This is interesting news, particularly riding on Dick Armey's acrimonious split from FreedomWorks. It would appear that the TeaBirchers have opted for the public relations route since the electoral one isn't working out so well for them. Via CNN:

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina will resign from his Senate seat as of Dec. 31 to take over as head of the Heritage Foundation, his office announced Thursday.

"I honestly believe that I can do a lot more on the outside than I can on the inside," DeMint told reporters at Heritage Thursday.

I'll just bet he believes that, too. He has been nothing but a force for evil in the Senate, and swore he'd only serve two terms anyway. Cutting him off now is just an early exit to lay a foundation for The Great Tea Party Takeover of 2016. (Laugh. That's a joke.)

Esquire's Charles Pierce holds nothing back:

Nobody better personifies the casual cruelty, the reckless disregard for the general welfare, the heedless contempt for the idea of a general political commonwealth, and the deep fealty to the rising power of oligarchy in this country than does DeMint, who first rode into the Senate by arguing, among other things, that gay people should not teach in the public schools. And no institution embodies those same qualities, which fairly define modern movement conservatism, than does The Heritage Foundation, which is little more than a talking-points mill at which the primary intellectual debates seem to center on who will write this week's crapola of the op-ed page of The Washington Post, and who will be appearing with Piers Morgan that night. Heritage's claim that it is a font of serious policy ideas dies with the fact that it is now going to be run by the biggest loon in the pond. This is a match made on a plane somewhat lower than heaven.

At any rate, DeMint will head off to the Heritage family, leaving a hole for Nikki Haley to fill in the Senate. The choices look as loco as DeMint. ThinkProgress has a cast of characters that might make us all wish DeMint was back in the saddle. Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson is probably the most well-known, but the more likely pick is Rep. Tim Scott, who may possibly be even more insane than DeMint.

Several reports are identifying Scott as DeMint’s preferred choice to replace him, and for good reason: the freshman congressman has already proven to be nearly as extreme as DeMint himself. In 2011, he voted to extend billions of dollars in subsidies to big oil companies, arguing that taxpayer-funded money going to companies that reap billions in profits was “fair.” And during the last fight over the debt ceiling, Scott floated the possibility of introducing articles of impeachment against President Obama. While a State Senator, Scott helped to defund South Carolina’s entire HIV/AIDS programs, including the elimination of the state’s AIDs Drug Assistance Program.

Choose your favorite popcorn flavor, sit back, and watch the fun. What's in the water there in South Carolina, anyway?

(h/t Scarce)

I can never tell with these tea party types if it's massive ignorance or hubris that keeps them going.

Because if I was the subject of an extra-marital sex scandal, I don't know that I would write a book entitled "Can't Is Not An Option." Seems like you're writing the jokes for your detractors.

Furthermore, if I was about to be possibly indicted for tax fraud, I don't know that I would make the rounds promoting that book, lest some very uncomfortable questions are asked.

And if by some chance I ignored all good sense and did the things above, when asked to proffer up proof that there isn't a war on women's rights within the GOP, I sure as hell wouldn't be stupid enough to say, "Well, women don't care about contraception."

But then again, I'm not Nikki Haley.

Because it's "The View", we're not going to be subjected to a deep discussion about it, but co-host Joy Behar pushed back right away and you can see that Haley knew she messed up good and immediately tried to cast about to save herself, conceding that women do care, but not only contraception.

HALEY: While we care about contraception, let’s be clear: All we’re saying is we don’t want government to mandate when we have to have it and when we don’t. We want to be able to make that decision, we don’t need any government making that decision for us.

Excuse me, what? When is the government mandating the use of birth control? Do you even understand the words coming out of your mouth? It's lucky for Haley that they ran up against a break before Whoopi and Joy could say anything.

And pundits sit and try to figure out why women prefer Obama to a GOP candidate by almost two to one.

Multiple stories have broken recently in Charleston, South Carolina about the Southern Republican Leadership Conference failing to pay a $227,872 bill at the luxury Charleston Place hotel, which it had rented out as part of its efforts to showcase presidential candidates before the South Carolina primary.

The hotel has sued the SRLC and its signatory, South Carolina political operative Robert C. Cahaly over the money dispute. The Charleston City Paper wrote a long feature about the issue.

