11th District GOP Debate
By
Just got back to Asheville after spending a lovely coffee and donut-fueled morning at the Opportunity House in Hendersonville, in the midst of some of the friendliest, nicest and most conservative people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in a long time. My wife jokingly asked me if I’d had my shots before I left the house; I’m happy to report that they weren’t necessary. :cough:
The debate (it was more a forum, really) went well. I’m in the process of uploading the raw, unedited audio as I type this – check back in about 45 minutes or so. I’m also working on a transcript – hopefully that’ll be ready in a couple of hours.
Stay tuned…
UPDATE: Here’s the audio. It’s not the best audio in the world – lots of coughing, rustling, chairs moving around… the debate doesn’t really start until ten minutes in. Use the player thingy below to stream, or use the download link to save it to your computer.
UPDATE #2: Unfortunately, I may have overestimated my typing and transcribing skills somewhat, as the transcript is still unfinished, but I posted an Adobe Reader (PDF) file of what I have so far here.
UPDATE #3: I only have about eleven more minutes of audio to slog through (DQ was right about the foot pedal – do they make digital Dictaphones now?), but I gotta stop and do some dishes or else my wife’s gonna kick my ass. In the meantime, use the same download link to view a further updated transcript…
UPDATE #4: Okay. I’m done. The final version of the transcript is here. Feel free to discuss some of the points of the debate among yourselves, maybe even your favorite questions, responses, one-liners, etc.; I’m going to bed. One note about the transcript, though – everything audible and understandable has been transcribed verbatim, literally. Every stammer, vocal tic and time-filler remains intact.
Next time one of these happens, it’s Gordon’s or Uptown’s turn. 
22 Comments
November 28th, 2007 at 10:03 am
You’re a hearty man, Arratik. I can’t wait to hear what happened.
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November 28th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Arratik,
I’m going to listen to the whole thing, but what were your thoughts on the event? Surprises? Did you learn anything?
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November 28th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I can use a break from transcribing…
Just a quick personal observation or two: Mumpower’s gotta get over that low-talking thing if he wants his campaign to go anywhere. He can swear up and down that he won’t play politics as usual until the cows come home, but that won’t make a lick of difference if you can’t hear him even with the benefit of a p.a. system!!! I wish him luck in overcoming that.
I’m glad I got to hear Campbell’s take on the issues, because quite honestly I didn’t really know a thing about him, other than he’s been a fixture in the Henderson County GOP for years and whatever tidbits that could be gleaned from the local papers. He had the home-field advantage, though, as evidenced by the number of young men and women in very sharp clothing wearing Campbell stickers on their jackets and vests.
I think Armor ended up impressing a good number of folks. He was confident, he was clear and well spoken, and you could sense that he knew what he was talking about. I don’t think my mics picked it up, but some of the rumblings I heard toward the back where I was standing was that he was by far the most qualified out of the three. They liked him.
I’m not going to pick a “winner”, but based on what I saw and heard this morning, I will say that if I were a Republican (and the day that happens is the day that monkeys start to fly out of my ass – we’re talking hypothetically here) and I were voting in the primary tomorrow, I’d probably vote for Armor.
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Thanks for coming to the debate – glad you didn’t catch anything… Introduce yourself next time, I’ll introduce you around!
Just wanted y’all to stop worrying and losing sleep so I’m letting you know that the Henderson County Republican Party finally got tired of being offline so we’ve launched a new website: http://www.hendersoncountygop.com
Enjoy!
Robert Danos
Chairman, HCRP
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I’ve got five bucks on Campbell.
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for coming around, Chairman Danos. It does my heart good to see so many conservatives feeling welcome to comment at this liberal blog.
Is it true that you invited Heath Shuler to the GOP debate, saying something about how he had a responsibility to show up?
If true, it seems really strange. Why would a Democratic Party incumbent Congressman impinge on a Republican primary debate?
How’s life in Hendo? Y’all lost a lot of ground to the revitalized Henderson County Democrats in 2006. What’s your plan to stop their momentum?
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Actually, the Club which hosted the debate is a separate and independent entity from the party, but yes, they did invite Shuler, but no the invite letter that I saw said nothing about “a responsibility” to show up. I think the Club just wanted him to come to increase the coverage quite honestly. It wouldn’t have “impinged” if he had, as you’ll hear/see from the transcript, the questions asked would have been just as relevant for him as our 3 hopefuls.
