IKEonic

Why the Tea Party exists

2011-06-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit blogging...

2010-08-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

...and Tweeting and Facebook.

But I quit smoking about 200 times before I succeeded so I'm not one to let past failures to quit stop me from trying again.

So why quit? Well, I have a day job -- minimum 5 days a week, minimum 8 hours a day. And unlike the people I chat with on Twitter, my day job is not to get paid to talk about politics. My employer definitely would not endorse any of my views and now would be a good time to state that my views are my views alone and do not represent the views of my employer.

When I started blogging, I was childless and had only myself to support. Today, I'm married and have a family to support, including a 5 month old daughter. My family should and usually does mean a lot more to me than my attachment to politics. On Sunday, the priest at the local cathedral gave a good homily on attachment to worldly things. He was speaking largely of material wealth, but the point is still valid for my obsession with all things political. I really appreciated the priest's cute little joke about the Buddhist vacuum cleaner... you know, since Buddhists detest attachment so much their vacuum cleaners don't come with any attachments.

My daughter means more to me than any "attachment" in this world every could. She doesn't know the first thing about Twitter or blogging. She even smiled at me when I returned to the dugout after another lousy softball at bat. Her only worldly attachment right now is well, her parents. Today, it almost feels like my baby girl has more to teach me about not being attached to worldly things than I have to teach her about the world.

The legal disclaimer for this blog contains a quote from one of my favorite movies, A Time To Kill.

"You see, in all this legal maneuvering something has gotten lost, and that something is the truth."

"Now, it is incumbent upon us lawyers not to just talk about the truth, but to actually seek it, to find it, to live it."

The truth is, my heart isn't into politics anymore. But now that I have a daughter, I'm far more motivated by something else from the movie A Time To Kill. The reason that movie was so powerful is that Grisham captured perfectly in Carl Lee Hailey a father's role as protector of his family -- especially his daughter(s). I also love the movie Gran Torino for similar reasons -- though Clint Eastwood ends up protecting the family next door because they show more loyalty and love to him than his actual children do. But it's a universal yearning all fathers of all races, creeds and nationalities have -- to protect their families.

Grisham's genius was to portray a black man in the South in the role of protector, protecting his family against the white thugs that raped his daughter and then trying in vain to protect them from a trial by a mostly white jury. Gran Torino turned the protector's role on its head and instead of making the protector an empathetic character like Carl Lee Hailey chose a not so empathetic bitter old white blue collar man known for making crude, distasteful and some would surely say racist remarks. Gran Torino took a much different and much more difficult and unexpected road to arrive at the same place -- the father who would do whatever was necessary to defend his family (or adopted family) including sacrificing his own life if necessary.

And that's the road I'm on and I frankly don't see my personal Tweets or blog posts about politics adding any value to my family today. I hope I'm never faced with the ugly violent threats to my family that the main characters in Gran Torino or A Time To Kill were forced to defend their families from, but I hope I won't hesitate to do what is necessary and right in order to protect them.

With that, I leave you with this powerful closing argument:

Twitter: All the news you need

2010-07-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

I spent all morning "refudiating" attacks against Sarah Palin for going rogue (Shakespeare-style!) with the English language. Too much fun!

If you're not following me on Twitter, you're really missing out.

Seriously, though, I tweet a lot more than I blog so please check me out at http://www.twitter.com/ikeonic

And for the record, I like very little about Sarah Palin, which a quick search of my blog posts would verify in a heartbeat. But I dislike pointless attacks on people's misuse of the English language.. especially misspellings on Twitter. I can find 1000 better reasons to dislike or ridicule Sarah Palin. Picking on her for what is likely completely unintentional misuse or misspelling of a word is silly, childish and downright mean.

Not to mention, every time we talk about Sarah Palin we give her exactly what she craves most: more attention. She's a rogue former governor who spends most of her time fundraising and pimping her books. She needs more attention to sell more books and raise more money.

Though as much as Michael Steele pimps himself I'm starting to think Palin may be a relative genius. Hey, at least no one is calling for Palin to resign from her post as rogue ex-governor. Could we get her to switch jobs with Steele? Maybe she could raise some cash for the RNC. Just saying....

Back to Twitter or Back to the Future... same difference!

Time to "refudiate" Obama's Porkulus claims re: unemployment

2010-07-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Innocent Bystanders.net charts this beautifully. You see, in the business world, actual results matter. Not so much with the federal government.

So why is this relevant today?

Because Joey Biden is using an interview with Jake Tapper to spin this inconvenient truth as the GOP's fault.

As Ed Morrissey puts it so well:

Joe Biden offered a flat-out, horse-crap lie to Tapper in this interview. The Obama White House got exactly the amount of stimulus they wanted, and more. The stimulus didn’t fail because Congress didn’t spend enough money. It failed because Barack Obama and Joe Biden have no idea what they’re doing, and they’re proving that much every day they’re in office.

