First, for you youngsters who’ve only been alive for five minutes or so, here’s a definition of “limited hangout.” Or perhaps we should refer to what Nikki has done as a “modified limited hangout,” the extra-special version invented by Richard Nixon and his droogs.
In any case, this passage from The State‘s story today pretty much tells you all you need to know about what Nikki means by the word “transparency” when it is applied to her. To be helpful, I’ve boldfaced the most important parts, in this passage and subsequent ones:
Sheheen released his legislative e-mails, copies of his hard drives and campaign receipts two weeks ago in response to identical open records requests The State sent to both campaigns. Haley released her e-mails, but said she would not release any other documents or allow reporters to review her state-issued computer hard drives. A hard drive keeps a permanent record of e-mails.
Then there’s this little elaboration, which I suppose Nikki put out for the benefit of the technological Neanderthals among the electorate:
“I think 10,000 sheets of paper is a lot,” Haley said, referring to the volume of e-mails in defending the decision not to match Sheheen’s disclosure. “I’m comfortable with how transparent we have been. I’m not going to get into this tit for tat about whether that’s enough sheets of paper.”
Ahem. Nikki, if you’d just go ahead and release the hard drives — you know, the public hard drives that belong to us, the taxpayers whom you allegedly love so much — nobody’s asking for so much as ONE “sheet of paper.” This is the 21st century. Give us the frickin’ hard drives, and we’ll have all that we need. Your good faith will have been demonstrated. Those “sheets of paper” you’re touting are the emblem of your refusal to just go ahead and be transparent, the physical manifestations of your selectivity. And you say there are 10,000 of them. Ten thousand documents attesting to your refusal to simply open up access to a public resource.
Then there’s this:
The Haley campaign emphasized she is exempt from state open records laws as a lawmaker, and all compliance is voluntary.
Wow. Yeah, Nikki, lawmakers ARE exempt, because they write the laws, and refuse to abide by the openness they have statutorily imposed on the rest of government, from the governor to the guy who sweeps up in the offices of our bureaucracy. This is an exemption they carved out for themselves, and themselves alone. This is the very cult of stonewalling that someone we know constantly berates her fellow legislators about. That someone’s initials, in the spirit of limited hangout, are N.H. And I’m not talking New Hampshire.
And you want to hide behind THAT? Really?
Amazing.
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My fairly apolitical husband even saw the stupidity in the 10,000 sheets of paper–if she doesn’t release the hard drive, it’s not very helpful–if the two sheets she decided to delete from the snowstorm are the ones with “interesting” stuff.
Does she think we are stupid or is she stupid?
I think she’s using Doug’s playbook: Most SC voters don’t care enough about this to turn on the Republican candidate (unless a sufficiently smoking gun can be found–and Haley is doing her best to bury whatever there may be and delay delay delay).
Why the obfuscation?
You forget, Brad, there’s transparency, and then there’s transparency.
I spell the second ‘hypocrisy’.
It truly is an outrage. If she really believes that legislative business should be fully open, what’s the difference between votes and emails? The people who make the laws are the only ones exempt from total accountability.
So, @nikkihaley released thousands of emails from April 1, 2010.
She’s obfuscating her campaign for transparency. Setting a limit of 4/1/2010 is just wrong!
Okay, readers of the SC Politics Gossip Rag, http://www.fitsnews.com/, authored by former Sanford staffer, Will Folks, now says there’s a third that went “between the sheets” with Nikki.
@nikkihaley may have the same “Bill Clinton” problem that SC Guv’not, Mark Sanford, has; problems with their zippers.
@nikkihaley is using the playbook from former AK Governot Sarah “Quit When the Going Gets Rough” Palin by also using her personal email address to conduct state business.
On the radio they said she invited the media in to her office for 3 hours or so to look at these 10,000 pieces of paper, but they weren’t allowed to make copies or photograph them. Clearly she’s not real interested in letting people have a good honest studied look at what’s there. She could put them online and save some trees and maybe gain a shred of credibility, even though it’s only a fraction of the info requested. It really looks like she is trying hide something to me.
