SC Gov’s reelection campaign off to an inauspicious start

Rudolph Bell: “9 minutes past start time, here’s the crowd to hear Nikki Haley announce her re-election campaign.”

I’ve seen bigger crowds at grand openings for Arbys’ .

[h/t Political Wire]

GOP “pulls the plug” on Mark Sanford’s Senate campaign

Politico: National Republicans are pulling the plug on Mark Sanford’s suddenly besieged congressional campaign, POLITICO has learned — a potentially fatal blow to the former South Carolina governor’s dramatic comeback bid.

Blindsided by news that Sanford’s ex-wife has accused him of trespassing and concluding he has no plausible path to victory, the National Republican Congressional Committee has decided not to spend more money on Sanford’s behalf ahead of the May 7 special election.

“Mark Sanford has proven he knows what it takes to win elections. At this time, the NRCC will not be engaged in this special election,” said Andrea Bozek, an NRCC spokeswoman.

I love the happy talk in that last paragraph; we’re supposed to believe that they’re pulling out because Sanford doesn’t need their help. Hilarious, but pretty much necessary. They don’t want to blow any more money on his campaign (meaning they believe it’s doomed), but there’s no point in shoveling in dirt either — it’s one thing to drop him, it’s another to kill his candicay. After all, he’s still in it and there’s still the slimmest of slim chances he could win. They don’t want to throw the baby out wth the bathwater.

But still, this thing is pretty much done. Once again, I offer my congratulations to to Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the next Senator from the state of South Carolina.

[photo by functoruser]

Politics 101: Don’t stalk your ex-wife during a senate campaign — or ever

Associated Press: Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford must appear in court two days after running for a vacant congressional seat to answer a complaint that he trespassed at his ex-wife’s home, according to court documents acquired by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The complaint says Jenny Sanford confronted Sanford leaving her Sullivans Island home on Feb. 3 by a rear door, using his cell phone for a flashlight. Her attorney filed the complaint the next day and Jenny Sanford confirmed Tuesday the documents are authentic.

The couple’s 2010 divorce settlement says neither may enter the other’s home without permission. Mark Sanford lives about a 20-minute drive away in downtown Charleston.

According to a compalint filed Jenny Sanford’s lawyer, the former governor “entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff’s property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court’s order and has demanded that it not occur again.”

So yeah, that’d be stalking.

Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but congratulations to Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the next Senator from the state of South Carolina.

[photo by Charleston’s TheDigitel]

Sen. Jim DeMint replaced by different rightwing lunatic

ThinkProgress:

Tim Scott is America’s newest senator today after getting tapped by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to fill the vacancy left by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). DeMint announced this month that he was leaving the Senate to head up the Heritage Foundation, an arch-conservative think tank in Washington DC.

Though DeMint left big, controversial shoes to fill for Republicans, few conservatives will be disappointed with Scott’s record. Elected to Congress just two years ago in the Tea Party wave, Scott has already garnered headlines for his plan to impeach President Obama, his legislation to cut off union members’ children from food stamps, and his defense of Big Oil.

TP’s Scott Keyes gives a quick overview of Scott’s past positions and, yeah, the guys completely batshit insane. So basically, no change.

Did I mention that polling shows Scott would’ve lost an election to late night comedian and S. Carolina native Stephen Colbert? So yeah…

News Roundup for 2/20/12

Not the world's best sheriff

-Headline of the Day-
"Deputy accidentally shoots woman in concealed weapons class."

South Carolina's Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright thinks every lady should carry a gun, because his cops suck. No, really. After an attempted rape in his jurisdiction last year, Wright said, "Our form of justice is not making it. Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it."

"Liberals call me and tell me the chain-gang form of justice isn’t working," he went on. "Well, let me inform you, your form of justice isn’t working either."

Yeah, about that. According to the report, "A South Carolina sheriff who has called for women to be armed isn’t backing down after one of his deputies accidentally shot a female student during a concealed handgun class."

Now, maybe it's just my tremendous good fortune, but I've never been shot by a cop. Seems to me that the way things operate in my little corner of the universe is working out just fine, while Chuck's way of doing things is a little bit of a failure.

"At a press conference over the weekend, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright explained that Deputy Skip Smith should have checked to make sure that Crystal Smith’s .22 caliber pistol was unloaded," the report goes on. He was showing her how hold the gun properly, when it went off, shooting her through the arm and into her side. I'm guessing Skip's got a weird definition of the word "properly."

At least Sheriff Chuck's right about one thing; his cops suck. (Raw Story, with video)


-Separation of church, state, and you-



"And you guys better not try anything gay, either!" (McClatchy)



-Bonus HotD-
"Wall Street Abandons Republicans -- Now Supports Higher Taxes on the Wealthy."

