Carolina Politics Online

This is definitely a face palm moment.

Actually, this merits a double face palm.

“If Osama bin Laden ran in this district as a Republican, he would get 38 to 40 percent of the vote in any election year,” says Wayne Wingate, Spratt’s communications director, as he walks alongside the congressman at the festival. “This is a very Republican district. So you’ve got that plus this tea party angst against any incumbent in the world right now.”

Columbia Free Times

So that is the opinion that Congressman Spratt and his staffers apparently have of about roughly 300,000 of their constituents.  They think so lowly of the people they are “representing” that they think we would actually cast our votes for Osama bin Laden, a man who orchestrated the deaths of over 3,000 Americans nine years ago, rather than reelect Jack Spratt.

If I were Bubba I’d be shopping for a new communications director pretty damn quick because for a race that’s down to the wire like this one, he can’t afford to have an insidious douche like Wayne Wingate out and about flapping his yap for him.

Is this the same Wayne Wingate who used to own Durango Bagel?

A petty partisan bickering heads up for you.

ROCK HILL — York County Republicans are calling on local Democrats to cancel plans for a barbecue dinner and campaign rally on Sept. 11, saying the timing is inappropriate.

The day should be reserved for remembering terror attack victims and troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, GOP Chairman Glenn McCall said Tuesday.

“September 11 is not a day for partisan political rallies,” McCall said. “It’s a time for us to look beyond what divides us and come together to remember those who lost their lives.”

The Herald

You know, I’m just not buying into the “outrage” here.

“If Republicans aren’t capable of campaigning or holding a political rally on 9-11 that allows their candidates to reach out to the voters while at the same time being respectful towards that date’s meaning in our history, that’s their problem,” McCrae said. “We, as Democrats, are more than capable of doing so.”

And I completely agree with McCrae.  I don’t know why we’re even still having a reading of the names ceremony in New York.  It’s been nine years people.  Move on, already!  How long is September 11th supposed to be off limits?  What is the statute of limitations on feigned outrage over 9-11 political activities?  Is Pearl Harbor Day off limits too?  What about D Day?  Would it be wrong to have a political gathering on the day the first shot was fired in the War of 1812?

This is nothing more than a petty pot shot.  Nobody is outraged and nobody cares except the Republican political class trying to squeeze some PR points out of a weightless issue.

Rep. Joe Wilson acknowledged Tuesday that he’s under investigation by the House ethics committee for his use of travel funds while on at least one congressional trip to Afghanistan.

Wilson, a South Carolina Republican in a tough re-election fight with Democrat Rob Miller, said the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — the official name of the ethics panel — is looking into his purchase of six goblets for $12 while in Afghanistan in August 2009.

“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee visiting troops in Afghanistan, Wilson was provided $13 a day for travel expenses,” said Pepper Pennington, his congressional spokeswoman.

“Wilson purchased six small tokens of his appreciation — under $2 each — for Afghanistan (war) veterans and their families,” Pennington said.

McClatchy

Oh, puh-leeeeze.  12 stinking dollars?  When I first saw the title of this very biased “Pravda” article “‘You lie’ Rep. Joe Wilson probed for use of travel expenses” I thought I was actually going to read about real abuses of travel expenses, like $100,000 flights for him and 60 of his friends and stays at 5 star resort hotels, because we all know that never happens…..

Do you know what this is?  This is the Ethics panel opening up an investigation over $12 as vengeance against him for shouting “You lie!” during the state of the union address earlier this year.  They want to try to damage his reputation right before the election to help Miller’s Congressional run against him.  And why else would McClatchy even take time writing an article on it unless they were going to point out the absurdity of the whole thing?  Those people really do deserve to be labeled state run media.   What a pathetic waste of time and resources.

Miller, a former Marine Corps captain who served in Iraq, has called Wilson’s trips to Afghanistan junkets

Naturally, because everyone knows that Afghanistan is on the top of everyone’s list of vacation hot spots to throw away money on luxurious junkets.

So Bubba Gump finally paid a visit to us here in York County and left quite an impression with the locals.

“I wasn’t impressed at all,” said Campbell, 29, of Sharon, shaking his head from side to side. “Nice fella, sure, but I sure don’t want him representing me. He didn’t know what he was talking about.”

Since his upset win in June’s Democratic primary over a heavily favored political insider, Greene’s candidacy has stunned and shocked York County, South Carolina and the nation.

The Democratic Party big shots have tried to get him to drop out of the race. But Greene is nothing if not persistent. He does not quit.

