This may sound odd, but I have to force myself to get into the habit of reading the editorial page of The State each morning.
See, I never did it when I was the editor, since I had read it closely the day before. So it’s just not part of my morning newspaper-reading ritual. I go front page (only reading the stories that jump out as important in terms of being an informed citizen, which is often just one or two items on the page), the jumps from that page, metro front and the jumps of the stories I read there, the business front and (during the legislative session), page B3. And, if I’m not also reading the Wall Street Journal or some other paper, I’ll look at A4 for a national-international overview.
I’ll “read the paper” in accord with my habits, and never even glance at the opinion pages. Which is not good. I don’t mean to avoid it; it simply does not occur to me that I hadn’t read it unless something comes up to make me consciously realize it. And that’s awful, because I know how hard Warren and Cindi (and Randle and Claudia, but you don’t know them as well) are working in my absence.
For instance, I “read the paper” this morning, but did not see Cindi’s nice piece about what a principled guy Henry McMaster is. Finally, after it was brought to my attention a couple of times today, I went and read it. Sorry I missed it earlier. You should go read it now, if you’ve been similarly remiss.
Henry’s one of those gubernatorial candidates I had not written a profile of before I left the paper, since he had not declared. Still hasn’t. But when he does, I’ll write more about him on the blog. In the meantime, Cindi’s piece is a nice conversation-starter.
Henry’s been the sort of attorney general who makes you say you’re sorry — for not endorsing him when he ran. He has been SO much better than his predecessor (and so much more reasoned and professional than you might have expected the ex-party chairman — who used to trade silly partisan shots with Dick Harpootlian when they were opposite numbers — to be), that he is one of my two favorite people about whom I like to say “we were wrong” for not endorsing. The other is Lindsey Graham.
Henry and Lindsey, along with Bobby Harrell, were the South Carolinians who stuck with John McCain in the darkest hours of his campaign for the GOP nomination. That has something to do with why I respect them as I do. It’s not that I respect them for backing the right guy per se; it’s just that the qualities that caused them to choose McCain among the Republicans and stick with him are related to the traits that cause me to respect them as public servants.
But I digress. Of course, digressing is a large part of what a blog’s for, isn’t it?
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“Henry and Lindsey, along with Bobby Harrell, were the South Carolinians who stuck with John McCain in the darkest hours of his campaign for the GOP nomination. That has something to do with why I respect them as I do.”
That explains a lot in terms of the free pass you give Harrell when it comes to the budget and your obsession with Mark Sanford. Also explains why you just couldn’t bring yourself to ding Harrell for his dustup with Nikki Haley over transparency. (How DID that whole open government thing work out anyway? Were there still secret votes? Yeah, maybe next year)
Process over results. Loyalty over performance. Good old boys over new ideas. A consistent theme…
Sticking with John McCain was a mistake. He was too nice to take it to Obama, to rub his communist background and shady dealings in his face.
The GOP continues to nominate people as a reward for longevity in the party, for their name, their appeal to the want-to-be-liked wing. Sometimes they win, but usually they lose to the dirty, gutter slime like Clinton, Gore and Obama. They think politics is a sport, where you get to to play again. They don’t realize that their opponents end game is to never have another fair election, to destroy capitalism, destroy the Republic and our republican government, by bastardizing it with democracy.
Yeah, I think that Mr. McMaster is acting in a much more principled way right now, but I remember his days as head of the Republlican party, and I didn’t consider his behavior at that time nearly as nice. It makes me nervous when I think about the possibility of his becoming govenor.
And let’s not forget Mr. McMasters’ grandstanding on the Craigslist issue where his actions were exposed as a purely political escapade. Pick up a copy of Free Times and tell me what’s different between Craigslist ads and the personal ads in the Free Times. Same m.o. as the Michael Phelps “drug bust” – free publicity from the media.
I’d just as soon vote for Jake Knotts for governor as McMaster. I’ll vote a straight Democratic ticket before that happens.
Don’t forget Henry personally leading the prosecution of the guy that kidnaped the young girls and kept them in the underground bunker. Thinking he was going to have a great victory in this guy’s conviction, he was sorely disappointed. He really showed his keen legal (excuse me, his political) skills.
When Henry was running against Sen Hollings, I remember Henry demanding that Fritz take a drug test which was one of the Republican shibboleths of the time. Fritz’s response was rather astute as he said he’d take a drug test after Henry takes an IQ test. It seems that Fritz had a great insight then and it might apply now.
Cindi expressed her, and my, reservations well–that Henry has been a hack before he became Attorney General. He has certainly grandstanded on some stupid prosecutions as AG, as noted above. I also ding him for the gratuitous “Defense of Marriage” crap–as if somehow gay marriage were even on the horizon in South Carolina–I strongly support it–a gay man marrying another gay man is no danger to my marriage– some “ho” is. Nonetheless, as an attorney, I have to say Henry has done the right thing. Ditto Senator Graham. I dearly wanted Alex Sanders to win–if nothing else, he’s hilarious, but Senator Graham has shown courage and statesmanship.
Henry did already declare at the SCGOP convention. See his speech on youtube.
What do folks think about Rex’s supposed announcement? If that is true are he and Shaheen the only two announced Democrats.
Jim Rex has not demostrated that he can run schools within a budget, so how does he think he is qualified to run the state?
Sheheen has no record of managing anything, and he is on board with all the waste of Leatherman and Land.
Should I let Kathryn say “ho” on the blog?
And Doug, Nikki got her way on the openness thing, for which I seem to recall congratulating her. I also got on Bobby for his heavyhandedness.
And the things y’all cite about Henry’s time as party chair are exactly the reason why he was our fourth choice for AG (we endorsed someone else in the primary, then another someone else in the runoff, then the Dem in the general). Our low expectations led to a pleasant surprise, since he’s been SO much better than his predecessor.
I actually thought this was a good post, but I must ask if the fact that Harrell, Henry and Lindsey stuck with McCain is because they all share the same political consultant.
> Should I let Kathryn say “ho” on the blog?
Pretend it’s Christmas.
As for Nikki getting her way on transparency, will you get confirmation from her that she feels she did and that Mr. Harrell agrees she got her way?
That oughta prompt a “ho,ho,ho” from both of them.
Oh, Nikki was really proud of the way it worked out. As she summarized it, “We did it!”
http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2009/01/nikki-haley-applauds-house-action-on-rollcall-voting.html