Category: South Carolina

PRIMARY ELECTION NIGHT HQ UPDATE: Lincoln Defeats Halter in Arkansas Senate Democratic Runoff UPDATE: Nikki Haley Tops SC GOP Primary With 49%; Runoff vs. Barrett UPDATE: Angle Wins NV-Sen GOP UPDATE: Whitman, Fiorina Win California GOP Gov., Sen. Primaries UPDATE: Graves Wins GA-9 Runoff

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12:56 a.m. ET Wednesday: Congratulations are in order for Nevada Tea Party people:

Republicans nominated former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle as their candidate to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Angle, the favorite of tea party activists, was endorsed by the Tea Party Express. She dispatched her two main rivals, and the Associated Press declared her the winner in the race with 39% of the vote and 59% of precincts reporting.
She was not the choice of the Republican establishment, who believed that former state GOP Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden stood a better chance of defeating Reid this November. Lowden was running a distant second with 28% of the vote.

Tough luck, GOP establishment. Also, in case you didn’t notice: Republican women went 4-for-4 in major primaries Tuesday.

12:40 a.m. ET Wednesday: The progressive netroots community raving moonbats blew $3.6 million trying to beat Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary. Dan Riehl has the DailyKos screen-cap.

12:27 a.m. ET: Maybe Dave Weigel thought no one would notice:

Matthew Berry, an openly gay FCC lawyer who’d attracted some national attention, went down to a narrow defeat at the hands of Iraq War veteran Patrick Murray . . .

Meanwhile, in the Nevada Republican Senate primary, Tea Party-backed candidate Sharron Angle defeats GOP establishment-backed Sue Lowden.

12:10 a.m. ET: OK, the double California bummers are compensated by an anonymous White House reaction to the defeat of union-backed Bill Halter in Arkansas:

“Organized labor just flushed
$10 million down the toilet”

Just imagine what Rahm Emanuel had to say about that. And listening to MSNBC talking heads singing the blues about the Arkansas results is pretty sweet, too.

Midnight ET: Billionaire beats billionaire in Republican primary in California:

After two former Silicon Valley executives pulled nearly $100 million out of their own pockets to carpet-bomb the state with TV ads, the venomous GOP battle between Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner was all over 15 minutes after the polls closed.
Results from mail-in ballots across the state showed Whitman, a billionaire who once ran eBay, beating state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner by 65 percent to 26 percent.

Also, Carly Fiorina has bought the GOP Senate nomination in California. Way to fight back against that “party of the rich” stereotype, y’all.

Meanwhile, we hear that birther czarina Orly Taitz is leading the GOP primary for California secretary of state.

Yeah. Big thumbs-up. Heck of a job, California.

11:26 p.m. p.m. ET: Blanche Lincoln survives! Moonbat hearts are crushed. I just watched Ed Schultz on MSNBC, spinning bizarre election-fraud conspiracy theories for Bill Halter’s defeat. Life is good!

11:15 p.m. ET (Smitty): Lincoln at 52% over Halter’s 48% with 89% of precincts in.

11:04 p.m. ET (Smitty): VA Update: It’s Fimian in VA-11 against Connolly, and Patrick Murray against Congresstool Extraordinaire Jim Moran. Northern Virginia owes the rest of the country an example of getting behind the GOP candidate and offering heavy support, as we try to eliminate the blue death creeping south across the Potomac.

10:51 p.m. ET: Nikki Haley’s percentage in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary vote is 48.9% with 97% of precincts reporting, so there will be a June 22 runoff against Gresham Barrett. In the Democratic primary, Vincent Sheheen cruised to the nomination with 59%.

10:35 p.m. ET: With 60% of precincts reporting in the Arkansas Democratic runoff, Bill Halter has now edged ahead 51-49% over Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

10:20 p.m. ET: In addition to Haley’s shockingly strong performance, here’s another South Carolina shocker:

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R., S.C.) is poised to become the latest incumbent to be ousted in a primary contest. He trails a distant second in the Republican primary in South Carolina’s fourth district.

9:57 p.m. ET: Now with 89% of precincts reporting in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, Nikki Haley is still just shy of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. She’s the biggest winner tonight, while the big losers are Jake Knotts, Larry Marchant and — most especially — Will Folks.