He showed courage Monday night.

“He sure seems like a decent young man, but what happened here tonight is just not right,” said Dick Bankhead, a thoughtful 66-year-old political independent from Sharon. “He didn’t know what he was doing up there. The Democrats better save him – from himself. Somebody needs to spend time with him.

“Nobody should have to be a laughingstock.”

Greene answered questions, in fits and starts. But he didn’t say specifically how he would do anything, pay for anything – or, really, why he would do anything – except to put America back to work.

Greene “put on a tutorial on how not to present yourself as a candidate,” said Frank Duncan, 63, from York, by not answering a single question with “coherence” – except by saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Other than that, Duncan said, “he didn’t answer a single thing. He doesn’t have a clue. We got a bunch of dingbats up there in Washington, but at least they can speak a complete sentence.

“This was embarrassing. A farce.”

Jeremy Johnson of York, 45, asked Greene why he chose his first foray into politics as a Senate candidate rather than trying something on a local level in his hometown of Manning. Greene’s answer: “I can have the largest impact in a recession. I can do more.”

Still, Greene didn’t say a single specific thing he would “do more” of, or what he would do for “impact.”

But Johnson said Greene tried, and that was good enough for him.

“Even though he doesn’t have the polish, he did pretty good,” Johnson said.

Most in this curious crowd found Greene to be just what they expected – a candidate left hanging out to dry by his political party, trudging through answers like a mailman through heavy snow.

Greene delivered the mail all right; but it was mostly bills and junk mail.

A listener named Don Davidson said Greene won’t be good for the state, but everybody deserves a right to speak.

And speak Greene did, in mostly quiet monotone, for about 45 minutes, saying almost nothing specific at all.

“It’s a change, I will give him that,” said Don Johnson of Hickory Grove. “He tried up there, that’s for sure. I gotta give him that.

“But to elect this guy would be to go from bad to worse.”

Jenny Duncan, daughter of Frank Duncan from Sharon, listened to the whole forum. She was patient and gave Greene the benefit of the doubt.

But afterward she wondered, “How did this guy ever get this far?”

I have never before said I was embarrassed to be from South Carolina, but I might just say that now.”

Charlotte Observer

Yeah, that’s what you want to aim for when running to be a national representative for your state.  Leave everyone with a feeling of embarrassment and shame to be sharing the state with you.  I guess that’s why Bubba Gump can’t break 20% in the polls.

One thing is clear, regardless of whether we have Governor Haley or Governor Sheheen next year, South Carolinians can rest assured that their Second Amendment rights will be safe from assault (by the state government, anyway).  Nikki Haley has secured the endorsement of Gun Owners of America which is not surprising.  Republicans tend to fare better with firearm groups than Democrats do, but that’s not to say that Vincent Sheheen is a slouch on the issue.  Sheheen also has a pretty strong record of defending the right to bear arms.

“Few things are as clearly defined as the right of individual Americans to own and use firearms,” Haley said in a statement accompanying her Gun Owners of America endorsement.

“I hold a concealed weapons permit myself, and as governor, I will continue to fight against any government infringement on the Second Amendment,” she said.

Sheheen said that he owns a gun, leads the S.C. Sportsmen’s Caucus and has ties to the National Rifle Association.

“I have repeatedly worked with the NRA to protect the gun ownership rights of South Carolinians,” Sheheen said in a statement. “There is no candidate that is a stronger supporter of Second Amendment rights and as governor, I will make sure the rights of citizens to own guns are never infringed.”

Neither candidate highlighted a specific threat to the public’s right to own firearms.

The August Chronicle

Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley called for term limits on S.C. legislators Thursday as she released a plan that she said would make government more open, accountable and streamlined.

Haley has pushed many of the issues, which include requiring lawmakers to disclose their income and take more on-the-record votes, since she entered the governor’s race last year.

“From day one, our administration will demand accountability and reform across state government,” Haley said.

Haley’s plan would limit lawmakers to no more than eight years in the S.C. House or S.C. Senate, or a total of 12 years service in the General Assembly.

The State

There are a handful of states out there that have term limits imposed on their state legislators. Additionally, most states have limits on how many terms one can serve as governor.

I’ve always been a little iffy about term limits.  We the people are supposed to be the mechanism for term limits.  The idea was that it would be up to us to drain the swamp of politicians who get too powerful or too cozy with the power they hold that they start ignoring their Constitutional duties.  The problem is we aren’t doing the job.

