McBride Goes Wild At Spartanburg U.S. Senate Debate
Jimmy Moore
May 4, 2004
South Carolina GOPUSA Exclusive reprinted here by permission.
SPARTANBURG, SC (SC GOPUSA) -- Myrtle Beach Mayor and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark McBride physically confronted SC GOPUSA at a debate in Spartanburg on Monday afternoon.
Appearing in a two-hour debate conducted by Newsradio 1330/950AM WORD, McBride was joined by former Attorney General Charlie Condon, businesswoman Orly Benny Davis, U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint and Charleston real estate developer Thomas Ravenel. Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley chose not to attend the debate.
Although the WORD debate was arguably the most comprehensive, thought provoking debate yet during this campaign cycle, it was something that happened during one of the commercial breaks that caught most people's attention.
McBride used the window of opportunity during a long break to summarily walk up to the editor of SC GOPUSA and confront him regarding a recent interview with the U.S. Senate candidates.
As he approached the editor with his 6'4" frame, McBride walked briskly up to Jimmy Moore and inquired about why he was never allowed to answer the SC GOPUSA questions as he was promised.
In mid-March, SC GOPUSA mailed out ten interview questions to each of the Republican candidates to the U.S. Senate. The candidates were given one-week to complete the interview and return their answers.
Ravenel was first followed by DeMint and Davis in the first week, appearing on SC GOPUSA, CommonVoice.com and SC Hotline.
During the second week of the interviews, Beasley was first and Charlie Condon was next albeit several days late. Nevertheless, once the Condon campaign provided the answers to the questions, his answers were immediately posted.
McBride was the sixth and final Republican candidate to be interviewed. After providing his campaign with a hard deadline and then two extensions, SC GOPUSA had been told by two of his campaign workers that the questions would be answered.
However, when SC GOPUSA called on the morning of the due date and inquired with McBride himself about where his answers were, his direct response was, "This is not a very high priority for me at this time."
He also explained that he did not believe the questions addressed the real issues in the campaign, specifically jobs and terrorism. Yet a closer look at the questions reveals there was a question about both issues in the SC GOPUSA interview.
SC GOPUSA extended the deadline for a third time and told McBride that his answers would be posted if he returned them within three days. SC GOPUSA never received McBride's answers.
As McBride continued to complain about SC GOPUSA not giving him enough time to answer the questions, the Myrtle Beach mayor began to question the SC GOPUSA editor.
"What office are you running for?," McBride exclaimed.
"I'm not running for any office, Mr. McBride because I'm a journalist," Moore retorted.
Speaking loud enough for the crowd to hear and with less than a foot between McBride and Moore, the candidate lamented that he has been to Spartanburg 14 times and has never been approached about an interview.
"I have heard you speak on various occasions and know where you stand on many of the issues," Moore expressed.
Then McBride, on his way back to his seat for the debate, made several personal comments about Moore sitting at home typing articles on the Internet.
SC GOPUSA gave each of the candidates an opportunity to answer the same questions with the same amount of time to do so. Each of the candidates answered the questions except for McBride.
McBride is currently tied for last place in the latest straw poll at SC GOPUSA.
|