9:48 p.m. ET: Well, kiss my grits!

South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley (R) edged close to 50 percent in the Palmetto State governor’s primary race, an indication that personal attacks aimed at her in the final week of the campaign had backfired.
With 74 percent of votes counted, Haley stood at 49 percent while Rep. Gresham Barrett took second with 21 percent.

9:35 p.m. ET: Cassy Fiano: “Nikki Haley is kicking ass in South Carolina.” Clyde Middleton is tracking the Arkansas runoff results at Liberty Pundits.

9:30 p.m. ET: In Arkansas, with 4% of precincts reporting, incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln leads challenger Bill Halter 53%-47% in Democratic primary runoff.

9:25 p.m. ET: Republican Tom Graves wins the special election runoff in Georgia’s 9th District. He will enter Congress immediately.

9:10 p.m. ET: Michael Barone on Fox just said that the GOP turnout in VA-8 (to challenge Democrat Jim Moran) is more than double previous years. In South Carolina, with 35% of precincts reporting in the GOP gubernatorial primary, it’s Nikki Haley 46%, Gresham Barrett 26%.

8:35 p.m. ET: Now, with about 14% of precincts reporting, Nikki Haley leads Gresham Barrett 39%-29%, while Vincent Sheheen looks like he’ll avoid a runoff on the Democratic side.

8:26 p.m. ET: In very preliminary South Carolina returns, Nikki Haley has 42% of the vote.

7:35 p.m. ET: From USA Today:

Polls have closed in South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, where state election officials report low to moderate turnout today. The results of some of the most compelling races will come later tonight, after voting ends in Arkansas, Nevada and California.

Readers should feel free to contribute by linking/reporting the latest results in the comments.

7:50 p.m. ET: South Carolina results at WHNS-TV, the Fox affiliate in Greenville, S.C.

8:05 p.m. ET: As all decent patriotic Americans must despise Rep. Jim Moran, please follow the Virginia 8th District GOP primary results at Red NoVA8.

UPDATE 8:08 p.m. ET: Scott Rigell has been called the winner in Virginia’s 2nd District Republican primary.

EXPECT FURTHER UPDATES . . .

PREVIOUSLY (6:30 p.m. ET):
Republicans for Blanche Lincoln *
* – Offer expires June 9, 2010

Smitty will be online later to handle the major task of providing coverage of tonight’s primary elections in several states, while I toil on a non-blogatory project. When the indispensible (and inimitable) sidekick called to check in this afternoon, I mentioned the runoff in the Arkansas Democratic senatorial primary.

“So we hope that Blanche Lincoln will be reading her political obituary?” Smitty inquired.

“No, no, no, Admiral Smith!” I replied, and explained that it is the duty of all good Americans to hope that Senator Lincoln breaks the vicious little hearts of Bill Halter’s moonbat supporters, so that she’ll be a wounded prey come November. Writing in the Manchester (U.K.) Guardian — which explains the Brit-style spelling — Jim Antle summarizes Blanche’s predicament:

Senator Blanche Lincoln has irritated organised labour and other liberal activists by voting against them on card check legislation for union organising, a public option for healthcare, and various free trade agreements, among other deviations from party orthodoxy. So the unions and the progressive netroots are fuelling lieutenant governor Bill Halter’s primary challenger.

Quite so and, as with the May 18 Pennsylvania primary — where the weakened incumbent Arlen Specter faced the young challenger Joe Sestak — the upstart progressive insurgent represents the stronger political choice for Democrats in November. Just as Republicans fare better when the GOP nominee enjoys strong support from the conservative grassroots, Democrats are more likely to win if they nominate someone who inspires enthusiasm by their (misinformed, demented and/or evil) core constituencies.

This may seem counterintuitive to advocates of moderation and centrism, but in any reasonably competitive election, a nominee who doesn’t have the loyalty of his own party will seldom defeat a hard-core partisan of the opposite party. This is why John McCain was such a weak candidate against Barack Obama two years ago.

