A lot of Alumni from my alma mater are going all out to convince other graduates of a certain distinguished military college-that one should support the primary efforts of Nancy Mace to unseat Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014. Now I am not a South Carolina resident, so in theory I have no dog in the fight, but at the same time I am interested in the race-for what it says about the sad state of Republican politics in the United States today.
Nancy Mace has the distinguishing feature of being the first female graduate of the Citadel, a feat obtained by being a transfer student and therefore not having to complete a full four years at the fortress of learning. ( to be fair she did complete a full plebe year as did many other women). Her association with the college is neither here nor there in my humble opinion-but it is important to use it as a backdrop to provide some context on why her candidacy is a really bad idea.
Contrary to what some Alumni believe-Citadel graduates can back the wrong side politically sometimes and have. It is for this reason and not the reason of being a graduate-that smart thinking South Carolinians should spurn her candidacy.
First of all, the idea of replacing a sitting Senator, who by all accounts, has served the State of South Carolina well and is a problem solver, is pretty stupid. Its generally never a good idea to trade someone of that amount of seniority in the Senate for an inexperienced new comer. Furthermore, Graham-while not my favorite Senator by any stretch of the imagination-is a part of a dying breed in the Republican party. A moderate Republican who votes issues on their merits-not some screwed up conservative ideology. He's criticized the Tea Party-deservedly so-which in the screwy world of tea loving aficionados is tantamount to an unforgivable sin. Add to that the fact that he has worked to compromise on a red button issue such as immigration. ( He's right on that issue by the way-and no amount of head in the sand whining by Americanus Teabaggerus is going to change that).
Which leads us back to Ms Mace. To mount this challenge, she is allying herself with some very unsavory people. People who really don't care about her per se-but do care about destroying what is left of the Republican party. Their goal is change it over from Ronald Reagan's "big tent" to the brain dead organization we have today, producing such paragons of national leadership such as Paul "Zombie Eyed Granny Starver" Ryan, Eric Cantor, Aqua Buddha Rand Paul as well as the dumbest Congressman on earth ( a title formerly held by the poster child, but he got beat) Louie Gohmert.Freeeeeedoooooommmmmmm!
Taking on an established candidate like Graham is a big effort, and Ms Mace is cozying up to the folks who have all the dollars and the bad ideas. She has boarded the Tea Party Express train to hell-no local stops-even getting kind wordsfrom that wise old man Glenn Beck. Yea-there's an endorsement for you.
She even attended a "Faith and Freedom" event held by Congressman Jeff Duncan, who's still a fking birther.
She is being backed by PAC's that are led by Jim DeMint as well as others led by equally whacked out people.
These people are destroying the Republican party, and in choosing to ally herself with Tea Party cause, Ms Mace gives lie to her statement that she is running to bring sanity back to Washington. The people supporting her and the tea party are anything but sane.
When you associate with scum-a lot of it sticks to your clothes. And the smell takes a long time to wash out.
Personally I think this is all part of carefully orchestrated Public Relations strategy on her part. She knows she will lose to Graham-and if it were any normal state she would never have even attempted such a candidacy. This is South Carolina however-the same state that elected such bastions of intellectual integrity as Nikki Haley. So by running and making noise now-she can establish a name for herself, scare Graham and force him to veer to the right into areas he has no business going into, and build up a war chest for her real aim, some Congressional seat in South Carolina or Georgia.
I find that more than a bit disturbing and for that reason, not her college diploma, she is undeserving of any support from any alumni.
Maybe Shannon Faulkner shoud consider running.
This is rich. Your ringing endorsement of Graham is sufficient alone to vote for his long deceased predecessor or anybody who rises against him. An endorsement from you for a Republican is sort of like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro's endorsement for Barak Obama when joined by Stalin, Arafat, Mao and Pol Pot.
It's telling and damning.
Curtis,
How so? I voted Republican for many years-I would like to be able to do so again. However currently, the Republican party has been taken over by a band of lunatics who are destroying not only the party and the political legacy of the United States-they are laying the long term foundation for financial ruin and a plutocracy. That's more than enough reason to be troubled and it is more than enough reason to stand athwart the tracks of the Tea Party and shout , "Enough".
Plus we know this is South Carolina. Democrats don't win there-so screwed up is the population and so gerrymandered are the States Congressional districts. They used to win-Fritz Hollings, also a Citadel Graduate-but then in the 1990's the GOP began its slide into the pit of slime it has become today.
Bottom line is that Nancy Mace is being portrayed as some sort of noble person-when in fact what she is doing is making a deal with the devil and the worst sort of people in our politics today. There is nothing noble about that. Its cynical and in certain contexts down right evil.
A 2 party system must allow for a second party. There's little point if one simply denies any and all legitimacy to the opposition view/party and demonizes them for even breathing. I know which party's politics/policies are destroying America and you could too but you think Detroit was just a thing and had nothing to do with spending beyond means, cronyism, political corruption, etc.
The RNC is still in the feeble palsied hands of the losers you like who think they can make deficit spending work if they spend enough and that immigration reform that legalizes everybody instantly is a good thing for those at the bottom of the wage scale because it will incentivize employers to pay more for quality laborers.
I thought this was funny.
Sen. Tim Scott, R.-S.C., the only African American serving in the United States Senate, wasn't invited to the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington, though a host of Democratic luminaries spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
A 2 party system demands two responsible parties. Right now we have one and a half-and the half is doing their damndest to exterminate the remaining reasonable people and give themselves over to the ignorant selfish pigs who inhabit the tea party. They are scum-and a blot on the face of America.
As for Tim Scott ( Conservative Douchebag-SC) I suspect it was in recognition that despite his skin color, he has betrayed most of what Dr. King believed. I can see the case for inviting him-but I can also see the case for telling him to STFU.
Nonetheless it is progress that we have douchebags who are conservative of every race, and creed.
As a fellow graduate of Skippy and Nancy's esteemed college and a SC residential feel compelled to comment. Skippy is correct in his assessment on the stud impiety of rep?aci Graham with what another esteemed fellöw grad has referred to as a political lightweight. Thereby having two no seniority Senators. To me Scott is another political lightweight chosen by another political disappointment – Nikki Haley.
Were she serious about a political career my feeling is she should have challenged. mark Sanford for his House seat. A seàt he barely wond being the extremely flawe peron he is. Makes me belîeve she is in raçe as a spoiler to force a runoff or increase her name recognition.
I had so hoped she would offer options. However all she has done is parrot the tea bagger line. Nothing new.