FORMER RNC MEMBER MIMICS MOVEON.ORG, SENDS E-MAILS SAYING SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMITTED TREASON

A recent campaign e-mail published by SC Hotline from former Republican National Committeeman Buddy Witherspoon’s Senate campaign reveals the truly disturbing nature of the malicious, libelous attacks aimed at Sen. Lindsey Graham by his challenger.

The e-mail was sent by Witherspoon’s Political Director Christopher R. Oviatt, the second ranking member of his campaign, and contained a post-script that read, “If you’ve received this email but do not wish to receive further information and updates in the efforts to rid our state and country of the traitor, Lindsey Graham, please email deportillegals@earthlink.net with the word, ‘CANCEL’ in the subject line.”

The line is reportedly even a part of his default email signature.

The “deportillegals” e-mail address is distressing enough, but to call a well-respected sitting United States Senator who has more than 25 honorable years serving in the military a “traitor” is completely classless and Witherspoon knows better.

I would expect language like this about a Republican from MoveOn.org, but not from a former member of the RNC.

If he hopes to be taken seriously for the final 40-plus days of this campaign and someday attempt to restore the reputation he has destroyed over the last few months, he should start by apologizing and firing this guy immediately.

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OVIATT UPDATE: Witherspoon’s political director just sent me the following e-mail:

My email was taken and pasted/doctored onto another email page and sent out. The email that I sent out had all of the recipients blind carbon copied. My email was sent to a list of our supporters who wanted to help us distribute our campaign signs which arrived last week.I cannot help what supporters or anyone in the generl public does with the emails that I send them. All of Dr. Witherspoons material have a “paid for” on them including our lapel stickers. Our new signs are the same as the 2X8’s that were put up last year except they are 4X8’s. Because I work for Dr. Witherspoon does not mean I have any ill feelings towards Senator Graham. I do not think he is a traitor by any means, I think he is a great American. Myself or Buddy would never say anything slanderous or make false allegations against the Senator or anyone else. Though our campaigns differ on certain issues, we all want whats best for South Carolina and the USA.

The signature on the e-mail didn’t have the alleged language, so maybe he’s telling the truth. I bet what happened was those damn illegal aliens hijacked his e-mail account and sent out messages saying Graham was a traitor.

Not the Mexican aliens though, this isn’t their style. My money is on the aliens from the Andromeda III galaxy. You’ve got to watch out for those pesky little buggers.

LEATHERMAN, LICENSE PLATES, VOTER ID AND HOME RULE

I’ve been pretty busy lately so I haven’t been posting the usual absurd number of stories, but even if I had been around, there really isn’t anything going on in South Carolina. At least not much worthy of its own post.

So here are a few stories to tide you over until something scandalous takes place, which should be any minute now:

• WHAT A SURPRISE, LEATHERMAN LIKES HIGH GAS TAXES — It’s probably not much of an exaggeration to say that State Sen. Hugh Leatherman has added a few trillion bucks in pork projects to the state budget over his career. But even he realizes that someone has to pay for his greed — taxpayers! So what better way for the entire state to fund Green Bean Museums and performing arts centers and festivals and all the wonderful things that benefit a few dozen people in Florence County than to keep paying high gas prices.

Leatherman justified this by telling WLTX-TV that the state gas tax is only a few cents per gallon, so it’s really no big deal. Thanks, Mr. Senator! You know what else isn’t a big deal? Florence County paying for its own sh*t so we don’t have to.

• ANOTHER STUPID LICENSE PLATE? — Lord knows we don’t have enough specialized license plates in this state. Everyone from the Ancient Free Masons to the Secular Humanists of the Low Country to South Carolina Ducks Unlimited to Working for the Wild Turkey has their own tag available. And now we might have yet another one.

The Senate gave a bill second reading Tuesday to create a license plate with an image of a cross in front of a stained glass window with the words “I Believe” (pictured above). Because, you know, there’s nothing more important to worry about. I’m not sure who exactly has the power to get rid of the absurd amount of these damn specialized tags plaguing the already inefficient Department of Motor Vehicles and cluttering up the road for police officers, but I’m afraid they’re the very people perpetuating the problem.

• CLYBURN WHINES ABOUT VOTER ID RULING — Last I checked, the liberal leadership in Congress, including our very own Rep. James Clyburn, were completely out of touch with America. So it’s not surprising that Clyburn sent out a snotty little press release Tuesday griping about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Indiana’s voter ID law.

“The Supreme Court’s decision threatens to undermine this enthusiasm and disenfranchise voters,” Clyburn said. “Our nation should be moving forward to help all Americans participate in our democracy, not deterring people from casting their votes.”

Now that I think about it, Clyburn is absolutely right here. Who better to trust with American democracy than people that are too lazy to take 30 minutes once every ten years getting an ID card.

