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Has any state gone from national punch line to potential political powerhouse any faster than South Carolina appears poised to do?
There’s been no shortage of bizarre and plain ugly behavior flowing out of the Palmetto State in the past year. You all know the litany: Gov. Mark Sanford’s Appalachian Trail adventure that led to an Argentine mistress and a very public and uncomfortable divorce; the nomination of the unknown and still-mysterious Alvin Greene as the Democratic Senate nominee; the head-scratching allegations of infidelity leveled against state Rep. Nikki Haley and the flat-out racist comments directed at her heritage.
No wonder the state earned the dubious honor of being tabbed the “stink hole” of Republican politics.
Suddenly, the day after runoffs in the state set the table for November’s elections, South Carolina appears to be on the brink of becoming one of the most visible, and important, GOP political power centers in the nation.
Haley’s easy victory over Rep. Graham Barrett (and, really, the state’s GOP establishment) has already launched her into a national star. Should she win, and she will be the favorite, Haley will become a critical voice in the GOP -- a governor outside of Washington who will have a huge voice in the party’s agenda going forward. More importantly, she will be courted relentlessly by those presidential candidates for the always-crucial South Carolina primary in 2012.
State Rep. Tim Scott looks to be on the road to becoming the first black Republican in the Congress since J.C. Watts in 2002 and the first from the Deep South since Reconstruction. On top of it all, Scott defeated the son of one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond to win the nomination. Scott will be favored this fall and, should he win, will be a high-profile newcomer to Washington in a party always anxious to show its diversity.
Less noticed in the election results is the growing list of successful conservative candidates backed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who’s become D.C.’s Godfather of the Tea Party movement -- or at least the anti-Washington movement, despite his perch as an incumbent senator.
DeMint’s candidates have knocked down establishment-backed favorites in several high-profile primary contests -- Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Mike Lee in Utah yesterday. In Florida, DeMint was an early backer of Marco Rubio before Gov. Charlie Crist bolted to run as an independent. And, in Colorado, DeMint-backed Ken Buck is leading former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton in some -- though considered to be less reliable -- polls.
Lee is very likely to win this fall, and if he’s joined by some of these other anti-establishment Republicans, DeMint would have quite the little conservative base in the U.S. Senate, making South Carolina a powerful state in GOP politics.
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South Carolina, the model for the Idiocracy this country is destined to become if we don't begin to realize that we are all being played for fools by the elites and the banksters. They laugh as we fight partisan battles for the crumbs left over from their orgiastic "capitalistic" feast. We fail to realize they are feasting on us.
So, First Readers...
A conumdrum:
Which South Carolina candidate do we respect more; Democrat Alvin Greene, or Republican Tim Scott?
Please...no evasive answers, First Readers.
An either-or choice...
I'm not looking for fence-sitting here.
Violators will be disqualified...and summarily dismissed.
Well, you'll have to dismiss me because I don't know enough about either candidate! Fence sitting might be the best thing any of us could do. That said, if looking at the picture of Tim Scott on FR and thinking about the interview with Greene, the republican definitely has the edge. Then again, you have to give Greene credit because he raised no money, did little to no campaigning and won 60% of the vote. I think I'll let SC decide.
Good response about Greene, Jody...
How fed-up must South Carolina Democrats have been to choose a candidate that they knew virtually nothing about, rather than his opponent...an attorney, former judge, and former member of the South Carolina state legislature?
2010 truly is displaying an astonishingly anti-incumbent atmosphere...
I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.
No evasive answers?! Well, then, I can't play.
Or was that an evasive answer?
I'm not sure Greene deserves the respect or the credit as much as whoever voted for him based on so little knowledge of him or his "positions" deserves disrespect and discredit.
Can I get back to you after I read up on Tim Scott? Or is that too evasive?
The only plant bigger than Greene in SC is the palm trees along the coast!
Don't count on Colorado going to the tea party candidate. We're pretty purple here. A republican could win, but not a teapartier and NOT Norton (yuck).
Independent Woman - Thanks for answering my question before I could even ask it - why would any voter outside the Tea Party in Colorado (or Kentucky, Nevada, Utah, or Florida) care about what a Senator from South Carolina has to say about their own state's choices?
I don't tend to vote on the basis of endorsements anyway, but this seems like a real stretch to me.....
Then again, I don't belong to the Tea Party.
Did I hear correctly that Sanford pulled a disappearing act again this last weekend? That would make it 2 years in a row...
If so... what is it with this Christian family values guy who can't seem to spend Father's Day with his sons?