Wrong-o, Joey. Porkulus failed to produce the results you said it would. We're $800 million deeper in the hole without a lot to show for it. That's why we call it...PORK-ulus!

Team America plays race card on... Al Qaeda?

2010-07-14T00:10:00.000-07:00

Oh yes. Finally something I can back Obama on 110%. I think this may be one of the most "kick ass" ideas I've heard from an American President in a long time.

From Jake Tapper at ABC:

“...U.S. intelligence has indicated that al Qaeda leadership specifically targets and recruits black Africans to become suicide bombers because they believe that poor economic and social conditions make them more susceptible to recruitment than Arabs,” the [Obama administration] official said. “Al Qaeda recruits have said that al Qaeda is racist against black members from West Africa because they are only used in lower level operations.”

“In short,” the [White House] official said, “al Qaeda is a racist organization that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life.”

In short, I like this strategy by the White House. Coming from Dubya, Muslims and Arabs would just laugh. Coming from Obama, a charge of racism really stings -- especially when he's accusing of them of being racist towards black Africans. In a perfect world, race wouldn't matter one bit either way. I wish we lived in that world. But we don't and the charge of racism -- whether true or not -- always sounds better and more credible when levied by someone of African descent like Obama.

This is just the kind of winning over of hearts and minds the Obama White House should be engaged in. Rather than going on a world apology tour, go on the offensive and attack Al Qaeda as not only evil, but racist. I like it! This could just work!

Hat tip to Hot Air and be sure to read Allahpundit's analysis here.

Liberals are half-assed Keynesian hypocrites

2010-07-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Oh, and yes, I'm thinking of you, Paul Krugman.

I'll be blunt.

I have a MBA and a Ph.D. in common sense which makes me at least as qualified as Obama to opine on economic matters.

Simply stated, here's my bone to pick with liberals:

Democrats, particularly liberals like Obama, do not get (or simply choose to ignore) that during boom times, Keynes essentially argued for the inverse of his prescription for recessions. Sure, they pay lip service to paying down the deficit but we all know it's a farce. The gist of Keynes' argument for countercyclical fiscal policy is that if borrowing and spending are required to provide fiscal stimulus during busts to get the economy moving, then surely saving, paying down debt and reining in government spending would be required during boom times to keep the economy from overheating and imploding -- not to mention paying down all that debt the goverment accumulated!

To use a real life example, let's say you suddenly lose your job and decide to turn lemons into lemonade by furthering your education. A true Keynesian would be willing to borrow (student loans) to invest in an education today that will pay dividends for decades (a sound investment with a solid ROI). A true Keynesian would then happily pay off those student loans and build savings as soon as they got a good paying job. In other words, use your personal "boom time" to do the inverse of the borrowing and investing you did during your personal "bust". Then when the next "bust" in your life arrives, you'll be better prepared because you've paid off your debts and built a rainy day fund to weather the storm. This is how government ought to manage its finances -- it's just common sense. Making sound, smart investments (not Porkulus!) during lean times and paying down debt and saving during boom times. But as we all know, this is very rarely this case!

Our government has paid down its debt on very rare occasions in the post Eisenhower era. The best example: BJ Clinton and a GOP Congress beholden to a "Contract With America". That's about it. You want to know why Rick Santelli is screaming mad and there's a Tea Party movement brewing? That's why. It's not that people don't think the economy needs government action, it's that people don't trust the government to pay down its bills once the current economic crisis is over.

We the people don't really trust the Democrats or the Republicans to pay down the debt. We are in a similar mood to 1992, when Americans were so disgusted with both parties that many turned to a funny sounding man from Texas with his charts based on little more than common sense and folksy logic. Simply put, people were fed up with half-assed hypocritical Keynesians on the left and supply side voodoo economists on the right who say deficits don't matter. And yes, I've already said plenty about Dubya era hypocrisy on deficits and debt.

So when Krugman says crap like this I can only laugh:

When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options. Now I know better. Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis. And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions.

Yes, Mr. Nobel Prize Winner, anyone who dares to disagree with you must be doing so because of their prejudices. Only wonkish Keynesians like yourself are capable of serious analysis. And during the next boom time, I'm sure you'll be hammering your liberal friends for not saving and paying down debt like good Keynesians should. NOT! Because we all know that liberals are only Keynesians during recessions and almost never during boom times.

Dave Weigel: Hero to the Houston Tea Party?

2010-06-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

As the whole world knows by know, Dave Weigel was forced to resign from the Washington Post.

Now for... the rest of the story. Or at least my take on Dave Weigel as I've come to know him.

I didn't know Dave Weigel from a hole in the wall until January 2010. At that time, I was researching and blogging about an idiot named Dale Robertson -- who was caught holding this sign at a Houston Tea Party event. Dave Weigel broke the story for a wider audience and it was picked up by Chuckles at Little Green Footballs -- a blog I used to follow quite a bit before Mad King Charles decided to turn his blog into a 24/7 discussion on racism and lunacy, but only on the right and only according to Mad King Charles' definitions.