• HOME RULE OR BUST — Much to the chagrin of Sen. Hugh Leatherman, Sen. Glenn McConnell’s Constitutional Amendment to eliminate “home rule” and create spending caps on state government seems to be doing well. The South Carolina Association of Taxpayers’ Don Weaver offered a good write-up promoting McConnell’s work on the issue saying “[his] line distills the argument down to its essence, because evidence has shown that taxpayers, homeowners and businesses alike can’t afford the home rule they’ve had so far and can expect to see in the future in the absence of limits in government spending.”

DIRTY TRICKS, WRIGHT BECOME CENTERPIECE OF NC PRIMARY

I’ll admit that, of late, I care about as much about the Democratic presidential nomination process as I do the Allendale County School System’s fifth grade science fair — although I here Bobby Smith’s baking soda volcano is totally going to beat out Susie Parker’s salt map — but the North Carolina primary has become interesting for two reasons.

The first is that our cousins to the north have decided to inject a little bit of our good old fashioned dirty politics into their otherwise boring snooze-fest:

Who’s behind the mysterious “robo-calls” that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?

Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women’s Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among “unmarried women voters.”

What’s more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women’s Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn’t the group’s first brush with controversy. Women’s Voices’ questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.

First, a quick recap: As we covered yesterday, N.C. residents have reported receiving peculiar automated calls from someone claiming to be “Lamont Williams.” The caller says that a “voter registration packet” is coming in the mail, and the recipient can sign it and mail it back to be registered to vote. No other information is provided.

The call is deceptive because the deadline has already passed for mail-in registrations for North Carolina’s May 6 primary. Also, many who have received the calls — like Kevin Farmer in Durham, who made a tape of the call that is available here — are already registered. The call’s suggestion that they’re not registered has caused widespread confusion and drawn hundreds of complaints, including many from African-American voters who received the calls. [DailyKos]

I’m glad to see this is happening because, before this, following North Carolina politics pretty much resembled a game of backgammon at a nursing home. Way to go, y’all! (continues…)

SCHALLENBERGER SAID HE WANTED TO GO TO HEAVEN, KILL JESUS

To say that 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger, who allegedly plotted to blow up Chesterfield High School with ammonium nitrate, is a “little disturbed” would probably be an understatement. In fact, calling him anything less is like saying Madonna and Kanye West respect Jesus.

Actually, it’s funny that I mentioned that…

Federal authorities say a South Carolina teen accused of plotting to blow up his high school told police that he wanted to die, go to heaven and kill Jesus. [AP]

So as you can see, the moral of the… wait, did that say he wanted to kill Jesus? By going to Heaven? Because I’m not a theologian here, but I’m pretty sure that plan it’s exactly going to work.

I highly doubt Jesus, being the all-knowing Lord of Creation, is going to let some punk into Heaven to kill him. I could be wrong about this, but even if he did sneak in, what is he going to use to carry out this “well-devised” plan? I mean, do they even have weapons in Heaven?

MARTIN, HYDE TAKE INCUMBENT TO TASK ON SPECIAL INTEREST DONATIONS, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

I wasn’t at last night’s Senate District 13 debate between Sen. Jim Ritchie and challengers Shane Martin and Max Hyde because I try to stay as far away from Spartanburg as possible, but the Herald-Journal was and they said it was basically a mud fight that left the incumbent looking like a fool.

From his opening statement, Hyde came out swinging at Ritchie, trying to paint the two-term incumbent as a servant of special interest groups.

While Hyde and Ritchie sparred, Shane Martin stayed out of the fracas and focused on the issues.

About 100 people - mostly supporters of one candidate or another - attended the debate at Rock Water Tavern. The Palmetto House Republican Women sponsored the event.

From what I hear up there, Hyde is having a good bit of success getting the special interest tag to stick on Ritchie. Which isn’t that hard when Ritchie has received $7,000 in total contributions from SC Bankers State PAC, American Council of Life Insurer’s PAC, COLPAC, Piedmont Natural Gas PAC, Duke Energy PAC, BB & T of SC, PAC, SC CAGC PAC, SC Builders PAC, and SCANA Employee PAC.

And those are just the PACs that gave in the last six months alone. If you add in the other dozens of groups like SC Medical Action Committee, Indrio Land Group, LLC, American Credit Acceptance, J.M. Smith Corporation, etc. and go back further than six months, we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, Martin is reaping all of the benefits of Hyde’s attacks by staying out of it. And with a good bit of cash in his pocket as well as a little help from his friends, Martin could very well win this thing.

WHY CAN’T WE EVER BE IN THE NEWS FOR GOOD THINGS?

I figured it would only be a matter of time before video of country music superstar Kenny Chesney’s injury at Saturday’s sell-out concert at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia hit the Internet. And then bam, there it is. It’s like I can predict the future or something.