In its federal complaint, the hotel says in March it originally entered into an agreement for the booking which ran from Thurs. Jan. 19 through Sun. Jan. 22. South Carolina political operative Robert C. Cahaly, who is named as co-defendant in the lawsuit, served as the group's signatory. The contract was amended on Dec. 20, 2011.

In the complaint filed in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, the hotel says it has come to believe that the SRLC "was grossly undercapitalized, failed to observe corporate formalities, was insolvent, and was mere[ly] used as a façade for the operations of the defendant Cahaly." In addition it says, "Cahaly, an individual businessman, has sought to hide from the normal consequences of carefree entrepenuring by doing so through a corporate shell.

"Due to their incompetence, the defendants failed to properly plan or manage the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, and it was poorly attended," the hotel says. "The conference was so poorly attended as to cause one Republican candidate, Newt Gingrich, to cancel his appearance.

"Poor attendance caused many of the conference sponsors to leave the conference," it continues. "Poor attendance left the defendants responsible for a significant payment to the plaintiff under the terms of the contract."

The article continues by saying, "at 3:01 p.m., the time when the defendants were due to check out of the hotel, the defendants emailed [hotel] management and cancelled the meeting at which they were supposed to settle the bill." In the email, the SRLC allegedly accused the hotel of difficulties with refunds or adjustments, poor overall treatment and a hotel manager instructing an SRLC staffer to engage in illegal activity, according to the City Paper article.

Sounds more like bitterness over the poor attendance of their conference than mismanagement by the hotel.

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Photos by Craig Hudson. A big thanks to Karoli for making them into a video.

Charleston, South Carolina is filled with beautiful people. When strangers walk past each other on the sidewalk they say hello. Men hold doors for women. At a crowded Starbucks the two most common words were "please" and "excuse me."

But that Southern decorum is contrasted by Charleston’s dark side. This is where at Fort Sumter the Civil War started. Even today, it can resemble a segregated city.

This dichotomy makes it a fitting place for a Republican party to showcase candidates as they struggle to find one that is presentable to the general public on the outside, but not too sinister on the inside.

On Friday, every contender for the Republican presidential nomination made a speech near Charleston, South Carolina. They’re competing for the state that has picked the eventual Republican nominee since 1980.

On Friday morning, Newt Gingrich was holding a slim lead over Mitt Romney. He had fought hard in the debate on Thursday to overcome allegations he had asked his second wife for an open marriage. And Romney’s decision not to release his tax returns until April gave even Rick Santorum and Ron Paul the feeling they had an opportunity to win South Carolina.

At 10 am on Friday at a large, hangar at the Charleston airport, Ron Paul came out from behind a curtain to a young woman’s cheer of “You’re the greatest!” The small crowd made the space feel empty.

“Quite frankly I feel pretty good about last night,” said Paul, on his debate performance. During his speech he bashed entitlement programs, promised a trillion in cuts to the federal budget and proclaimed the current government is “murdering our civil liberties.”

As he was leaving I asked him why he wasn’t running as a Libertarian, as he did in 1988, he snarled, “I’m a Republican.”

I left the hangar and headed downtown for the Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain rally at the College of Charleston. Colbert is a native son of Charleston.

A crowd of over 1,000 people had turned out to the shady courtyard dotted with oaks covered in Spanish moss. Colbert had a marching band and a gospel choir introduce him.

“It’s good to be back home,” said Colbert, “I hope this doesn’t turn into an occupation, but if it does, you’ll all be pepper sprayed very politely. We are in Charleston.”

He welcomed “the most beautiful people in the world” and then Herman Cain, “the man we’ve all gathered here to introduce me.” Cain was in top form. He has become a character of the character he created. He quoted Pokemon, sang, and endorsed we the people for president.

Colbert said to vote for Cain, because “Cain is me.”

After the rally, Dominique Awis, a College of Charleston student, said she was helping to mobilize students to vote for Cain tomorrow. She said most of the people she knew were going to vote for Cain.

Colbert drew easily the largest crowd of the day. He brought Cain because Cain will be on the ballot, while Colbert missed the window to register as a candidate.

“He’s making a whole mockery of the system,” said Ryan “The Bull” Johnson, a Charleston resident. “No one cares about the actual process, but throw a celebrity in and people want to be a part of it.”

