Notes on the South Carolina GOP debate

I just got through watching the debate.  I think this debate was Fox News' attempt to kick start the nomination process early. From a political standpoint, there really isn't a good reason to start early.  Starting the process early increases the chance of a candidate tripping up and giving Obama and the left their much needed distraction issues.


I tuned in mostly to watch Herman Cain's performance to finally see Gary Johnson speak publicly (I know his record, but never seen him speak).  Below are some of the notes I jotted down while watching.


Pawlenty's opening greeting and thanks seems so typically politico and tiresome.  I liked how the other just answered the question put forth without all the fanfare.


Fox has decided to do "The Hand Show"?  I thought Fred Thompson killed The Hand Show back in 2008.  I hate The Hand Show, because it leaves you clueless as to why a candidate does or does not support an issue.  Case in point, I would have love to have heard why Herman Cain would not release the Osama Bin Ladin photo.


Ron Paul is getting wild applause for getting out of Afghanistan.  Is that truly Republicans coming around to his position or did Ron Paul pack the house with his supporters.  My money is on the latter, especially after Ron Paul's answer to close Gitmo.


Gary Johnson finally speaks, my first impression -"mousy" ,"pipsqueak", "geeky", not good.  Johnson whines (rightfully) about the distribution of questions.  Seems like Pawlenty is getting the lion's share.


Santorum not apologizing for "English Only" stance, instead gives a very strong explanation and example.  Kudos.


Gary Johnson on giving out work visas easily.  With jobs drying up in this country, do we really want to hand out work visas like Halloween candy?  That certainly seems at odd with his believe that we are headed for economic collapse. If the economy collapses, wouldn't Americans want every possible job available even the menial ones?


Pawlenty busted for his enthusiastic support for Cap and Trade! Pawlenty fesses up and admits a mistake. Seems like a smarter way to go than what Romney is trying to pull with RomneyCare.


Lightning Round on absent candidates - this is Fox News indulging itself. Very bad idea, this could lead to nasty sound bites that the left would surely use.  Thankfully, none of them stepped in it. Gary Johnson tries a little bit of a Palin dig.  Foolish, she could eat his lunch while making breakfast for her family.


Here is my overall impressions of the various candidates.


Tim Pawlenty - He was the perfect first tier candidate - if this was 2008.  His style seemed so typically scripted from the faux aggressive tone to the robotic hand gestures.  This may have been the standard back in the day, but for 2012 we need authenticity.


Rick Santorum - The perfect 2008 second tier candidate.  Aside from his refusal to back track on his English Only comments, I wasn't really impressed.


Herman Cain - In this field of candidates, I expected Cain to completely blow these guys out the water.  Maybe I have seen too many of his speeches, but I was expecting a tad more. Judging from the focus group after the debate, Cain ran way with the show, so maybe I am being too critical.  He is still on my short list.


Ron Paul - Ron Paul was Ron Paul. The only thing new here, is that I think Republicans have moved a little closer to where Ron Paul has always been.


Gary Johnson - This guy will never do.  I have repeatedly warned on this blog that the GOP nominee is going to get the full Palin Treatment.  Does anyone think for one hot second that Gary Johnson could stand up to 10 minutes of that?  Hopeless! Pack it in Gary.


Via: Memeorandum
Via: Fox News
Via: The Other McCain

Video: Alvin Greene’s campaign video

The New York Times: Alvin Greene, the Democratic candidate for Senate in South Carolina, who emerged at a public campaign event for the first time last weekend, is now out with his first campaign video. The video, called, “Alvin Green Is On the Scene,” is a 3-minute hip-hop mix, featuring extensive footage of LeBron James — perhaps an allusion to how Mr. Greene intends to make the Nov. 2 election a slam dunk. 

With lyrics like this: 

Well, Greene’s a new face in politics,

And he don’t show porno to college chicks.

But he’s got some ideas that’ll fix the state,

So open up your minds and stop the hate. 

I am completely at a loss for words.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

Nikki Haley and Tim Scott win GOP nominations in South Carolina

The Fix: South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley cruised to the Republican nomination for governor tonight, a victory that makes her not just the frontrunner for the office this fall but a likely national GOP star.

Haley crushed Rep. Gresham Barrett in the runoff race, an expected result given that she took 49 percent of the June 8 primary vote -- narrowly missing the chance to win the nomination outright. The Associated Press called the runoff race for Haley at 8 p.m. eastern time.

