TweetI was a bit surprised that this was played at the bottom of The State‘s front page today. Back in my front-page-editor days, I would have found a way to get it above the fold along with the Metts plea deal — to the right of it, in the traditional lede position. We spend two […]
TweetI was inspired by this piece by Chris Cillizza of The Fix, who was in turn inspired by this John Harris piece in Politico., headlined “The Dark Art of Political B.S.” For much of my career writing political opinion, I have been told by various people that I shouldn’t keep banging my head against walls […]
TweetI went to this morning’s “Legislative Lowdown” breakfast sponsored by the Columbia Regional Business Report. I waited and let Chuck Crumbo go ahead and write about it, since he gets paid to, and here’s his report. Use that as a baseline. The panel was the same as this one in 2010, only with Rep. Beth Bernstein in […]
Tweet Not a lot of news today, which is why I haven’t posted. Well, that, and I’ve had a lot of work to do. Here are some possible topics: Obama and insurers now allies on health law — Because he needs them, and they’re making money from it. Kassig’s conversion to Islam didn’t protect him […]
TweetBack on my post last night expressing horror at the number of South Carolinians (49 percent!) who voted straight-party on Tuesday, Lynn T. posted this thoughtful comment, to which I responded, and I thought the exchange was worth its own post. Lynn’s comment: The parties have successfully sold the idea that they stand for a […]
Tweet The state Democratic Party has been sending out a steady stream of bad SC jobs news as a way of undercutting Nikki Haley’s big strength — the narrative that, whatever else you think of her, she’s done a good job of recruiting jobs for the state. I’ve been inclined to ignore these, because, let’s […]
TweetOn a previous post, Doug Ross and Lynn T. both said that Renee Dudley, formerly of The Post and Courier, deserved a lot of credit for bringing Harrell down. I had to confess that I wasn’t that familiar with her work (the last one of their reporters I knew at all was Yvonne Wenger) and […]
TweetWe were treated to “steak-and-steak” in The State today. That’s what former Associate Editor Nina Brook called an editorial page that had a lede editorial on one subject, and a column on the same (or related subject). As opposed to, say, steak and potatoes. (Nina meant it disparagingly. Me, I like a lot of protein.) […]
Tweet I was looking for something else, and happened to run across these videos posted by SCETV, obviously with the cooperation of my friends at The State. These are a considerable improvement over the low-res, 3-minute clips I used to post from my little personal Canon camera — which could not shoot any video longer than 3 minutes, […]
TweetSo yesterday I was being all Cameron Frye and whiny and dissatisfied over my perception (based in long and bitter experience) that try as good people might, things never change for the better in South Carolina. In the public policy arena, I mean. That was based in the long run by decades of advocating as […]
Tweet Ferris: Cameron, what have you seen today? Cameron: Nothing good. Ferris: Nothing – wha – what do you mean nothing good? We’ve seen everything good. We’ve seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas! I thought about doing a Virtual Front Page. It’s been […]
Tweet I was traveling back from Memphis and missed last night’s gubernatorial debate. I do have these two releases from the SC Democratic and Republican parties. But somehow, I don’t think I’m getting the full story. First, the Democrats: Harrison: Sheheen Clear Winner of Debate As Haley Caught in Multiple Lies Charleston, SC — SCDP […]
Tweet In “What About Bob?,” Bill Murray famously said, There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him. So true. And the same might truthfully be said about the phrase that Gov. Nikki Haley requires Cabinet-agency employees to utter when they answer […]
TweetApparently riffing on a release sent out by the SC Democratic Party, Will Folks writes: Is it a “great day in South Carolina?” Not if you live in Cheraw or Bennettsville, S.C. These two rural towns are reeling after a recent announcement from Bi-Lo – a regional grocery store chain that operates roughly 200 supermarkets in […]
Tweet Vincent Sheheen’s call to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds isn’t some here-today, forgotten-tomorrow campaign gimmick. It’s a game-changer. But only if he somehow manages to win the election. Sheheen was paraphrased in The State today as saying that this is an issue best addressed by a governor. Sure, he could […]
TweetJust got this notice from CSID today: We are excited to inform you that the State of South Carolina has partnered with CSID to offer an additional year of identity theft protection to you for free. Since you’ve already enrolled, your service will automatically renew for another year through October 31, 2015, and no additional […]
Tweet It was the most encouraging headline I had seen out of South Carolina in some time: “Lawmakers consider gas tax hike.” But before we write this into another chapter of Profiles in Courage, let’s ponder the cold-water caveat: A bipartisan group of S.C. lawmakers told business leaders Monday they are ready to raise the […]
Tweet This ad doesn’t strike me much one way or the other, but I thought I’d put it up to see what y’all thought… Here’s the release that went with it: NEW TV AD: “Futures” Contrasts Sheheen Vision for Education with Haley Record of Cuts “A strong economy depends on great schools – and South […]
TweetThis had social media buzzing this morning: Columbia, SC – The South Carolina Club for Growth, a network of fiscal conservatives, made history today by endorsing its first statewide Democratic candidate – Ginny Deerin – who is running for Secretary of State. “We are endorsing Ginny Deerin for three reasons,” said SC Club for Growth […]
TweetMeant to post this yesterday, but got sidetracked. On the same day that Tom Ervin was telling me how he had changed his mind and was now pushing for a gasoline tax increase to address the state’s road needs, Sen. “Greg” Gregory, R-Lancaster, had an op-ed piece in The State in which he used numbers […]