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STATE PARTY CHOOSES FIRST WOMAN CHAIR, CONVENTION NOT WITHOUT DRAMA
The South Carolina Republican Party elected its first female leader Saturday, as Karen Floyd of Spartanburg won an uncontested race to become chairman.
“It is a tremendous honor to be elected chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party,” Floyd said. “I am humbled by the responsibility that Republicans from across the state have placed in my hands, and I’m inspired by the conservative Activist Army that has been with me every step of the way.”
Floyd’s election was all-but assured going into the SCGOP State Convention in Columbia. Both serious contenders dropped out in the weeks prior to the vote.
One former opponent, Kevin Hall of Columbia, even seconded Floyd’s nomination. Hall was forced to exit the race early due to health problems.
Also seconding Floyd’s nomination was outgoing Chairman Katon Dawson, who said, “this is an emotional day, but it is an historic day,” prior to handing over the party.
Added Floyd, “We are drawn to a set of core conservative principles. They unite us as Republicans. And they will define our mission as we chart a course to victory in next year’s critical mid-term elections.”
While Floyd’s election was guaranteed, the convention was not without its share of drama.
One race, the election for third vice chair, saw a heated three-way battle between activists Adam Piper of Columbia, Mitch Baroody of Florence and Donna Hicks of Greenville. Piper was able to win after a lengthy first ballot, carrying 58 percent of the vote.
And following the election of SCGOP officers, a small band of Ron Paul activists attempted to usurp parliamentary procedure to upset the adoption of the party resolutions and platform.
The group was hoping to strike a resolution commending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s service to the state. They also added a number of amendments to the platform hoping to strike traditional Republican language and replace
Convention President Bobby Harrell and SCGOP parliamentarian Todd Kincannon ensured that procedure was followed and granted all delegates the opportunity to proposes changes before the body in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order.
But the attempts were resoundingly defeated by the 700-plus SCGOP delegates and both the resolutions and platform were adopted as presented. And the planned coup angered many activists in attendance.
“If these people think they’re going to come in here and hijack this party, they’re wrong. Very wrong,” said one delegate. “This is the Republican Party not the Ron Paul Party.”
Photo: LaDonna Ryggs
Republican infighting can kill our party. Let’s get behind our new party chairman.
Still too many sheople delegates in SC. It will take some time to wake them and educate them regarding the US constitution and the rule of law, but at the end they will come to their senses and realize that they have been lied to all along by their beloved neo cons leaders who are destroying the party.
Blind Republican unity is what beat the party down in the first place. Infighting is the only thing that can save it.
The Ron Paul folks definitely have a place in Our Party. Ron Paul is an amazing individual and staunch advocate for Libertarian principals and ideals. Having said that, Sen. Lindsey Graham was right to say, Ron Paul was wrong about the war and is not the leader of Our Party.
We thought the ‘I SEE RED’ was a passionate moment and a great battle cry for the incoming Chairman Karen Floyd. Best speech awards must go to Katon Dawson, Karen Floyd, Andre Bauer and Henry Mac for presence and pose, best quotes also to go to Bauer and Haley. Haley for the “I know what good government can look like,” and Bauer for the “Just vote for the person The State Newspaper hates the most.”
An emotional Katon Dawson did not miss a step after his exit, shaking every hand in the hall and stating the same, “It’s all good.”
Adam,
Thanks for the report. I’m a Republican in Colorado and it’s interesting to hear what’s going on in SC. However, you should not use words like “usurp” or “coup” when Ron Paul supporters try to use parliamentary procedures to push forward changes in the platform. The whole point of parliamentary procedures is as a fair mechanism to allow voices to be heard.
It is only when those voices are silenced, ignored, and repressed that a true usurpation of the Rules of Order take place. It’s the folks trying to push through the platform without internal party debate that are committing the wrong.
It’s hard to understand how low-tax, small-government, pro-freedom positions could be characterized as “hijacking” the party. The Republican party has an anti-debt, anti-spending video running on the GOP national website. These big-govt guys are talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Here are the basic principles as listed on our Adams County (CO) website.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE GOP (The Party For All The People)
1. Protect the rights of the individual
2. Protect the free enterprise system
3. Reduce government to the lowest practical level
4. Endorse and practice fiscal responsibility
They almost read like a Ron Paul speech.
Dan
Adam, what convention did you attend?
Both, Convention President Bobby Harrell and SCGOP parliamentarian Todd Kincannon ensured that NO amendments or resolutions where submitted from the floor.
It was a parliamentary rule “trick” to “suspend the rules” (which btw. req. a 2/3rd majority vote that NEVER occurred)that allowed for the resolution commending Sen. Lindsey Graham to be passed in combination with the much more deserving Gov. Sanford & Sen. Jim DeMint!
Lindsey is a disgrace to the people of SC and America!