Those with occupations on Wall Street join Occupy Wall Street. At this rate, Republicans will officially be out of friends by July. (Huffington Post)

News Roundup for 1/23/12

Sorry GOP. Not happening

-Headline of the Day-
"No GOP Cavalry Coming — It’s Too Late For Last Minute Presidential Candidates To Get On The Ballots."

Newt Gingrich's lopsided win in South Carolina has some Republicans nervous. Not helping any is the fact that polls show Newt actually winning Florida right now. All this has super-informed conservative pundits like Bill Kristol and Jennifer Rubin begging for some other Republican to jump into the race and save everyone from their party's awful candidates.

But reality has a message for them: you are screwed.

"In every primary state up through early April, the filing deadlines have passed," according to the report. "That includes the very delegate-rich Super Tuesday of March 6, when a total of 329 delegates will be at stake in primary states, compared to 104 in caucuses." Altogether, a new candidate would have to be able to win the nomination despite sitting out 21 primaries. This is unlikely.

The report goes on, "[F]or a Republican hero to ride in on a white horse, it would take a scenario that verges on political science fiction: A combination of write-in voting where applicable — and for Romney to fully drop out and endorse this new savior candidate, to essentially bequeath his place on the ballot by telling his pledged delegates elected in this manner to go along with it."

So you guys are just going to have to make do with what you've got. I'm sure that'll work out great for you guys. (Talking Points Memo)


-Newt on family values-



Say what you will, but he's got experience. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Tennessee Tea Party Don’t Want No Talk o’ Slavery In Them Schoolbooks."

Bravely fighting back against reality's liberal bias. (Wonkette)

Stories to Watch: 1/22/12

I'm feeling lazy tonight, so spaghetti it is. Now here's the news...


Newt was crowned Prom Queen in South Carolina last night -- by a really wide margin.


Taegan Goddard points us to this quote from New York magazine's John Heilemann: "If Gingrich wins Florida, the Republican Establishment is going to have a meltdown that makes Three Mile Island look like a marshmallow roast." Go Newt!


And on that note, the Washington Post's resident wingnut blogger, Jennifer Rubin, is already hitting the panic button. Bill Kristol's already been hitting that button repeatedly, but he's pounding away at it like John Bonham now.


Meanwhile, The Hill's Justin Sink sees Gingrich's South Carolina strategy as a realistic winner in the Sunshine State. The White House has to be checking their calendars, because it seems like it's way too early for Christmas again.


Rattled and desperate for headlines, Mittens says he'll release 2010 tax return and 2011 tax estimate Tuesday. Two years won't be enough to satisfy his critics.


Finally, surprising no one, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk becomes the first Democrat to announce her intention to run against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a the recall election. I've pointed out before that once a candidate declares, labor and the Democratic Party can no longer coordinate. Falk is labor's candidate of choice, meaning that all the groundwork has been laid and ready -- a little faster than I thought it would be.

Related articles

• Newt Gingrich's Victory Speech - South Carolina Primary Win 1-21-12 (constitutionclub.org)

Stories to Watch: 1/21/12

OK, I'm back. I've still got a little work at the end of the driveway, where the snowplow got me last night, but otherwise I'm set. Luckily, we were spared the larger portion of the mess, which passed to the south. Now here's the news...


Nate Silver has Gingrich 8 points up as South Carolinians head to the polls, giving him an 82% chance of taking that state. A big part of the story here: Mittens sucks at playing defense.


And it's not just South Carolina. Romney's numbers are nosediving nationally, as Gallup has him down 10 points in one week. He's still in the lead, but the media's beloved "momentum" narrative is becoming a "stalled momentum" narrative.


All of this has to make Democrats happy, since Newt would be an astonishingly poor choice as his party's nominee. In fact, don't be surprised if Team Obama starts talking about Gingrich more than Romney. It'd lend Newt's campaign more legitimacy and drive the rabidly anti-Obama -- led by their jerking knees -- to Gingrich. It's what I'd do, anyway.


Huckabee goes birther.


Many on the left want to make the Citizens United ruling a campaign issue, drawing parallels to Romney's Bain past.


Some of the Justice Department's evidence against Megaupload is sketchy. Meanwhile, people who used the service to store legit files are screwed -- making government anti-piracy efforts even less popular than they were before.


Ghosts on the campaign trail; top billing on South Carolina's Republican Primary ballot goes to Michele Bachmann, followed by Herman Cain. They'd already qualified for the ballot before they dropped out and the names are listed alphabetically.