Weigel's original story reported this reaction from the Houston Tea Party Society:

Update: Josh Parker of the Houston Tea Party Society tells me that Robertson was booted out of the event for this sign.

I thought to myself: Wow, now there's a newsworthy nugget that Chuckles seems to find irrelevant in his zeal to tar and feather all Tea Partiers as racists. Not satisfied (and wishing to prove Chuckles wrong), I began to dig deeper by researching more about the Houston Tea Party Society and even befriending some of their members via Facebook. I found that not only did they have a long ongoing feud with Mr. Robertson, they were extremely frustrated because no one (other than Dave Weigel and myself) seemed to listen to their pleas that Robertson was persona non grata, not one of them, and someone out for his own fortune and fame.

I blogged about this extensively in January and several times I contacted Chuckles (before he blocked me from his Twitter feed) and Dave Weigel to report more on the Houston Tea Party's position and get their voice heard. Whereas Chuckles refused to report anything about the Houston Tea Party's rejection of Robertson, Weigel was not only responsive to my tweets, he also issued this update on January 7:

The Houston Tea Party isn’t having it. Their statement on Robertson:

1. He is NOT a member of our Leadership team.
2. He owns a website with which we have never been affiliated.
3. He has never been a part of organizing any of the Tea Party rallies in the Houston area, or any other area that we can find.
4. We addressed some issues involving him back in April. Here it is on our website, where Mr. Robertson himself comments: http://houstontps.org/?p=318
5. We do not choose to associate with people that use his type of disgusting language

The nice treatment of Robertson in The Washington Times, however, demonstrates just how hard it can be to deny someone “leader” status in the Tea Parties.

As a result of this incident, I came to follow and respect Dave Weigel. He listened to me, was responsive and published the other side of the story. In fact, here's the tweet I sent to Dave thanking him for reporting the full story. Even Media Matters reported the Houston Tea Party Society's repudiation of Robertson because Dave Weigel reported on it! Some folks at Houston TPS were kind enough to give me some praise for blogging on their behalf, but it was really Dave Weigel who got the Houston TPS their due in a way I never could have with my miniscule following.

Weigel's recent interview with the National Review's Dan Foster demonstrates that he does his best to be an unbiased observer, reporter and critic -- calling it as he sees it. I respect that because that is exactly what I aim to do on this blog -- seeking out the truth, wherever it leads. I also like that Dave is very snarky, a bad habit I can't shake either. Having a sense of humor is an awful thing in the humorless world of modern politics. Unless you're Stewart or Colbert, you can't get away with much anymore. Few people can take a joke but Dave Weigel loves to give even better than he gets via his Twitter feed. It's a must follow primarily because Dave is a master of snark.

Don't get me wrong. Dave's personal political views (which got him in hot water at WaPo) are mystifing and baffling. I needle Dave quite a bit on Twitter about his insane voting history. He voted for Nader in 2000 and blames his vote on being a silly 19 year old. Confession: I would have voted for BJ Clinton over Bush when I was 18 but didn't bother to register in time so I guess I'm little better. Weigel also says he voted for Ron Paul in the '08 GOP primaries but Obama in the general. In the interview with Dan Foster, Weigel says "I know I’m not a liberal. On issue after issue I oppose the Democratic coalition." How do you reconcile that with Weigel's voting for Obama? It makes my head spin!

But I still like Dave a great deal despite his insane voting record. He still commands a great deal of respect from fellow reporters, including a few on the conservative side of the fence like R.S. McCain. Oddly enough, Chuckles thinks R.S. McCain and I are racists -- yet we both find reasons to like Dave Weigel. If I've learned anything over the last year, it's that I'd rather have the respect of straight shooters like Weigel and McCain than blithering, ranting loons like Chuckles.

So keep the snark and the straight shooting reporting coming. The truth needs to be heard and everybody needs to lighten up and laugh a little more. This humorless world we live in needs some color and comedy.

Nikki Haley's SHOCKING interview with Palmetto Patriots

2010-06-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

Update 6/23/2010: The Wall Street Journal reports that the interview was conducted by the Palmetto Patriots. The Palmetto Patriots website has the raw video posted here.

Update: Sorenkay provided me with a better copy of the video that hopefully will stay up. Also, should point out that it is strongly suspected, but has not yet confirmed, that the interview was conducted by ~~Sons of Confederate Veterans~~ Palmetto Patriots. When I have confirmation, I'll ~~update this post again.~~ Done!

Well, some might find it SHOCKING. I didn't. See for yourself and read my analysis below.

Big hat tip to sorenkay.

Her thoughts on why Civil War was fought:
"Traditions" vs. "Change" is how she sees it. The South being the ones stubbornly clinging to tradition vs. the North demanding change. Haley tries to be polite and not judge the motives of either side as hateful. Surely, some liberals will seize on this (a la Rand Paul) and assert that Haley just doesn't get it. But I would say that Haley is running for office in South Carolina, where Southern pride is a serious issue and she was trying very hard not to offend her interviewers or SC voters.

