Palmetto Freedom Forum: GOP Presidential Candidates Answer Questions Ahead Of 2012 (VIDEO)

Five Republican presidential candidates are participating in Monday's Palmetto Freedom Forum.

HuffPost's Jon Ward relays background on the GOP primary event:

...leading candidates will each sit alone onstage for 21 minutes to face questions from conservative firebrands Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). They will be pressed on their allegiance to the tenets of conservative orthodoxy, and each will likely face a higher level of scrutiny than they would in a group setting. But that isn't the reason their campaigns may be dreading the event.

DeMint will quiz the candidates on ways to make the government smaller, while King, according to one source, will focus on immigration. But the sleeper threat will be the third panelist asking questions Monday in Columbia: Robert George, a Princeton professor who chairs the National Organization for Marriage.

In a last-minute change of plans, Texas Governor Rick Perry signaled on Monday that he would not take part in the event and instead would head back home to deal with wildfires plaguing the Lone Star State.

GOP candidates participating in the forum include: Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), and former Godfathers's Pizza CEO Herman Cain.

 

 

Comments

[fredpa]

04:13 PM on 09/07/2011

Some Forum. No question on the Citizens United decision relative to the "We the people . . ." Constitution. They have Mitt for 20:05 before getting to Romney-care.

[Aryeh Melaris]

03:20 PM on 09/07/2011

Perry is practicing his Guliani poses for the camera. A picture of a soot smudged politician with his sleeves rolled up, holding a crying baby is worth a million debates.

[Tom-44]

11:24 AM on 09/06/2011

Why is it Social Security is not a issue? If our Goverment would stop stealing money from Americas Social Security Trust Fund Account & stop using it to pay for Wall Street,the Wars & other useless goverment programs there would not be a problem at this time. The Social Security Trust Fund should currently have $2.5 trillion + in surplus.Our Goverment is suppose to be transparent & accountable for our tax payers dollars.Just think about this,not anyone of the nut-jobs that are running for President brings up this issue.My feeling is they think the American people are wearing blindfolds & have cotton in their ears.Its just another case of "The America People Being Scammed Within"

[SETexasLib]

06:03 AM on 09/06/2011

The fires have been burning for months. Have even been resistant to Rick's pleas to God. But I think that Rick can get a handle on it now. It should only take one day(The dreaded Palmetto Freedom Forum) or possibly two(The debate), then things can return to normal with the fund raising and campaigning. Just lucky, I guess that that Rick can handle all that in two days.

Wait! It may actually take three. Fighting forrest fires up front and personal can play havoc with your hair.

[MichaelMcKLA]

09:19 PM on 09/05/2011

Earlier I criticized Perry for bailing out on this group interview to attend to wildfires in Texas. I thought he was just being another noisy Texas chicken hawk. He may or may not be, but I was wrong. At the time I made my comment, I had not realized some 470 homes had very recently burned near Austin. If I were in his shoes, I would probably have done precisely the same thing. So...I owe one apology to Gov. Perry and his fans.

[drwtsn]

11:42 PM on 09/05/2011

Don't feel bad. You were probably right about Perry. The fire has been burning and doing damage for days, yet he stayed in South Carolina and gave a speech for at least an hour this morning. He was supposedly one of the big draws at the forum, and under the circumstances I'm sure the moderators would have let him answer the questions earlier than planned.

It sure sounds like he just left to avoid the forum questions.

[MichaelMcKLA]

02:32 PM on 09/06/2011

My low opinion of him did not change. Thanks for the insight.

[indietom]

07:17 PM on 09/05/2011

"...leading candidates will each sit alone onstage for 21 minutes to face questions from conservative firebrands..."
-------------------------------------------

What jumped at me was the 21 minutes allotted to each candidate. Why not 20 or 25 minutes? Odd I thought, so I Googled, "What is the significance of the number 21?" There were some references to numerology, but most were religious or Biblical in nature. Why am I not surprised? Here are a some of the more notable ones:

1. In the New Testament, there are 17 chapters with 21 verses.
2. There are 21 chapters in the book of John.
3. Number of the perfection by excellence (3x7).
4. It signifies God destroying the land and saving those who are worthy.
5. The sum total of the numbers (1 thru 6) on a dice.

Could it be number 5?

[drwtsn]

09:11 PM on 09/05/2011

I'm going with a bastardization of 4: It signifies the Republicans destroying the land and saving those who are worth more than $10M.

[SETexasLib]

06:06 AM on 09/06/2011

fanned and faved

[Jonny Suede]

07:12 PM on 09/05/2011

Fancy, that. No trolls present. Fascinating.

[PedullaOblongata]

08:40 PM on 09/05/2011

They're busying collecting gobs of nickels on the President's visit to Detroit thread.