Brad, did they invite you to look at the emails? Seems like since you got kicked out of the business meeting on account of being essentially media, you ought to at least get invited to the media party. I’m betting you didn’t, though.
Sic Willie’s latest response per his blog post:
As for the emails, Folks has said that most of the “romantic correspondence” between himself and Haley – as well as most of their professional interaction – came from her Yahoo account, not her state account.
“Only a few of the emails in my possession came from Rep. Haley’s state account, as she typically chose to correspond with me using her Yahoo account,” Folks said last week.
http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/08/21/missing-emails-revive-haley-scandal/
It was interesting to note this in his post – ““Only a few of the emails in my possession..came from Rep Haley’s state account” So he has copies! Come on Sic – Let us see ’em!
The one reasonable conclusion is that Haley and her campaign personnel knew that there would be a very negative reaction to this highly edited release, and still thought the reaction would be better than the potential reaction to the alternative, an honest release of records, comparable to Sheheen’s. It sure does make one wonder what is going to crawl out from under the carpet next.
I also thought the “sheets of paper” statement was silly. It doesn’t even apply. No one needs to see any paper copies at all.
Even Bill Clinton would blush at Ms. Haley’s spin.
The people of this state deserve better.
But do enough citizens pay attention to…hold on a sec…Tony Stewart just wrecked.
I’m still stuck in the numbers. 10,000 sheets of paper…roughly 140 days of emails.
She needs a spamblocker.
She’s ridiculous.
Kathryn Fenner –
Are you and your husband suggesting Vincent Sheheen has released his computer’s hard drive/
If we really wish to go forensically ballistic, which ones of Sheheen’s 3 or 4 computer hard drives might he have released, KB?
Please, let’s try to keep this race factual although the odds of same in S.C. are historically dismal.
Look–Cindi Scoppe eviscerated her on the whole tax return thing today–she’s filed *and paid* late–very late, for the past five years–and now she’s trying to make it look like a virtue…
and Doug’s right, I fear: none of her followers care one whit. The front page story about how the folks in Lexington just luuuuurve her was enough to put me off my breakfast.
Juan, according to the story, as quoted above, “Sheheen released his legislative e-mails, copies of his hard drives and campaign receipts two weeks ago in response to identical open records requests The State sent to both campaigns. Haley released her e-mails, but said she would not release any other documents or allow reporters to review her state-issued computer hard drives.”
So yes, Sheheen has released the hard drives that correspond to the ones Nikki refuses to make available.
And, as the Democratic Party put it in a press release, this is how Nikki “released” those e-mails: “Relenting, Haley announced yesterday that she would attempt to let her actions match her rhetoric. Her conditions: the press would not have the e-mails released to them, but would instead be allowed to view the more than 4,000 messages in a closed-door meeting and take notes. Copies and photographs would be forbidden.”
Which, lemme tell you from experience, is highly unusual. This is not the sort of behavior you see in a person who has even the slightest commitment to “transparency.” This is someone who is resisting and dragging her feet on transparency every inch of the way.
The voters don’t care about this. It’s echo chamber stuff that doesn’t mean a single thing to the future of the state.
The issue of government transparency is about voting on the record and making all financial transactions available on the internet.
Haley’s tax returns and emails are just a fishing expedition that allows Sheheen to not have to make any definitive statements that would define how HE would govern.
Doug–True, the voters don’t care-or at least plenty don’t. Of course, this crazy limited hangout reeks of hiding something her voters *would* care about.
I think there’s a lot that means something to the future of our state, though. She cannot or will not file her taxes on time and makes this out to be a virtue. She preaches openness while being seriously covert. This does not speak of trustworthiness, for one thing. If I’m a business looking to locate here, and she makes an eco-devo call–will I trust her? If she doesn’t have her, um, act together enough to file her taxes on time or pay them on time, despite being an accountant and despite bragging about how she’s going to run this state like her parents’ luxury clothing store, well….
