HUCKABEE ENDORSES MCCALL, STATE NEWSPAPER ENDORSES BLACKMAIL

It’s Tuesday in South Carolina, and there are two big stories buzzing around the state’s active blogosphere. Here’s what’s going on:

• SCHOTLINE: STATE NEWSPAPER HAS SERIOUS ETHICAL ISSUES — Apparently on the planet that is Jeffrey Sewell’s ascot, “journalists” are called “ournalists” and spacing between words is optional, because he sent out an e-mail blast earlier trumpeting an “SC Hotline Exclusive” with the subject line “OURNALISTIC BLACKMAILAT THE STATE NEWSPAPER.”

That said, his site has been all the rage today after publishing copies of ethically-questionably communications between the marketing department of South Carolina’s largest newspaper and representatives with the payday lending industry.

Over the last two years, for example, The State has made the payday lending industry its whipping boy, targeting the industry for elimination by publishing dozens of slanted articles and dozens more scathing editorials.

In addition to the almost daily barrage of editorial attacks, The State’s reporters also frequently use misleading 300% interest rates in describing the “danger” of payday loans, despite the fact that these percentages are artificially inflated by annualizing interest rates for loans that in reality only cover a period of a few weeks.

The newspaper has also refused to cover a major ethical scandal involving several State Senators looking to make millions of dollars off of suing the payday lending industry (a blatant conflict of interest), yet it has treated legal campaign contributions to other legislators from the industry as the second coming of Watergate.

Now, SC Hotline has discovered that while The State’s newsroom and editorial board were both busy bashing the payday lending industry, the newspaper’s marketing department was using these attacks to try and convince the industry to advertise in the paper in an effort to counter its “distorted” information. [SC Hotline]

SC Hotline posted a letter from the paper saying, “This would be an excellent time for Advance America to reinforce their stance on responsible lending practices as well as educate those whose understanding may be distorted,” among other things, and included a copy of a negative article that The State had written about payday lenders. Yikes.

• HUCKABEE BACKS MCCALL FOR COMMITTEEMAN — It’s pretty rare for a big name former presidential candidate like Mike Huckabee to get involved in a state RNC committeeman race, but then again, great candidates like Glenn McCall don’t come along very often. And since he’s taking on Buddy Jr., it’s even more important that he win.

In a letter to South Carolina Republicans, Huckabee wrote, “The Republican Party has a tough road ahead of them. We need strong leaders that understand the task ahead and are prepared for the challenges we are sure to face. Glenn McCall understands what is needed to help move our party forward and that is why I am supporting his candidacy for National Committeeman.”

He touted McCall’s record, citing his service in the Air Force and to the SC Republican Party, as well as his conservative values. “As a man of faith, Glenn believes in defining marriage between one man and one woman, and that we must fight to protect the unborn.

Also, Glenn believes in protecting our freedoms, and for that reason he is an avid second amendment supporter,” Huckabee said.

I would also like to add that McCall is not only a class act, but unlike his opponent, he isn’t a hack whose swears allegiance to Darth Vader over the GOP.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 11:49 am and is filed under Around the state, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.