Finally, the three little words every Republican candidate has so much trouble saying; "George W. Bush."

Related articles

• In Conn., Romney Wins GOP Fundraiser Straw Poll As Voting Underway In South Carolina (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Gingrich's Race Baiting Strategy Pays Off in S. Carolina (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Early Voting Starts Saturday Across South Florida (miami.cbslocal.com)
• Derailing the Romney Express (capitolhillblue.com)

News Roundup for 1/18/12

"I'm ba-ack!"

-Headline of the Day-
"Newt: Palin Will 'Play A Major Role' In My Administration."

Newt Gingrich envisions a role for Sarah Palin in his administration. Maybe as Secretary of... Ummm... Well, it's hard to think of anything she'd be qualified for and Newt probably hasn't given it a lot of thought. Maybe VP again. Who knows?

See, this is all about bumping up his numbers enough to get past Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary. Sarah Palin endorsed Gingrich (But not really. We'll get to that. Keep your pants on) and Newt wants to capitalize on that.

What happened was that Sarah was on Fox News, which is the only network that still gives a crap about her, and she said that if she were in South Carolina, she'd vote for Gingrich. Not because Newt's such an awesome candidate, mind you, but "in order to keep it going" and -- I'm assuming here -- weaken Mittens. Yeah, this is about the weakest "endorsement" you could probably ever get, but when you're within shouting distance of the frontrunner in a state primary, you take what you can get.

So how do you make a backhanded endorsement seem stronger? You amplify your relationship with the endorser. Newt and Ol' Sarah go way back, he's always planned on making her the Secretary of Boy Howdy or whatever, and a vote for Newt is a vote for his old pal Sarah Palin.

Never mind that Palin was basically saying she'd vote for a cinderblock if she thought it would keep the primaries going. (Talking Points Memo)


-Mittens' argument catches on-



Remember, Romney worked hard to get way up to the 15% tax bracket. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Did Rick Santorum Win the Iowa Caucuses, Not Mitt Romney?"

The answer is "probably yes."

The real question is "will it matter?" (Daily Beast)

News Roundup for 1/11/12

Rick Perry

-Headline of the Day-
"CNN Apparently Waives Its Own Debate Rules To Let Rick Perry In."

The endless series of GOP debates marches on, this time in South Carolina, and Rick Perry will be there.

Whether he should be there is another question entirely. According to the report, in "CNN’s criteria for inclusion, a candidate must get at least 4th place in either Iowa or New Hampshire, or get 7% support in at least three national Republican or three South Carolina primary polls released in January. The requirements were posted online last Tuesday afternoon, several hours before before the Iowa caucuses began later that night."

The problem: Rick has done almost none of that. "Perry came in fifth place in Iowa, and sixth in New Hampshire," the report says. "And currently, his national and South Carolina poll numbers do not show him meeting that threshold, either."

Worse, the only poll that shows Perry reaching the crucial 7% is from Reuters -- CNN's own polling has Rick at 5% in South Carolina (pdf).

Asked what the hell the deal was, Edie Emery, director of public relations for Turner Broadcasting Systems, said, "Yes, Gov. Perry will be invited to next week’s CNN debate. He has met the criteria."

Fair enough. Except he hasn't. (Talking Points Memo)


-Mittens clarifies-



Surprisingly accurate. (McClatchy)



-Bonus HotD-
"C-SPAN caller asks if 'Romney has a big penis.'"

I think I see what's happening here. The caller overheard a conversation.

Let me straighten this out: what you heard someone say is that Romney is a big dick.

Hope you find this helpful. (Raw Story)

Stories to Watch: 12/23/11

Happy Holidays, everyone. Now here's the news...


New Republic has a collection of crazy-assed writings from Ron Paul's newsletters. Paul says he didn't write them, but so what? It's like we're supposed to believe that people snuck in stuff without his knowing about it.


Why does anyone take Charles Krauthammer seriously?


When it comes to the bullshit Mitt Romney's been spreading lately, the media's doing what the media always does about rightwing lies -- pretty much nothing. Joe Biden, on the other hand, isn't as willing to let lies slide.


The Justice Department takes on South Carolina's voter ID law. How about some help over here in Wisconsin, while you guys are at it?


Not even Erick-Erick likes SOPA. He's normally a real big fan of really bad ideas.


Looking at a brown Christmas (like me)? Blame global warming.


Donald Trump's headline-trolling continues.


Finally, Mittens is a Welfare Queen.