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This "little girl" gaffe ended up as fodder for the Rewrite of Lawrence O'Donnell's Last Word Monday night. Basically a journalist did some gumshoe reporting on Governor Nikki Haley's French vacation:

Gov. Nikki Haley's weeklong trip to Europe in June in search of "jobs, jobs, jobs" cost South Carolinians more than $127,000. But the governor and her entourage of more than two dozen returned without any finished deals to bring new employers to the Palmetto State.

Haley, who captured the governor's office preaching fiscal restraint, spent the cash so she, her husband and the rest of the state's contingent could stay in five-star hotels; sip cocktails at the Paris Ritz; dine on what an invitation touted as "delicious French cuisine" at a swanky rooftop restaurant; and rub elbows with the U.S. Ambassador to France at his official residence near the French presidential palace.

Instead of asking for a correction (which is what's done when a newspaper gets something wrong), Haley went after the reporter on Laura Ingraham's radio show:

HALEY: God bless that little girl at the "Post and Courier." Her job is to try and create conflict. My job is to create jobs. In the end, I`m going to have jobs to show for it.

Yeah, the jobs created in France. Oui!

What Lawrence didn't cover is how horribly sexist and dismissive this is. This is perhaps the most deplorable thing you can say about a professional woman who challenges you. I'm immune to being called a dude, drag queen or tranny. When I say something funny, I'm often called a lesbian - a compliment to lesbians, for sure. The c-word, the b-word, and the w-word. Calling me ugly, fat, old, stupid, bimbo, ditzy, over-Botoxed etc. etc. etc. I don't even notice anymore. I write under my real name. I have a column that runs in over 85 newspapers and all over the Internets. If I didn't want to be personally insulted by technology empowered strangers, I'd go live in a cabin and tap out my manifesto on a word processor.

But the phrase "little girl," (I've gotten, "silly little girl" twice in my professional career) its like no other. It's hard to think of anything more condescending than calling someone a feckless female child.

Yes, Republicans like to cry "feminist" when its suits them, but Haley sure loves the language of the "get back in the kitchen" crowd.

The great thing about her using the phrase is now her vacation is national news. Good going, Haley. It's a proud moment for "little girls" everywhere.

Full transcript of the clip above after the jump.

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That's Nikki Haley, Tea Party darling and new Governor of South Carolina speaking on the steps of the Statehouse in Columbia. Originally scheduled to include an appearance by The Donald, this tea party rally was anticipated to have around 2,000 participants. Unfortunately, Trump was made a chump by Obama and dropped all ego-glorifying pretension to running for president, which included backing out of this South Carolina appearance.

So there's Nikki Haley, all by her lonesome....literally:

Trump’s decision to not enter the GOP presidential race left local Tea Party leaders stewing about the way they had been treated. But about 30 people were on hand Thursday to thank Gov. Nikki Haley, lawmakers and activists for their work to require more on-the-record Legislative votes.

It was all part of a tough week for the state’s Tea Party movement.
On Wednesday, the S.C. House reversed course and approved a controversial sales tax break for online retailer Amazon. Thursday, the S.C. Senate voted down a proposal that would have rebated any better-than-expected state tax collections to income tax filers.

Columbia Tea Party chairman Allen Olson expected as many as 2,000 would have attended Thursday’s rally had Trump been there. But The Donald, a favorite of many who attended the group’s Tax Day rally with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., elected to not run and dropped the rally from his schedule.

“It was a kick in the gut, but it gives you a chance to regroup,” said Olson. “He’s a businessman. He showed his worth.”

And frankly, he showed the worth of the tea party. Thirty attendees, huh? Yeah, that's a powerful and influential group. Contrast that to the 2,500 who came out in March to protest state budget cuts to education and health care.

But who do you think the media will ask about--appeasing those 30 never-say-die tea partiers or the thousands of populists fighting for education and healthcare?

A few weeks ago in a candidates' debate for the South Carolina governor's race (to replace the disgraced Mark Sanford), Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin endorsee Nikki Haley was asked the following question:

Mark Sanford, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, all men who have cheated on their wives while in power. When faced with opportunities and temptations that come with power, how do you stay true to your family, your faith, and your values?

Haley's answer:

You know, I think the answer is you keep the Lord, you keep your family and you keep your friends very close. And you always remember that you have to stay as humble as possible, and understand that service is just that -- it is service. And you are being held to a higher standard, and so you have much more service that you have to give. And you're a role model to everybody that follows you.

Ah, nothing like the smell of schadenfreude on a Monday morning:

A political blogger and former aide to Gov. Mark Sanford claims to have had a past romantic relationship with Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. Haley, who is married and has two children, "emphatically" denied the claim Monday morning.