Afterwards, her interviewers from the ~~SCV~~ Palmetto Patriots go into a rambling apologist defense of the South's motives for the Civil War. Yawn. Boring.

Haley responds largely by not engaging their apologist, revisionist view of history and just letting them vent. Again, she's clearly being polite and trying not to engage the subject.

At the 4 minute mark, one of the interviewers lays down a threat by claiming that they helped to oust Governor Beasley in retaliation for "fibbing to us". Beasley proposed in the mid 1990s to move the Confederate flag from atop the State House. After laying out a couple more examples of politicians that fibbed and betrayed the ~~SCV~~ Palmetto Patriots, shortly after the 5 minute mark they ask Haley to go on the record as to how she will defend their beloved Confederate battle flag.

At the 6 minute mark, Haley answers by saying the existing compromise (keeping the Confederate flag in its current place on the grounds but not atop the State House) is fine by her and she has no intention of reopening the issue.

She then adroitly changes the conversation to highlight the issues she is fighting for: education, jobs, quality of life. She says she won't allow "us to be distracted by anything that doesn't focus on those three things". Finally, she touts herself as a "minority female".

In summary, Haley acquits herself reasonably well in an interview with one of those "traditional" groups South Carolina politicians have to ass kiss. I'm not a Nikki Haley fan (in case you haven't noticed) but I find no reason to dislike her based on this video. I still think she's a lying, cheating Palinista but I wouldn't "distract" readers from the topic at hand with that discussion. After all, the ~~SCV~~ Palmetto Patriots only care about whether she'll fight for the Confederate battle flag. They couldn't care less about how many GOP political operatives "Darling Nikki" Haley has slept with!

Jeff Merkley: Let's end Oregon's dependence on Alaskan oil

2010-06-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just kidding.

No, what Jeff Merkeley really said today is that he wants to end America's dependence on overseas oil:

This year, more than two-thirds of America’s oil imports will come from nations that too often do not share our goals or values. This dependence on nations such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Venezuela, and Nigeria costs our nation billions...

But Senator Merkeley, don't you know that according to the state of Oregon's own Internet tubes, 80% of Oregon's oil starts out on Alaska's North Slope oil fields.

As I have blogged extensively about, drivers in Seattle and Portland should thank their lucky stars for Alaska.

Oregon produces zero crude oil just like Washington and has zero refineries. According to the state of Oregon, 90% of Oregon's petroleum comes from the four refineries in the Puget Sound area of Washington. 80% of the crude exported to Oregon comes from Alaska's North Slope oil fields. More latte liberals driving Volvos and Audis powered by Alaska crude.

But hey, Democrats don't want to drill offshore any more and we can't import from those dern ferners either so we Oregonians better hope Alaska keeps sending oil our way. Sure would be a shame to close down those drive thru coffee shops featuring bikini baristas!

Dave Weigel: Assault = "acting strangely"

2010-06-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

In Dave Weigel's world, this video represents a congressman "acting strangely":

And according to Weigel, the non-violent, non-assualting video featuring James O'Keefe and the Philly ACORN Housing office qualifies as a "strange video":

I agree with Dave on this much: ACORN is indeed strange. But a Congressman yanking someone by the neck is not acting strangely, it's assault. I would hope a "libertarian" reporter would be shocked by any Congressman asserting he has a right to know who his questioner is. Is that a Constitutional right I'm not aware of? Congressmen apparently have a right to know who dares to ask them a question.

Jake Knotts ready to lead Republican Inquisition, claims GOP "infiltrated by libertarians"

2010-06-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: The video embed code I initially used was wrong but I think I've got it fixed now. In case you can't view the video below, try this link from WFMB-TV instead.

An unrepentant Jakie Knotts has now declared war on libertarians within the GOP.

At the 1:45 mark, Knotts uses libertarian as a pejorative to describe Joshua Gross, who authored the resolution [against Knotts] and was campaign consultant for Katrina Shealy’s 2008 Senate contest against Knotts. The day after Knotts called Haley and Obama "ragheads", Shealy announced she is running against Knotts in 2012.

At 4:48 mark, Knotts -- with sweat pouring down the side of his big sweaty noggin -- accuses the GOP of being "infiltrated by libertarians".

At the 6:00 mark, Knotts accuses the press of giving Nikki Haley a free pass because they haven't asked Haley "Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and that he died on the cross for her sins?"

Thank you, Jakie Knotts. So glad to hear you are the voice of social conservatives. Let the inquisition begin!

Identity politics: Alvin Greene won by about same percent as Obama did in SC Dem primary

2010-06-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Dan Surber is 100% correct:

Alvin Greene, 32, [Greene is black] won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina over Judge Vic Rawl [Rawl is white], 100,375 to 69,850.

