Last week, I posted a fun bit of video from Vincent Sheheen’s Rotary appearance. Here’s one from the Q&A party of Nikki Haley’s speaking engagement before the same group this week. At least, it was fun for me.
Note that while Rotarian Julian Walker’s question doesn’t actually say “UnParty,” there’s no question that he is referring to it in spirit. Also, he says that I “once said in an editorial that he doesn’t particularly care for political parties.” Well, I’ve said it a whole lot more than once. But I’m glad the message got across.
Enjoy Julian’s question, and be edified by Nikki’s answer. She does a good job of segueing to one of her favorite bits, talking about what a transparency heroine she is (until, of course, she is asked to be transparent).
There’s an interesting bit at the end of her answer in which she boasts about how she faced down legislative leaders and bullied them into doing what she wanted.
It sounds great when she says it, especially if you are one who believes (as her most loyal supporters do), that everybody in the Legislature except Nikki is a Neanderthal crook who has to be coerced into doing the right thing. That is, of course, an essential element in her narrative.
But think about this — and this is not relevant to whether you should vote for Nikki (in fact, it could definitely be used as a selling point in her favor); I just think it’s an interesting sociological sidenote: How would that sound coming from a bull-necked, gruff-sounding man telling the same story in a thick country accent? It would sound like the tale of a bullying blowhard.
But from Nikki, it sounds like Joan of Arc. Women can sound wonderful saying things that make you want to hurl hearing them from a man. This ability to be personally appealing saying things that would sound bad coming from others is what has gotten her this far. This is the magic that won the primary for her. Which is why now is a great time to set what a great tale she tells of herself as a heroine, and how all the wonderful things she says compare alongside what we know about her record as a lawmaker and as a businesswoman, in terms of what she’s actually achieved.
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“How would that sound coming from a bull-necked, gruff-sounding man telling the same story in a thick country accent? It would sound like the tale of a bullying blowhard.”
That is about like it will sound when Alvin Greene is rewarded with his government job after the election when lawyer, party-chair Carol Fowler still denies being part of the grand hoax on SC voters of having Greene run for U.S. Senate. Shame, shame!
I can see, Brad, why you and I don’t “particularly care for political parties”. What I cannot see is how, that being the case, you still seem to flack so consistently for one.
It’s the media’s fault Nikki got this far.
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/the-case-against-nikki-haley/Content?oid=2394509&storyPage=4
As for why Haley won the primary and why SCGOP leaders like Floyd and Dawson still publicly support their party’s gubernatorial nominee, Woodard points the finger at the media. They simply haven’t done their job. “The Washington Post brought down the Nixon administration through Woodward and Bernstein because they were investigative reporters. We don’t have press like that now because the whole structure of the newspaper business has changed,” he says. “Now newspapers are half or a third the staff they were 10, 15 years ago. They don’t have the resources to do that. They can’t go out and do this.”
He adds that in the past things were much different. “We had Lee Bandy [of The State] here. We had Dan Hoover [of The Greenville News.] These guys were experienced statewide reporters who had been in Washington and also in the state, and they were good. They performed a guardian function,” he says. “They would not have let Nikki Haley not answer questions. They would have been pressing her for answers, and their newspapers would have been backing them.”
Today, things are much different, and for Woodard, sadly so. He says, “I think that she or any other politician can get away with a lot more than they used to be able to.”
Carol Fowler “still” denies it because she tells the truth.
I mean, Mr. Caruso, when did you stop beating your wife?
Brad is no flak for the Democratic Party–he just thinks Nikki Haley is a notably bad choice of candidate!
I agree with what Kathryn said, but I must point out that she misspelled “flack,” and Juan got it right. As I’ve said before…
Na, ja, aber für die Deutsche, du bist ein Flak, night wahr?
Mein Post solltet “bist du” lesen. Entshuldigen Sie mir, bitte!
Did you mean to say, “nicht wahr”?
And I think the answer would be, “Ich bin Flak, und ich bin ein Flack.” Just not for the Democrats.
Or something like that…
http://www.casttv.com/?q_ue2Uw=30+Rock&x=35&y=17
Stephen Fry is delicious!