We always hear in the news about a Congressman or member of a state government being referred to as a powerful politician,  Senator So and So, the powerful chairman of the Appropriations Committee.  Well, there aren’t supposed to be powerful politicians and that’s where the problems come from.  Whether it be Washington D.C., Columbia, or Raleigh, one doesn’t become a powerful politicians without selling out their constituency in one form or another.  We live in an age where lawmakers are scratching each others backs for seedy favors and then using our own tax dollars to “bring home the bacon” and buy us off for their reelection.  Term limits would go a long way in aiding to resolve that issue.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr on Saturday urged Charlotte-area Republicans to “mobilize an army” to change the direction of the country from Washington “to the courthouse.”

“We have a tremendous opportunity in 2010 not just at the federal level to have a change in direction but in the state … all the way down to the courthouse,” he told more than 200 people at a GOP rally in east Charlotte.

Charlotte Observer

It’s difficult for me to take Richard Burr seriously when he calls for change in Washington.  Granted the deficits we are now seeing dwarf any of Bush’s deficits, but in Bush’s day the deficits he ran up were historical at the time as well.  Where was the call from Richard Burr to control spending when his own party controlled the purse strings?  It’s funny how politicians suddenly have a change of heart about the issues when the opposition is in control.

Republican congressional candidate Harold Johnson today dismissed a poll done for his rival, Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, calling it “a desperate move.”

The internal campaign poll, by the Democratic firm Anzalone Liszt Research, showed Kissell with a 17-point lead over Johnson and a wider spread over Libertarian Thomas Hill in the 8th District.

Kissell highlighted the poll in a fundraising letter last week.

“I’m putting no stock in it,” Johnson said today at a GOP rally in east Charlotte. “You can’t convince me that with the sentiment in this country … he’s got a 17-point lead.

Charlotte Observer

I don’t discount that Kissell may be leading Johnson, but Johnson is right.  There’s not a chance in hell it’s by 17 points, not in a Republican leaning district in a Republican leaning year.  This was an internal Democratic poll, so it’s not to be taken with more than a grain of salt anyway.

Gotta give the guy some  credit for standing on principle.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is saying that he will not be voting for his party’s nominee for U.S. Senate because the candidate has been indicted on a felony charge.

Clyburn said Wednesday that a vote for fellow Democrat Alvin Greene would be an insult to his three daughters and granddaughter. Greene is accused of showing pornographic images to a female University of South Carolina student

AP

Take immigration, for example. S.C. lawmakers have proposed an anti-illegal-immigration bill modeled after a new Arizona law, which national Democrats have roundly criticized. Sheheen said a South Carolina law approved in 2008 is a better law because it sets tougher standards for verifying employee residency and provides local law enforcement the ability to enforce immigration law.

“Ours is frankly tougher,” Sheheen said. “We need to fully implement the law that we passed and that’s not been done.”

The State

I honestly have no idea how our law stacks up against Arizona, but Sheheen is definitely correct about it not being funded nor enforced.  The Republicans passed this two years ago and Governor Sanford signed it and here we are with little of it being enacted.  What’s the point of passing legislation to crackdown on illegal immigration in the state if the legislature isn’t going to allocate funds to carry it out?  Was the state assembly seriously trying to address the issue or was it just window dressing to garner fervor with the voters?

Sheheen was less definitive about his position on the health care reform law, saying he supported parts of the law that prevented insurers from eliminating coverage for those who get sick or denying it to those who have previously had major illnesses. Sheheen also supported extending coverage to dependents until the age of 25.

While on the surface that may sound like a great thing, it’s those two provisions that have already begun driving up health insurance costs for everybody else.  And the extended coverage for “children” up to age 26 is bull.  If you’re dependent on your parents at 26 years old then you’re a total loser.  A 26 year old is not a kid and should be well adapted to taking care of himself.

But independent analysts have said the law will likely increase health care costs, and the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services estimates state costs would increase by $914 million by 2020 — a 4.4 percent increase over what the state would have spent if the new law were not approved.

“I’m seriously concerned about those. I think it’s the governor’s job to voice those concerns to federal officials,” Sheheen said, adding it was unclear to him how the law would affect the growth of Medicaid, the tax-funded health insurance program for low-income residents and the disabled.

“Time will tell how we handle these” questions, he said.

Yeah well, right now we can’t afford it.  Sooner or later Sheheen is going to have to be more clear about where he stands on ObamaCare, more so, where does he stand on the unconstitutional mandate?  This is going to be a huge issue in this fall’s election all across the country and skepticism as to where Sheheen comes down on this issue will hurt his chances.