Greene is black, Rawl is white. In identity politics, maybe the overwhelming majority of Democratic primary voters decided that they could beat incumbent Republican Senator Jim DeMint (who was re-nominated) with a black man.

It may just be identity politics.

Greene won by a 100,375 to 69,850 count (58.9% of the vote). According to South Carolina's official Democratic primary results from 2008 (SC registers voters by race), 110,559 votes were cast by non-whites versus 83,832 votes by whites (56.8% vs. 43.2%). We can assume the higher turnout in the 2008 primary was due to a hotly contested race between Obama (the non-white candidate) versus a slew of white Democratic candidates.

UPDATE: The 2008 Democratic primary results I referenced turned out to be for the state primaries, not the Presidential primaries. But Obama did get 55.44% of the vote during the January SC Democratic Presidential primary, which is still roughly proportional to the non-white vote that Greene got and the number of non-white voters in the 2008 primaries held in June (similar to the election that Greene just won). So I stand by the analysis... a classic case of identity politics.

But we can easily deduce that Obama received 90 to 95% of the non-white vote and those same voters voted in roughly the same proportion for Alvin Greene, a man whose qualifications were virtually nil and only appealed to these voters because they identified with his skin color and little else. What other plausible, rational, non-kooky conspiracy theory is there??? The simple and obvious explanation is often the correct answer. Such is the case here.

There's no need to cook up some crazy conspiracy theory about the South Carolina GOP. As Allahpundit points out, the SC GOP doesn't look competent enough to execute such as a scheme anyway. Nope... this is just pure and simple Democratic party identity politics. Black Democratic voters, like other minority Democrats, vote based on ethnicity and identity politics first and qualifications and principles last.

Ergo, Alvin Greene.

UPDATE: Even more racial identity politics from SC Democrats:

Just days after losing the Democratic nomination for governor, state Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston blasted his party and the Legislative Black Caucus for supporting his white competitor.

Ford went on to say that ‘Uncle Tom’ is alive today in SC politics.

Hmm.

UPDATE AGAIN:

Apparently Senator Ford is quite the self anointed expert on race in South Carolina. According to Phil Bailey (host of the now infamous Pub Politics show), Ford had the following to say re: Mr. Greene:

"No white folks have an 'e' on the end of Green."

ONE MORE UPDATE:
Charleston's Post & Courier has the full quote from Senator Ford:

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, who lost his gubernatorial bid Tuesday, said race could have played a role. The Democratic primary electorate is majority black, as is Greene, but not Rawl. "Vic Rawl had money, but he didn't have enough. He wasn't able to identify himself with black voters," Ford said. "No white folks have an 'e' on the end of Green. The blacks after they left the plantation couldn't spell, and they threw an 'e' on the end."

There you have it. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Alvin Greene!

P.S. A big thank you to the Other McCain for linking to this post!

Vacating the blog for a while....

2010-06-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have to take another sabbatical from blogging for a while. I know, it's like the 6th time I've done this, but for once I have a good excuse. An immediate family member is very ill with cancer and the end is very close so I need to focus on the important things in life instead of things like the soap opera that is South Carolina politics.

Now, I know it will break the heart of the South Carolina GOP that I won't be reporting on things I heard a certain State Senator say on "the Internets", but them's the breaks.

Don't know when I'll return to blogging or Twitter, but for now I'm going to stay off and tend to what matters most. I wish everyone well (yes, even you Nikki Haley) and urge you to remember that politics is just politics... family matters far more than anything that happens in the State House or the White House.

It's official: Helen Thomas is a Jew hating bigot

2010-06-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

MUST SEE VIDEO!

Helen Thomas to Jews: "Go home...to Poland and Germany."

H/T to Matt Bramanti.

It's official: Jake Knotts is a fat ass bigot

2010-06-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

If this report from Corey Hutchins @ The Free Times is accurate, then we have 100% conclusive proof that State Senator Jake Knotts is an unrepentant bigot who should resign immediately.

Hutchins reports that Knotts said the following after he finished the Pub Politics show (which generated yesterday's nuclear news about his money quote... click link here to read more):

With a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face outside a Columbia bar, Republican S.C. Sen. Jake Knotts called Lexington Rep. Nikki Haley, an Indian-American Republican woman running for governor, a “raghead” several times while explaining how he believed she was hiding her true religion from voters.

“She’s a f#!king raghead,” Knotts said.

He later clarified his statement. He did not mean to use the F-word.

Knotts says he believed Haley has been set up by a network of Sikhs and was programmed to run for governor of South Carolina by outside influences in foreign countries. He claims she is hiding her religion and he wants the voters to know about it.

“We got a raghead in Washington; we don’t need one in South Carolina,” Knotts said more than once. “She’s a raghead that’s ashamed of her religion trying to hid it behind being Methodist for political reasons.”

After the broadcast, Knotts stood in a corner on the deck of the bar and defended his remarks.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve said it,” Knotts said. “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.”

Knotts said that South Carolina is a religious community.