Doug,
I think these issues say a lot about personal integrity which is something I care about.
I am a voter.
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way.
Well said, Doug Ross.
Kathryn Fenner-
” She cannot or will not file her taxes on time and makes this out to be a virtue.”
Tax law expects the occasional need for late filing and provides its terms. Both Haley and I (who do not yet command Sheheen’s $300K++ compensation and learned comprehension of lawyer-writ tax code have needed to do same legally.
How is it you finf yourself opposing the tax code?
@scout
You may not be alone but you are in the minority. The general voting public is apathetic, uninformed, and of average intelligence.
That’s why we have the government we have and that’s why I want to see the smallest version of what those types of people think is “best”.
@Kathryn
Do you think Boeing gave Sanford’s personal issues a single moment’s consideration when deciding to do business here? It doesn’t matter.
What matters: tax breaks and the ability to find qualified workers.
Doug – A lot of “voters” didn’t care about who Bill Clinton lied about sleeping with either. But it was a major issue of my fellow Conservatives and Republicans for 2-3 years (and still is for many).
I don’t think the emails themselves are a big issue.
What I do think could be a huge issue is – the emails and copies of deleted emails that Ms. Haley seems quite interested in keeping from the public.
I’d be satisfied if she just acted like she had some integrity on the issue of transparency.
Doug, this voter cares about this. It’s really important when you have a politician campaigning on transparency then absolutely refuses to be transparent. Why do you have such a hard time admitting this? She’s a fraud. But then again, she’s a Republican. Republican fraud. Now that’s a redudency.
When I say I am not in the same fiancial category as Haley, it is a gigantic understatement.
However, on more than one occasion, due to incomplete information regarding deductions and additional earned income, our accountant has filed for extensions and as a result, we did not pay our taxes on time and paid any fines associated with the delay, etc.
It is NOT against the law to not pay your taxes on time if you file for an extension. In fact, the majority of companies file for an extension, annually. Even our accountant admitted to filing for an extension every year. They have been too busy preparing returns for their clients.
Question. Has Nikki Haley been charged with tax evasion for failure to pay her taxes? When she failed to pay her taxes on time, did she file for an extension?
This has nothing to do with whether I support her or not. It has to do with another political strawman, created to attack an opponent. And, bloody political red meat for some.
Have said it before, I am not thrilled by the prospect of either Haley or Sheehan occupying the governor’s mansion for four years. It has been devoid of the presence of an actual governor for too long. After Riley and Campbell, the list of incompetents is astounding.
Speaking of frauds. Who was this Tea Party dude who was featured in today’s editorial page? That was the most laughably irrelevant piece of nonsense.
He suggests that the tea party movement is about electing people who will pursue “fiscal responsibility, limited government and complying with the constitution”. Is there any politician oppossed to any of that? Really, the tea party is ridiculous.
But wait there actually is a group of people who openly oppose these things, it’s called the TEA PARTY. Yup, that’s the folks who oppose a community center because it’s affiliated with a religion they don’t like. That clearly goes against the spirit of the first ammendment. Then they want to repeal the 14th ammendment. And of course what’s fiscally responsible about wanting to give the rich a tax break without wanting to pay for it. Doesn’t sound fiscally responsible to me.
As for big government, this is the group most likely to oppose sensible reductions in our bloated military budget.
The whole tea party movement, including Nikki Haley, are nothing but a hypocritical bunch of frauds. It’s a shame they have such a persuasive way of fooling so many gullible voters.
Juan and Bart, y’all should go check out my post about Cindi Scoppe’s column on Nikki’s tax problem. She didn’t think much of that as an issue, either, until she dug in and found out more about it.
And Doug… If I’m following your argument, you say Nikki’s hypocrisy won’t matter because “The general voting public is apathetic, uninformed, and of average intelligence.”
So that means that caring, well-informed voters of above-average intelligence — such as yourself — DO care that she doesn’t believe in transparency when it applies to herself, and that she, who wants to run government the way she did her family business, seems incapable of even the simplest kind of personal fiscal responsibility. Right?
