The Great Debate
By: BJ Lawson
It wasn’t the Lincoln-Douglas debate, nor the Kennedy-Nixon debate, but it was the Lawson-Cho debate. Or perhaps the Cho-Lawson debate, depending on your preference for alphabetical order.
The Durham All Interested Republicans (and All Like-Minded Conservatives) hosted an excellent event on Wednesday, February 13. It was well-coordinated, at a fantastic venue, with about 70 people in attendance. We even earned a nice article in the Durham Herald Sun.
Overall, I learned a lot from the debate. I think I could have been more forceful in stating some points, but on balance thought the conversation highlighted the contrasts between two extremely different candidates. Here are annotated video clips of some memorable segments:
(Note - there have been reports of occasional problems viewing the embedded videos. The hyperlinks below will take you to the videos if you have any trouble. They will shortly be available with captioning through our Media page, as well.)
As you can see, my opponent doesn’t pull many punches. Quite surprising for a Presbyterian minister — but I guess some folks have to check their principles at the door when they enter politics.
Come to think of it, that’s a great reason to vote for me instead of my opponent. I’ll hold onto my principles, honorably represent the Fourth District, and work relentlessly to restore a Constitutional federal government.
So who do you think won the debate?
Tags: debate augustus cho durham a.i.r. air david price ameri
February 15th, 2008 at 6:04 am
You did a phenomenal job explaining your positions, and speaking very logically and rationally on the issues. Cho pulled alot of tactics to try and demean your campaign message. Now I don’t advocate stupidity, or unintelligent remarks but in days like this you got to speak loud and proud, and not be tentative of throwing a few hard balls his way.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:45 am
sorry that i missed it yesterday BJ, i was really looking forward to it.
i think that cho’s rebuttal to your response about how you can beat david price proves that he’s the man who can’t. we’ve run a quote un quote “true” republican how many times against this man? and how many times have we unseated him? once. one time in a long 22 year history of serving in congress.
his personal attack on you by labeling you “Ron Paul Jr.” was childish and really unnessecery and I think that responses like that clearly the defined the differences between you and Mr. Cho.
good job and good luck this weekend.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Wow. Just, wow. I’m shocked that this Cho fellow, one ‘who is a teacher among [God's people]‘, understands so little about principle and truth. If the things BJ is fighting for are not possible, then we might as well roll over and accept being the consumer slaves of foreign governments. GO BJ!
February 15th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Good job BJ. I’m glad to see someone with your principles running. with you the status quo will change. Thanks for running.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Cho’s “answer” to how to conquer the federal deficit was silly. Does he understand what the difference between the deficit and the debt is? He kept talking about the debt and not the deficit.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Cho is a Romney-style empty suit. When he talks about a “true republican”, what springs to mind is “well, that sure rules you out, sunshine.”
-jcr
February 15th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
What is it with politicians and ad hominem objections?
February 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I thought it was interesting that the Reverend Mr. Cho seemed to mock the idea of carrying around a pocket Constitution / Declaration of Independence. What does this say about his respect for the rulebook?
Perhaps the books that people carry indicate some of the things they actually care about.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Augustus Cho spoke about terrorists as an unprecedented threat. We have dealt with enemies that cross borders and can blend in with the native population. They were called pirates. There were many more of them and they attacked much more frequently than terrorists. Why are we so hysterical about terrorists?
February 16th, 2008 at 5:04 am
BJ Lawson, I completely regret not being at this debate. I am 100% behind your campaign. I have already discussed what you stand for with my family and neighbors. They liked what they heard and I urged them to get to the primary election. The message that is clear with Cho is that he is not opposed to more government spending, larger defiicit, and more civil liberties destroyed by giving more power to the executive branch. Thank you for runnng.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
BJ,
Another fine job my friend. I’m not so sure about this Cho guy.. Why on earth does he continue to make a subtle to blatantly obvious attacks on Ron Paul and his supporters? What world is Cho living in? He mentioned that he is living in the real world, as opposed to BJ living in dreamland.. haha.. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if Cho happens to beat BJ in the primary won’t he need the support and votes from Ron Paul supporters. Am I missing something? I was under the impression that he would need to bring in all the Republican votes, the majority of the independent vote, and even bring over some of the Democrats. LOL.. Who’s living in the real world? Not Cho… he has ZERO chance of beating Price! I’m afraid, he doesn’t know the district he Chairs, lives in, and is running in. If any Republican has a chance at beating Price it is BJ Lawson!
One more thing… “Remember Obama”!?? Does anyone have any idea what Cho was talking about? Did he mean to say “Remember the Alamo” but mixed up his english? LOL
February 17th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I must admit that Augustus Cho’s comments in the final video are fairly amatureish and mean-spirited. I’ve been a loyal, “establishment” republican for many years (i.e. not a “Ron Paul Libertarian”), but I have a hard time envisioning Mr. Cho having any kind of success in a general election with David Price. I’m frankly a bit embarassed that Mr. Cho is the chairman of the Orange County Republicans, because his tone and style do little to advance our party.