“We need a good Christian to be our governor,” he said. “She’s hiding her religion. She ought to be proud of it. I’m proud of my god.”

Knotts says he believes Haley’s father has been sending letters to India saying that Haley is the first Sikh running for high office in America. He says her father walks around Lexington wearing a turban.

“We’re at war over there,” Knotts said.

Asked to clarify, he said he did not mean the United States was at war with India, but was at war with “foreign countries.”

Full article at Free Times here.

I am speechless. What a effin embarrassment to the Republican Party. Wow! We can't throw this dude under the bus fast enough. On second thought, forget the bus, get out the steamroller. WOW!

Knotts sort of apologizes for "raghead" comments

2010-06-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

From WIS in Columbia:

Knotts downplayed the comment when contacted for an explanation, saying his use of the offensive term was intended to be "lighthearted."

"My 'rag-head' comments about Obama and Haley were intended in jest," Knotts said in a statement. "Bear in mind that this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It's like [the] local political version of Saturday Night Live, which is actually where the joke came from." A search of Saturday Night Live transcripts did not show any comments similar to Sen. Knotts' use of the slur.

Knotts also offered a back-handed apology to Obama and Haley: "Since my intended humorous context was lost in translation, I apologize," he continued. "I still believe Ms. Haley is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I apologize to both for an unintended slur."

Well, so much for my theory that Knotts was offering up his impersonation of SC voters who might be persuaded by arguments that Obama is a sekrit Muslim and Haley is a sekrit Sikh. Apparently Knotts has confirmed that he was speaking for himself but that he was just goofing, being funny... you know bar humor. And apparently Knotts is one of those idiots who thinks Obama just might be a sekrit Muslim.

But hey, maybe he's right and Pub Politics is like Saturday Night Live. But I listened to the whole show and I didn't hear or see any skits and if Knotts is a comedian he did a terrible, awful job setting up his joke. Nobody laughed, so even if he didn't think it was offensive when he said it even he would have to acknowledge his joke fell extremely flat.

In fact, it may be the worst attempt at a joke by a would be comedian since Michael Richard jumped the shark:

South Carolina GOP State Sen: "We've got a raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the Governor's Mansion"

2010-06-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'm taking this totally out of context, but the sound bite is just plain awful any way you slice it.

For context, you had to listen to Pub Politics today.
[Update - Wesley Donehue (yes... that Wesley Donehue!) usually publishes this week's Pub Politics the day after the show. I'll link to the video (hopefully it won't be edited out) containing Senator Knott's off color commentary as soon as it is available.]

South Carolina State Senator Jake Knotts referenced an email campaign (click here) by Pat Robertson to inform voters about Nikki Haley's efforts to hide her Sikh upbringing.

Haley was raised with the Sikh faith and just like President Obama has gone out of her way to make sure people know she is a Christian. Just like Obama in 2008, Haley has a “truth” section on her website to address the question, “Is Nikki Haley a Christian”?

The point Knotts was trying to make (poorly) was that many voters believe Haley is secretly still a Sikh or at least not a real Christian. He was offering up his astute political analysis and not his personal beliefs (giving him the benefit of the doubt here).

I believe the money quote was Senator Knotts making a poor impersonation of the typical Religious Right voter brainwashed by Pat Robertson. So in his poorly impersonated voice he said "We've got a raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the Governor's Mansion." Bad joke, Senator. Really, really dumb.

Easy sound bite for anybody (like me) to use completely out of context. But I won't. Now, he could really have meant to call Haley and Obama "ragheads" but for now I'm going to give Senator Knotts the benefit of the doubt and say he made a bad joke at the expense of certain residents of South Carolina. Maybe they'll demand an apology!

But suffice to say, this story has already gone nuclear. Senator Knotts might want to explain what he really meant (and erase all doubt) ASAP...

UPDATE: Predictably, this is generating a lot of blowback. Points of clarification: Yes, I listened to the entire show today. Knotts made reference to Pat Robertson's email (similar content as this blog post on CBN) much earlier in the show before he referenced it again just prior to the money quote. That's why I say you really, really need the context which we won't have in full until Pub Politics publishes today's show (which I would expect tomorrow or later today) and Senator Knotts responds to clarify what he really meant. Until then, I'm going to assume based on what I heard that Senator Knotts was doing a poor impersonation or joke at the expense certain South Carolia voters. It was in poor taste at least and may be racist depending on what Senator Knotts really meant. He obviously forgot that he wasn't doing standup comedy at a roadhouse. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

UPDATE AGAIN: Ben Smith has a good rundown from earlier today of the religion controversy re: Nikki Haley. This is the backstory and context that Senator Knotts was alluding to when he made his extremely stupid remarks. That's all the background I can provide. Listen for yourself if and when the video is available. I'm not defending Knotts (as I've acknowledge several times his remarks were incredibly stupid) but people deserve to know the context behind his remarks. He will need to respond to clarify just what he meant. Until then, I'm not joining the knee jerk chorus that judges the man a guilty racist who needs to be sentenced to prison for a hate crime or something. But at the very least, Knotts just gave the GOP a major case of heartburn at a time when the South Carolina GOP is generating a lot of negative press.

