Somebody throw South Carolina (and the GOP) a climbing rig...

So today is the runoff in South Carolina and it is one I have been watching with some interest. Partly because South Carolina politics will be my politics in a couple of months and partly because South Carolina politics, in many ways, represents EVERYTHING I hate about the Republican Party, everywhere, but particularly in the south.

I have argued before that the GOP is the party of faith and racism. If you are a Republican, I am sorry for the generalization. I am aware that not ALL Republicans are religious bigots and racists. However, enough of them are to elect some real idiots in to a variety of offices across the nation and in particular in the south and in the Midwest. Nor am I implying that ALL Republican elected officials are religious and racist bigots...just enough that the national Republican agenda has become one of defending big business, harassing minorities and making it un-American and wrong to be of any religious persuasion other than Christian. Once again, South Carolina is a perfect example of this...and hell...it is among their own candidates (since a Democrat in South Carolina is like...an albino squirrel...not quite extinct but definitely a rarity.)

In this case in particular we have Nikki Haley against most of the GOP Establishment in South Carolina. Now she is leading in the polls and will win the GOP nomination for Governor, which in South Carolina means she will more than likely win the election. Her winning is hopefully a sign that enough of the population of the Palmetto State is tired of the "good 'ol boys" and their strangle hold on the state. I was reading an article (please read it here)and it defines the "Southern Test" Mrs. Nikki Haley has been forced to take over and over...

(1) Faith

Let's get this straight, Article VI of the Constitution of the United States makes a statement that is both plain and definitive:

but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Simply put no elected official in this Country can legally be put through a religious test. No elected official can or should be elected based on what religious faith they have. In short, for those idiots that can't quite get it...IT IS NEITHER LEGAL OR ETHICAL TO DEMAND THAT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL BE OF A SPECIFIC FAITH OR RELIGION! In other words, my religious beliefs or the religious beliefs and affiliation of any candidate should not even be questioned.

Yet...that is all you hear in South Carolina when it comes to Candidate Mrs. Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley. The South Carolina GOP bigotry club has dissected her conversion, chronologically cataloging her rise in politics with her conversion to Christianity from Sikh. Because, clearly, the only thing that is important to these ignorant buffoons is that she be of the right faith. Because, we ALL know that good Christian men like Mark Sanford, are sooo much better, are more in tune with the needs of the Christian Southerner, and more apt to promote and protect true Christian family values and the American way. All though...I am not sure if that was BEFORE or AFTER the affair...details, details, details. The point is that while I am in no way a supporter of the Sarah Palin Pageant Queen Winner of the Election Cycle in South Carolina the way she has been put through the ringer and forced to defend her level of commitment to her faith is absolutely wrong, un American and unconstitutional.

(Note: And before I get the snide remarks about how sexist the Sarah Palin Pageant Queen Winner sounds, it was not intended as a snide remark at Haley's being a woman but more of a snide remark at Sarah Palin who has traipsed through this country's elections treating her endorsements like it is some stupid pageant. And the reference to Palin and her pageant attitude has less to do with her being a woman and more with her trying to play on her being a woman and acting like a Barbie doll girl in a Barbie doll world.)

(2) Race

So the media and the establishment that opposes Haley have started using Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley in reference to the candidate. Sound familiar? As in Barrack Hussein Obama? She is lucky she is just running for governor! If she were running for President she would have to produce a birth certificate and even then some idiots would be claiming it was falsified and invalid. The fact that her race has even come up is an embarrassment to this country. But hey, this is the south and some things never change.

(3) Gender

This has not been as big of an issue and is really a non issue in the news. But the fact remains that if she wins the Governorship she will be the first woman to sit in the Governor's office. And while it is not a big deal in the news, the consensus of most of the people I know say that it is generally considered to be the public secret, the good 'ol boy establishment is not thrilled at having a woman at the top spot.

(4) The Civil War

This one irritates me. Seriously? The Civil War? The good people of South Carolina do not want to elect somebody that will not swallow hook line and sinker the southern myths about the Civil War. Look. For years I repeated the same horse shit, the Civil War was about state rights and not about slavery, well hell, slavery wasn't even that big of an issue and most of the people that fought in the Civil War didn't even have slaves. This all sounds good but is full of half truths...so let me just say this:

(a) The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about state rights.

Yeah...just like the Civil Rights movement was not about segregation but about the right of people to be ignorant hate mongering rude Neanderthal morons to minorities. The very same people that were in favor of slavery were in favor of segregation, their children were in favor of keeping the black man in his place. And his place was one of servitude to the white man. So spare me the bullshit! The Civil War was about whether or not this country should allow its states to legalize the traffic in human lives. THAT was the right the states of the south were defending. There are some things that are just morally and ethically wrong and should not be tolerated under any condition and should not be delegated to the states to decide. The truth of history is that the Southern States wanted the right to choose whether or not they could have slaves, and the American People elsewhere felt that it was a moral sore that needed to be removed...and it was...on the backs and blood of hundreds of thousands of American men and women.

(b) Most of the people that fought and died in the Civil war did not have slaves.

This is absolutely true. Most of the people that fought and died in the Civil War did not have slaves...only the rich plantation owners could even afford slaves. So as usual, the middle class and the poor of our country pay the price of blood, sweat and life while the rich reap the benefits and play the victim. Sound familiar? Like BP? It is the hard working people of Gulf States that are struggling while BP owners go to yacht events and Republican law makers defend BP's actions, defend the off shore drilling that irresponsibly led to it and apologize to BP for the President doing something about making BP pay up to those very hard working people. And while the GOP have their plates full defending and protecting poor BP, they are attacking the President for "not doing anything".

Now many would disagree with this statement but I will say it anyway. BP did the GOP a favor. With this mess in the Gulf it makes it difficult for lawmakers and the President to even do their job. And as long as the Republicans can keep the President and Congressional Democrats and the nation focused on a problem their own policies caused, the more they can use it and use the lack of other business getting done to win in November. And you know what? Once the Rethugs take over in November...it is over. Then they can get back to the business of handing the country back over to big business, big banks and big oil. Oh...and guess who will be Chairman of the Committee that regulates the oil business? Why that would be Barton, the guy that apologized to BP...fascinating huh?

For now...today I will be watching the run off in South Carolina...and hoping I get the pleasure of watching the "good 'ole boys" wring their hands in anguish. And as for the Mrs. Brabham said, "She grew up here. . . . Come on! I thought we had climbed this mountain." Apparently not...