Republican wing of the Republican Party tells Lindsey Graham that he is a hypocrite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGp1f54RSk
Lindsey Graham maligns his fellow Republican, Ron Paul:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9XXJhFFZE
Lindsey Graham is an ultra liberal. Why is the S.C. Republicans supporting him?
are
Ron Paul IS a Republican trying to bring the party BACK to its original roots. The Ron Paul supporters are NOT trying to take over, they are trying to BRING back the party to what it was. The party of SMALL government, trade with other nations but BUTT OUT of their business. The war was wrong then and it’s still wrong. Our men and women are dying for war profit corporations not principle.
“Those who would give up their freedoms for some security deserve neither” Thomas Jefferson If you are a Republican then do yourself a favor and study Ron Paul before throwing stones. Ron Paul is the Real Deal and THAT is why he has support. The answer is not becoming more Democrat the answer is becoming more Ron Paul Republican.
The reason the GOP is dying is because of psuedoconservatives like Sen. Lindsey ‘Bankster Bailout’ Graham. The GOP will either listen to Dr. Paul or end up signing its own (metaphorical) death warrant.
I cant believe the SC GOP would commend Lindsey Graham for amnesty and Bailouts! Lindsey Graham is such a hypocrite!
Dean Allen isnt and wasnt a Ron Paul supporter and this is what he says! SC GOP Delegate Dean Allen doesnt agree with Commending Lindsey Graham for amnesty or bailouts! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Liba_RH4A
Anyone who reads books or has studied history knows who is right and who is wrong here.
I’m not sure how Ron Paul was wrong about the war? Are you suggesting that the Congress should not follow the US Constitution and not officially declare war? It’s a war, let’s take it serious and do it legally. If you disagree with this, then you should work on an amendment to the Constitution.
Any objective person can see how Senator Graham is a hypocrite since he says not to attack Republicans and then he unfairly attacks Ron Paul. Ron Paul did not say we caused 9/11.
Everyone in academia and in the IC knows that Mayor Giuliani was wrong in his famous attack on Ron Paul for suggesting bombing Iraq caused 9/11. The former CIA head of the Bin Laden group appeared with Ron Paul after the debate and defended him.
Please see Osama Bin Laden’s Declaration of War Against the United States, dated August 1996.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html
“More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression (sanction) imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children.”
Senator Graham and Mayor Giuliani are both intellectual frauds and Republican Collectivists. They have no concept of Natural Rights and that fact makes them Anti-American.
If you disagree with me, it’s normal. Every day in America we teach our children fallacies, namely that truth is relative and that centralization always helps society.
I understand why you might not.
We are smarter than you Senator “I just care about winning” Graham. We learned a lot in 2008, like how to win.
You don’t have a chance now.
I would just like one of those people (not referring to RP people)
to please explain to me, and the rest of us…
What is so bad about making sure that things are followed under the law of the CONSTITUTION? (And Roberts Rules Of Order)
Just tell me..why would anyone have a problem with that?
You Ron Paul folks are cute. I heard you all got together and had yourselves a little conference call before this convention to determine the best strategy to “shake things up.” Ronald Reagan would be proud! Ron Paul! ARGH!!
Some difference you all have made. You are all so tremendously insane that you won’t let yourselves realize that things are not the same as they were in 1985.
Please go form another country. You can all sit around and not have any laws or taxes and do whatever you want. Just don’t come around our convention being weird and awkward (most of you lack social skill significantly) and creeping people out.
Thanks.
It was a pathetic display of bottom-feeding jingoism from Sen Graham. What an anti-intellectual moron. If he is the median South Carolinian Republican, then I would put them more in line with Castro’s Communists than American Constitutionalists. It seems like the SC Republicans and Senator Graham have a problem with the US Constitution – in not just the war in Iraq, but government power in general. Good display of slavish statism in the thundering applause of Sen Graham, bootlickers.
Chris, you Country Club RINO’s are anything but cute, you’ll compromise “principle” and the “rule of law” to maintain your status quo. I’m not sure where your 1985 crack comes from, however you’re absolutly right – We didn’t make much of a difference this time our first time out.
Therefore, you can take it to the bank, we’ll make a HUGE difference at our NEXT convention!
We love our Country, we’re appalled at our government. YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! We will reform (not form) THIS country via the political process — We only creep you out because you’ve been hiding in the shadows and in the darkness and now we’re exposing your utter hypocrisy… stay tuned…and as far as social graces are concerned, I’d rather eat as a FREEMAN with a plastic spork, than as a SLAVE to the New World Order dining at a table with three forks!
The Obama Deception HQ Full length version (1,995,117 views)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
Join the SCGOP Activist Army Text: SCGOP To: 97180
“The group was hoping to strike a resolution commending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s service to the state. They also added a number of amendments to the platform hoping to strike traditional Republican language and replace”
The first part is correct but the second is not only false, but also not a complete sentence.
