Thursday’s editorial suggests that Arizona’s
controversial new immigration law, while understandable, is not yet appropriate
for South Carolina.
Though less-noble factors may be at
play, the ever-harsher wave of new state and local laws governing illegal
immigration is due in part to the public’s ongoing frustration with the federal
government’s failure to solve the problem.
Both the Myrtle Beach Republican Women's Club luncheon and the Carolina Patriots forum on Tuesday were visited by the same five candidates for Congress: Mt. Pleasant town councilman Ken Glasson, attorney Larry Kobrovsky, businessman Mark Lutz, Myrtle Beach accountant Clark Parker and Charleston County Councilman Paul Thurmond.
The luncheon allowed the candidates extended, free-form introductions of themselves followed by a handful of questions, while the forum offered more targeted questions and answers. You'll find clips of both events below, with some limited thoughts I had while watching.
State Rep. Nikki Haley undoubtedly faces the most uphill battle of any of the Republican candidates seeking the nomination for governor, given that her much smaller constituent base as a starting point (her Statehouse district, versus two statewide officeholders and a Congressman) and her decided fundraising disadvantage.
Even so, Haley's campaign has been tenacious, buoyed in part by the national interest in her candidacy. One early poll showed her a solid contender for the runoff, and although the campaign finance reports released this week showed her with less than half the money in the bank of any of Henry McMaster, Andre Bauer or Gresham Barrett, the pundits all said the half-million or so she has is enough to remain a viable candidate.
Unlike in some areas in the state, no candidate for governor can really make a legitimate claim to Horry County as home turf (though they all try), which makes it pretty much open territory. They've all passed through, but Haley's just spent four days in a row campaigning here this weekend - the first concerted push like that from a candidate we've seen so far.
Thursday's editorial criticizes the Republican gubernatorial candidates for missing an opportunity to show some leadership on South Carolina's flag issue.
With all that good-neighbor agreement
on stage, viewers of Tuesday's gubernatorial debate saw very little
with which to differentiate between the five Republican candidates.
All
five want to bring the state lower taxes and more jobs. They all want
to give tax credits for students who attend private schools, and
they're all plumb full of classic South Carolinian disdain for the
federal government, with one even giving a nod to the pre-Civil War
doctrine of "nullification" of distasteful federal laws.
Of
course, playing to the farthest-right-wing voters who cast ballots in
Republican primaries, all five said the debate over the Confederate
flag on the Statehouse grounds is a done deal - a compromise on the
flag has already been struck, they said, so there's no need to reopen
the debate. And on this one issue, all five were just wrong.
Ripped from the wires ... Froma Harrop explains why the Supreme Court should butt out of the gay-marriage drama in the states:
By FROMA HARROP
This has been a month of forward leaps in the campaign for gay-marriage -- or so it is said. The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, providing a toehold in the heartland. And the Vermont Legislature legalized gay marriage, marking the first time that elected lawmakers, rather than state judges, initiated such change.
Ripped from the wires ... Walters Williams urges more states to get involved in the 10th Amendment rebellion against congressional overreach.
BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS
Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it's the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George's actions look mild in comparison.
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