"Several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki," Will Folks announced Monday morning on his political blog, FITSNews. Folks said political opponents of Haley and himself were leaking evidence of the affair to the press, and claimed the story would've come out this week no matter what.

"I will not be discussing the details of that relationship, nor will I be granting any additional interviews about it to members of the media beyond what I have already been compelled to confirm," Folks continued. The blogger did not say when the alleged relationship took place or whether Haley was married at the time, and gave no proof of an affair.

Of course, Haley vehemently denies it:

I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false.

It is sad, but not surprising, that this disgraceful smear has taken form less than a week removed from the release of a poll showing our campaign with a significant lead. It is quite simply South Carolina politics at its worst.

The denial, naturally, is good enough for everyone on the right, like NRO's Jim Geraghty, who take it at face value.

And Palin herself goes even further, and offers her usual "stay strong" advice to Haley -- that is, she oughta make like Sarah and use it as an opportunity for martyrdom:

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The anti-union part begins at 21:13

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (SC) used her annual state of the state speech to launch an all-out assault on unions and working families. In defense of pro-corporate, pro-1 percent policies, she blamed all the ills of the state, seemingly, on unions. Her claims about the importance to business of attacking unions are belied by the available research, but her campaign contributors aren't interested in facts, just anti-union propaganda.

The most relevant portion of the speech:

Finally, I love that we are one of the least unionized states in the country. It is an economic development tool unlike any other.

Our companies in South Carolina understand that they are only as good as those who work for them, and they take care of their employees.

The people of South Carolina have a strong work ethic, they value loyalty, and they take tremendous pride in the quality of their work.

We don’t have unions in South Carolina because we don’t need unions in South Carolina.

However, as we saw with the assault from the NLRB, the unions don’t understand that. They will do everything they can to invade our state and drive a wedge between our workers and our employers. We can’t have that.

Unions thrive in the dark. Secrecy is their greatest ally, sunlight their most potent adversary.

We can and we will do more to protect South Carolina businesses by shining that light on every action the unions take. With the help and support of Chairman Bill Sandifer and Director Catherine Templeton we will create a competitive playing field for the companies that choose to call our state home.

We will require unions to tell the people of South Carolina how much money they are making on our backs, which politicians they are funding, and how much they are paying themselves.

We will protect the right of every private and public citizen to refuse to join a union, and, by Executive Order, I will make it clear that our state will not subsidize striking workers by paying them unemployment benefits.

And we’ll make the unions understand full well that they are not needed, not wanted, and not welcome in the State of South Carolina.

There are so many lies and twisted comments about unions in that passage it's hard to even take the speech seriously. Except that Haley is the governor of South Carolina and she has many allies in the Republican Party that not only take these things as gospel truth, but are willing to do just about anything to weaken unions.

Erin McKee, in a letter to the editor of the Post and Courier does a better job than I could of taking down Haley's comments:

Unions are needed in South Carolina. Union members are the only workers protected from at-will employment. Union members want to work with management to make their companies safe, have a contract that everyone can understand, have a grievance procedure (like due process) and protect workers.

Unions are the anti-theft device for workers. Is our state better off with low-wage jobs and no benefits? What will that do to our tax base over time, what will that do to our children, what will that do to our middle class? When labor was strong so was our middle class. What will happen to small businesses when people don't make enough money to shop? Do we really want the big business world to take over and have more companies keeping wages so low that the workers need public assistance while they make record profits?

Gov. Haley chose a union facility to have her inauguration. She works in a Statehouse painted by the Painters Union, gets her mail from the United States Postal Service, which has the Postal Workers Union, the National Letter Carriers, the Mail Handlers Union. Most of what she buys more than likely came through the Port of Charleston, where the International Longshoremen's Association handles cargo. She likely uses AT&T which has the Communications Workers of America union.

UPS workers who deliver packages to her office are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The power she consumes is provided from SCE&G whose workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Some of our very large companies like Kapstone, Mead Westvaco, Bowater, International Paper are union as are our firefighters and lots of our construction workers.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers did the solar panel job at Boeing in the heat of the summer. Many in our wonderful symphony in Charleston are members of the American Federation of Musicians.

We've got union members at our military bases and VA hospitals. Gov. Haley should be representing everyone in South Carolina including union members.

Well said.