The only amendment that was attempted was a guy that wanted to change the party platform on which state offices should be appointed by the governor instead of elected. No other amendments were even proposed except for the correction of typos.
Everything that happened was people trying to separate the slate of resolutions because they had a problem with one of them.
Also, don’t claim there were 700 delegates at that point. Lots of people left after the election of state officers was finished. So many that I was able to upgrade to delegate from like the 40th alternate.
The entire day was marked by a refusal for anyone to admit the fact that “no compromise” and “big tent party” are mutually exclusive aims. In south carolina it’s not going to make much difference, but in alot of blue states there are very weak republican parties that aren’t going to be able to shut out other viewpoints as easily.
Ron Paul is the only Republican left in the congress. Check his voting record.
-jcr
We’d love to go form another country. But there’s not one available to us. So we Ron Paul Republicans are forced to stand and fight for this one.
You can call me a “RINO” all you want buddy. I’m glad that a freak like you disagrees with me. It means I’m doing something right.
You people seriously come back with the same tired old talking points time an again. And you sound stupid.
I’m glad you plan on making a “HUGE DIFFERENCE” at the next convention. I guess you could be doing something better with your time (i.e. having fun, getting laid, etc) but you socially inept trolls really have nowhere else to go than to a state party convention so that you can yell crap about Ron Paul and get that pasty hobbit Brian Frank to record it and put it on the internet.
Just btw, I view myself as a pretty conservative guy. The reason I’m not siding with you and your people is that you are losers. You are the Dungeons and Dragons crowd of the GOP. You think what you are doing is cool and epic, but in reality everyone else just talks about how bad your teeth are and how much you smell.
BEST SUMMARY ARTICLE SCGOP CONVENTION
http://targetfreedom.typepad.com/targetfreedom/2009/05/grahamvsrealrepublicans.html
Ron Paul vs. The Philosophically Bankrupt
After reading the name-calling and other non sequiturs from the anti-Ron Paul crowd, I am of the view that their hostility arises less from his opposition to war, or the direction American foreign policy has taken for decades, or any of the other specific programs he has criticized. What troubles them the most is that Paul has a philosophically-principled integrity in what he advocates and that, to challenge him, one must be prepared to deal with him at that higher level.
But modern political discourse long ago gave up on principles, in favor of the pursuit of power as a sufficient end. There is an intellectual bankruptcy exhibited by writers and speakers on the political “left,” “right,” or “middle.” Competing ideas and values that once engaged the minds of thoughtful men and women have given way to little more than pronouncements on behalf of narrowly-defined political programs; the validity of a proposition no longer depends upon reasoned analysis, but upon the outcome of public opinion polls.
Ron Paul’s campaign interjects an energized, principled inquiry into the political realm, an undertaking for which men and women with no philosophic center or rigorous minds find themselves woefully ill-prepared.
What’s remarkable about those of you who oppose Ron Paul and his supporters is that while you pretend to be intellectual giants, the petty substance of your comments is so obviously dwarfed by that of the Ron Paul supporters, who delve into the issues with informed analysis. This is one reason why the Ron Paul Revolution is still gaining momentum: his supporters hammer away at stupidity with tools of truth and logic.
I think the Iraq War was a great idea. It’s cost hundreds of billions of dollars, killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans and Coalition members. It has replaced one dictator with thousands of little dictators and bureaucrats. It’s drained our economy and taxed future generations through borrowing from China to finance it. Remember that the foundation for this successful campaign was “intelligence” indicating that Hussein was prepared to use WMD against our government.
Sounds brilliant to me. It also sounds like a recipe for success at the polls. I can see why the Republican party is growing in popularity with amazing speed!
As for Lindsey Graham, I went over to check out his service record, and our heroic patriot has spent his entire career in the “rear with the gear” as a legal beagle. Far be it from me, a little old former Marine, to question the patriotism of Graham, but I will gladly question his Chicken Hawk supporters. If they truly want to win this war they have staked our country’s future on, then why don’t get off their lazy asses and head over to the Middle East? Even if you are too old or handicapped (probably mentally) to enlist, there are plenty of government jobs and defense contractor jobs awaiting your patriotic fervor, and many don’t even require active security clearances. I can’t stand this war, and yet I’ve been to the ME three different times in the last six years as a civilian. If I can do it, what’s stopping you?
I certainly hope you will all take me up on my offer. Then we could all go home, cast our votes for Ron Paul, and save you idiots from yourselves. It’s no surprise that Dr. Paul raised more money from active duty military and defense contractors than all Republicans combined. We’re overseas fighting your stupid war and all we want to do is switch places. I can’t go home until you come out here. I have friends whose backs I’ve sworn to protect. Will you come over here and take our place? Whaddya say Chicken Hawks?
