Noticing that apparently only one commenter had actually read Katon Dawson’s piece this morning back on this post, I thought I’d make it easier by linking it here.
I’m curious about y’all’s reaction because I’ve been intrigued over the last few days by the reaction that Friday’s editorial engendered, pro and con. I didn’t think it was all that much to get excited about myself. I just posted it on the blog because I had written it, and I knew I wasn’t going to have a Sunday column to post, so it just seemed like a good substitute.
But I’ve gotten more reaction — positive and negative — to this than to anything in awhile. It’s the biggest sleeper since that little E.W. Cromartie piece (which was not written by me). And yet it’s mostly stuff I’ve said before. Sure, it was an editorial, so it was more than me saying it, but like all editorials it reflected the consensus of the board. And there’s nothing outlandish about that consensus — it’s pretty much the one that has emerged over at the State House the last few years, among Republicans as well as Democrats. In fact, it’s more vehement among Republicans.
That’s one of the things that struck me about Katon’s piece — a party leader might say those things out of a sense of duty, but not many Republican officeholders would. The piece was for me a good illustration of the absurdities of partisan thinking. I mean, what non-brainwashed person thinks Mark Sanford equals the GOP leadership in the Legislature, or Lindsey Graham equals Jim DeMint?
But it struck me as particularly ironic in this case, given how little Mark Sanford does for most Republicans. One fan wrote in to me betting that the governor’s office put Katon up to this. My response was, if I’m Katon Dawson (and mind you I’m stretching here to try to think like a party guy), I would say: "What have you ever done for this party, that I should do this for you?"
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Katon Dawson is demanding an apology because of a harsh piece criticizing a politician? This is the man who, referring to Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, said: “The three radically liberal candidates . . . are united in their intent to . . . surrender to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq.” There are plenty of other examples of his over-the-line rhetoric.
Pot, meet kettle.
Brad: I think that you are missing the real issue here. The end of an era is upon us just as Lyndon Johnson predicted in 1965 after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The young, the african-americans, the business community and women are all part of the creation of a “perfect storm”. We all know that today’s Republican party is the remnant of the Democratic party that evolved in the 1960s. This November election will, in my view, be comparable to the election of Roosevelt in 1932. This time, however, this Democratic party will not need the South to effect the changes that this country so desparately needs. The present day SC Republicans are on the wrong side of history-AGAIN. Slavery, segregation, Social Security, Medicare, war…need I go on? Denny Hastert’s seat is now a Democratic seat. That is just a preview of things to come.
I am going to save this and write you, God willing, after the November elections. Stay tuned.
As the “kettle,” I object. Nothing that we said about Sanford sinks to that level — despite Katon’s overheated characterization of our matter-of-fact assertions as “mean-spirited.”
The trouble is, people get so used to saying, and hearing, outrageous things that they don’t recognize the difference between outrageousness and on-point criticism. That’s what interests me about some of the reaction I’ve seen to our editorial. Folks act as though we said something outrageous, but we didn’t. It FELT harsh to people, but that’s just because it made a point strongly. There’s a difference.
Unfortunately, one of the things that partisan politics give us is an environment in which you hear either over-the-top spitefulness (toward the OTHER side), or polite deference (on one’s OWN side). In that environment, criticism is met by the reaction, “Golly, they must HATE him!” Many people don’t stop to think that we’re merely describing things the way they are.
We’ll continue to be on the same “side” with Sanford on government restructuring, on some budgetary issues and other things. Just today, we took his side against the House leadership on the incentives for the film industry (even as much as I love movies). But the overall thrust of his “leadership” has not been good for South Carolina. And some of the things he would like to do are plain awful — the one good thing about his remarkable lack of effectiveness.
Just crossed messages with “Beau,” who unfortunately seems to think like Katon — one party good, other party bad.
Beau, Democrats will probably (but not definitely) win the election if Obama can get nominated without going through the meat grinder. If it’s Clinton, McCain most likely wins — but just barely.
That’s assuming a lot of things don’t change — which they will. Truth is, nobody knows who wins. I know this, though — if the Democrats lose again, they are going to be REALLY ticked off this time. Republicans don’t care as much this time, which is why I give the edge to Obama if he’s the guy. He and McCain are both very fine candidates in different ways, and both are able to appeal to us independents. But Obama’s got excitement on his side. Hillary Clinton as the nominee is the only thing likely to get Republicans motivated to get out and vote — against her. Just as she would do against them — you know how she likes to “fight Republicans.” Obama represents a break from that junk.
Katon is parroting the governor’s line. His statement is simply a reptilian response…spewed without thought or measure.
No matter how lousy Mark Sanford is as Governor, he is the Governor. And contrary to what he says, people can’t wait to please the Governor.
By my count, the Governor had three editorials in the State last week. Tom Davis, Ashley Landis and Katon Dawson. All three were parroting their bosses’ line of thinking, and they curry favor by doing so.
All that aside, the hard ideological line presented by the Sanford clan is why I have left the Republican Party. They are simply unglued…and are so predictable I am embarrassed I was ever a member.