Palin's robocall for Nikki Haley

2010-06-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Dude, the more I listen to Palin the more I think Tina Fey nailed that impersonation.

Darling Nikki

2010-06-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

You knew I HAD to post this video sooner or later:

Carolina Cheater-gate: Must see interview with Larry Marchant

2010-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Click here to see 8 minutes of raw interview video courtesy of WIS-TV in Columbia.

Watch the whole video and tell me you seriously believe Marchant is lying. If so, he deserves an Oscar. Tell me he'd put his pregnant wife through that kind of torture by lying to her about sex he didn't even have. Think, people, think!

I want to speak directly to Haley supporters. It was one thing to doubt Will Folks' motives. But to believe that a second man would lie to his wife (who is 6 months pregnant!) about sex he didn't even have is sheer lunacy. Odds are you are a birther or 9/11 truther or both. It's an insane conspiracy theory. Period.

One of the snarkier and saner voices in the crowd is Chris Haire with the Charleston City Paper. Says Haire with regard to crazy conspiracy theories championed by people like Erick Erickson (who by the way, had to do a MAJOR retraction after defending Sanford against "lies" that turned out to be TRUE).

And then there are those who believe the entire thing was a conspiracy, like RedState's Erick Erickson, a conservative blogger and CNN commentator who knows next to nothing about South Carolina politics and even less about the motivations of Folks and Haley. For these thick bricks, this entire episode is either a play by Haley's opponents who paid Folks to confess to a relationship that never occurred or a coordinated move by both Sic and Nik to boost support for the Indian-American candidate. Both suppositions are asinine.

After all, the facts we need are right there. The answer is staring us right in the face. And it's all there in the text messages and the late-night phone calls, one truth and one truth alone: Nikki Haley and Will Folks were planning a surprise birthday party for Sic's former boss and Haley's hero Mark Sanford.

And if that's not the case, then they were debating the merits of Team Edward and Team Jacob.

Or they were chatting with each other while they played World of Warcraft and fantasized about the one time they ran across Mr. T's night-elf mohawk in the game and their never-ending quest to find the legendary Leroy Jenkins.

Or they were arguing over the rather shocking cut-to-black ending of The Sopranos. Folks believes Tony and his fam were gunned down; Haley thinks it was a metaphor for the paranoia that had finally overtaken the mobster's psyche.

Without further evidence, any one of these explanations is as likely as anything we've heard so far.

Read the whole article here.

Nikki Haley: Victim of a vast good ole boy conspiracy

2010-06-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

Or so she'd have you believe in the wake of yet another allegation of an adulterous affair.

“This is a false and outrageous desperate attack from a losing candidate's paid campaign consultant in the final week of the race,” Haley campaign manager Tim Pearson said in a statement.

“As Nikki Haley rises in the polls, the good old boys in Columbia see their taxpayer-funded fraternity party coming crumbling down, and they will say or do anything to hold onto their power,” Pearson said.

Um, yeah. In Nikki Haley's twisted world, good ole boys lie to their wives about sex they didn't even have. Fellas, how many guys do you know that lie to their wives about sex they didn't have? It's one thing to lie to your buddies or the media, but to lie to your wife about sex you didn't have... who does that? Men lie to their wives and tell them they didn't have sex when they did, but who does the opposite? Nikki Haley wants us to believe that not one, but two men, are willing to lie to their wives about sex they didn't even have. That's an insane theory!

But for arguments sake, let's assume that the wives are in on it and willing accomplices in the lie. How much money would your wife need to be your accomplice in such a web of lies? For Stacy McCain, $29k would do the trick. I'm thinking most wives would need a hell of a lot more to endure such public humiliation. It'd probably take quite a bit of money or promises (more lies!) of who knows what. Again, we're in crazy consipracy land (those evil good ole boys!) to believe that two husbands and their wives are lying to the media just to sink Haley.

In the end, all you can say is South Carolina politics is never boring. And Haley-gate is far from over...

Louisiana's royalty pains

2010-06-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Louisiana fought for decades to convince Congress that our state should get a share of the oil and gas wealth being mined off our shores. We're still waiting.

The Times Picayune is completely right.

For perspective, BP has spent $990 million so far on the oil spill, but just last year the federal treasury pocketed $5.74 billion in royalties (largely from offshore drilling). Most of the new offshore activity is in federal waters (as the BP well is) and the royalties by and large go to the federal treasury.

Don't get me wrong -- BP is 100% solely to blame for the oil spill, but why should non-Gulf Coast states continue to profit immensely from the oil riches of the Gulf???

I agree with the Times Picayune. It's time for LoUiSiAna to demand its fair share of oil royalties or at least that federal money be spent on cleaning up the huge mess and restoring Louisiana's wetlands. Louisiana bears all of the risk while the fed govt reaps immense financial benefits.

