First we had the Knotts endorsement — which was about, as much as anything, whether we would stand by while the governor and the outside groups that support him would be able to take out a guy at the top of their hit list.
Then, we had the governor’s response to the endorsement — which, in case you missed it, made our point for us. Here you have the governor of our state stopping everything on the day before the end of the legislative session to write an attack on a single lawmaker. Extraordinary piece, really.
Now, I see that S.C. Supreme Court Justice Don Beatty saying some way harsh things about the groups that are the governor’s main cheering section:
Beatty: Third-party groups are ‘new face of the Klan’
State Supreme Court Justice Don Beatty said Wednesday that third-party groups using him as the "poster boy" to attack candidates across South Carolina are the "new face of the Klan."
Beatty accused organizations such as the S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action of distorting his record as a legislator in the 1990s to scare voters away from candidates they oppose. He said they’ve never cited any of the decisions he’s handed down in more than 12 years on the bench that would support their claims that he’s a liberal judge.
"It makes me wonder what their real reason is for attacking me," Beatty said. "It’s because I’m an easy target, and they can use code words and my black face to appeal to voters that they might be able to enrage against legislators that supported me…These people give conservatives a bad name. I’ve heard them referred to on more than one occasion as the new face of the (Ku Klux) Klan. I’m almost about to believe that."
The piece goes on in that vein. I thought y’all might be interested.
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Ladies and Gentlemen… I present the mentality of the SC Judicial System. To lead them we have a drunk who can’t hear and can’t drive.
Are you surprise? Surely, not.
When all else fails, play the race card and if that fails, dig up the Klan. The last act of despirate people is to point a finger at anything but the mirror. In doing this they have shown that they are not only defeated, but completely out of reasonable discourse. Next we expect to hear about the full moon’s effect on the State House.
Well, if we can’t get any sunlight into the legislative process, we’ll have to settle for moonlight.
In a state where the Confederate flag still flies, no one is willing to consider for a second that there might be some truth to Beatty’s claims? Have any of you who wrote in ever read any of Beatty’s decisions?
I agree with Beatty.
The actions of the rich out of state fat cats funding this stuff are low rent.
They also don’t understand that the more of this “stuff” that they throw on the wall, the madder his supporters get. Shealy will get slammed…and the loser libertarian types behind this will never understand why.
I see how you got to be editor – because that is some creative editing on your part. It sure is convenient for you to repeat this sensational KKK claim and then say that the article “goes on in that vain.”
But if you read the article, it doesn’t go on in that vain. It goes on to make Beatty seem pretty stupid for having made his remarks. It goes on to quote people from the accused groups saying that Beatty’s comments were appalling, offensive, and shameful.
One of the groups mentions an African-American they have endorsed for office and a wish to get restructuring because it will create more diversity in government. Anybody got a guess as to how many African-Americans the real Klan has endorsed for office?
The article also goes on to say this was prompted by one of the group’s calling him a “liberal” in a mailer. Of course, there seems to be no picture of him, no mention of his race, and according the article not even a mention of his name.
Given that he is a former Democrat legislator, I would think he probably is a liberal. Oops, I said it…now am suddenly going to be tagged as a racist too?
Your post is one of the dumbest, most slanted things I’ve read in a long time. I would say the dumbest and most slanted had I not read your recent editorial endorsing Jake Knotts. You know the one where you called him a liar, a bully, and a crook right before you said that Lexington County shouldn’t be represented by the candidate you said was articulate and knowledgeable.
I have talked with several people today that think you may have completely lost your mind. I don’t think you have completely lost it…but you sure seem to be teetering on the edge.
Seriously, you obviously have a stressful job and may want to consider a career change to something less taxing for a few years.
Less taxing?
Warthen wouldn’t like that.
The S.C. Supreme Court is a joke. They are beyond liberal, they are just plain pathetic. Beatty’s own words condem him.