Human Events has a roundup of pertinent info on the Arkansas runoff, including this poll result:

Bill Halter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49%
Sen. Blanche Lincoln . . . . . 45%
Research 2000, survey of 600 Democratic voters, June 2-4. (Margin of error +/- 4 percentage points.)

So the wackos, zanies, union goons and other menaces to society who constitute the core of the Democratic Party are this close to bestowing their stooge Bill Halter with the nomination. She’s probably doomed beyond all hope of redemption, but if somehow Blanche Dubois Lincoln can pull off a miraculous victory tonight, the moonbats will be so demoralized they’ll contemplate suicide.

Which is why every patriotic soul must permit himself to hope that the worthless old hag wins.

In other key races tonight:

  • California Senate — Carly Fiorina  buys the GOP nomination, which means the only hope for Republican victory in November is that Sen. Barbara Boxer gets caught on video in a Helen Thomas-style gaffe, disparaging gays and/or Mexicans. Barring an eruption of sudden-onset Tourette’s Syndrome — the Senator denouncing her hairdresser Ramon as a “g–d– beaner faggot” in an accidental CNN live-mike situation — we can expect Kollyfornia to keep electing Democrats and continue slouching toward Zimbabwe.
  • California Governor — Meg Whitman buys the GOP nomination, but stands a reasonable chance against Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown in November. Frankly, Republicans could nominate Martin Bormann and stand a 50-50 shot against Jerry Brown, a fossilized remnant of a bygone political era for whom no intelligent person could be nostalgic. Notice I said “no intelligent person.” But this is, after all, Kollyfornia . . .
  • Nevada Senate — Sharron Angle will follow in Rand Paul’s footsteps to become the second Tea Party-backed candidate to win a GOP Senate primary. Democrats and some Republicans are trying to depict Angle as a wacko extremist who will lose in November. No, she’s a GOP Bill Halter, and is likely to win in November, even if she does start ranting about “beaner faggots.”
  • South Carolina Governor — Nikki Haley places first in the GOP gubernatorial primary, although it’s doubtful she’ll avoid a runoff. However, let’s hope Haley does win it outright tonight, delivering a well-deserved kick in the gonads to Will Folks, Larry Marchant and Jake Knotts.

Mistress, Actress, Heroine

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by Smitty (via Insty)

Amidst an excellent review of Nikki Haley’s campaign to govern South Carolina, Walter Shapiro says, emphasis mine:

Haley, in her first statewide campaign, has proven a master of boomerang politics – making every attack seem like a vindication of her conservative populist outrage.

Shouldn’t that be “a mistress”?

I don’t mean to go all Little Miss Attila on the point, but should conservatives worry about conserving gender in the English language? I see a page like Female Actor Search and wonder: is this an epic fail, or an admission that the language, like the Constitution and history, are poorly taught these days?

But that’s just a tangent. The poll is open, and it’s time to go participate in the primary. Go, USA!

Allahpundit Mentions Me By Name

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OK, he didn’t actually link me, but the acknowledgement of my existence is not a trivial thing. On the 4 millionth hit post, Smitty’s buddy Jeff Weimer commented:

Now if we can get Allahpundit to start linking you, we’ll get that slump licked. You may be getting close – he actually mentioned you by name a couple days ago in a comment.

To which I replied:

What? When? Where?
Please send me the link, that is, if you can get your team of legal experts to authenticate it Will Folks-style.

And Jeff directed me to the Wednesday post in which Allah took on Larry Marchant’s claim of a sexual affair with Nikki Haley and received blowback from commenter “WoosterOH”:



Allah’s comment reads:

You’re sick of my “garbage” in scoffing at a story that’s already been scoffed at by Red State and R.S. McCain, among others? Either you’re too dumb to understand the posts or you’re such a blind troll that you’ll complain even when I’m on your side. Regardless, though, I have great news: You’re not required to read the site. Find another.

Which is an excellent chapter in How To Deal With Trolls. There is such a thing as honest disagreement and such a thing as constructive criticism, and then there is trolling, wherein the commenter is essentially engaged in bandwidth piracy.