After witenssing that debate, I am confident that Mr. Lawson will have much greater success against David Price, and I intend to support him however I can.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Dana/Chuck:
I guess this really isn’t that big of a deal but Cho resigned as chair of the OCRP in order to commit fulltime to run for congress.
in other news…loved the herald sun article about the debate and i hope that its the start of more media for BJ’s campaign. like others have touched on here, BJ has the best chance to beat David Price or at the very least give him a run for his money, something that Cho can come nowhere close to doing. i think that the debate helped to prove that and that the future media that BJ’s campaign will recieve will help solidfy that fact.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Cho does not understand traditional american values, BJ talked about the constitution, Cho talked about military aggression. He thinks that the military gave us our freedom? No, god gave us freedom, the founding fathers acknowledged this freedom, and our military is there to protect us from foreign aggression. Politicians like Cho simply hide behind the military to cover the fact that they have no principles or vision. He was asked to give his ideas about what it means to be an american, and instead he simply mocked his opponent for carrying a copy of the constitution! That’s all you need to know about that scum bag.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Great debate- truly inspiring! A vote for this guy is a vote for Ron Paul…….what a compliment- I’M IN!!!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
For a congressional debate, it was very entertaining. It was clear to me, that Cho is the conventional politician. His game plan was to viciously attack BJ in any way he could, refusing to progress throughout the debate in a respectful manner. I thought BJ’s performance was very good, especially since this was his first debate. Augustus Cho clearly cares very little about Constitutional values, and has fit in quite nicely with the Republican establishement who has drifted from its core values. In my opinion, BJ has a much better shot in defeating David Price, with his message of liberty, peace, and prosperity.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Wow where do I begin with Cho’s performance? You know what, I’m not going to get into it. Anybody who actually watches Cho in this debate can make up their own mind. I suppose we should celebrate that even someone of his limited abilities can at least make an attempt at getting into Congress. I am very disappointed at his lack of professional conduct, and downright childish name calling.
On to BJ Lawson. Here we have a professional young man who has proven his ability to lead, proven his ability to manage money, proven his qualifications to be taken seriously as a contender in this race. As a public speaker, he is well-spoken and in command of the facts and issues. He has charisma, he has ideas, he has principle. This guy could go toe to toe with a heavyweight like David Price.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Two things that stood out to me that Cho said during the debate was his brief rant against spending (specifically pork barrel spending) which he followed up a few minutes later with a bizarre and false explanation as to why “the national debt is not a problem.” Also, his comment that BJ is trying to “divide the party up” because it seems to me that if anything is going to “divide the party up” it’s going to be baseless attacks like Cho’s on a fellow Republicans like BJ and attacks on Ron Paul supporters/liberty-minded Republicans, a very large section of the GOP.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think it’s funny that Mr. Cho mocked the idea of BJ clearly stating his views on his website. Is he trying to say that we should have to vote for our representatives based on something other than their views?
February 29th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Wisdom is a virtue derived from experience and insight; age is merely a measure of the opportunity one has had to acquire it. Clearly, BJ has acquired more than Mr. Cho despite a 17 year handicap.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Republican asked so directly about traditional American values seize the opportunity to bash the Constitution & Declaration of Independence and those who would respect them. WOW! If I go to his church and ask him to talk about his faith, would he chastise me for bringing a Bible?
BJ has a message and an honest desire to represent the people of the district as if they were his own family. We need more people with that dedication and I admire him for taking the lead yet again.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Nice BJ. hey d rock, the answer to your q is that its politics: get used to it and a lot more lol
April 20th, 2008 at 12:26 am
BJ,
I’m new to North Carolina (Cornelius, 9th District…Sue Myrick)…moved here in late Dec 2007 with wife and kids to pursue new career.
I’m a Naval Academy grad, former Navy pilot and 10-year veteran of financial services (mortgage) and, like you, have grown disgusted by our party, Congress and the course of our country. I applaud your campaign. You look the part, you sound good and you’re ‘right on’ with regard to the issues.
Cho sickens me, but it’s disturbing how his rhetoric, like Rep Myrick’s, panders directly to the mind-numb GOP down here.
I hope your campaign is successful. I may be calling for your guidance on how to run myself against Rep Myrick.
Sean O’Donnell
Cornelius
April 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Sean, my hometown is in the 9th District as well (Charlotte) , so it would be refreshing to see a constitutional candidate run against Myrick. Like Price, she is out of touch with the district.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I received a letter from Ron Paul recommending your candidacy, after some preliminary research, I am glad to hear about you, the best of luck in your race!
April 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
BJ-
Good job bud! Stand fast, we are on the high ground sir.
Bill Abshire
Fuquay Varina
April 28th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Cho….what a freakin’ status quo BS Joke….
April 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I wonder if Augustus Cho is related to the same Cho that was responsible for the horrible Virginia tech massacre? If students weren’t restricted in their ability to conceal carry on-campus, that horrible event in the history of our nation may have been thwarted much earlier. Cho, to me, comes off like John McCain, Jr.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:28 am
PJ - We’re not going there. Cho is a common Korean name. At any rate, he also wrote this column after the VT massacre:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/6841.html
With respect to your other points, I agree entirely. I am a strong supporter of concealedcampus.org, and it took the VT massacre for me to question my previously anti-gun beliefs. As a surgeon, I had only seen the ugly side of gun violence. But when I looked into the issue, the data show that allowing licensed citizens to serve as “zeroeth responders” actually reduces crime.
If we could just get those pesky criminals to mind the gun-free zone signs, we’d be all set! But instead, the signs are just a signal to the criminal element that law-abiding citizens will be unarmed. Peachy.
BJ
April 29th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I too got an e-mail from Ron Paul. I immediately went to this website and am delighted. It’s so nice to have a real patroit running for Congress in our state. I wish I was in your district. Good luck.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
April 15th in Washington at the Freedom Rally I had the pleasure to talk with Mr. Lawson. Totally impressed. I only wished that I was in your district, currently in the 8th. Mr. Lawson, I know stood there with 3 members of our group including myself. He spoke with us I know at least 30 minutes or more before he spoke to the crowd, and he also had a meeting that day with Congressman Robin Hayes. All I can say is that “We the People” must take back our great country and remember that elections are for us to select the right people to represent our interest not theirs!!
April 30th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Wow! You are the man. You totally owned that!