On abortion, Sheheen, a Roman Catholic, said his position is clear.

“I have always supported life and my voting record has supported that,” he said.

So we know that both he and Haley oppose abortion.  That matters why?  Until Roe v Wade gets overturned, if it ever does, there is nothing Vincent Sheheen nor Nikki Haley can do to stop people from getting abortions in South Carolina so why is this even an issue in this election?

Republican state legislator Nikki Haley now earns 52% of the vote in her bid to be the next governor of South Carolina. Democratic State Senator Vincent Sheheen picks up 36% of the vote in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state.

Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, while 10% are not sure.

Rasmussen Reports

Reeves said it’s hypocritical to have Thurmond’s name on the building when the late senator fathered a child with a 16-year-old household servant, particularly when many Democrats have urged Alvin Greene of Manning to abandon his U.S. Senate bid. Greene faces a felony charge for showing pornography to a college student.

The Post and Courier

This is why third party candidates so often at times don’t get taken seriously and people feel like voting for them is a “wasted” vote.  True, Strom Thurmond holds an ugly place in American history, but who really gives a damn about this?  Is anybody going to the voting booth in November concerned about Strom Thurmond’s name being on a Federal building?  Maybe two people, one being Morgan Bruce Reeves.

Reeves should be talking about the economy and what his plan is to lower our double digit unemployment rate and to improve education around the state.  Those are the things people really care about right now.  Then again, I have seen Reeves’ economic plan and for his sake, it’s probably better that he keeps it low profile.

Makes sense to me

Hundreds of Mecklenburg workers whose paychecks depend on federal stimulus money could be out of a job next month, county officials and employers say.

Local companies have hired 415 temporary employees this year through a government program that pays workers’ wages. But the program is set to expire Sept. 30 unless the U.S. Senate votes to extend it.

While some of the new workers have been offered permanent jobs, others will rejoin the ranks of the unemployed once funding runs out.

Charlotte Observer

I thought we needed to pass the porkulus bill last year so that we could get below 8% unemployment.  I thought this was going to be the summer of recovery.  You mean the trillions in borrowed Chinese money the Federal government  spent in order to save the economy didn’t work?  Gee, nobody saw that coming.

It seems the Republicans couldn’t manage an economy right.  The Democrats have demonstrated that they too are abject failures.  What’s a voter to do in November?  Oh that’s right, keep voting for the same two parties like always.  That will fix everything, while China meanwhile becomes the new world superpower.

Elaine Marshall is out there telling quite a whopper about Senator Richard Burr’s positions on the issues.  You might have noticed that about two weeks ago President Obama suddenly started chiming in about how Democrats need to retain control of Congress to keep Republicans from privatizing Social Security.  You may have also asked yourself, where in the hell did that come from?  Nobody in the GOP has been talking about taking up this issue.  Obama completely invented it and members of his party are now following him in kind.  Enter Elaine Marshall.

Marshall “tweeted” this comment a few days ago:

I will always protect Social Security, and fight against @BurrforSenate’s risky scheme to privatize it: http://cot.ag/a1Hcnv #ncSEN #p2

What risky scheme is Senator Burr conjuring up?  Well, that’s just it.  He isn’t.  Tootsie is quoting a comment recently made to a newspaper by Burr where he said he does not plan on doing anything different if he is reelected.  Because Burr supported President Bush’s partial privatization plan of Social Security in 2005, she makes quite a stretch to connect his comments in the newspaper to some imaginary conspiracy to privatize Social Security.  It’s a flat out lie.  That aside, Bush never tried to privatize Social Security.  He wanted to offer workers under 55 the option of investing 4% of their FICA taxes in a private account.

Richard Burr has been adequate Senator at best, not bad, but certainly not what I would consider to be all that stellar either.  That Elaine Marshall and the President have to resort to the same old Social Security fearmongering to try and scare old people into voting for them again is a sign of their desperation.  The American people are rolling out the guillotine for them on November 2nd and they know it.

It’s been known for a long time now that Social Security is on a crash course with insolvency.  In fact, it’s in the red for the first time this year. The Baby Boomers are starting to retire and there are far more of them and the prior generation who will be collecting from the program than there have been in the past.  There aren’t enough younger workers contributing to this Ponzi Scheme to keep it afloat.  So what does Elaine Marshal propose to do then to protect it?  The answer is absolutely nothing.

