No decision in Harrell/Wilson case

QOfGr.AuSt.74

Three things to note from hearing this morning in Speaker Bobby Harrell’s effort to keep Attorney General Alan Wilson from prosecuting him:

  1. John Monk is making good use of Twitter today in covering this. For a blow-by-blow account, check his feed — including photos.
  2. As pictured above, the state’s last three AGs are standing behind Wilson in defense of his obvious constitutional authority in this matter. I hope The State doesn’t mind my showing this to you, seeing as how I’m urging you to go read their coverage and all. (And if they do, I’ll take it down immediately.)
  3. The judge put off a decision for a week. What Judge Manning is finding so tough about this bewilders me. Harrell hasn’t a leg to stand on.

36 thoughts on “No decision in Harrell/Wilson case”

  1. Barry

    Brad,

    If Manning somehow goes against Wilson, will this then go to the state Supreme Court?

    I imagine he’s going to take his time to make it look like he’s “fair and balanced.” Not sure why. Judges rule from the bench all the time.

      1. Silence

        Pretty sure it goes to Martha and The Vandellas, then to Gladys Knight and the Pips, and then to Tony Orlando and Dawn prior to getting to the Supremes.

      2. Ralph Hightower

        Bobby Harrell will write a law outlawing the courts from deciding his case.

    2. Bryan Caskey

      You’ve answered your own question, Barry-Jive. Manning knows that his decision will likely be appealed either way. Hence, issuing a written order that can be thought out, well-reasoned, supported by the law, and then delivered is a prudent way to go.

    1. Juan Caruso

      A pitiful comment from a sitting judge that should never have been uttered.

      Manning’s duty is to render his court’s just opinion for the people of S.C., and certainly not to hint at subordination to higher judicial authority or his personal need for private directions from above.

      What Judge Manning is finding so tough about this bewilders me, also, Brad. Thank you for circulating the insider antics.

      1. Kathryn Fenner

        He didn’t do that. He simply acknowledged the fact that the losing side will surely appeal.

        1. Juan Caruso

          Monk’s twitter comment was garbage, then. I am done with Twitter garbage. Thanks for pointing out the misleading utterance.

          Now I understand the primary reason for Twitter’s unfounded popularity: it is stadium banter online. What a pathetic waste of time!

  3. Doug Ross

    When I saw that photo, my first thought was that this must be the members of the Brad Warthen youth movement in politics.

  4. bud

    The Manning deliberation bewilders me also. Seems pretty cut and dried.

    Speaking of bewildering. The Benghazi non-issue is far more bewildering. There is ample evidence that the attack on the compound WAS instigated, at least in part, by the damn video. It’s at least plausible to suggest as much. Both the Times and the Senate investigation said so. But I guess conservatives, including the ever-more ridiculous Lindsey Graham, have very little else to talk about on the day that 288k jobs were added.

    1. Doug Ross

      How many people left the workforce? 800k? More than all the jobs created in the past three months.

          1. Doug Ross

            You are part of the great conservative media conspiracy cabal. That’s why I went with a liberal source.

            1. Bryan Caskey

              Ha! I really wish I could get some of the conservative conspiracy funding. Someone should tell the people in charge of the conspiracy that I haven’t been getting my checks.

          1. Doug Ross

            That doesn’t match up with the statistics then. From the news article I posted above:

            “College graduates had a positive month: Their unemployment rate slipped a tenth of a percentage point to 3.3 percent. Their rate declined because 81,000 more of them found jobs in April.”

            3.3% unemployment is considered full employment normally. The people you know may have other factors that are impacting them (age, industry, location, lack of marketable skills).

            But it also points to why college education isn’t what it used to be. It’s the skills you have now versus what you did in the past.

  5. bud

    My head nearly exploded trying to figure out how conservatives and libertarians were going to spin the jobs report to make it look like it is somehow not what it clearly is – unambiguously very good new. Here are the facts: (1) 288,000 jobs were added in April, practically all in the private sector. Isn’t that what conservatives have always said they wanted, private sector job growth? (2) the unemployment rate fell a whopping 0.4% to 6.3, lowest since September 2008. (3) February and March job numbers were revised upward. That means the last 3 months average job growth is in excess of the previous 3 months. (4) the number of long-term unemployed is down. (5) job growth cut across all sectors of the economy. (6) All demographic groups, except Asians (who were already at a low rate), improved.