"This is a story about determination, and a story about a movement," said Haley in her victory speech tonight. "This was the best grassroots, underdog campaign we have ever seen."

Haley also credited former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who endorsed her candidacy, for giving the campaign a "boost we needed when we needed it."

State Rep. Tim Scott (R) also claimed victory in the 1st district runoff; Scott's likely victory positions him to be the first black Republican in Congress since Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts' retirement in 2002. 

I am pleased as punch to see that Nikki Haley has not only won but also crushed her opponent big time. Good for her, after having the entire book of dirty tricks thrown at her it is good to see that voters saw through the deception.

I would also like to point out those South Carolina voters nominated two minorities over their white opponents. I only mention this because we all know how the left loves to paint all southern conservatives as foaming at the mouth racists.  You would have thought this narrative would have died after Bobby Jindal was elected, but old leftwing narratives die hard.

Sarah Palin endorsed both Haley and Scott. These two wins puts Palin’s endorsements at 9 wins and 3 loses.  Not bad Sarah!

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Fix

Via: The Hill

The Curious Case of Alvin Green

Just when you thought South Carolina politics could not get any stranger, along comes the Curious Case of Alvin Green. 

Yahoo: Alvin Greene has been on the phone all day. That's to be expected for the guy who just won South Carolina's Democratic Senate primary and is facing incumbent Republican Jim DeMint in November. But everyone calling Greene has just been trying to find out who the heck he is —  

Greene, a 32-year-old unemployed military veteran who lives with his parents, defeated Vic Rawl on Tuesday for the Democratic Senatenomination despite having run essentially no public campaign — no events, no signs, no debates, no website, no fundraising.

The result has baffled political observers, who had heavily favored Rawl — a former state legislator, attorney and prosecutor who had the edge inasmuch as he actually campaigned and tried to win. Many in South Carolina (which has grandly lived up to its reputation as a political circus this year) suspect that somewhere, a crafty GOP politicaloperative is snickering.

As far as the local political press can discern, the only positive step Greene took toward campaigning was when he plunked down a $10,400 check in March to satisfy the state's filing fee and get on the ballot. He never registered a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission or filed a financial disclosure with the Senate Ethics Committee. 

The story gets even stranger; as the media checked to see whom the heck Alvin Green is they found that he has a criminal record.

… the Associated Press reported that Greene was arrested in Novemberon the obscene photo complaint. Charges are pending, and he hasn't entered a plea. One could, of course, note that such charges wouldn't necessarily hurt a candidate in a Palmetto state election season that's featured plenty of sensational sexual charges. 

So let me get this straight. A brother, with a shady past who lives with his folks and has no job, comes up with over $10k for the filing fee. The brother then with no visible campaigning, wins the South Carolina Democratic Party nomination for the US Senate. Um, can you say plant?

Yahoo News thinks that Green may have been planted by Republicans to stir up racial trouble for Vic Rawl. Given the sleazy behavior some South Carolina Republicans have shown towards Nikki Haley, I would not be surprised by this notion. If Green really is a plant, I think the whole scheme ended up in a huge backfire. Now that Green has won, he has vowed not to drop out.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Yahoo News 

Via: Politico

Bummer: Nikki Haley to face runoff against Gresham Barrett in South Carolina

The Fix: In the other marquee contest of the night, South Carolina state Rep.Nikki Haley (R) weathered a series of personal attacks to narrowly miss winning the Republican gubernatorial nomination outright tonight. She will advance to a June 22 runoff as a clear favorite for the GOP nod.

Haley stood at 49 percent of the vote, well ahead of Rep. Gresham Barrett who took 22 percent. The Associated Press called a runoff shortly before 10 pm eastern time, however, concluding that Haley would not break 50 percent of the vote. State Attorney General Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer lagged far behind. 

Bummer. I was really hoping that Nikki Haley would have completely dusted all of these sleazy clowns. That would have put an end to the fun and games of the Good Old Boys Network in SC.

On the bright side, now that Haley only faces Barrett, it will be a lot harder for him to hide dirty tricks and sleazy attacks. In the end, I think Haley will power right past Gresham Barrett and secure the GOP nomination once and for all. Come on South Carolinians, do the right thing.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Fix

What the hell is going on in South Carolina?

Damn! What the hell is going on with South Carolina Republicans? If producing the likes of Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford wasn’t bad enough, now we are being bombarded with some real gutter politics against Nikki Haley.

