Posts with the tag 'South Carolina'
Black Americans. Republicans. South Carolina - and a sign that we GOPers will no longer just write off the votes of oru fellow Americans who are black…we have the better program, and it is high time we helped them off the liberal plantation
Glenn McCall won a milestone intraparty election here during today’s state GOP convention to become South Carolina’s first black Republican National Committee member.
“It’s time for the Republican Party to get out of the foxhole. We need to go on the offense,” McCall said. “We need to come out and build bridges to new people. As a party, demographically, we’re hurting if we don’t.”
McCall, a retired Air Force officer who works for Bank of America in Charlotte and lives in Rock Hill, defeated interim RNC member Drew McKissick, a Columbia public affairs consultant with ties to the party’s Christian conservative wing. McCall is the York County GOP chairman, the state party’s only black county chairman.
Katon Dawson, the state Republican Party chairman, said McCall’s election was a “historic” one for South Carolina Republicans who have enjoyed only modest success in wooing blacks from the Democratic Party which usually gets 95 percent of their votes.
“There has been no leader in our party during my time as chairman who has been more passionate or authentic than Glenn McCall in living out the conservative ideals we hold dear,” Dawson said. “I couldn’t be prouder of his historic election as Republican National Committeeman from South Carolina. I look forward to serving with him.”
When the voting, alphabetically by counties, reached York County, McKissick made a motion that McCall be elected by acclamation and the voice vote followed.
Greenville Chairman Samuel Harms, who seconded McCall’s nomination, said, “It wasn’t even close” when York’s turn came.
In contrast to past outreach efforts that largely flopped, this year, five black Republicans are running in legislative primaries and two others are unopposed for legislative nominations, but face Democratic opposition in the general election.
Democrats have tagged us for years for an alleged “southern strategy” which claims we GOPers were just appealing to racist white Southerners…the reality, of course, is that white Southerners just don’t like pinkos, such as most Democratic leaders are. But we GOPers have failed miserably in our attempts to bring black voters back into the GOP (for 100 years, to be black meant to be Republican, after all), now we are starting to change that. Don’t expect it to happen over night - the left has very effective propaganda on this and they have successfully painted us as a party of racists…but as more and more black Americans rise to prominent positions in the GOP (and as black voters more and more understand they are taken for granted by the Democrats), we’ll have our opportunity to pitch the GOP message..and do a real “southern strategy”, where we take all the votes, black and white.
Tags: Glenn McCall, South Carolina
June 2nd, 2008
Just tuning in now. Already a lot of “buzz” out there for Obama…
Fox calls it for Obama; Hillary and Edwards are battling it out for second.
Obama seems to have won everything - Democrats, independents, youth, black vote…and it seems a crushing victory for Obama.
Hillary has already left South Carolina…didn’t even wait ’round to concede.
Edwards might end up happy with a second place win (still to be determined), but he only got 1% of the black vote in his home State…
Bad news for Obama tonight - white Democrats voted overwhelmingly for Edwards and Clinton, hardly any for Obama. Can you say “racial divide”, boys and girls? And, also, it would serve Democrats right if race wrecked their party in 2008.
Fox News reports that Edwards might have benefited from GOPers crossing over to mess up….errr…I mean “vote in” the Democratic primary. Good job, my fellow GOPers….
And what a black man gets for helping out a Clinton:
Said Bill Clinton today in Columbia, SC: “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in ‘84 and ‘88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here.”
This was in response to a question about Obama saying it “took two people to beat him.” Jackson had not been mentioned.
Boy, I can’t understand why anyone would think the Clintons are running a race-baiting campaign to paint Obama as “the black candidate.”
And that is the same Jesse Jackson who, as Kathy Lopez at NRO points out, helped Bill Clinton out of his blue dress mess ten years ago…ah, the Clintons are as loyal as they are honest.
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Nomination, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, South Carolina
January 26th, 2008
Per Real Clear Politics Average - Obama 37.8, Clinton 26.6, Edwards 19.6.
Anyone want to make any predictions for how today’s vote will go?
If you go into the background numbers at RCP, the one curious thing is that Edwards seems to be rising - could it be possible that Edwards will come in second?