@Brad
Wrong.
Because the issue of transparency is about voting on the record and opening the government checkbook to everyone. On that issue, she has my full support.
On the matter of emails and taxes, I don’t care what she did, who she did it with, when she did it. That’s the Sheheen campaign’s version of “transparency” – a lame attempt to try and grasp at any straws that might help them overcome the fact that Sheheen can’t run on his own platform.
As an informed, engaged voter I’ve been waiting all summer for Sheheen to offer ANYTHING that would give me a reason to vote for him. So far, I’ve seen nothing. A call for teacher pay to be raised but no way to pay for it. A Rodney King-esque “Can’t We All Get Along?” message isn’t going to win any votes.
I want them to debate.. frequently and in-depth. Let’s hear what they both think about real issues that matter to South Carolinians who don’t write op-ed columns.
Doug Ross says:
“Because the issue of transparency is about voting on the record and opening the government checkbook to everyone. On that issue, she has my full support.
On the matter of emails and taxes, I don’t care what she did, who she did it with, when she did it.?
– of course the obvious problem with that is – if that is going to be your pet issue – as it is with Rep Haley- you are going to have to be consistent in matters of your public office. You can’t go around saying that a state legislator’s business is the public’s business while at the very same time refusing to be 100% open about emails and documents from taxpayer owned computer equipment.
Doug, I seem to recall you were honestly disappointed and digusted when the truth about the real Mark Sanford was revealed last year. Am I remembering incorrectly?
Here, we have Haley revealing her dishonesty, duplicity and personal financial incompetence for everyone to see and you’ve come down on the side of the right ideology meaning more than any flaws, character and otherwise, that might influence how she governs.
When Mark’s scandal was unfolding, I wondered if it would wake up your average SC voter to the fact they need to really believe what their eyes were telling them about these people or just continue to vote for the sound bites that push all the right buttons. Apparently, some people haven’t learned. I hope a majority chooses not to remain — stupid — the only word I can come up with.
Bart, You might want to deduct your tax penalties from your preparers fees. I think I’d find another accountant!
I’ve had a CPA tell me that by filing extensions it lessens you chances of an audti.
Sorry I hit the wrong key on my small notebook computer.
@martin
There’s a HUGE gap between what Sanford did and Haley did. Nobody was harmed by Haley’s actions. You’re calling her dishonest and incompetent. I don’t. SHE PAID HER TAXES, PENALTIES, AND INTEREST!
Do you hold every politician to the same standard? Should every politician regardless of party resign today if they have paid their taxes late? How about the city council member who got her mother a loan from the stimulus funds? She’s still sitting there. How about Mayor Bob and the absolute train wreck the finance department was under his command? Should he have resigned?
There is also a difference between Sanford’s personal failings (for which he should have resigned immediately for his family’s sake) and his political philosophy. They aren’t connected (except for Sanford haters who constantly look for a connection).
This state elected Strom Thurmond for decades with the knowledge of his personal, um, quirks. The country elected Clinton twice with his moral character well known. And JFK and Teddy Kennedy’s escapades probably would have even made Clinton blush. Didn’t stop them either.
People don’t care about that other stuff. They want good jobs, good schools, and good roads.
In answer to Doug’s “Do you hold every politician to the same standard?”
You bet.
I hold every single politician who’s main stated qualification for office is her wonderful accounting skills, who styles herself a great businesswoman, who says she wants to hold government accountable, who says she wants to run it like a business, the way she’s run her business, and who has for five years running failed to file or pay (or both) her taxes on time… to EXACTLY the same standard.
And by the way, I didn’t call her “dishonest and incompetent.” Not exactly. For the record, on another post, I strongly implied that she was “hypocritical, irresponsible and/or incompetent.”
So if they aren’t accountants, they can be incompetent?
Seriously? You find Haley’s tax issues to be more egregious than Mayor Bob’s accounting department’s performance?