First we have the smear job alleging Haley had an affair with some blogger who is not in her league.  Then there is a whisper campaign questioning her faith (is she Sikh or is she Christian).  Now we have a Republican state senator referring to her and Obama as “rag heads”: 

Politico: South Carolina Republicans were quick Thursday evening to condemn the remarks of a prominent Republican State Senator, Jake Knotts, who referred to a gubernatorial candidate as a “raghead” on an online political show today.

Knotts, a foe of Governor Mark Sanford and his protege, State Rep. Nikki Haley, made the remark of Haley on the local webcast PubPolitics.

UPDATE: The State, quoting people who watched the show, quotes Knotts as saying: 

“We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion." 

The people of South Carolina need to get some serious house-cleaning going on.  The entrenched “Good Ol Boys” in the Republican Party down there are really cutting up and they are not doing anyone any favors.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Hot Air

Via: Politico

Nikki Haley had an affair with this guy? I’d sooner believe in Hope and Change!

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, thus the slacking on the blog. During my rushing back and forth, I did stop to check the news on my BlackBerry several times. One of the first stories I noticed was that South Carolina blogger Will Folks was "Letting The Chips Fall" and confessing to having had an affair with gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. 

Specifically, within the last forty-eight hours several pieces of information which purportedly document a prior physical relationship between myself and Rep. Haley have begun to be leaked slowly, piece by piece, to members of the mainstream media.  I am told that at least one story based upon this information will be published this week.  Watching all of this unfold, I have become convinced that the gradual release of this information is deliberately designed to advance this story in the press while simultaneously forcing either evasive answers or denials on my part or on Nikki’s part.

I refuse to play that game. I refuse to have someone hold the political equivalent of a switch-blade in front of my face and just sit there and watch as they cut me to pieces.

The truth in this case is what it is.  Several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki.

That’s it. 

Notice he never says he had sex with Haley and he makes note that it was before his marriage, thus making her the only cheater. Nikki Haley was quick to respond: 

In a statement, Haley, 38, denied any improper relationship and called Folks’ claim a “disgraceful smear.”

“I have been 100 percent faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage,” Haley said in a statement, issued by her campaign. “This claim against me is categorically and totally false.

“It is sad, but not surprising, that this disgraceful smear has taken form less than a week removed from the release of a poll showing our campaign with a significant lead. It is quite simply South Carolina politics at its worst.”

Sarah Palin, who recently endorsed Nikki Haley, joined the fray with this Facebook note: 

When Nikki and I held her endorsement rally on the steps of the beautiful and historic South Carolina state house a few weeks ago, I warned her and her family that she would be targeted because she’s a threat to a corrupt political machine, and she would be put through some hell. That, unfortunately, is the nature of the beast in politics today – especially for conservative “underdog” candidates who surge in the polls and threaten to shake things up so government can be put back on the side of the people. 

South Carolina: don’t let some blogger make any accusation against your Nikki if the guy doesn’t even have the guts or the integrity to speak further on such a significant claim. And don’t believe anything a liberal rag claims or suggests unless the reporter involved has the integrity and the facts to report to you so you can make up your own mind. For traditional media to rely on an accusation via some blog entry is almost laughable, but I know the seriousness of it because that’s exactly what my family and colleagues have had to put up with, every single day, for the past couple of years. 

As I said to Nikki this morning, “Hang in there. I’ve been there. Any lies told about you will strengthen your resolve to clean up political and media corruption. You and your supporters will grow stronger through things like this.” 

As I read the various stories on my BlackBerry I wasn’t sure what I thought of the whole thing.  Especially with the little details like Folks formerly being employed by the Love Gov Mark Sanford,  that he was did some consulting for Haley and that he gets paid to write certain stories. It wasn’t until I was home and finally got to see pictures of Will Folk, that I realized that this whole story is BS. 

No offense to Will Folks, but anyone with two eyes can see Nikki Haley is in a whole different league. I cannot imagine a hot woman like her cheating on her husband with … well you get the picture. So count me in with Erik Erickson on this one: hot women don't have affairs with ugly poor guys! However, it is the voters of South Carolina who will have to decide if they buy this story or not. After a year with the Love Gov, this story might cause some to pause, hopefully not.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Fitsnews

Via: The State

Via: Sarah Palin’s Facebook page

Via: Hot Air

Via: Politico