Live-Blogging the South Carolina Fox News GOP Debate

I plan to do so in this space while baby wrangling and watching the live stream at FoxNews.com.

UPDATE 8:04: Off we go... I'm going to try it with newest posts on the bottom this time. Brit Hume is moderating, and the live feed on FoxNews.com is surprisingly good. So far. (Link to the live stream is in the orange banner at the top of their page.)

UPDATE 8:09: McCain says he'll veto any pork spending and make the spendthrifts famous.

UPDATE 8:13: Talk about how to grow revenue by cutting taxes. Frankly, I don't care that much about growing tax revenue. Is our goal to make sure that the government has the maximum amount of money possible?

UPDATE 8:14: Both Giuliani and McCain harp on cutting spending. Good.

UPDATE 8:16: Paul mentions the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. There's a link to explain.

UPDATE 8:18: Fred indicates that Giuliani cribbed his tax plan and then gets down to brass tacks on economic policy. He and McCain both assert that the tax cuts must be made permanent so that people aren't left questioning whether or not their taxes are going to rise.

UPDATE 8:23: Romney seems to be echoing Limbaugh that real conservatism wins elections.

UPDATE 8:25: Thompson steps up to talk Reagan Revolution. Points out that this primary is a battle for two wings in the Republican Party: those who believe in the Reagan Revolution and those who believe the Reagan Revolution is over (Huckabee). Wow, Thompson on a serious roll here. Wild applause. (UPDATE 9:07: Video available here.)

UPDATE 8:26: Huckabee talking bull about cutting taxes again. You don't get credit for that if you raise them more than you cut them.

UPDATE 8:29: Look, I love Reagan, but you'd think he was some kind of demi-God. It's all who can out Reagan who.

UPDATE 8:30: Ron Paul asked about his supporters who are into 9/11 conspiracy theories. He says he doesn't endorse what they believe and doesn't believe it himself. Gets applause for insisting on addressing what the other candidates are talking about rather than going on about his supporters.

UPDATE 8:33: I like this FoxNews.com feed. The debate has gone to commercial, but you can still see everyone milling around on the feed. Kind of fun.

UPDATE 8:36: Huckabee talks tough by indicating that he would kill people who threaten us and send them to Hell. Thompson agrees and makes a joke about sending attackers to their virgins--gets a laugh.

UPDATE 8:42: Ron Paul thinks people are looking for an excuse to bomb Iran and doesn't like it.

UPDATE 8:46: McCain says General Petraeus should have been TIME man of the year. Heh.

UPDATE 8:48: There may soon be a Palestinian state. How do you prevent such a state from becoming a training ground for terrorism? Giuliani says they must recognize Israel, and we must have a stable Iraq. And I miss a bit because the feed glitches for a minute.

UPDATE 8:50: Ron Paul wants us out of the Middle East entirely and to trade with everyone in the Middle East. McCain says he doesn't want to trade with Al Qaeda because they only trade in burkas.

UPDATE 8:52: There seem to be a lot of scream-y Ron Paul people in the audience.

UPDATE 8:54: Thompson says you can tell things are going well in Iraq because you read so little about it in the NYT. Haha.

UPDATE 8:57: Over at Instapundit: Hey, they're even live-blogging at The New York Times, and with this surprising observation: "Mr. Thompson rocks tonight." Neat. And, yes he does.

UPDATE 8:59: Huckabee defends Israel to Ron Paul, who isn't concerned with helping Israel. Ron Paul says we help Israel's enemies too much and Israel would be better off without us. Giuliani then defends Israel as an important and close ally.

UPDATE 9:02: Thompson calls Huckabee out on complaining that our money to Pakistan goes to Pakistan's military by saying that that's where it is suppose to go to help train their forces to fight terrorism.

UPDATE 9:08: Off into this Change talk. So much talk about this vague Change in this election. You'd think Change itself was the penultimate value in government.

UPDATE 9:09: Huckabee says he wants to talk about his tax raises, he says what he raised was "hope." Sounds like a Democrat...

UPDATE 9:12: Thompson talks about his record which is nice because his is good. Brings up his NRLC endorsement. Thompson really does rock tonight.

UPDATE 9:13: Huckabee says he created jobs in Arkansas. GOVERNMENT doesn't create jobs. Could someone tell certain supposed conservatives that.

UPDATE 9:14: Giuliani challenges this silly Change talk. Says Dem Change is taking change out of your pocket. Asserts the obvious that needs to be said: Change isn't good or bad, it's what kind of changes there are, so vacuous Change talk is silly.

UPDATE 9:16: Giuliani talks about his experience with foreign policy. Giuliani is awfully likable. (Just figured I'd note that since everyone thinks "likability" is so important.)

UPDATE 9:17: Huckabee asked about his statement that wives should submit graciously to their husbands and if that statement affects his electability. Huckabee dodges for a minute with jokes about how religion is off limits except for asking him all the religion questions. Says he statement was Biblically consistent. Doesn't really address the aspect of electability.

UPDATE 9:21: Happy to hear Ron Paul mention that Republicans used to want to get rid of the Department of Education but have grown it instead.

UPDATE 9:23: During the commercial, I check out The Corner. LOL Actually, there are lots of LOLs over there.

UPDATE 9:24: Yes, I just used LOL as a noun.

UPDATE 9:25: Fred: "All your debate are belong to me." He's getting good buzz all over the blogosphere. We'll see how that translates to the real world.

UPDATE 9:27: I like how precisely Romney speaks. I like people who speak precisely and take care to say exactly what they mean.

UPDATE 9:28: Fred, "We need to be a nation of high fences and wide gates." Nicely put. Talks about cracking down on sanctuary cities. Hits on attrition through enforcement. Needs to explain this. Say the magic words, "They will deport themselves. Look at the states that have cracked down on illegal immigration, the illegal immigrants leave." Juxtaposes his ideas on illegal immigration with his competitors.

UPDATE 9:32: Huckabee says something I like! Busts the myth that legal Hispanics are pro illegal immigration. Then ticks me off again by saying that everyone should be able to walk around with his head up, i.e. the illegal immigrant. You shouldn't walk around with your head held high when you're doing something wrong.

UPDATE 9:35: Giuliani says he can handle illegal immigration just as he handled crime and welfare-ism.

And that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed it. I did. Of course, my favored candidate did especially well. This was especially good. If you like him, help him out. Now is the time when a donation would be especially effective for him.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse also live-blogged the debate and is watching the focus groups. They loved Thompson and choose him as the winner.

UPDATE: A big thanks to those of you donating to Fred. Looks like he's now surpassed his goal for tonight. Nice. Now he can run those radio spots.

I leave you with some Geraghty as I head to bed.