@ Doug
“You find Haley’s tax issues to be more egregious than Mayor Bob’s accounting department’s performance?”
Huh? Where did the city’s (not Mayor Bob–he was just one of the seven dwarfs) financial mess come from?
I would hope that an accountant could handle something as simple as her personal finances better than Haley has. The city’s financial situation is a heck of a lot more complex….and I wouldn’t vote for the former finance director for and executive office, either. The mayor of the city of Columbia is not an executive office.
Didn’t you know? Mayor Bob’s running for governor, so this is apples-to-apples.
Don’t tell anybody, though, because he’s trying to keep it quiet. You can’t fool Doug, though…
I doubt that Haley’s accounting background makes her much more adept at filing tax returns than anyone else, especially other business owners.
Yikes, David–if an accountant is no better at filing a tax return than an layperson, what’s an accountant for?
Keeping track of expenses so she has enough cash on hand to actually pay the taxes?
Okay, Brad, I’ll give you that. Mayor Bob’s incompetence when it came to running the finances of the city were probably why he couldn’t run for governor. He was just a lawyer. Can’t expect them to be competent.
@Doug – there are two absolutes in play here. Brad does not like Mark Sanford. Brad does not like Nikki Haley. That is a given.
I read Cyndi Scoppe’s editorial. On some points, she is right on. I would question the competence of an accountant who made a conscious choice to pay penalties and interest by going past the 6 month deadline granted by an extension. But, does it meet the standard of criminal actions and deeds by Haley and her husband as some have accused them of? I don’t think so. If that were the case, our Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner would be subject to prosecution, wouldn’t he?
But, I guess I lost the point when Cyndi took the editorial to another level with this comment….”Now, in my book, anytime you have to pay the government a penalty, you’ve done something wrong,…” A subjective, declarative statement reflecting the writer’s personal opinion that indicts anyone who ends up paying a penalty to the government.
BTW j – It was not my accountant’s fault for my late payment penalties. It was mine. Filed some critical records in the wrong place and couldn’t find them in time. So, I guess in the view of one or two on this blog, I am a criminal and should be prosecuted. So, what is my punishment? Off with my head? Damn glad Cyndi is not my judge.
I hold her to a higher standard that the average joe.
Why?
She’s running for Governor.
She’s running on the issue of transparency (while not being very transparent)
She’s an accountant. She should be a step above when it comes to doing things on time when it comes to taxes -especially when her income wasn’t particulary impressive at times over the last decade.
No, Bart, those are neither absolutes, nor givens. The long process in which I went from Sanford supporter to critic is well documented.
Let’s talk about Nikki. I enthusiastically endorsed her, twice. I had some slight qualms because she showed a lack of deep understanding of issues, but I thought depth would come in time. Well, she’s not giving it time. In fact, she has suddenly turned into a demagogue who embraces lack of understanding as a virtue. She has suddenly started wrapping herself in a hypocritical self-righteousness that frankly I find shocking in this very likable woman.
Bart, when I say something critical about someone on this blog. I mean what I say. The reasons I give are my reasons. I have no hidden motives for criticizing ANYONE. In fact, now that I’m not a newspaper editor, being critical of anyone is often contrary to my economic interests.
This is not an eighth grade slam book. It’s not about whom I “like.” What I say is what I mean.
Bart, I presume you had more than a $40K salary and a somewhat more complex tax situation than NH. Not five years in a row as NH did as that’s unbelievable for someone with her training and purported experience, not to mention, being in public office.
@ Doug Ross
Mayor Bob did not “run” the city. He was one of seven who hired a city manager and set policy. He presided over council meetings.
He is an excellent lawyer, FWIW. We do not learn finance except in a very macro sense in law school. I hope accountants learn a whole lot more than I did.
@bart
Agreed. Haley’s late tax payments are a concern but not a big deal. And they certainly are not criminal in any way, shape, or form.
