitting in the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, about 100 miles from the spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired more than 150 years ago.
When former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) was asked how long unemployment benefits should last, he replied that all such payments should be linked to job training and issued a broadside at President Obama, who has fought to have such benefits extended.
“Unconditional efforts by the best food-stamp president in American history to maximize dependency is terrible for the future of this country,” Gingrich said. “Every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I’m going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job.” That comment brought a standing ovation.
The Fix live blogged the South Carolina debate and broke down the winners and losers from Monday night. As Chris Cillizza explained:
So, who won tonight’s set-to in South Carolina? And, more deliciously, who lost? Our answers are below.
WINNERS
* Newt Gingrich:This was the former House Speaker’s best debate of the entire race. With not all that much to lose, Gingrich let ‘er rip tonight and had the exuberant crowd — more on that below — eating out of his hand.
Gingrich’s characterization of President Obama as the “food stamp president” won him applause but it was nothing as compared to the standing ovation he received when challenged about that statement later by debate panelist Juan Williams.
So in Newt’s corner was the audience that even his far less sensical lines — “Only the elites despise earning money,” he said at one point — earned him applause.
* Barack Obama: If you assume — and we do — that Romney is the all-but-certain Republican nominee (whether that happens sooner or later remains anybody’s guess) then the Obama campaign got some good material to use against him tonight.
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