I think Dawson’s piece is a fine example of a party chairman doing his job. It’s reasonable to conclude the merits of Sanford’s governorship lie somewhere in between Dawson’s praise and your criticism.
I still think it’s much ado about nothing.
I regret that people like Dawson and Harpootlian have become so important in South Carolina politics, on EITHER side of the political football. Unfortunately, these party apparatchiks who generally have nothing substantive to offer and usually only coarsen public debate rise to positions of power and prestige in the parties and figure way too heavily in political outcomes.
Who are these yahoos and what exactly qualifies them to have the effect they do in politics? In my mind, political parties really suck. And people like Dawson and Harpootlian are one of the main reasons that they do. David
I have always been and am now a rock-ribbed conservative, but I feel less committed to the republican party now than I ever have. It is because of people like Dawson. David
Brad- I do not think- one party good-one party bad. I actually fear control by one party to the exclusion of the other. I think that national interests will control this election instead of regional interests. The Republican party as now constituted is stuck in the past-no new taxes, no judicial activist judges,Christian values as part of government policy,illegal aliens etc. The pendulum is swinging again toward “liberal” (read progressive) ideas, i.e.health care for all,a somewhat isolationist foreign and trade policy undocumented aliens, etc. . Democrats will win because most people now realize that we cannot spend our blood and treasure in Iraq, borrow the money do do so from China and continue to buy oil @$100.00 plus from the Middle East with a fat commission to the oil companies.
The middle class is fast heading toward being “tapped out”. There are, in my opinion, going to be big changes acoming and history will judge whether those changes are in the best interest of our country. I think they will. The Republicans are “whistling in the dark.” Denny Hastert’s congressional seat is a case in point. Thanks for reading.
I have always been and am now a rock-ribbed conservative, but I feel less committed to the republican party now than I ever have.
-Dave
Why? The Republican party has been true to conservative ideology for the last 20 years. The fact that conservative ideology has failed, and failed miserably, should prompt a thinking person to adopt liberal policies, which generally work. Just check out Europe. There, people are living longer and healthier lives. They don’t get involved in quagmire wars and they certainly don’t get all caught up in this never ending nanny-state that forces women to have babies, jails folks for consuming plants; nor do they persecute folks for their sexual orientation. Seems like you have the cart before the horse Dave. Reject conservatism, not just the Republican party.
Thanks for the clarification, Beau, and sorry if I unfairly pigeonholed you. I certainly don’t want anyone doing that to me.
One of the problems, though, with the way the pendulum has swung is that the answers don’t lie at either end of the swing. Or rather, they lie at both ends, in the middle, and in some space that the pendulum never touches (assuming its motion stays in the same plane, and is limited in its period).
Take energy independence. As I said in my Energy Party Manifesto, and as Robert Samuelson was kind enough to reiterate this week, the solution will take answers from across the political spectrum; preferred approaches of the "right" or "left" alone won’t do it. As Mr. Samuelson put it:
We raise fuel standards (left), open more areas to exploration and drilling (right) and raise the tax on gasoline dramatically (a solution not palatable to either the left and the right). And those are just small pieces of the solution, which will include a crash program to fund new energy technologies (the research and development funded by the new taxes), more mass transit and other measures.
You’re (as usual) full of kha-kha bud. The republican party certainly has not been true to conservative ideology for the last twenty years, and certainly not in the last eight. There is nothing conservative about the profligate spending we’ve seen led by Bush. There is nothing conservative about letting Ted (glug) Kennedy write our Education Bill, and by the way…public eds’ continuing disintegration is really YOUR fault isn’t it? After all, YOUR guy wrote the bill.
What you like to call conservative ideology is really only the MSM catch phrases and half-baked bunkum swallowed whole by liberal wingnuts who hate Bush and run around saying conservative people like me hate clean air and babies. What YOU mean when you say “conservative ideology” has nothing to do with real conservative ideology. And true conservative ideology hasn’t been tried in this country in recent years.
It wins every time it is tried, by the way. David
Mark Sanford a heartbeat away from the presidency? Frightening!
Brad- You said it better in your last response than I ever could. The programs that you espouse are sorely needed and the pendelum will swing toward the middle as you suggested.
The problem is that, from the South’s perspective, the pendelum will be swinging too far left.The South will, for the most part, continue to embrace the term “illegal aliens”, the libertarian philosaphies of Mark Sanford and those of his ilk and “intelligent design” as science. The educational system of this state will improve for all students only when the South is forced to truly fund education and impose taxes to pay for it. only then will the South catch up- but with great ressentment. Health care will improve only under universal health care and with great wailing and knashing of teeth by the special interests at the loss of doctor -patient relationships and the insurance companies. I can remember when Medicare was first established many doctors refused to accept it UNTIL their patents abandoned them in droves for doctors that would. As for religion, a reading of the Pew Report on the subject will tell you where we are headed. During this time there will be many who will continue to keepthe flag flying to honor our heritage.
I have to go now and take one of my daily pills for RCC that cost $300.00 each. I’ll’ tell you the story behind that sometime if you are interested.
Keep up the good work.