Former S.C. Gov. David Beasley holds the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award he received from Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg during a ceremony in Boston. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., applauds at right.
Posted on 02/10/2004 12:08:48 PM PST by Pubbie
Former Gov. David Beasley formally launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate Monday, vowing to make job creation his chief focus.
South Carolina has lost more than 73,000 jobs in the past three years.
“This is a crisis, the most pressing issue of our time,” Beasley told a packed news conference attended by friends, legislators and former staffers.
Beasley joins a crowded field of Republicans — now five in all — vying for a shot at the party’s nomination in the June 8 primary. U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., will retire next year after 38 years in office.
Every year thousands of South Carolinians are losing their jobs, many high paying manufacturing jobs — all in the name of free trade, Beasley said.
He believes in free trade, he said, but it “only works if it’s based on fair terms, with an even playing field, with the same rules applied to all trade partners.”
When a reporter pointed out that the jobs lost in the state over the past three years have occurred on fellow Republican President Bush’s watch, Beasley took issue with the question.
He blamed the declining job picture on President Clinton, claiming the rising jobless rate actually started with the recession toward the end of the Democrat’s term.
“I refuse to yield any of the job issues to the Democrats,” he said, “because it was the Democrats’ high taxes and burdensome regulations that have helped to destroy the free entrepreneurial spirit.
“If George Bush had not come into office and stopped terrorism in its tracks like he had and cut taxes like he did, there’s no telling how devastated our economy would be.”
Accompanied by his wife and four children, Beasley kicked off his campaign in Florence, then flew to Charleston and Columbia. The family then boarded a bus for Spartanburg and Greenville, where they ended the first leg of the campaign trip. The tour continues today and Wednesday.
His GOP rivals include U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint of Greenville, former Attorney General Charlie Condon of Sullivan’s Island, Charleston real estate developer Thomas Ravenel and Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride.
Democrats running are State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum and Marcus Belk of Camden.
At his Columbia announcement Monday, Beasley staked out a reliably conservative platform by:
• Endorsing a constitutional amendment to protect the Pledge of Allegiance as it is written
• Supporting a constitutional amendment that defines marriage clearly as a union between and man and a woman
• Vowing to fight for the confirmation of conservative federal judges. “We need judges who will stand up for South Carolina values, not Hollywood values.”
• Criticizing Republicans who have supported deficit spending
Beasley, who has been out of public office for six years, appeared to be shoring up his Christian conservative base with his emphasis on cultural issues
“In America today, we are facing an assault on traditional values, and it’s time to fight back,” he said to cheers and shouts of “amen.”
Former S.C. Gov. David Beasley holds the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award he received from Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg during a ceremony in Boston. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., applauds at right.
"In applying the Constitution, all judges, including the federal ones, shall follow the rule of interpretation that the Constitution means what it says, until and unless it is amended by the people's representatives, as provided in Article V. This will maintain in the hands of the people themselves their sovereignty over the federal government, and state governments as peovided in the Constitution as amended to date."
If this provision were added to any of the proposed amendments to the Constitution, it would cut off at the knees the judges (and Justices) who think they have the right to twist the Constitution to mean whatever they want it to mean.
Congressman Billybob
I predicted he'd go all the way when he first announced; I've had some second thoughts about that one, but Beasley looks to have a focused message and a focused campaign, and I'm feeling better about what I said.
I'd like to see a poll on this race. The primary's not 'til Jun but this baby's already heating up.
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