Carolina Politics Online

While Graham has mostly ignored his opponent, Conley has done some sniping.

“He’s arrogant,” Conley told the Constitution Party group. “He’s out there gallivanting around the country as personal bag boy for John McCain.”

Just a few years ago, Conley, an engineer and commercial pilot, was a Republican legislative candidate in Indiana. Having moved to North Myrtle Beach early in the decade, he became a Republican activist who voted for Paul, the libertarian-Republican congressman from Texas, in the January presidential primary.

By March, when it became apparent the Democratic Party wasn’t going to be able to recruit a viable, brand-name challenger for Graham, Conley filed as a Democrat. In June, he eked out a primary victory over an equally unknown Democrat.

In doing so, he emerged as a Democrat well to the right of the Republican, a rare circumstance in Southern politics.

The Greenville News

Congress currently has a 15% approval rating.  Graham is part of that 85% disapproval.  Time and time again Lindsey Graham has shown contempt for his constituents.  It’s time to send him packing and replace him with a man who will be a true representative for South Carolina.  Bob Conley is that man.

Bob Conley, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for the seat, said he’s holding his opponent’s feet to the fire in the election.

Speaking to a group of roughly 10 gathered at Bobby’s Bar-B-Q Buffet sponsored by the Aiken Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty, Conley wasted no time in getting down to the issues, chief of which he said was Graham’s support of “so-called” free trade agreements.

He said the agreements are only eroding away at the sovereignty of the United States and forcing this nation to depend on other countries - like Communist China - for its goods and manufacturing.

“America first,” Conley said. “(The agreements) are a huge cost to national independence and a huge cost to national security.”

He added that to regain the 3.5 million manufacturing jobs lost in President George W. Bush’s economy, he proposes a fair tax that “will put manufacturers on an even playing field with imported goods.”

Aiken Standard

We have free trade in this country, but it’s not fair trade.  The job loss figure in this country since NAFTA was signed is staggering.  Conley is correct.  We are becoming far too dependent on less developed nations like China for many of our goods and they do not have the consumer protection and quality control laws that we do.  How many news stories have we seen in the past year about tainted products imported into our nation from China?  We need to rework these unfair trade agreements and bring back quality American manufacturing.

Additionally, five stars to Conley on the Fair Tax.  If we ever get the Fair Tax implemented in this country we will have the biggest economic boom in the history of America, but we have to get the politicians in Washington to give up their fiefdoms first.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R) will debate challenger Bob Conley (D) on October 11 at 8:00pm.  It will be broadcast on ETV and possibly C-SPAN according to The Herald-Journal.  If I get more details on this I will post them.  If they’ll allow a live audience I may try to go.

The Post & Courier put out two stories today profiling both candidates for the U.S. Senate here in South Carolina, incumbent Lindsey Graham (R) and challenger Bob Conley (D).  I recommend reading both articles to better familiarize yourself with these candidates.  I’m not going to go through them in great detail because I have talked about this race plenty, but I will touch on a few points.

It’s really unfortunate that Conley doesn’t have more money behind him to let people know who he is and what he stands for because if he did I think Graham would be sweating balls right now.  I posted the Rasmussen survey from the other day that showed Conley only trailing by nine points and that’s with very little money in his campaign chest.  Imagine if the DNC and the local Democrat Party was actually supporting him.  They’re not, of course.  They don’t like him because of his more conservative views.  He represents the traditional Democrat Party of yesteryear, not the far left Daily Kos “kook-dom” it’s become today.  Conley would be kind of like the Lincoln Chafee of the Democrats, crossing over to the other side of the aisle on several issues.  He’d be a far better Senator than Graham.  Speaking of who, I was dumbfounded by this quote of Graham’s speaking of Conley:

“He represents a style of politics that I totally reject, and that is always finding that our best days are behind us or ‘My way or no way.’

Did Graham really say that?  He rejects “my way or no way?”  What was that little display last year when Graham called all of his constituents in South Carolina bigots at a racist La Raza event for demanding our borders be enforced to stop illegal immigration?  Just to refresh your memory, here is the speech in which the insidious act occurred (the remark is right at the very end around 3:55)

Graham is just a sleek con-artist who tells people what they want to hear at election time and then goes back to Washington and does whatever the hell he wants.  He’s approaching the same level of sleeziness as John Edwards.  He’s needs to go.

