As a Palmetto State native, whether I like it or not, its my pleasure to once again bestow the Stupid Thing of the Week award to a fellow South Calinian. The charming snakepit ambience of that states politics has been on display lately in the attempts to torpedo state representative Nikki Haleys gubernatorial campaign with unsubstantiated claims of her alleged sexual infidelity. Thats pretty slimy stuff, but when Haleys post-scandal poll numbers didnt drop, I knew there was probably worse slander to come. Sure nuff, as if on cue, a state senator has now injected raw racism into the campaign less than a week before the primary. Lexington state Sen. Jake Knotts went on an Internet talk show last night and called Haley a raghead, a racial slur based on her Indian heritage (Haleys parents are Sikhs who came to the U.S. from India). Wait, it gets even better. Knotts exact quote was, We already got one raghead in the White House, we dont need another in the Governors Mansion.
And that, in a nutshell, is the real face of day-to-day politics in that lovely land to our immediate south. Its that kind of forward-looking optimism and inclusiveness that has kept my home state perennially stuck somewhere between 48th and 50th in lists of states education, income, environmental quality, etc., etc.
Showing 1-4 of 4