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Nomination, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, South Carolina
January 26th, 2008
Inevitable for sure… but still shocking, considering all the hype leading up to his entering the race.
Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who attracted more attention as a potential presidential candidate than as a real one, quit the race for the White House on Tuesday after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.
“Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort,” the former Tennessee senator said in a brief statement.
Thompson’s fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.
In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals. He was one of a handful of members of Congress who supported Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 in his unsuccessful race against George W. Bush for the party nomination.
Reaction later.
UPDATE: So, what’s my reaction? I’m not sure what to think. I never understood the Fred Fever that boiled in the months leading up to his officially throwing his hat in. But he dominated in our online straw poll, and most bloggers I knew were all for him. I said some months ago that Fred Thompson’s best day happened before he got in the race, and that appears to be the case. While his message may have resonated, his performance otherwise was lacking. The big question now is whom will his supporters turn to now? There’s no simple answer. Thompson came into the race as an alternative to the original slate of candidates… I’m not sure if Thompson’s support was really about Thompson himself or if it was about a desperate desire to find anoint someone as the next Reagan.
Who will this help? Some are saying it will help Huckabee, but I’m not so sure. If it does, than that should be a concern for Rudy Giuliani, who is banking his entire candidacy on Florida and is in 3rd place with 19%, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, with Huckabee at 13%.
The fact is, it is a different race now than it was last fall. Thompson supporters may be more open to the original top tier candidates than they were. I guess we’ll find out soon who is really helped by Thompson’s departure.
Tags: Florida, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina
January 22nd, 2008
“The American Republic will endure until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.” -Alexis De Tocqueville
Politicians, especially since FDR, have long known that they can bribe the people with their own money. But since FDR, a healthy majority of the American people couldn’t be bought. They loved freedom, less government, and a secure nation more than the baubles and breadcumbs that may have flowed from Washington, D.C.
The nation, on the whole, was a conservative nation.
Nothing illustrated this more than the wholesale acceptance of Ronald Wilson Reagan in the 1980s, and of his legacy as borne in the Contract with America that launched the Republican Congressional revolution of 1994.
And nothing spelled out the repudiation of the conservative principles on which this nation was founded than the third place finish of Fred Thompson in South Carolina.
On point after point, from immigration, to national security, to taxes and to life itself, Fred Thompson mirrored the conservative ideals that, when put to practice, have been proven to be so effective in governing our nation since the penning of the Federalist Papers.
If there was anywhere in this nation where it couldn’t have been more clear, it would have been in South Carolina; traditionally a bastion of clear thinking, small government conservatives.
Yet John McCain, in every sense an opportunistic political populist with a liberal voting record as long as the Mississippi, ran the table.
Newt Gingrich caught a lot of flack when he proclaimed that Reaganesque conservatism was in its death throes, and that politicians needed to embrace a more “centrist” approach.
He was right in the sense that South Carolina is current living proof that Reaganesque conservatism is, if anything, on life support.
Maybe Rush Limbaugh was right last week when he said that it took a Jimmy Carter to give us Ronaldus Magnus.
Perhaps 2012 will be the year of Fred… if the liberals haven’t run us into the ground by then.
Tags: , 2008 Election, Conservatism, Fred Thompson, John McCain, South Carolina, taxes
January 20th, 2008
Who do you think will come out on top? Why? Freely discuss all issues relating to these two events, and the larger Presidential contest.
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: Mark has called to give me an update… he says the Republican caucus he’s at is packed.
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis, 1 PM ET:
Mark has called with more information. He’s telling me that the Romney campaign was out in full force, and he has the numbers from his precinct:
Precinct 2457:
Romney 17
Mccain 9
Thompson 7
Huckabee 2
Paul 2
Hunter 1
And Mark’s father was selected as a delegate for the county convention in March, and Mark is an alternate.
The Associated Press has projected Mitt Romney as the winner.
UPDATE: Romney claims victory in Nevada.
UPDATE: Clintons preparing for a Nevada loss? Politico quotes Bill:
Today when my daughter and I were wandering through the hotel, and all these culinary workers were mobbing us telling us they didn’t care what the union told them to do, they were gonna caucus for Hillary.