Our problem in Henderson County in ’06 wasn’t so much energized Dems (their numbers actually moved very little from previous cycles) as Independents and soft Republicans walked away from pulling the usual lever.
As for our plans to fix that you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t share them in detail!
But the first (and beneficial in the long run) effect I want to capitalize on here is that many Republicans here had become so content with our seemingly endless dominance of every race from Sheriff, to all 5 Co. Commissioners, state Rep, state Sen, both Senators, Congressman, etc… that energy, volunteering, and turnout had become dangerously low.
We have had a good sharp wakeup slap now and I honestly and thankful for it. We needed it not just for the 11th district seat race, but also for the voting power to effect Governor races, etc…
Like I said above, keep on coming to our events, you can even join!
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Btw, thanks for the welcome. I have read this site from time to time and I don’t see any need to feel “unwelcome” just like your audio man didn’t need to this morning. That to me would make for a very sad society and does not fit in to my idea of exchanging ideas even if it gets hot sometimes.
In this case I have noted that Shuler’s conservative votes on abortion, guns, religion issues, etc… haven’t exactly made him a God so we have some things to agree on!
(I entered our website wrong where you click on my name, I’ve corrected it now I hope.)
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Btw, thanks for the welcome. I have read this site from time to time and I don’t see any need to feel “unwelcome” just like your audio man didn’t need to this morning. That to me would make for a very sad society and does not fit in to my idea of exchanging ideas even if it gets hot sometimes.
In this case I have noted that Shuler’s conservative votes on abortion, guns, religion issues, etc… haven’t exactly made him a God on this site so we have some things to agree on!
(I entered our website wrong where you click on my name, I’ve corrected it now I hope.)
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Re: Shuler being invited – I knew I forgot to mention something… dang.
Thanks for the welcome, and the offer to join the HCRP, Robert, but as I live in Buncombe I’m not sure of my eligibility…
This transcript is taking longer than I’d originally thought by the way, so I’m going to upload what I have right now so you all can read it.
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November 28th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Mumblepower?
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November 28th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Arratik. I’ve done some transcribing. You really need a foot pedal for the playback to stop, start and rewind.
Don’t apologize. Just going and posting the audio is quite a public service!
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November 28th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Mumcabulary alert! To anyone who downloaded the audio file, at approximately 49:39, Carl slips in the word “envirojackers”!
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November 28th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
I like Armor, I had an opportunity to meet him two years ago – he’s a good egg. Having said that, the thought of him in congress makes my teeth hurt.
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November 28th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Arratik,
I can’t believe you’re doing all that transcription. I did the short speech that Heath Shuler gave at Civitas, and I thought it was going to drive me crazy.
Hats off, dude. We’re going to have Republicans flocking over here for that thing, not to mention a certain Congressional office…
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November 28th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Paul,
Where are you? Back in town?
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November 28th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Gordon,
No – still in the icy tundra that is Pittsburgh. I’ll be gone through December, and probably won’t be back till Jan 2008. (Maybe longer.)
I read SH every day ‘tho for the bloggy excellence.
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November 28th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
How refreshing. Is this a great blog or what?
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November 28th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Gordon,
You’re on for the five dollars.
Thank you all for your fairness in welcoming, discussing, but then dismissing, contrary political views.
Cordially,
John (who might wind up as your new Congressman)
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November 28th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
John,
I’m glad you’re going to get a fair shake this go ’round. With Taylor’s echo fading, you’re as in this as anyone. I’m genuinely excited to listen to the Republicans debate and establish a new basis for Republican Party politics. An elevation in substance raises all boats. A principled, issue-based Republican primary race bodes well for a general election as reasoned as any we’ve ever had.
Here’s hoping you make it back to DL soon and that you bring Michelle with you.
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November 28th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
John,
Best of luck to you. I hope you’ll have another blogger-only interview session like you did last time.
Say hello to Michelle for me. When I get back to Asheville, we should have a pint.
Cheers.
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November 29th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Note from Michelle:
Best regards to Gordon, Paul, Drama Queen, and all the interesting folks we met at Edgy Mama’s and at DL.
Informed and lively dialogue is in the best interests of everyone.
And John can tell you how hard it is to keep me quiet!
Looking forward to seeing all of you soon.
Best regards,
Michelle
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