For those of you that didn’t pay attention when I wrote about this Sunday and have become interested now that national blogs and media are running the story, Chesney caught his right foot in an elevator lifting device while taking the stage in front of 44,424 fans but went on to play the entire show. They had to cut off his bot afterward and he was treated by University of South Carolina medical staff.

So now that this story has blown up, I’m wondering why it is that South Carolina has such a difficult time making national news for positive stuff. You know, stuff that isn’t some kid plotting to blow up his school or a beauty queen becoming the poster child for utter stupidity or countless other things that I don’t feel like linking to.

SC EDUCATION SUPERINTENDENT’S MINIMALLY ADEQUATE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE OF SHAME

Under the guise of a petition drive to create a Constitutional amendment inserting the words “high quality education” into the South Carolina Constitution, State Schools Superintendent Jim Rex has launched what appears to be nothing more than an exploratory Website for a looming 2010 gubernatorial bid.

On the site, GoodbyeMinimallyAdequate.com, Rex claims the amendment would increase vital education funding. Despite ignoring the plethora of other, more suitable options to improve our schools, it seems like a noble cause.

But critics charge this site is little more than a media stunt that allows Rex to grandstand on an issue while accomplishing very little.

“While the educracy argues and wastes political and financial capital to change words in the South Carolina Constitution, they have been woefully inadequate in meeting the educational needs of all children in South Carolina,” said Randy Page, President of South Carolinians for Responsible Government. “Through their posturing, they seem to suggest that one phrase used in the constitution ‘minimally adequate’ is all that is holding children in South Carolina back. If only it were that simple.”

Although the effort is essentially pointless, Rex will be able to use any data collected via the sight’s petition signing and contribution forms to build a grassroots network for his anticipated 2010 campaign for governor.

Opponents also point to the fact that there is nothing constitutional about Rex’s amendment and that he is merely trying to legislate from the ballot box.

They claim the Website itself reveals his true intentions by giving powerful Democrats like Bud Ferillo, who ran Rex’s 2006 campaign, a very prominent position on the site. Numerous other political allies of the superintendent are also featured.

And although no group or government agency is directly listed as paying for the site — something that could be illegal under state ethics law given that it is promoting a ballot initiative — all donations are sent to SC Christian Action Council. That group is registered as a 501(c)(3) “tax deductible” charity.

I think the most pressing minimally adequate feature of our school system is Jim Rex. And I don’t think many folks will have trouble saying goodbye to his lack of leadership.

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UPDATE: Someone pointed out to me that it might also be illegal for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit such as the SC Christian Action Council to use their tax-deductible resources in support of a political campaign. “They are legally bound not to lobby and participate in all other sorts of other political initiatives,” they said. “A 501(c)(4) has that right which is why they request a different level of charitable status.”

FMR. GAMECOCK STAR CORY BOYD GOES IN LAST ROUND OF DRAFT

Former University of South Carolina running back Cory Boyd is going to be an NFL star some day, I’m absolutely certain of that. But after being selected in the seventh round of this weekend’s draft — 238th overall — by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he has a long way to go.

And that is pretty disappointing for a guy who had an incredible college career that included 2,267 rushing yards, 117 receptions and 28 touchdowns in four season with the Gamecocks; a large percentage of those stats being earned in the last two years.

WLTX-TV’s Matt Barrie agreed and called Boyd’s insultingly undervalued draft position “a joke.”

I am so sick of the 40-times, the vertical jump, and the shuttle times being huge factors in which a team evaluates talent. They are all GARBAGE. Cory is not the fastest back, he’s not the most elusive, and he may never be a star in the NFL. But every time the Cardinals were on the clock I would scream, “Draft Cory Boyd!”

Why? Because he’s a football player. He won’t quit on your team. He won’t think he deserves special treatment. And he’ll fight as hard for that yard on 3rd down as any back in the league. I understand Cory’s had his problems in the past. But he took it on the chin and moved on. And without fail, win or lose, Cory would be in tears after the Carolina games because it means that much to him.

31-teams passed on the chance to have Cory Boyd become a member of their franchise. And most seventh round picks fail to even make the active-roster. But you mark this down: five-years from now Cory Boyd will be a name in the NFL. He’s faced life’s challenges before. And knowing him, he wasn’t upset about where he was drafted. He was smiling from ear-to-ear chomping at the bit to prove 31-teams wrong, and make every player drafted ahead of him pay. [MATT BARRIE - WLTX]

The Bucs already have veteran running backs Warrick Dunn, Michael Pittman and Michael Bennett, but those guys are all pretty old, so Boyd should have a shot.

Most importantly, I hope he has a shot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders — who really need a better name than the “Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders,” like the Buccanettes or something — because those ladies are fine. Chicka chicka yeah, just like McLovin.