Donate to Conley and support him on Election Day!

The first Rasmussen Reports poll of South Carolina’s United State Senate race shows Republican Senator Lindsey Graham attracting 50% of the vote while Democratic challenger Bob Conley earns 41%.

Graham, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, is viewed favorably by 52% of the state’s voters. Thirty-eight percent (38%) have an unfavorable view. Before serving in the Senate, Graham had been a member of the House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002.

Conley is viewed favorably by 42%, and unfavorably by 32%. Twenty-five percent (25%) have no opinion of him. Although he is running for the Senate as a Democrat, he had previously served on the Horry County Republican Committee and supported Ron Paul for President. Conley won the Democratic nomination is a close primary election on June 16.

Rasmussen Reports

This is very encouraging.  I honestly thought this race was going to be a blowout, but for Conley to be within 9 points tells me that the public may not be as gullible in the general election as the Republicans were in the primary.  Perhaps we’ll be able to ditch Lindsey after all.

I received this from Lee at Numbers SC.  I too am supporting Bob Conley and agree with his sentiment.

Dear Fellow Patriot:

I have sent you emails in the past several months covering the illegal alien invasion and Bob Conley’s efforts to unseat Lindsey Graham. Our one little state can defeat amnesty forever if we kick out the leading advocate from the U.S. Senate. Think of it! YOU can make all the difference on a NATION WIDE PROBLEM!

YOU can make all the difference right here and right now. The Conley campaign has reached a critical phase entering the last couple of months of the campaign. Bob needs you to act now. In addition to spreading his name and your support for him to all your friends and acquaintances, the campaign needs an infusion of cash now to start getting up signs and paying for the campaign’s material needs.

The Bob Conley campaign is a grassroots organization with unpaid volunteers providing all the legwork unlike the slick, professional machine that the traitor Lindsey Graham can afford from all his multi-national and Chamber of Commerce donations. PLEASE DON’T LET LINDSEY GRAHAM GET AWAY WITH HIS CORRUPT BEHAVIOR AT OUR EXPENSE!

There are one thousand people receiving this email. Just think of the impact we could have if we each just donated $20.00 to the Bob Conley campaign! I don’t make much money (hourly wage worker) and I’ve already donated $2000.00 that I had saved up for a rainy day. That rainy day is HERE!

Most of you out there make much more than I do so I know you can make at least a small donation to the campaign at this critical time. If you think about it, $20.00 is hardly anything. Take into account inflation and $20 today is like $2.00 back in 1970 when I was a kid and gas was $0.25 to $0.32 a gallon!

I am appealing to you personally. I’ve never asked for money directly from this list to keep up the NumbersSC.com website and I never will. I’ve paid for everything as well as sending out and handing out thousands of dollars worth of bumper stickers and signs that I’ve also paid for myself never asking for anything in return. Now’s your chance to pay me back by donating instead to the Bob Conley campaign.

PLEASE go to http://AimHighWithBob.com and donate through PayPal or send in a check–whatever you can do. $20.00 is all I’m asking for. If you can afford more, you are the one to make that decision and I trust you will follow through with it. If you can only afford a few dollars, that’s fine, too.

For me, this is a campaign of the heart and of the intellect. I’ve already appealed to your intellect. Now, I’m appealing to your heart. Please give what you can today and let’s make a REAL difference in our lives and a POSITIVE change for the proud state of South Carolina and the United States of America!

–Lee
NumbersSC.com

Please go to http://AimHighWithBob.com and donate today!

For all his talk of diverse backers, Conley is a man without a base.

He once ran as a Republican for an Indiana state House seat, then bolted for the Reform Party. After moving to North Myrtle Beach, he joined his local GOP committee and backed Ron Paul in this year’s South Carolina presidential primary.

Five months later, he won a lackluster contest to become the Democratic pick to face powerhouse Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in November.

“He is naive and inexperienced,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said last week.

The Post and Courier

Naive and experienced as opposed to Lindsey Grahamnesty who labeled the vast majority of his constituents bigots and racists for wanting our immigration laws and borders enforced?  Does Carol Fowler realize that when she cuts down her party’s candidate that she is backhandedly helping Graham get reelected.  Of course she does.  That’s precisely what she wants.  Bob Conley is a threat to the Democratic establishment in South Carolina because he represents the Democratic Party of old, not the far left Kos crowd of today.