Life Is Too Short

It’s like when you get one of those annoying hostile guests on a TV talk show who start interrupting the host and trying to filibuster, so that there’s a lot angry crosstalk. The hostile guest has forgotten that he is a guest — he has been invited on by the host, whose show it is and who can invite on anyone he wishes. So the hostile guest is trying to usurp the host’s prerogative, to hijack the discussion and get across his own talking points without regard for the fact that the host doesn’t want to hear that crap.

Such rudeness spoils the show and embarrasses the host — which is, after all, the bad guest’s objective.

So, too, with the troll who, ignoring the fact that his comments are appearing on someone else’s bandwidth, attempts to sabotage the very purpose of the blog or begins derogating the blog itself. The regular readers of any blog — and especially the commenters — generally share some commonality of viewpoint, and their most important shared belief is that the blog itself is a worthwhile endeavor.

If you think the blog sucks and the bloggers is an idiot, why even bother to read it? Life is too short, and it is especially too short to waste your time putting snarky derogatory comments on someone else’s post, arguing to the effect that their work is completely worthless.

If you’re such a damned genius connoisseur of blogospheric excellence, get your own damned blog!

Call your blog “Allahpundit Sucks” or “Banned Hot Air Troll,” if that makes you happy, but don’t hang around spoiling the fun for everybody else. Allah puts up with a lot of snarky grousing in the comments — about his atheism and his fondness for Meghan McCain, among other things — but leniency ought not be mistaken for license, nor should mercy be mistaken for weakness.

Blogging involves an implicit fee-for-service contract between writer and reader. The writer is providing not merely his own work, but linking to the work of others and, by allowing comments, provides a sort of community forum wherein the readers can extend the discussion.

Stomped in the Parking Lot

While I despise the pompous expression “online community,” it nevertheless contains a truth. The relationship between a blogger and his regular readers (many of whom, it should be noted, are also bloggers in their own right) is like the relationship between a bar owner and his clientele. The bar is open to everyone, but if someone starts making a scene that spoils the fun for everyone else, the unruly patron will be shown to the door (and customarily stomped senseless in the parking lot by the bouncers, as was the policy at one nightclub where I worked as a DJ many years ago).

Or, to employ another analogy, think of a Protestant church. The doors are open to all sinners who seek the Lord. But the church has a membership — it is a community of believers — and a Baptist church won’t put up with someone whose only purpose for attending is to scoff at the doctrine of salvation by faith or to derogate the divinity of Christ.

Baptists don’t usually stomp non-believers in the parking lot, however.

At any rate, Allah’s response to the troll was altogether righteous. I don’t know who “WoosterOH” is, and he might actually be a nice guy, but if he doesn’t like the blog, why is he reading it?

As for Allah’s invocation of my name, it’s pretty cool to be cited along with Red State as a bellwether of what is acceptable subject matter for conservative bloggers.  And the controversy in the South Carolina GOP primary is can’t-look-away fascinating. At first, I treated it as a joke, but then it became more and more serious.

Whatever your opinion of the controversy, this unruly tumult in South Carolina is unquestionably newsworthy, and a current-events blog can’t be expected to ignore a big story just because it may be bad news for the good guys. Frankly, however, my optimistic hope is that South Carolinians are sick and tired of these slimeball mercenary consultants trying to play kingmaker in the state GOP — which is the real backstory of the Will Folks saga — and will vote for Nikki Haley in a resounding rejection of the disgusting smears against her.

And guess what? Nikki’s surging in the latest poll:

Nikki Haley hasn’t suffered any damage whatsoever after accusations of multiple extramarital affairs and is headed for an easy first place finish in Tuesday’s Republican primary for Governor of South Carolina.
Haley has a 20 point lead, getting 43% of the vote. Gresham Barrett looks like the favorite for the second runoff spot. He’s at 23%, followed by Henry McMaster at 16%, and Andre Bauer at 12%.
Two weeks ago Haley held a 21 point lead in the race. Since then she’s gained 4 points . . .
Only 13% of voters believe the allegations about Haley’s marital infidelity. 54% flat out do not believe them and 33% are unsure.

STAND UP FOR NIKKI HALEY!

