June 13, 2010

Chalk another one up for the good ole boys of the South Carolina GOP. Every time I read something about this group it feels like a slow, deep slide back to 1865.

The Lexington County Republicans censured State Senator Jake Knotts Friday night for his nasty racist remarks about "ragheads." Here's the quote:

"We've got a raghead in Washington, we don't need a raghead in the Statehouse,"

His apology was even worse than the original quote. He justified his idiotic racism by claiming to be in a casual setting and conversation. I see. If one is relaxed and just chatting, being a racist is ok? Well, it's ok if you're the GOP in South Carolina. Bless their hearts.

A censure is fine and well if it actually means something. But in the case of Lexington County, it means next to nothing. Remember, these were the same yahoos that censured Senator Lindsey Graham because he said climate change is real. That censure led him to his twisty gyrations last week while arguing against the Murkowski amendment to reverse the EPA finding on greenhouse gasses while not actually coming out and saying climate change is real.

So a censure means very little, and Knotts' response affirms it.

"No, I'm not going to resign from office and they can say what they want to," said Knotts. "I made a mistake. I immediately recognized it and apologized."

And of course, Knotts had his defenders:

During the meeting, people spoke up for and against Knotts.

"I actually thought the apology was just as bad, the attempt at the apology was just as bad as the original remark," said Joshua Gross.

"I do not feel like we should be divisive and sew more discord by doing something so ugly as to censure him," said Tommy Blonk.

But don't despair, because there are worse threats to the Lexington Party GOP than racists. There are...(cue scary music, please) LIBERTARIANS.

Knotts says libertarians have infiltrated the party and are the same group of people who called out US Sen. Lindsey Graham for working with Democrats on an energy bill, but didn't vote to censure Gov. Mark Sanford for his affair.

Poor Knotts. He just can't bring himself to say "teabaggers", can he? In South Carolina, that just might be a hangin' offense.

Good ole lyin' Joe the Hon Wilson (I swear, that's how his campaign disclosure reads) won't quite withdraw his endorsement, choosing instead to walk that thin line between losing donors and losing his soul, assuming he had one:

Congressman Wilson released a statement Thursday evening saying he "strongly supported" the actions by the county party.

"Senator Knotts did not reflect the values of our citizens in his language or in the tone of his remarks and certainly did not reflect mine," said Wilson.

That stops just a bit short of an endorsement withdrawal. I'm sure Lyin' Joe knows it'll all blow over soon enough and be a thing of the past.

If it doesn't, they've always got the voting machine strategy to fall back on.

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