I would also fall into the “criminal” category because I paid a penalty several years ago when I paid the less than the full balance of my property taxes due to a poorly designed tax bill that I got during a period when I applied for reassessment. The bill said “Your taxes are: X” so I paid X. But on the other side of the bill it said “This is an estimate. Your taxes may be 15% higher”. Since my mortgage company handled the tax payment, they paid X and never notified me when they got a final bill. I paid the difference, paid the penalty, and chalked it up to another example of how “effective” government can be. I know this makes me a criminal in some people’s eyes, but I’ll have to live with that shame.
Anyway, she’s not running for Treasurer or Comptroller. She’s running for Governor – which is about philosophy more than accounting. She’ll never be asked to balance the state’s books – in fact, she’ll only be able to do very limited things to control the spending of the Legislature. The veto pen isn’t very powerful in this state.
The whole email issue is silly. It’s a fishing expedition by the Sheheen backers hoping to find something else they can use to slam Haley. It’s a whole lot easier to attack the other candidate than defined yourself.
Kathryn, Haley’s background is in accounting and I know she likes to play that up. But she has no certification and I would bet she does not keep up with changes in the tax code or prepare her personal and family’s business returns.
As far as “keeping track of expenses so she has enough cash on hand to actually pay the taxes”, I don’t care what accounting skills one has; that is every citizen’s responsibility.
@ David–sure it is every citizens responsibility, and I manage to do it every single year. I do not trumpet my financial management skills nor propose simplistic solutions to complex issues (“lower taxes and cutting red tape to encourage small business,” is one)
@ Doug If the email issue is so silly, why doesn’t she clear it right up? Is it, perchance, that there’s something there her backers would not like? Otherwise, why be so strangely non-transparent?
@Kathryn
How many of the seven city council members have stood up and accepted responsibility for the accounting mess? Maybe I missed that.
Perhaps if they don’t know how to run a city they shouldn’t be doing it.
Kathryn, I’m with you. I’m not taking Haley’s word for it on her financial management skills. And don’t get me started on generalities like cutting red tape and lowering taxes.
And don’t forget privatization. Wouldn’t want to leave that buzzword out…
Whoa! Hold on there Brad! I made an observation, one I believe to be accurate. I apologize if you took it personally or as an affront to your impartiality. If one had to make an informed decision based on what you write about Sanford and Haley, no matter that you once liked and endorsed them, now, I would have to come to the conclusion, you simply do not like these people anymore.
You have the right to like or dislike anyone you meet. Short, tall, skinny, fat, blonde, brunette, conservative, liberal, male, female, black, white, gay, straight, Muslim, Christian, or whatever, liking or disliking knows no boundaries or barriers. And, yes, it does matter whether you “like” someone or not. It is a proven fact that likeability is a key factor in attitude, acceptance, and every other aspect in the perception of another person.
Clinton is a perfect example. No matter what he did or still does, he is still well liked by a majority of Americans and the media is still hesitant to be critical of the man. Just ask Kathryn and bud. Clinton could do no wrong. Politicians depend on likeability. Obama had a very high likeable rating that served him well in the 2008 election. When you like someone, it is difficult to be critical, even if they deserve criticism. Once that aspect goes away, it becomes much easier to be critical, sometimes very harsh criticism. That is what I have been reading on your blog about Sanford and Haley since I came over a couple of years ago.
Doug, you have a good point and I would suggest that it’s also a reason to have the Mayor-Council rather than the Manager-Council form of govt in Columbia. Then you have one person responsible who is elected and accountable not multiple assistant city managers.
Doug– Do you live in the City limits or pay taxes or otherwise contribute to the wellbeing of the City of Columbia–sit on boards, maybe?
I believe several of the city council members accepted the appropriate level of responsibility, and the city manager has been replaced. I’m satisfied. I do not believe in “the buck stops here” if in fact it should have stopped earlier down the chain.
These are part-time people who work close to full time and get paid peanuts. Give them and me a break!
Well, Bart–Clinton did plenty of wrong, but he governed a darn sight better than his successor. Clinton, aside from being a sexual harasser, sold out a lot of his constituents–he tried to please/appease the right-wingers far too often–particularly on social issues. He embarrassed us all.
