In a release today, Dick Harpootlian invited me “to watch the Republican Senate Caucus Director bash Brady.”
That would be Wesley Donehue. If you’ll recall, Wesley got himself in hot water with Nikki Haley back in 2010. Now he’s going after Joan?
He and “Pub Politics” cohort Phil Bailey just keep on getting themselves in trouble. Yes, life can get confusing when you work for them on the one hand, and play the political pundit on the other.
Or do they — get into trouble, I mean? Does Joan Brady have problems within her party, problems that make it OK for a Republican operative to say things like this? She has called attention to herself on the Haley ethics thing, and you can find Republicans at every point along the spectrum of possible opinions about that…
Dick, of course, is trying to embarrass Joan on Beth Bernstein‘s behalf. That’s going to be a general election contest to watch.
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Be honest… is there really anyone out there who cares what Wesley Donehue or Dick Harpootlian has to say? I’ve lived in several states and the obsession with the minute-by-minute happenings in state politics here is beyond comprehension when compared to other states. Believe it or not, there are state legislatures that meet every other year, here it’s nearly year-round and they still can’t get anything done but bicker and cut deals with each other for pet projects.
I read this in the recaps on the side and momentarily thought Wesley didn’t care for Mrs. Harris’s decisions in the latest Mad Men ep.
@Steven
Very, very, very few “real” people care what Wesley Donehue and Dick Harpootlian say. They live in the bubble of downtown Columbia, talking amongst themselves, and assuming they are big shots.
I would bet if you took a poll of people who live 5 miles beyond the radius of the State House, 99.9% of the people would have no idea who those two characters are.
Well, far be it for me or ANYONE to get on Mrs. Harris about anything. But now that you mention it, I don’t think any of us are pleased at what happened.
You should go read the length appreciation of that episode, headlined “Ruminations On The Buying And Selling Of Something Beautiful,” over at NPR. That’s the job I want — writing a lengthy (at 2,914 words, almost three times the length of one of my columns at The State) critique of “Mad Men” every week. I could flat get into that.
By the way — I agree with pretty much everything the writer says.
For Steven’s benefit, there are several factors you have to consider:
— This is the capital city. Live anywhere else, and state politics play a smaller role.
— South Carolina’s capital city is unlike any other in the nation. This has long been known to political scientists as “The Legislative State,” because the Legislature plays a much bigger role in the running of every bit of the state than in other states. Political power is much more centralized here. The Legislature has lost some of its ability to run things on the local level, but it still retains ridiculous amounts of influence — running local recreation and utility and parks districts and library boards, and appointing school boards. The really crazy thing about it is that it’s a patchwork system. You say, “They don’t pick MY school board,” and you’re probably right. But they pick the one in Dillon County, and I believe they still approve the schools budget in Greenville. South Carolina is a place where people in all parts of the state have a larger stake in what happens in Columbia than they would in another state.
— This is a political blog, particularly devoted to South Carolina politics. These guys don’t get a lot of play over at a sports blog.
Who cares what the rubes in the hinterlands think?
Downtown Cola! Capital City for the win! Send us your money!
Maybe if you didn’t give them as much “play”, they wouldn’t think so highly of themselves.
Why give a bully a megaphone?
Speaking of play — I thought The State did a good job this morning shining a light on the House Ethics Committee. A light that probably doesn’t make any of its members — especially not the Republicans — all that happy.
“South Carolina’s capital city is unlike any other in the nation”
And the rest of the country is likely thankful of that. Growing up in a rural state, I don’t think I could have told you who my local Rep. or Senator was. All I knew is they all had held the positions for the past 20+ years and rarely had an opponent.
I actually agree with the Salon/Slate(one of those S sites) writer who points out that Joan had few options, and since the folks at the firm (except for Peggy) felt she was a ho anyway, including Roger (per what Pete told her), and frankly, since she’d already gone down that path partway (remember the mink from Roger in the 50s flashback), why not go for the golden stiletto? She is indeed set for life, unless SCDP goes under, of course….
@Wesley
The more important question is whether YOU care what you say or is anything fair game in politics in order to win?
Wesley, thanks for commenting on a topic that was declared dead two weeks ago.
Doug / Steven – you are half right and half wrong.
No one gives two shits what I think AND I know it.
Thanks!
– Wesley
Well, Steven, so did you….
No Kate, I responded to his comment made today.
@Steven
Give Wesley some slack… he was probably just freed up from his duties running the Michelle Bachmann campaign in South Carolina.
If you have a check that will clear, you are a viable candidate for some political “strategist”.