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.

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

“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.

Surely by now you have heard of Shaquan Duley.  She is the “poor, distressed” mother who killed her own children and lied about it.  They were found dead in her car which was at the bottom of the Edisto River.  I can think of many words to describe Ms Duley, none to flattering, but in case you wondering about Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams’ opinion, read on.

“The mom has been basically a good mom,” the sheriff said. “For whatever reason, this was her weakest moment.”

CNN

Uh… what?

“The mom has been basically a good mom,” the sheriff said. “

WHAT???????

What the hell is he talking about??  The woman smothered her two youngest children, aged one and two, with her bare hands, put their dead bodies into a car, pushed it into the river, and then made up a story about the car rolling in with the kids inside and Williams’ opinion was that she was a good mom who just had a weak moment?

Fat people have weak moments when they cheat with that slice of double chocolate fudge cake.  Teenage girls have weak moments when they buy into those lame lines their boyfriends use to get into their pants.  Steven Slater had a weak moment when he cussed out an irritating passenger and exited the plane via the evacuation slide.  Shaquan Duley did not have a weak moment.  The woman is bat shit crazy!  Killing your children is not a weak moment; it’s just plain evil.

Enter Sheriff Larry Williams.  What kind of jackass would make such a thoughtless, boneheaded comment?  Oh, she was really a good mother.  She was just in over her head.  She had no way to take care of her kids.  Oh, bleeding heart!  She is the real victim here.  We just don’t understand the hardships that lead her to this dastardly state.

Well what the heck is welfare for?  She couldn’t drop the kids off at Social Services?  Why was she having children in the first place?  Did Susan Smith just have a weak moment 16 years ago too?

I don’t have to care why she did it and I don’t have to understand.  All I have to know is that she fries in the chair for this!  There is no possible explanation to excuse what this woman did and yet somehow Sheriff Williams seems to think we should be expressing some sort of sympathy for her hardships.  Get real.

Here are a few examples of how “well functioning” the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department is.  Is it any surprise given the leadership?

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is a taxpayer watchdog group that for years has been tracking and monitoring the wasteful spending being undertaken by our members of Congress. When I say waste I mean real waste, things that most all of us regardless of political ideology and views could likely agree on. Wasted spending like $1,454,000 for mosquito trapping research or $2,573,000 for potato research. Better yet, right here in our own backyard, UNC Charlotte received $762,000 for interactive dance software.

CAGW has a searchable database containing the 9,129 pork-barrel projects in the 2010 Congressional Pig Book. They also do a ranking of every member of Congress with a score of 100 indicating a taxpayer superhero and a score of 0 being a wasteful taxpayer abuser. Unfortunately, here in the Carolinas we have several big fat zeros. That list is below:

That Jack Spratt is now attacking his election opponent is a sign that he is concerned about his reelection bid.  He wouldn’t be going on the offense against Mulvaney if he didn’t fear his chances of being defeated by him.

Spratt told a Fort Mill audience this week that Mulvaney voted against funding for children’s health insurance, early childhood education and new school buses while in the Legislature, and also proposed eliminating state money for S.C. educational television.

“He basically is against the government,” Spratt told 80 supporters at a fundraiser at McHale’s pub on Gold Hill Road. The York Democrat labeled his opponent “a candidate of the tea party.”

The Herald

This is a problem?  These are the things that he is criticizing Mulvaney over?  That he opposes too much government interference?  That may play well to the far left constituency that Bubba has been pandering to for the past few years, but I doubt most people are going to have a problem with a candidate who believes in fiscal discipline and a limited role in government.  Bubba can attempt to paint Mulvaney as some type of extremist, but Bubba himself is just the opposite extreme, voting in favor of government mandated health insurance and the economy choking Cap and Trade bill as well as being the architect of budgets with trillion dollar deficits.

Mulvaney fired back, accusing Spratt of trying to take the focus off his own unpopular votes.

“While I have listened to my constituents, John Spratt has listened to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama,” Mulvaney said of the Democratic U.S. House speaker and president. “Where I made tough choices to stay on budget, Mr. Spratt has grown the national debt.

“No matter how harsh Mr. Spratt’s attacks on me become, he will not be able to hide his record.”

Spratt has fielded criticism over his support of health care reform, the stimulus package and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), derided as a bank bailout bill.

And Mulvaney is exactly right.  Spratt’s voting record reeks of a two week old, messed in diaper.  He won’t be able to hide from his record and it will destroy him on November 2nd.

Well, this ought to reel in the votes for him.  It’s bad enough that Washington turns most of them into criminals, but this guy hasn’t even arrived yet.

U.S. Senate nominee Alvin Greene, a political unknown who became the surprise winner of the South Carolina Democratic primary, was indicted Friday by a grand jury on obscenity charges.

Greene was indicted on one felony count of “disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity,” according to the Richland County clerk of courts.

He was also indicted on a misdemeanor count of “communicating an obscene message to another person without consent.”

CNN

No, I am not back from vacation. I’m still in Boston, but I’m breaking my pledge to myself not to post while I’m away because, well, this was just too good to pass up.

By a vote of 63 – 37 the U.S. Senate has confirmed Elena Kagan as the next Supreme Court Justice.  Kay Hagan and Lindsey Graham voted in favor of the nomination.  Richard Burr and Jim DeMint voted against confirmation.

Nikki Haley will attend an Aug. 16 fundraiser in Rock Hill, marking her first visit to York County since winning the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

About 315 people have signed up for the evening reception at the Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek, and tickets are still available, said party chairman Glenn McCall. Prices start at $35 for individuals and $250 for sponsors.

McCall said he’s hearing from many Republicans who have followed Haley’s candidacy but haven’t had an opportunity to see her in person.

The Herald