xp_cmdshell only sends first character of string

I am trying to use xp_cmdshell to launch a python script with a list as its input but for some reason its only passing the first character of the string to command line. The result I get from the code below is "'D' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.". If I add the START command before the path it just replaces 'D' with 'S'. This particular row I'm trying to test with concatenates to 241 characters so I'm not bumping up against the varchar limits for xp_cmdshell. Using MSSQL 2008R2 on Windows Server 2008R2. DECLARE @inspection varchar SELECT @inspection = 'D:/Python27/ArcGISx6410.1/python.exe D:/GIS-DATA/Scripts/whydrant_update_01.py [''' + COALESCE(FACILITYID, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(MAKER, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(HYDRCOND, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(BASECOL, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CAPCOL, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(STEAMSIZE, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(DISSIZE, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CAST(FLOW AS varchar), '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CAST(PRESSURE AS varchar), '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(VALVELOC, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(ACTIVE, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(OPERABLE, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(OPERHARD, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CORRODED, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CLEARING, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(PAINTING, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(MARKER, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(NOTE, '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(CAST(created_date AS varchar), '') + ''',''' + COALESCE(USER_, '') + ''']' FROM sde.sde.a1288 WHERE FACILITYID = '2294' EXEC xp_cmdshell @inspection