Posted on 06/22/2004 10:37:09 AM PDT by Salo
Beasley's Last Laugh
There are plenty of reasons to vote for David Beasley in the June 22 Republican primary runoff, but beating Inez Tenenbaum in the race to succeed Ernest Hollings isn't one of them.
OK, maybe there aren't a lot of reasons to vote for Beasley. Upon reflection, I can't think of even one. Entertainment value, maybe? Hiring the incompetent because they're fun to watch?
But the fertilizer being flung by the ex-gov's guru Richard Quinn that Beasley is the best Republican for November is pungent even for an agricultural state like South Carolina. If there is any chance the voters of South Carolina will send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate this year - and there isn't - the only Republican who aids the liberal cause is David Beasley. Because he's the only Republican who costs his own party votes.
In his failed bid to be re-elected governor in 1998, David Beasley lost an estimated 25 percent of the Republican vote to Democrat Jim Hodges. According to exit polling, these Republicans simply didn't trust David Beasley as a person. Perhaps Beasley is no longer the same person. Perhaps he's changed. But why in the world would Republicans take that chance?
For S.C. Republicans, the easy, obvious, no-brainer candidate is U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint. A solid conservative without Beasley's baggage, DeMint keeps the GOP coalition of evangelical Christians and country club business types together and everyone (except Inez Tenenbaum) goes home happy. How easy is that?
But whether it's Beasley or DeMint in November, there is one person on the ticket Tenenbaum cannot beat, and that's George W. Bush. South Carolina voters are champing at the bit to show their support for the president and, through him, the soldiers on the ground in Iraq. Slamming the president by sending a Democrat to Washington, D.C., is not on their agenda.
I have underestimated Tenenbaum before and her affable husband Sam has taunted me for it many times. And I deserved it. Sam points out that Inez supports the war in Iraq, but this only loses her votes on the Left. It gains her absolutely nothing on the Right.
I'm sorry, Inez, but it just ain't gonna happen. Not this year.
Which means that, instead of casting a vote based on who will hold onto the seat, S.C. Republicans are free to vote for the man who most deserves the opportunity to go to the U.S. Senate.
And that man is not David Beasley.
It's not because David Beasley flip-flopped on the Confederate flag by first promising to leave it flying, then trying to take it down, then promising (again) to leave it up during the desperation of his 1998 campaign.
It's not because he flip-flopped on the lottery, promising to veto any lottery bill, then completely changing his position just hours before a debate against Hodges.
It's not because he flip-flopped from Reagan-style "free trade" to Pat Buchanan protectionism, which he may or may not have done. I've read a dozen Beasley statements on trade and I still don't have a clue as to what his position really is. Beasley probably doesn't, either.
It's not because of the fiasco that was the Beasley administration, with spies sneaking into the Department of Public Safety in the dark of night to grab documents about improperly handled grants; or trying to put his campaign slogan "Putting Families First" on every taxpayer-funded license plate; or backing out of the Southeastern nuclear waste compact and turning South Carolina into the nation's nuclear dump site again.
It's not even because he said he ran a record-setting 40-yard dash, or played in the College World Series, or had a degree in microbiology or that his family came over on the Mayflower or any number of nonsensical things that have crossed the silken tongue of the son of society hill.
David Beasley doesn't deserve the opportunity to go to the U.S. Senate because South Carolina is no longer a state that deserves David Beasley.
There was a day when Beasley was the poster boy for politics in the Palmetto State - dopey leadership for a dumbed-down state. But with the passing of Strom Thurmond and the retirement of Fritz Hollings, and with the Hodges and Beasley governorships fading into memory, South Carolina could be on the verge of punch-line-free politics. For the first time in my lifetime, South Carolina could have a full slate of politicians its citizens could (I can't believe I'm saying this) be proud of.
No segregationist septuagenarians in the U.S. Senate, no half-wit homeboys in the U.S. House. When Charleston's Henry Brown is the goofiest guy on our political team, that is definitely progress. (Yes, I'm ignoring the General Assembly. What do you expect, miracles?)
So don't dump Beasley again because he's a flip-flopper or wishy-washy or incompetent or dumb. Do it because he's a joke.
South Carolina, this is your chance to really have the last laugh.
SC Ping.
From what I heard within the GOP groups in the state, most are wanting DeMint to be nominated, but most merely want Beasley for face/name value. I say Beasley wins, but in a close runoff, where he'll beat Tenenbaum (the perennial liberal Dem candidate of SC) soundly.
As a northerner, I hadn't focused intently on the race. But when I read a good article on it a week or so ago, I went right to DeMint's web site and made a contribution.
From all indications, it sounds as if he should win the primary and the general. Won't that be satisfying!
Either candidate will thrash IT, but I want DeMint to win.
Heading to the polls this afternoon on my way home from work and voting for Demint. I'll support Weaseley in the general if he pulls off the primary win, but I sure won't like it.
}:-)4
Already voted for DeMint - only know one very committed Beasely voter, and he's out of town. Hoping Beasley will be a bad memory after 7 pm tonight.
Wow Kalifornya all over again.
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