Vincent Sheheen has unveiled his first TV ad, above.
Now maybe he’ll get up off a little more of that money and buy a blog ad, and get some real results…
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Vincent gets up off some of that money he’s been sitting on
bradwarthen.com
All The News That Gives You Fits
Gotta love the fact that they show him with lots of black people,[hint hint]. It is nice that he cares to include 40% of our population in his ads. Would be nicer if more candidates did….
From what I’m hearing, one of Vincent’s many problems in the general is going to be social issues. Time to put him in the hot seat…
Like what, for instance? If it’s a good question, I’ll be glad to throw it at him…
Oh c’mon Brad–you name an outrageously reactionary position on social issues, and I bet Vincent is opposed to it, which makes his positions politically challenging to many.
Abortion is going to be an issue, I predict. Does Sheheen consider himself a “pro-life Democrat” or is he pro-choice? Specifically, what are his stands on:
-Required ultrasound viewing
-24-hour waiting period
-Abortion funding in state employees health plan
-The “Personhood” Bill
He did not record votes on either the abortion funding in state plan or the personhood bill, both which came up recently. From what I hear, he slipped out of the chamber on that personhood vote about the time it was called up. I just wonder if he would have voted with people like Glenn Reese and Darrell Jackson to recognize that life begins at conception.
Could we maybe not pick fights on issues not likely to come before the governor?
Another way to put that… say Vincent isn’t one of those rare pro-life Catholic Democrats I like so much (Bob Casey, for one). Let’s say he dodges being pinned down on the issue (every time culture warriors try to pin him down on it), on the grounds that it’s not relevant to the job and he’s trying to get nominated as a Democrat in a state where there aren’t so many Democrats that it’s easy to carve out special niches among them.
Or let’s say, God forbid, he’s a “pro-choice Catholic.”
Bottom line: If he’s up against David Beasley — the first person who pops into mind when I think, “reliably opposed to abortion” — I vote for Vincent. Because he’s running for governor, one. Because I’m not a single-issue voter, for another.
Even when a guy is running for the ONE office where the issue matters most — president, the guy who appoints Supremes — I’m not voting single-issue. How could I? My God, POTUS is commander in chief! And besides, I don’t think we should be appointing Supremes on the basis of their position on abortion anyway. I hate everything about what Roe v. Wade has done to this country, and one of the many hateful things is the way it’s distorted presidential politics AWAY from the issues that should be of highest importance in choosing a president.
“I hate everything about what Roe v. Wade has done to this country”
The Freakonomics guys say that the access to safe abortion reduced the number of unwanted children, which accounts for the dramatic drop in violent crime in the 1990s.
I take it you don’t think mine are good questions?
Wanting to know a candidate’s position on a particular issue doesn’t make you a single-issue voter on that one issue.
A candidate’s position on abortion is hardly a question from out in left field. It’s pretty routine. Nick Theodore openly stated in a debate that he was pro-choice. Tommy Moore openly stated in a debate that he was pro-life (with the standard exceptions). I’m just curious as to where Sheheen falls on the spectrum as it relates to this issue.
I also gave four examples of very current issues in South Carolina politics that all deal with abortion that the next governor may very well be faced with signing-off on.
Yeah, Kathryn, and doesn’t that just chill your blood? It certainly does mine.
And Matt, I didn’t meant to dismiss your concern. You just got me to thinking, Where DOES Vincent stand on this, and what does that mean to me in terms of whether I think he’s suited to hold the office he’s running for… and went from there off on my own soliloquy.
As for those four “very current issues.” Well, I have to say I’m a bit cynical. I tend to see those as big fights that are provoked NOT because they will have an appreciable effect on how many abortions happen in SC, but so that the sponsors can advertise to voters how sincerely dedicated to the cause they are, and it has the added benefit of putting OTHER politicians in a tight spot. And of course a Republican can sneer that it shouldn’t BE a tight spot, but then they’ve never had to run as a Democrat.
And if you’d like, I could give you a list of objectionable things that THEY kowtow to because they’re trying to run as Republicans.
All of which points to why I despise both parties and hate to see good people running in either of them, but the truth is that good people DO run in BOTH of them, and if you’re going to acknowledge that they ARE good people, you’re going to have to make allowances for the fact that, being Democrats and Republicans, they are by definition going to fall far short of ideal on a number of issues.
Unfortunately, good, smart people don’t run as independents, because they can’t get elected that way. The last one I can think of here in South Carolina was Bubba Cromer, and he was very much an anomaly.
If I were independently wealthy I’d run on the UnParty ticket, but that is one humongous IF.
I wish for a world where every pregnancy was a wanted pregnancy, but the best birth control devices still result in 1 per 100 per year.