“I’m not sure where his votes are coming from.”

I’ll tell you exactly where his votes are coming from.  They are coming from people like me who are sick and tired of the status quo and not being effectively represented by the people we put in office to do so.  Graham is no longer in Washington to represent the citizens of this state.  He is part of the entrenched establishment looking out for his own interests, not ours.

“I think the American people and the people of South Carolina are recognizing there’s a certain strata in the political class that doesn’t represent them,” Conley said.

Well that couldn’t be more obvious, but the underlying question is will the sheep break from herd on Election Day.

The South Carolina Democratic Party establishment’s reaction to a previous press release, where Bob Conley accused the state’s top party leadership of supporting a far left agenda, was dismissive of Bob Conley. Carol Fowler, in particular, denied the party leadership was pursuing a far left agenda and accused Bob Conley of being “inexperienced” in his appraisal of their intentions.

Ms Fowler seems to have come down with a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease. With her declaration that Republican Party Vice-Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin’s “primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion,” Carol Fowler has irrefutably lent full faith and credit to Bob Conley’s accusation of her obvious far-left agenda of which the rank-and-file Democratic voters in the state are not supportive.

“I do not support in any way shape or form the recent comments by Carol Fowler regarding Sarah Palin’s qualifications,” Bob Conley declared in an emotionally charged statement from Washington, D.C. “Carol Fowler’s comments were wrong. Such comments detract from the important issues at hand and are completely out of line. Fowler’s comments demonstrate that her concerns are not for women but are rather for pressing a far left ideology.”

Bob Conley knows that in South Carolina a far-left ideologue cannot win a U.S. Senate seat. Bob Conley is the true “maverick” of this race and will fight for what is best for the hard working citizens of this state who have moral backbone. The people of this state have been treated like yesterday’s news by the corporate welfare crowd led by neo-conservative Republicans like Lindsey Graham.

Bob Conley wants to change all that. Bob will fight for a secure America. Bob will fight for secure borders, secure jobs, and an end to amnesty and corporate welfare. The leaderships of the two parties are both opposed to what is best for U.S. and South Carolina citizens. Bob Conley wants to take the citizens of South Carolina with him to Washington, D.C. Bob Conley will make being a U.S. citizen mean something positive again. Bob Conley will fight for the return of the American Dream.

Conley, who supported Republican Ron Paul in January’s GOP presidential primary, said Clyburn’s comments make “it clear that the Democratic Party, at least in South Carolina, is controlled by the far left who feel no need to be inclusive when they’ve got a liberal Republican like Graham apparently on their side.”

While Clyburn and Graham didn’t respond to Conley’s statement, the criticism surprised state Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler.

“South Carolina Democrats and the party’s leadership do not support Lindsey Graham,” Fowler said Thursday in a phone interview from the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The State

You don’t???

Last year, Joe Erwin of Greenville, immediate past chairman of the S.C. Democratic Party, was asked what Democrat might challenge Graham in 2008. Erwin doubted anyone would.

“We already have our best Democrat up there in Lindsey,” Erwin quipped.

Politico

Naughty, naughty.

Senator Lindsey Graham will be speaking at the Republican National Convention next week in Minneapolis on September 4th, the same night as McCain.  I wonder if he’ll remind us all again about how we’re a bunch of bigots for insisting our immigration laws get enforced.

Vote Bob Conley for Senate

The Conservativist has been tipped off that the Bob Conley (D) supporters for his Senate candidacy may crash the Spartanburg GOP Executive Committee Meeting Monday night at 6:30 PM at the Fuddruckers in Spartanburg.

U.S. Senate hopeful Bob Conley endorsed the concept of a national sales tax to replace numerous federal income taxes before a small group of Fair Tax Act supporters Wednesday in North Charleston.

The North Myrtle Beach Democrat called the proposed legislation “the second American Revolution” because he believes it will eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and allow American workers to take home what they actually earn without payroll taxes being withdrawn.

The proposed national sales tax would be 23 percent.

“It’s time for citizens and workers to take their wages and salaries and put them in their pockets,” Conley said.