Related articles

• reuters: In ad for newsletter, Ron Paul forecast "race war" A... (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
• And It Is Time for Another Message from Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul... (delong.typepad.com)
• Donald Trump: Black vote would help my third party candidacy (thegrio.com)
• SC Voter ID Law Hits Some Black Precincts Harder (abcnews.go.com)

Stories to Watch: 10/19/11

Great show last night and today the faucet's fixed. Got a tiny leak in the pipe that a plumber's going to have to look at though. Now here's the news...


In order to generate headlines for a by now almost forgotten campaign, Rick Perry embraces the flat tax. At a time when the majority of Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy, this is a desperate ploy to find a flag fringe Republicans will rally around.


If there's one person who would be the last I'd check with to see what Martin Luther King would've thought about something, it just might be Allen West.


Writer and activist Naomi Wolf is arrested in relation to Occupy Wall Street protests. Her take here.


Sen. Jim DeMint can shut the hell up about what is and isn't constitutional now. Hey Jim, ever hear of a thing called the "First Amendment?"


Rick Santorum wages war on contraception.


A Republican Rep. holds what she calls a "townhall meeting," but asks the local paper not to publish a notice of the event. See, if everyone knows about it, then its much less likely that the only questions Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler would receive would be along the lines of "why are you so awesome?"


Just how awful is Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan? This awful. Seriously, follow this link.


Finally, in a surprise to absolutely no one, an AP analysis of a South Carolina voter ID bill shows it would hit blacks the hardest. It's like I always say, look out when a Republican tells you they want change -- all it means is that they want to change something back to the way it was when it sucked.

Related articles

• Tea Party-Backed Rep Makes Hair-Raising Claims About Occupy Wall Street (huffingtonpost.com)
• It can happen to you: Author Naomi Wolf arrested on sidewalk (wilderside.wordpress.com)
• Feminist Author Naomi Wolf Detained At Occupy Wall Street Protest (huffingtonpost.com)

News Roundup for 5/20/11

Get out your party hats!

-Headline of the day-
"The Rapture Is Not Saturday -- It's Tonight."

End times lunatic Harold Camping predicted the Rapture would come "at exactly 6 p.m. on May 21, 2011." The problem? Time zones; six o'clock where?

According to the report, "The Rapture is at 6 p.m. on May 21, 2011, where ever it's 6 p.m. first, with the 'fantastically big' world-ending event taking place on a time zone by time zone basis." This means that first on the cosmic chopping block is "the International Dateline at 180 Longitude -- roughly the between Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Nuku'alofa, Tonga."

So, what time is it there? As of this writing, Sat. May 21, 2011 9:26:07 -- you can check it here (under Samoa or Tonga). That's 9 am, so we've got a little time yet. After that, "Everyone will be weeping and wailing because they'll know in a few hours it'll come to their city," says Camping.

So if you're planning a big "end of the world" shindig for tomorrow, you can forget it -- knowing what happened in Tonga is really going to spoil the suspense. Make it a "we survived the end of the world" party and dance your heathen ass off. (The Atlantic)


-The Tale of Gingrich-
Appearing on The Colbert Report, John Lithgow gives voice to a florid, overheated press release by Newt Gingrich's campaign:

Pretty good, but I still like this version better. (YouTube)


-Bonus HotD-
"Tea Party Rally Fizzles in South Carolina."

Seriously, it was just sad. (Political Wire)

Stories to Watch: 5/6/11

Back on Firefox. Compared to Chrome, it's a big clumsy workhorse. Turns out I need a big clumsy workhorse. Now here's the news...


President Barack HUSSEIN!! Obama hates on America by having the flag taken down at Ground Zero. Except he didn't. Once again, I'm amazed at the gullibility of rightwing nutjobs and their inability to grasp the concept of "too bad to be true."


Herman Cain is the big winner in the first GOP presidential debate. Better pack your bags for the White House Hermanator, because this thing is totally in the bag. Of course, the real winner was any unannounced candidate who's thinking of running.


And John Boehner didn't even watch it.


The next time you think our politics are ridiculous, remember this: allies of Iranian President Ahmadinejad are being accused of sorcery. Here, we just accuse people of being commies. Still, if it works, expect the RNC to start a whisper campaign in '12.


Today's mind-blowing hypocrisy: Wisconsin Republicans are accused of massive fraud involving forged and otherwise ineligible signatures (i.e., signatories were told they were signing something else) on recall petitions against Democrats. At the same time, that same state GOP is pushing a voter ID bill through the legislature to fight -- get ready for it -- election fraud. Forehead. Downward. Keyboard. Slam.


So why are we paying oil companies to screw consumers at the pump? The president thinks we should quit doing that, what with the deficit and all.


Finally, about all those overtaxed rich people and corporations...