[Howard Scott Pearlman 59]

06:57 PM on 09/05/2011

Good thing Perry waited 3 days after the Fire Started to decide that he ought to be in charge just in time to avoid a hard hitting forum.

What stunt will Perry pull to miss the debate in California in 2 days !

Well there is this Rodeo in Amarillio that his having aproblem filling a Rodeo Clown position !

[indietom]

07:04 PM on 09/05/2011

How about, "My pet armadilla just got run'd over. I need to go back to Tex@s and make funeral arrangements."

[Jonny Suede]

07:04 PM on 09/05/2011

Doin' the 'bull' dance. Working it. Working it.

[I Luv Dogs]

06:27 PM on 09/05/2011

O/T In case anyone was wondering what the human Ambian, Tim Pawlenty is up to these days, he's been invited to the Reagan Ranch this month to speak to the conservative Young America's.

As a side note, Wendy McCaw purchased our local newspaper several years ago and turned it into a right-wing rag. So much for the liberal media even in liberal Santa Barbara. After having a 17 yr subscription, I canceled...got tired of seeing Malkin and Thomas Sowell's columns.

http://www.yaf.org/eventdetails.aspx?id=7159

[Newthron]

06:06 PM on 09/05/2011

About this so called ethical quest against abortion, I see the same racial fear factor at play. Here, it's white abortion. They wouldn't mind if back, Asian Latin aborted themselves to extinction. Do not jump on me please, ya all know for too well that there is a load of angry God's chosen out there who think just like that. They are "afraid." So yeah, going after Roe versus wade, it's more than ever their imperative. Since allovya know that in ten years from now, the white population would have shrunk enough to become a minority in many states, you can easily see a legitimate racial concern there.

All races have the duty to fight their own extinction.

[Jonny Suede]

06:37 PM on 09/05/2011

They do indeed. It might be a little more effective if we all fought against that. We all were put here. We all deserve to be here.

[Newthron]

07:04 PM on 09/05/2011

I hear the "believers," in your written words, I'm a spiritual prospect, who still believe that there is a number of life totally irrelevant in the equation of life.
Life is a spontaneous fact that cannot seriously be contained. Life is many, not specifically human. No moral, no ethic, just a genetical consciousness build to survive, specially if surviving means, eliminate other lives.

[ywcachieve]

06:38 PM on 09/05/2011

'''About this so called ethical quest against abortion, I see the same racial fear factor at play. Here, it's white abortion. They wouldn't mind if back, Asian Latin aborted themselves to extinction­. '''

In wish I had a dime for every time I have told people this. It's all about white babies to them. If only ''babies of color'' were being aborted, you would not hear from them.
I read a government stat that said, 80% of babies being aborted in the US are Caucasian babies. This is why the anti-abortion people are so active.

[Newthron]

06:54 PM on 09/05/2011

exactly....

[Newthron]

06:05 PM on 09/05/2011

It comes down to a package deal of firm intentions this welcoming gathering of American saviors.
It is loud and clear, They are simply in it to reduce Obama and the democrats's strength, the unions, therefore the workers, American people. Not of those Americans who serve their causes.

The knitted path they have taken to rationalize the necessity to weaken if not, eliminate the unions is mumbling.
I Also noticed the frightening vibes coming from this audience. Unity inside a massif lie. Why?? Because there was no plan to address and "FIX," our and the global economy. Ideology, not pragmatism. A gathering of blinded great white hope seekers.

Romney said it, the workers made America this unbelievable capitalistic system. And with the democrats they build America, %#& (reactions?).
If they damage for good the soul-strength infrastructure of this country for political gain, they would have harmed so badly or simply destroy the, what's left of the, American dream, at a time when other countries are strengthening their manufacturing industries. AT THE EXPENSE OF AMERICA's GREATEST STRENGTH-FORCE, 'THE WORKERS."

How to sale patriotism in order to keep your constituents, perfect living manipulable cash-c0w? Ask a republicans. .

[Newthron]

06:13 PM on 09/05/2011

By the way, a "republicans," even if he doesn't know it, is part emp-tea party, conservative and libertarian, when he isn't a disguised, kakaka. Yeah even alone, he represent many, the nano number.

[Michaela19762]

06:05 PM on 09/05/2011

The only Republican I like is Tina Fey.. C'mon Sarah, it'll be fun !

[Michaela19762]

06:04 PM on 09/05/2011

The Republican plankton have spoken...

[Michaela19762]

06:01 PM on 09/05/2011

Ron Paul = 17th century

Romney = 19th century

Perry = Should be pay for view

[Jonny Suede]

06:51 PM on 09/05/2011

Perry, might just be 21 B.C.

[Michaela19762]

05:58 PM on 09/05/2011

Best hair gel?