South Carolina Sacred Honor Watch

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Yeah, I stole the “sacred honor” thing from Ace. Crucify me. He’s taking the day off and missed the latest development, so I’m forced to imagine how Ace would headline it:

Will Folks: Sacred Honor Compels Me to Drop More Hints That Might Look Like Threats But I’m a Southern Gentleman — and, Oh, By the Way, Nikki Haley Tried to Break Up My Marriage

Or something like that:

What these text messages did not show, however, was the two weeks of pure hell that my wife and I went through prior to deciding that this was an issue that needed to be addressed preemptively on my website. Literally every day during those two weeks there was a new report of some different piece of evidence allegedly being leaked to this reporter or that reporter, and based on what I knew to be true (and based on one specific piece of evidence that I had seen with my own eyes a year earlier) I could not be sure that a story exposing the relationship wasn’t going to run.
We were under seige, and we did what we felt we had to do to protect our two-year marriage – a union that never would have transpired had Rep. Haley had her way, incidentally.

Got all that? Not just the “Nikki tried to break up my engagement so she could keep me as her exclusive love-slave” angle, but notice how Will Folks once again reiterates his nonsensical rationale for “deciding that this was an issue that needed to be addressed preemptively on my website.”

As if repeating it again will make it more credible.

This is the one part of the story that has never made any sense from Day One. On the basis of a couple of inquiries from reporters asking about the rumor — that is, the rumor that Will Folks himself had been spreading for two years — he suddenly feels the need to “admit” the rumored affair on his own Web site.

Because that’s going to save his marriage.

But wait, there’s much, much more:

I am releasing all the information I can as soon as it is authenticated and approved for disemmination by my attorneys . .

(He can’t spell “dissemination,” but let’s not nitpick.)

Will so-called “smoking guns” be released prior to primary day? Prior to the runoff? Prior to the general election?
That’s honestly not up to me. It’s up to what my team is able to positively authenticate in anticipation of facing a blizzard of denials . . .
Like I said, we will continue to release what we can, when we can – fully condident that the truth regarding this situation will eventually come out.
Speaking of which, in addition to these records, my team is preparing affidavits from literally dozens of witnesses – including several who observed Rep. Haley and I leaving nightclubs together late at night as well as several who will testify to seeing Rep. Haley’s car parked outside of my downtown Columbia, S.C. town house on mulitple occasions at all hours of the night during the time frame in question. I’ve been told that several of these witnesses have taken the step of contacting members of the mainstream media regarding what they saw, although I obviously can’t control when (or how) that side of the story will come out.
Regarding these late night visits to my town house, at this point it bears repeating that I have purposely refrained from discussing the physical details of my relationship with Rep. Haley. Believe it or not, I am a Southern gentleman and at the point when I felt that public disclosure of this relationship was imminent, I phrased my admission in a manner consistent with the belief that what transpired between us was nobody’s business but ours and those individuals we chose to share it with.

Quick, somebody look up “unmitigated gall” and see if Webster has got the picture of Will Folks there yet. The man has a Sullivanesque lack of self-awareness. He can’t see that his entire course of conduct since May 24 directly contradicts his own story of why he needed to do “what we felt we had to do to protect our two-year marriage.”

Whereas he says he dreadfully feared that “public disclosure of this relationship was imminent,” Will Folks has spent the past two weeks asserting that he has evidence that will prove the relationship actually happened — and he hasn’t proven jack. So if  Will the Irresistible Seducer can’t prove his own conquests, why was he so afraid that some reporter was going to report the rumor?

And why has he gone from victimized defendant to prosecuting attorney?

That’s what’s so damned suspicious, this sudden zeal to prove something happened between him and Haley. It just doesn’t pass the sniff test.

But never mind, says Will Folks, “my team” is working night and day to “positively authenticate” that smoking-gun proof of the dreaded rumor that struck terror in his heart for two weeks.

I’m sure Ace of Spades will soon weigh in, so you won’t have to endure any more pale-imitation Ace-ness from me.