There was a representative of the organization following along behind us going up to everybody who said that, saying ‘if you’re not gonna vote for our guy were gonna give you a schedule tomorrow so you can’t be there.’ So, is this the new politics? I haven’t seen anything like that in America in 35 years. So I will say it again – they think they’re better than you.
But Drudge says with a bit less than 5% in, its Hillary 50%, Obama 42%.
UPDATE: CNN and Fox call Nevada for Hillary
UPDATE: McCain wins South Carolina. And, still, the GOP race is pretty open. But, then again, so is the Democratic race - while Hillary won the most votes in Nevada, Obama won the most delegates (someone will have to explain that to me…). Curious thing about Nevada? Turnout. 44,315 GOPers showed up to vote, but only 10,529 Democrats - the State is about equally divided between Democrats and Republicans as far as voter registration. There should have been more Democratic voters - I’d like to know what kept them from the polls on a beautiful Saturday.
UPDATE: Kossacks upset over the Hillary win.
Tags: Nevada Caucuses, South Carolina
January 19th, 2008
As Patrick Ruffini points out over at Town Hall - Romney, of course, won in Michigan; the “must win” State for him…but it was how he won over McCain which really shows the mountain McCain has to climb:
Romney won conservatives 41-23%, with 20% for Huckabee.
Romney won Republicans 41-27%.
Romney won Evangelicals 34-29% for Huckabee. McCain took just 23%.
Romney won with those satisfied with President Bush 45-24%. Yes, Republicans are split 50-50 on this, but it’s easier to message around support for the party’s leader rather than opposition to him. McCain always has to tread gingerly on this to avoid angering what institutional support he has.
This is an exact replay of McCain’s weakness in 2000 - he does well with everyone but core Republicans and as the primary process is a party nominating process, it stands to reason that party stalwarts will tend to rule the roost. McCain isn’t out of the running - not by a long shot - but in order for him to close the deal and be able to compete in the upcoming primaries (which tend to be more GOP-base in orientation), McCain is going to have to offer stalwart Republicans assurances that a President McCain won’t go have a love-fest with the Democrats at the expense of core GOP ideals.
Meanwhile, Romney showed he could win a primary - he had to run as if he were running for governor of Michigan, but a win is a win…the problem for Romney is to translate this Michigan victory into a national victory; a task hard enough on its own, made harder by the fact that Michigan’s GOP isn’t exaclty South Carolina’s GOP.
It could be that after the South Carolina primary we’re faced with this oddity: Huckabee won Iowa, McCain won New Hampshire, Romney won Michigan…and we could see Giuliani winning Nevada, and then Thompson winning South Carolina. Five contests, five different winners, each with a plausible path to the nomination in front of him…and I’ll get to pat myself on the back about how prescient I was about a brokered GOP convention…
Tags: Fred Thompson, John McCain, Michigan Primary, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Nevada Caucuses, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina
January 16th, 2008
You can either fling mud, or just allude to the mud and hope that it just keeps stuck in everyone’s mind:
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who is campaigning today in South Carolina with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, just made a suggestion that raised the specter of Barack Obama’s past drug use. He also compared Mr. Obama to Sidney Poitier, the black actor, in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
At a rally here for Mrs. Clinton at Columbia College, Mr. Johnson was defending recent comments that Mrs. Clinton made regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She did not mean to take any credit away from him, Mr. Johnson said, when she said that it took President Johnson to sign the civil rights legislation he fought for.
Dr. King had led a “moral crusade,” Mr. Johnson said, but such crusades have to be “written into law.”
“That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that takes political leadership,” he said. “That’s all Hillary was saying.”
He then added: “And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood – and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book – when they have been involved.”
Clever, huh? Keeps the drug use in the public mind, while Hillary can straight-faced say she’s not getting into that anymore…
UPDATE: Getting dirty in Nevada, too? Over at Battle Born Politics, we detail efforts of Clintonistas to suppress Obama’s likely voter turnout.
Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, negative campaigning, South Carolina
January 13th, 2008