In this campaign, I’ve outlined my plan to protect Social Security:

• Fight against cuts – ensure seniors get the full benefits they deserve
• Protect hard working folks by fighting against raising the retirement age
• Tell Washington to stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund

She doesn’t want any cuts and she doesn’t want to raise the retirement age even though people are living far longer than they were 75 years ago when the program began.  As far as the alleged trust fund, that was raided years ago.  It’s gone.  So what’s left?  Raising the FICA tax?  It’s already 15%.  Why shouldn’t the Baby Boomers get their coming benefits cut?  It was they, after all, who voted for all of these politicians year after year who raided all of their Social Security dollars so it would seem to me they are just realizing the fruits of their very poor voting decisions.

The bottom line is Marshall supports the status quo, which will end in a fiscal boondoggle, and to deflect from that she is dispatching the typical Social Security Bogeyman that her party drums up every election year.  Nothing new to see here.

“For the last eight years, we’ve spent our time talking about vouchers when we should be talking about how to improve public education,” Sheheen said. “Enough is enough, and I’m standing today for public education.”

Sheheen’s Wednesday news conference at Columbia’s Hand Middle School had the feel of an event just weeks, not months, from Election Day. State Republican Party staffers held signs asking Sheheen’s positions on a national health care law and illegal immigration, while Sheheen staffers boxed out a Haley camera crew attempting to record the event.

Sheheen said he would end teacher pay cuts and reduce class sizes. But South Carolina could face as much as a $1 billion budget shortfall next year and Sheheen did not say how schools could pay for programs to achieve those goals. Sheheen said he would not raise taxes to fund education.

The State

Studies have shown that there is no correlation between smaller class sizes and improvement in public education.  Furthermore, how would Sheheen accomplish this while at the same time suggesting he would not raise taxes to fund this, which quite honestly, I don’t necessarily believe.

I am ambivalent when it comes to vouchers.  It’s a better system than we have today, but it’s not the best.  What I have always found ironic is how Democrats almost routinely oppose vouchers or almost any form of school choice when it’s typically poor, minority children who benefit the most from their use.  Doesn’t the Democratic Party claim to be the best friend of the poor and racial minorities in this country?  It seems to me that when it comes to the masses being properly educated, they care more about the campaign donations coming from the NEA who oppose any education reform that doesn’t put more tax dollars into their coffers.

According to the North Carolina Capitol Monitor and the first hand information I have received from SEANC, they will not be giving any endorsements this year.

In the letter I received as a candidate, the leader of the statewide SEANC voiced his disgust with the way the union associations of state employees have been treated by the current leadership in the NC General Assembly this year. Naturally with the Democrats in control of the legislature we have to come to a conclusion they are mad at the Democrats. And with State House 33 being represented by retired state employee Rosa Gill, this has to be a blow to her campaign.

According to NC SPIN, the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC/SEIU) will not make endorsements for the 2010 North Carolina general election in November. It’s a real first for the politically active organization.

It is important that I receive every bit of support in both donations and volunteers to win NC State House 33. A win in 33 will send shocking reverberations throughout North Carolina and the nation.

North Carolina State Representative Bill Owens (D-Elizabeth City) may be forced into early retirement this year.  According to Survey USA, who polled the First Senate District, which encompasses Owens’ state house district, if the election were held today Owens would lose to his Republican challenger John Woodard 44 to 41.  For Owens to be polling so poorly as an incumbent is like a locomotive heading down the tracks towards a canyon where the bridge is out.

This polling shows two positive signs if you’re a Republican.  One, the GOP needs to win nine seats in the state house in order to gain control of it.  Normally seats switch parties when there is no incumbent running.  A Republican polling ahead of an incumbent Democrat in a swing district could be an indication that other incumbent seats are also at play.  Second, eastern North Carolina has typically been fertile territory for the Democratic Party.  Owens’ slipping favorability among the voters could indicate that the national unrest against the Democrats is causing them to lose their hold on this region of the state.

According to a recent poll commissioned by Survey USA, Big Brother Basnight isn’t going to be walking into reelection this year.  In a poll of 798 registered voters in North Carolina’s First Senate District, 49% of voters would choose to reelect Marc Basnight to the State Senate while 39% would settle on his opponent, Hood Richardson.  While Basnight still holds a ten point lead over Richardson, an incumbent is considered to have entered vulnerable territory when they drop under 50% support.  Richardson would be wise to hammer home to the voters Basnight’s full fledged support for last year’s massive tax increase and state spending in a time when real unemployment nation wide is hovering around 21%.