VIDEO: South Carolina TV Covers
Jake Knotts ‘Raghead’ Controversy

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From Columbia’s WIS-TV:

Meanwhile, GOP political consultant Wes Donehue, co-host of “Pub Politics,” justifies suppressing the video:

We will not be publishing Thursday’s episode of Pub Politics.
As we’ve said from the beginning of this show, our goal has always been to show the lighter side of politics in South Carolina. We want to show people that politics can be fun and you can talk civilly with those who disagree with you. What Senator Knotts said on Thursday’s show does not fit with our program and its goals.
Phil Bailey and Wesley Donehue

(Hat-tip: Dave Weigel.) Of course, if Wes Donehue had a sex video of Nikki Haley, you can bet that sucker would be on YouTube in a heartbeat. The South Carolina tourism bureau has come up with a new slogan to honor the state’s GOP operatives: “The Scumbag State!”

Corey Hutchins of the Columbia Free Press has more of Knotts’ comments:

“She’s a raghead that’s ashamed of her religion trying to hide it behind being Methodist for political reasons. . . .
“This is Jakie Knotts trying to let the people know . . .
“This isn’t the first time I’ve said it . . . I’m not on a crusade to downgrade her, but if someone asks me I’ll tell ‘em. And look here, someone wants to vote for her knowing the truth, vote for her. . . .
“We need a good Christian to be our governor. . . She’s hiding her religion. She ought to be proud of it. I’m proud of my god.”

Yeah, they really need “a good Christian” down there. How about that fine upstanding fellow, Will Folks? Or how about that notable exemplar of family values, Larry Marchant?

Sarah Palin: ‘All Kinds of Made-Up Nonsense’ About Nikki Haley

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Sarah Palin singlehandedly boosted Nikki Haley to the front of the pack in South Carolina. Now she’s standing up for Nikki in a recorded phone call to Republican voters:

Hi there. This is Governor Sarah Palin.
I’m calling on behalf of my good friend, and a brave and strong conservative woman, Nikki Haley.
On Tuesday, you can do something great for South Carolina and for America by voting for Nikki Haley for Governor in the Republican primary.
Nikki is a strong, pro-life, pro-business, conservative reformer.
And she isn’t afraid to take on the entrenched powers.
When you do that, they come after you with all kinds of made-up nonsense to try to knock you down. Believe me, I’ve been there. . . .

STAND UP FOR NIKKI HALEY!

Nikki Haley Update: Jake Knotts and the ‘Raghead’ Heard Round the World

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“We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion.”
— South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts

Well, it’s come to this, has it? Certainly, I’m the last person on the planet to be screaming “raaaaacist” at other people, but it’s shocking enough that a Republican would use such language to describe President Obama. For a Republican to use it against a fellow Republican — Nikki Haley is a Christian of Sikh ancestry — is so wrong as to defy comprehension.

Knotts’ eruption on Pub Politics (a South Carolina video podcast) came to my attention via two Tweets from Sorenkay, who watched the show live:


The producer of the podcast evidently deleted the video of Knotts’ remark, but not before it was seen by so many people that John O’Connor of the Columbia (S.C.) State had enough for a news story:

According to those present and watching the show, “Pub Politics,” Knotts also talked at length about Haley’s parents’ religion and her family. Haley was raised as a Sikh, but converted to Methodist and has said she attends both services. . . .
Haley’s religion was raised as an issue during her first S.C. House run in 2004, when anonymous fliers claimed — inaccurately — that she was a Hindu. Haley won the race, unseating the House’s longest-serving lawmaker.

Knotts has apologized and I don’t see any point in demonizing him, but I’m honestly shocked that any politician would go there. It’s unfathomably ignorant. Sikhs are not Muslim and they’re not Hindu. (And exactly how is the fact that Haley comes from a Sikh family relevant to Obama’s Kenyan ancestry?)

Just as I am not down with the Anti-Racist Mind-Probe Watchdogs, neither am I a Politeness Police Courtesy Cop. A remark may be rude or shocking without constituting a human-rights violation.

One of the first controversies I ever became involved in as a blogger was when Ann Coulter used “raghead” in her 2006 CPAC speech. At a time when even Ace of Spades (!) signed a petition condemning her, I defended Coulter because (a) I love Coulter, and (b) the person to whom she applied that term was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for whom no slur is sufficiently derogatory.