He did run the country extremely well, despite that.
Bart, it’s not about impartiality, per se. It’s about emotion versus thought.
The REASON I criticize someone is contained within the criticism. The criticism is the reason. And the key word is “reason” here. As opposed to (shudder) feelings.
I suppose there are people in politics that I dislike, whom I react against on a gut level, but not many. I could compile a list, but that would be cheesy and immature. And I’m not even sure I could do it, because I’m just not a “feelings” kind of guy, and therefore am not in touch with them. And how do you define like? Do I dislike John Edwards because I perceive him as a big phony, or do I perceive him as a big phony because I instinctively dislike him? In any case, neither Nikki nor the governor would be on that list.
I’ve always “liked” Nikki, to the extent that I know what that means. She’s an engaging young woman. Do I “like” her less because of what she’s doing this year? I don’t know. I just know what she’s doing and saying should disqualify her from being governor; that I’m sure about.
As for Sanford — even though I was once a strong supporter, I don’t think I ever either liked or disliked him. He’s a little hard to engage on a personal level. He’s not what I’d call socially gifted; I’ve always been surprised he has actual friends like Tom Davis. He’s just an odd duck.
But that doesn’t matter. Once I thought he’d be good for SC, and supported him on that basis. Then, as I got the chance to observe him more closely over time, I realized how awful he was for SC. I have shared those realizations with you. And you call it “not liking” the guy. But that’s not what it is.
For Chrissakes, Spock–you say that you are not a “feelings” kind of guy, and that you’re not sure what “like” means–as if it were a virtue. Your poor wife….
To paraphrase:
“I like you but I think you’re awful for the state of South Carolina. You’re incompetent and dishonest but don’t take it so PERSONAL!”
All that’s missing is “Bless your heart!”
You are not being logical.
Captain, Kathryn is not being logical…
Actually, Spock, feelings are not just some atavistic vestige. They provide us with a great deal of valuable information–at least for us humans.
Read “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell?
Doug, that’s right. It’s strictly business.
Frankly, thinking about this since I read Bart’s comments, on second thought I’m not sure I COULD compile a list of politicians I “like” and “dislike,” even for my own curiosity. I just don’t know.
It’s much easier, for me, to compile a list of movies, or rock bands, or actors and actresses I like or dislike (Like: Christina Hendricks. Dislike: Tim Robbins, whom I tend to think of, perhaps unfairly, as being just like the character he played in “High Fidelity“).
But when I try to apply “like” or “dislike” to politicians, to anyone in public life, it just fails to compute…
Beam me up Scotty!
I must report to the Captain. We have a neophyte and a legacy candidate running for governor of SC. I fear there are no signs of intelligent life left and any hope of enlightenment is as far away as the Mutara Nebula where we defeated Khan and his minions.
Unlike you, the Captain, and his first mate Kathryn, our blog leader has no emotions and emulates Spock at every opportunity. Unless you p*** him off by telling him he has emotions.
To paraphrase K in “Men in Black:”
“We at the blog do not have emotions that we are aware of.”
Tim Robbins–doesn’t get a pass on account of Bull Durham?
Liking or disliking Haley doesn’t play a part in it for me either.
I won’t vote for her based on concrete reasons (lowering the corp tax being great for recruiting business in South Carolina is so off base it’s just not worth even considering is one main reason).
As I have said before, there is no reason for South Carolina to have to live with a 3rd term of Mark Sanford.
Don’t worry about it, we’re “T.axed E.nough A.lready”, isn’t that the point ? You libs and RINOS should be thinking about Preserving America, Freedom, protecting our Constitutional Republic from the tyranny of Obama’s marxist “Fundamental Change”, the move to a George Soros style globalist One World Order…there’s no Sovereignty or personal freedom in the National Socialistic pipedream folks…just vote Constitutional Conservative to throw out the garbage (socialists and RINO’s) if our conservative choices dont fit , we’ll throw them out too !