Think about this… If we go bankrupt by fighting a never-ending war against some willo-the-wisp terrorists around the world then what will happen when a REAL enemy decides to attack us and we are too broke to supply a military?
Think about this long and hard people.
Graham is a sad excuse for a Republican. This spineless, flip flopping fruitcake needs to change parties to something that more suits his beliefs. It’s funny when the guys who claim to be the most hardcore Republicans are the most Liberal. We need to purge the party of these Republicrats, Americans are disgusted by them.
Hijacking? What sad little minds they must have as to compare fiscal conservatism to hijacking. I guess they feel that doing the same thing that has destroyed this country for many more years will change something. Big spending, reach-around, Liberal Republicans, are the problem in this country, most certainly not the answer. Expel Graham and anyone else like him. What a disgrace.
Lindsey Graham is the one trying to divide the Republican Party by talking trash of his fellow Republican. Ron Paul is the one who tries to unite the Republican Party. I just call a spade a spade! Lindsey Graham should follow siut with Arlan Spector, as he is truly a Democrat in RINO Lavatory Larry clothes!
As Lindsey Graham’s power has increased in the GOP, GOP membership has decreased greatly. Gramham is a RINO, keep him front and center and the GOP is doomed.
What in the world is going on down there in SC? Are you really saying that the GOP is shunning limited government Republicans? Are you kidding me? If y’all think that makes us want to quit, you’re crazy. Don’t you think it’s interesting no one is talking about McCain, Julianni, Huckleberry, etc? No one cares. The only reason they attack RP is because they are afraid his message of limited gov will be successful. They don’t want to give up power.
It’s truly sad to see “Republicans” so bankrupt in principles and ideology that they have to resort to tactics from the left– ridicule, and insults. What is happening with the South? 90% of your politics are looking like that of the North… And I’m a Yankee.
It’s truly pathetic that “republicans” are so bankrupt in their intellect that even constitutional points are slammed. Article 1 sec. 8 read it. If republicans want to win they should return to the rule of law as Dr. Ron Paul suggests- not the rule of men. Democracy or Republic you choose. I, a supporter of the constitution, choose to rally for the Republic.
The Republican Party will never get anywhere until it repudiates the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers and other globalist interests. Until the Republican Party publicly promises to enforce the Constitution as written, it is just a carbon copy of the Democrat Party, and cannot attract Americans who oppose socialism and big government.
Until the Republican Party takes a public stand against civilian disarmament, and apologizes for having helped pass it, this Party has no credibility.
And the day that the Republican Party calls for abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to honest, non-inflating money (gold and silver coin as required by our Constitution), it is just another version of the Democrat Party.
You people don’t see it for some reason but your all the problem with the Republican party, these gay little arguments must stop if the conservative ideology is to thrive. Keep it up if you want a Emperor Obama instead of President Obama…
Tucker discusses Ron Paul with Mark Sanford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKOCsBpcZfw
From 2007 starts at 3 minutes!
ENJOY
RINOS have been running the Republican Party for eight years, and look were they got us. Its time to purge the party of RINOS and get back to real conservativism, if Ron Paul can do that I’ll support him.
I’m not sure how the convention devolved into Graham castigating the entire assembly in a speech that was nearly spat out. Was it me or did Graham accuse the entire assembly of being provincial racists who were out of touch with America?
Whether he did or not, the speech also, apparently successfully, deflected legitimate criticism of his continued support of the failed McCain philosophy, through the rhetorical guise of casting himself as an opponent of the nationally and locally irrelevant Paul. Sorry Paul people, because I understand the appeal of theoretical Libertarianism, but Paul cannot be the standard-bearer for the cause. He comes across as a Ross Perotian nut who has spent too much time outside in the Texas heat. I’m not faulting the philosophy, but be serious. Perception is reality.
However, that’s not my point. If I can wrest the conversation away from Graham’s red herring, as a first time attendee of a party’s state convention my opinion is that it was a total waste of time. It is completely unproductive for committees or small covey of authors of resolutions/amendments to attempt to ramrod their personal hobby-horse slates through without debate while trying to recruit an “activist army”.
I didn’t show up to a precinct meeting, then a county meeting, then spend half a Saturday in a state convention to have a 20 minute research into Roberts Rules of Order to determine if the rules could be routinely suspended, so that everyone could leave and get to lunch. I showed up in hopes of addressing substantive issues pertaining to the future of the party.
The few delegates who tried to force the body to engage in such substantive debate (such as which of our elected officials best exemplified the future of the party, or whether Republicans should endorse an consolidation of power in the state executive branch) were quelled and shoved under the rug through parliamentary procedural maneuvering. Ironic, since on the primary point of contention, the 12-part “let’s commend all Republicans or commend no Republicans” resolution slate was never properly addressed, but was instead replaced with a bait-and-switch flip to the less-substantial amendments to the party platform.