My argument then was that no generalized prejudice could be inferred from Coulter’s use of the term specifically directed at Ahmadinejad,  a Jew-hating genocidal maniac who deserves a Hellfire missile where the sun don’t shine. (In her own defense, Coulter said: “You know, OK. I make a few jokes at Muslims, and they killed 3,000 Americans — I think we’re even.”)

Which is to say that, while I don’t recommend use of “raghead” in political discourse, neither do I think it is always necessarily grounds for expulsion from polite society. Context matters. But I’m having a hard time imagining a contextual defense of Knotts’ remark. The South Carolina GOP chairwoman has denounced Knotts’ comment:

State Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd called on Knotts to apologize “so that we can put this unfortunate incident behind us.”
“The South Carolina Republican Party strongly condemns any use of racial or religious slurs,” Floyd said in an e-mail statement Thursday night.

It would have been nice if Floyd also condemned the sexual smear campaign against Haley. It’s clear Haley’s opponents have so dehumanized her in their own minds that they no longer recognize any boundaries between fair tactics and foul.

STAND UP FOR NIKKI HALEY!

UPDATE: Allahpundit:

The good news, I guess, is that there’s not much further to go until rock bottom.

Dude. It’s South Carolina. You got no idea how low rock-bottom might actually be. Daniel Foster at the Corner:

[I]f this is the senator doing an “unintended slur” I’d hate to hear what he sounds like when he’s really trying to offend somebody.

More blogging at Red Dog Report, Palmetto State Politics, and at Red State, where Erick Erickson says:

Were Nikki Haley as sleazy as Andre Bauer, I bet we’d start seeing all the salacious Andre Bauer rumors percolating again.

How terrible if such salacious rumors were to begin percolating! Why, Andre Bauer is no more gay than Larry Marchant!

UPDATE II: Ace of Spades has strenuously resisted the temptation to jump aboard the Haley bandwagon, torturing himself with “did-she-or-didn’t-she” analysis. But the latest attacks finally pushed him over the edge:

That’s it — I wholeheartedly endorse Nikki Haley, if only because it will make monsters cry.

Exactly. Maybe Nikki Haley actually is an Insatiable Punjabi She-Devil, or maybe not. I just don’t care anymore. She needs to win this election if only because her enemies so richly deserve defeat.

UPDATE III: “I’m Nimrata Randhawa Haley, and I approved this message.”

Stand Up for Nikki Haley!

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Dan Riehl is exactly right:

I’d rather be a little wrong now . . . than give in to low-life, bottom-feeders trying to find a safe rock to hide behind to secure their position in SC’s political stream. . . . I’m standing with Nikki Haley and her family. And I hope SC voters do, as well.

Brian O’Connor at Red Dog Report is also exactly right:

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that we are witnessing . . . a coordinated attack to discredit the most popular and qualified candidate in the field.

We have long ceased to expect that Democrats or the liberal media would treat any conservative woman with courtesy. However, there is a special horror in watching this woman subjected to such a vile smear campaign by Republican political operatives.

Every Republican who cares about the reputation of their party should take action immediately:

  • Call the Republican National Committee (202-863-8500) and demand that chairman Michael Steele denounce these vicious tactics in no uncertain terms.
  • Call the Republican Governors Association (202-662-4140) and demand that chairman Haley Barbour denounce these political character assassins.
  • Call the South Carolina GOP (803-988-8440) and ask chairwoman Karen Floyd why she has not demanded a stop to this slime campaign against Nikki Haley.

Dr. Melissa Clouthier is exactly right:

Where are the feminists? Oh right, she’s a Republican.

Certainly, no feminist can be expected to defend a conservative woman. To quote Palin-hating feminist Jessica Valenti, feminism is “a social justice movement,” a radical ideology akin to Marxism.

To hell with feminism.

This isn’t about “social justice.” This is about trying to preserve some semblance of basic decency in politics. As a Southerner, I am particularly disturbed to think Nikki Haley’s enemies believe that the people of South Carolina would not only tolerate but endorse this kind of cruelty against her.

Is chivalry dead in South Carolina? Does no shred of honor remain?

NIKKI HALEY for GOVERNOR