    So what’s not to like. Thanks to good ole Buzzkill Doug we learn that many of the long-term unemployed have simply left the job market thus explaining the drop among those people. Also, college grads are doing better than high school dropouts. Who knew? So I guess there’s always a rainy lining in every silver cloud but seriously this jobs report is terrific news for an economy that has struggled to recover from the Bush recession against the tide of GOP obstructionism. Throw in stable gasoline prices that contribute to low inflation, and an aging population that is retiring in huge numbers (thereby freeing jobs for younger workers) the numbers should improve even more in the coming months. But you’ll never know reading anything distributed by the conservative spin machine. It’s just not in their interest.

    1. Doug Ross

      If I have to explain the difference between a numerator and a denominator to you, it’s not worth my time.

      1. Bart

        Doug,

        Go find a stop sign, explain the economic situation in the US and the “recovery”, you will get a lot further with it than trying to explain to bud. Bud is the epitome of the three monkeys when it comes to Obama, Democrats, and liberals. “Hear no Evil”, “See no Evil”, “Speak no Evil”.

        According to bud, everything is literally a rose garden but without the thorns. You would simply be wasting your time.

        1. bud

          When 288k mostly private sector jobs are added to the economy that is good news, period. When the workforce shrinks by 800k that may or may not be bad news but it’s clear that baby boomers are leaving the work force in droves and has contributed to a shrinking labor force. To reflexively search high and low for an excuse to declare what is demonstratively, clearly, unequivically good news as something other than what it is is simply partisan hackery. So if you have anything constructive to write I’ll respond. But to make snarkey comments about my character diminishes anything you write.

          1. Doug Ross

            bud,

            The analysis of the impact of people leaving the workforce is non-partisan. The numbers speak for themselves. When three people stop looking for work for every one who gets a job, it’s nothing to cheer about. Do you think those leaving the workforce are paying taxes, living without government assistance? These aren’t rich people deciding to go on sabbaticals. They are unskilled people who can be easily replaced by technology or a 16 year old.

            We have a skills gap, not an income gap. Skills pay the bills.

            1. Bart

              Maybe you could explain to everyone how a country that has lost so much of its industrial based economy and replaced it with mostly a service oriented economy as Bill Clinton once stated the US should embrace can develop enough skilled jobs to satisfy a very large pool of unemployed who have simply dropped off the roles of people seeking employment.

              Maybe it would be a good idea for you to actually study the historical aspect of the house of cards that finally crashed in 2007 and 2008. The long, slow descent into financial chaos started decades ago and was not a sudden failure caused by the Bush administration. The contributing factors to the current state of the economy do not belong just to wealthy Republicans and politicians, wealthy Democrats and politicians had as much involvement as their counterparts.

              Well, at least the stop sign listened. 🙂

          2. Bart

            bud, I did not attack your character, I only stated the obvious about your political leanings and your fixation on anything Democrat or liberal being nothing but a good thing. Please bud, tell me how any of my “snarky” comments were an attack on your “character”.

  6. Bryan Caskey

    Going back to Brad’s comment about young people in politics, I’m starting to think he’s got a little bit of a point. For instance, earlier in the week, we had interview of Tommy Vietor telling Bret Baier “Dude, that was like 2 years ago” in response to a question on Benghazi. First of all, Veitor looks like he’s twelve years old.

    The sort of good news is that he’s not actually 12 – he’s actually 32. The really good news is that he’s no longer in charge of formulating the public face of US Policy. The bad news is that he used to be. Seriously. He was National Security Council spokesman – one of the people in charge of formulating the public face of US policy for the world. A moderately important job.

    Doug and Silence: I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably thinking, Yeah, he may be kind of young, but he’s probably an expert, right? He’s probably got a PhD from Yale, time as a fellow at a prestigious foreign policy think tank, that sort of thing? Some real world experience, maybe? Maybe he’s a West Point graduate who studied foreign policy?

    Nope. In 2008, he drove the press around in a van during Obama’s campaign. Apparently, he parlayed his awesome skills of red means stop, green means go to a job with the National Security Council.

    1. Doug Ross

      Baier wasn’t elected – he was appointed. Big difference. Could he win an election? That’s a function of personality, intelligence, and an ability to connect with people. He appears to lack at least two of those traits.
      Brad was moaning about 40 year olds being too young. This guy won’t be anything but a wonk til he retires.

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