“This will bring back freedom and a level playing field.”

The Post and Courier

For those of you who are unfamilar with the Fair Tax, it’s a proposal to replace the Federal Income Tax with a National Sales Tax of 23% on all new goods and services.  In essence, you would receive 100% of your paycheck (minus state or local witholdings) rather than having all of that witholding by the Federal Government for income tax, FICA, etc.

The great thing about the Fair Tax is that it would eliminate a lot of corrupt and political pandering by Federal politicians who would no longer be able to use the tax code to muscle through their agenda.  It would create an economic boom this nation has never seen.  Furthermore, it also destroys American oppression by the IRS as they would no longer be involved in our personal lives.  This would be a huge boost forward for liberty in this country if it were to ever pass, which I am skeptical it ever will, but you have to keep chipping away at the block.

From The Conservativist

Brian Frank and others have decided that Bob Conley (a supposed Ron Paul supporter) is more conservative than Lindsey Graham.  Mr. Frank decided to try and get Mr. Conley’s message across to the GOP during the new business session (Mr. Conley had left the auditorium, but was greeting folks outside).  His argument was that he was more conservative and that the people are conservative before they are republicans.

Many points of order came to be stopping the onslaught of pro-Conley monologue and a motion was finally called for adjournment.

I think Bob Conley is a superb candidate for the U.S. Senate and he has my vote in November.  I wish the DNC would get behind him more and help him out.  I think they are underestimating how many people in South Carolina aren’t all that happy with Lindsey Graham

It’s official! Bob Conley has won the recount for the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary and he will face Lindsey Graham in November for South Carolina’s Senate seat. Graham has a huge war chest to defend his seat, but he has become a self-serving neocon and many people, including Republicans, aren’t very enamored with him. I am hoping that Conley’s fiscal conservatism and his positions on Constitutional liberties will be able to win voters over so we can bounce Graham from the government once and for all.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham fended off a primary challenge Tuesday from a Republican who accused the one-term incumbent of being too liberal for South Carolina while criticizing his ties to John McCain and their work on failed immigration reform.

With 66 percent of precincts reporting, Graham had 68 percent of the vote compared with 32 percent for challenger Buddy Witherspoon, a retired orthodontist and former Republican National Committee member.

The State

Not surprisingly, Graham whomped Witherspoon in today’s election. I knew that was going to happen and since the U.S. Senate race was the only race on the Republican ballot in my area I should have just voted in the Democratic Primary for Bob Conley. At the moment, the race between Conley and Michael Cone is too close to call.

Bob Conley is a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s Primary Election. He is facing political newcomer Michael Cone for the Democratic nomination, but if he wins he may be a recipe for success in November for the Democratic Party.

Lindsey Graham has miffed many a Republican in South Carolina. That’s putting it lightly. Despite that, I think he is going to pull through Tuesday’s primary because he has out raised his opponent, Buddy Witherspoon, by about a 20 to 1 margin and Witherspoon has been coming off a little weird lately, with his whole North American Union thing. I am going to vote for Witherspoon on Tuesday anyway because I want Lindsey gone, but if he prevails I’m going with Bob Conley in November. On the issues:

• Conley wants energy independence and is a supporter of alternative fuel sources. This should have begun a decade ago, but better late than never. He gets a star on that one from me.
• He wants us to end the occupation in Iraq immediately. That’s another star.
• Conley wants our borders secured and corporations stiffly punished for hiring illegal aliens. Another star.
• Conley opposes trade agreements that have caused the outsourcing of American jobs, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and supports ending favored nation status with Communist China. That’s another star.
• End Wall Street bail outs! Woohoo!
• Repeal the Big Brother legislation the Bush Administration has forced on us in the name of “security.” That’s a big star.
• And according to the Beaufort Gazette, Conley supported Ron Paul in the Presidential Primary. That’s five stars!

Conley is the kind of Democrat that can win statewide in a southern state. He is an old school, conservative Democrat who understands how to effectively represent his would be constituents. He is not promoting a radical left wing extremist agenda like so many in the Democratic Party today. I will gladly choose him over Lindsey Graham and I bet quite a few others will follow suit if he gets his message out.

So aim high with Bob on Tuesday!