Never mind I answered my own question:
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/23/where-is-mark-sanford-the-s-c-governors-latest-mia-escape/
It's clear the stuck on stupid clowns NEVER learn... LMAO
Why do you care ? Just another nosy old broad ?
They voted in a real person not a attorney or a judge ...we have already seen those clowns tract records!!!!
The thing about the Phoenix is that before it can rise from the ashes, it has to burn.
Hmmm...just so I understand your analogy (you know how slow I am Anna Molly)...
Who, or what has to burn?
Oh, yes, so slow ...
As for what has to burn, "chicks are made to give you fever ... " And what a lovely way that is.
Or, wait. YOU meant politics, didn't you? Well. I'll have to review my contract to see if it requires that I respond to such impertinent inquiries, but just as a courtesy, I will say for now that I just meant South Carolina will have to reach the bottom (the ashes) -- metaphorically speaking -- before it can begin to climb (rise).
And a choice between Greene and DeMint seems like the bottom to me.
It certainly won’t make any difference but just to express myself I’ll go ahead and say it. After being a long term Republican two things came to be ‘the straws that broke the back’ and that was their total irresponsibility to the people and their gross dishonesty aimed to rationalize and to manipulate, with both being arrogantly and stubbornly performed. It is obvious today that their total focus is on their political ambitions, which includes being ‘puppets’ for Special Interests and the select few who are their strong supporters, while always without conscience and at any cost they completely disregard their responsibilities to the people. The proof lies in their actions, when with their constant deceptive rhetoric set aside, the actions just leave no doubt. It doesn’t take a genius to see all of it, only a rational and objective mindset that is in the viewers own best interests. I wish it were different because I really believe we need both parties.
The irresponsibility likely really started with Nixon, grew with Reagan and catapulted under Bush-Cheney to be the current corrupt and offensive extreme it is. We only have to go back to Bush-Cheney to see where they used their offices and America’s resources for their private agenda to always benefit the few, who gave them overt and covert support, substantial contributions and even promises for future compensation (kickbacks), while they gave the majority only apathy, the costs and an abundance of subterfuge. The very long list is easily remembered as we are still suffering the results. Since then the Republican Party has continued to be belligerent and arrogant in their constant irresponsibility by ignoring the drastic problems at hand, refusing to offer bipartisan cooperation and practicing deception and sabotage to fault and obstruct all efforts, again putting their political ambitions above all else. They even go so far as coercing and intimidating their own to force complete adherence, thereby squelching any occurrences of individual consciences.
Throughout it all the gross dishonesty is played to the hilt. The Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign displayed they had no limits and the 2004 ‘Swift Boat’ attacks again demonstrated the depth of their sociopathic, unconscionable mindset. We saw their manipulation of public opinion, notably with the Christian block, using appeals to people’s biases, prejudices, emotional attachments and even in the bazaar claims by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and others whose credibility is non-existent. Today it just continues without pause. Even the Tea Party Movement, being originated and supported by those who support the Republican Party, is likely just a Trojan Horse that deceptively simply seeks to return to ‘more of the same’. Barack Obama of course is not without fault yet he deserves credit for honestly addressing the problems, trying to minimize their effect and seeking to responsibly resolve them, basically on his own. Our country is designed to work best with bipartisan cooperation and surely without one side always trying to ‘cut the legs out from under’ the other.
People can choose to accept the constant attacks and outlandish claims made against Obama, faulting him for everything, ignoring that he inherited the problems and is actually making progress but if they do that and then we are returned to ‘more of the same’, which can only be a furthering of the problems and a catastrophe, they won’t be able to look to the Republican deception that duped them for any solace or find any satisfaction in the fact that they got their way.
You are no more a Republican (nor have you ever been) than Harry Reid.. you're another panty-wearing Liberal who thinks it would be a really neat-o thing to pose as a Republican and then criticize...What you are is lower than whale puke.
Man,
I find it very hard to believe your butt was ever a Republican. We have heard this mantra before. Lefties pretending to "I used to be a Republican..blah,blah,blah" BUT since BUSH I have found The Great One and changed my ways and I love Obama's dirty drawers now.
For that particular obsession, I recommend a Swiffer duster and some drawer liners for sanitary purposes. And sachet for a refreshing fragrance. Something floral, perhaps.
Please ignore this comment posted in the wrong place.
Please ignore this one, too.
First Read, we need a "delete" button. If you can edit, you should also be able to delete.
RGiles - whether you are as you described yourself to be or not, I agree with you 100%. You could not have made your argument more clear and succint. Thank you for a thoughtful contribution to the debate. It was a pleasure not reading the the regurgitation of name-calling and the baseless talking points that have been constant in today's rhetoric.