The nation benefits from the oil extracted by BP and others off our coast. But we are the state that bears the brunt of the oil industry's collateral damage. Thanks in large measure to the industry's crisscrossing pipeline canals, we're losing a football field of wetlands every 30 minutes and are more vulnerable than ever to hurricanes.

Read the full editorial here.

Wesley Donehue talks on Twitter

2010-05-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

...and denies that he knows anything (though obviously he does) and seems to think that whatever he says is private is still private even if people release his previously private words onto the "Internets"....

I'm using screenshots because at some point Donehue is bound to reconsider leaving his tweets public. Then again, I think this dude really wants to squeal about what he knows. He just wants to do it in a way that doesn't completely destroy his lucrative consulting business helping run GOP campaigns and destroy anyone who gets in the way -- no matter who gets hurt and truth be damned. I make only one promise on this blog -- I am not a journalist but I will always seek out the truth. I may be dead wrong in presuming that Folks is right and Haley is lying, but one way or another I want to see the light shined on the truth. Donehue knows a lot and he needs to squeal. The media in South Carolina need to shadow this guy 24/7 to find out what he knows.

You check out Donehue's Twitter feed here, his wife's feed, their dog (named Gucci?) here as well as the Twitter list I've created to follow this developing story. We'll see who's right: me or Erick Erickson. I'm certain of one thing: it's amateur hour in the South Carolina GOP and it shows in Donehue's tweets and on Folks' blog. The kids are running the party behind the scenes with predictable results. It's an embarrassment and just because they are fellow Republicans doesn't mean we should sweep it under the rug and pretend these folks are professionals. If these folks in SC are the best the GOP can do, we're in for a long decade.

Carolina is for Cheaters

2010-05-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

Have people learned nothing from the web of lies spun by Mark Sanford and John Edwards?

Erick Erickson at Red State is digging in and in Palin-esque fashion claiming that this is an attack on Haley because she's an Indian lady:

They want to see the Indian lady taken down. [Way to play the reverse racist, sexist card Erick] You know what the sad thing is? Even if Folks has evidence, even if we find out that after a week of slowly stringing up Nikki Haley and distracting the campaign this clearly disturbed individual is telling the truth, Haley is still a better candidate and leader than any of the rest.

You know what's really sad? That so called social conservatives don't care if this "Indian lady" cheated on her husband. That's what's sad. Those who are so eager to make a crime out of any number of immoral acts don't blink an eye when one of their own is charged with adultery. That's sad and it's a complete embarrassment to the GOP.

Full disclosure: I'm not a social conservative, in that I'm socially conservative with my own life but don't advocate laws forcing my personal views onto others. But even at that, I'm still repulsed by candidates who clearly have a lot to hide and very likely are guilty of the indiscretion that are accused of. We should expect more from our candidates. It's not just sex and just because Democrats engage in equally sleazy behavior doesn't make it okay when one of our own get caught.

Where's the proof, you say? Well, there wasn't proof with Sanford or Edwards at first, but there sure was a lot of fire. And as Jim Galloway points out, Erickson hasn't exactly always waited for proof before jumping to conclusions either. I saw all I needed to see in the text messages Folks published. In due course, we'll all find out that Nikki Haley is a liar AND an adulterer.

ATTN: Palin stalkers -- Don't rent a house, just stay at the Wasilla Best Western

2010-05-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: I do not advocate or endorse the breaking of any laws -- please respect private property. Don't blame me if you get caught being an idiot. All of the information below is easily found using Google. I personally have no intention of going anywhere near Wasilla -- though Alaska is quite beautiful in June and I'm sure they'd love to have your tourism dollars so I wouldn't discourage anyone. Keep your distance and keep your camera running -- you never know when the "First Dude" might decide to dispense some justice.

Sarah Palin -- maybe you've heard of her -- is a celebrity former governor who was John McCain's token choice as female running mate. Since quitting her job, she's taken on a new job pimping herself and her books to her vast cult following.

So I make no apologies for this instruction manual for Palin stalkers. She wants to be treated like a celebrity so she should be prepared to be stalked by paparazzi just like every other celebrity.

According to Time magazine (big fans of Sarah!):

The Palin family lives on Lake Lucille on the western end of town — she’s always maintained her residence here, even though the Capitol is a long flight away in Juneau. It’s a perfectly Alaskan lake: still waters ringed by evergreens and saw-toothed peaks, staged beneath a wolf-colored sky. You can just make out Palin’s house a stone’s throw from the public launch at the Best Western Hotel, by the red and white floatplane on the small dock out front (the governor’s husband is a pilot in addition to being an oil worker, commercial fisherman, prior Iron Dog snowmobile endurance race winner, and self-anointed “First Dude”).

And yes, they do mean only a stone's throw from the Best Western:

Here's the link to the Best Western web site... make your reservations today and become a member of the Palin Paparazzi!