Haley Watch: The Governor's star turn

As reported yesterday, our fashionable governor took the podium at the Republican National Convention last night, camera-ready for her big close-up, and the reviews are in.

How'd she do?

For those of you lucky enough to miss it, SC Governor Nikki Haley read Barack Obama the riot act:

Haley then accused the Obama administration of launching an all-out assault on her state.

"The hardest part of my job continues to be this federal government, this administration and this president," Haley said, going on to say that "Obama will do everything he can to stand in your way," even if you play by the rules.

According to Haley, her state had attempted to implement "one of the most innovative illegal immigration laws in the country," bring jobs to South Carolina through a deal with Boeing and enact a voter ID measure, only to have the Obama administration bring lawsuits against them.

The Justice Department has sued South Carolina over its immigration law and voter ID measure over concerns that the legislation put the state in violation of various civil and voting rights acts. Obama's National Labor Relations Board eventually dismissed a union lawsuit against Boeing, which Haley suggested was a response to the state getting "loud."

Haley got a standing ovation for her support of voter ID laws, saying that it was a natural step when identifications were required to pass through airport security or purchase Sudafed from a drug store.

Really?

And here we thought it was just her overall incompetence that made her...totally incompetent. Instead, she blames her incompetence on the president. Good work if you can get it, and this song-and-dance has obviously taken Nikki all the way to the podium in Tampa.

Actually, the "hardest part of her job" appears to be the job itself, which she seems patently unable to do. As the Charleston City Paper correctly pointed out, she can't even talk to the South Carolina press, and prefers to model clothing for Vogue magazine instead:

Nikki Haley has refused to speak with members of the press, both those of the state's two largest and most influential dailies, the Post and Courier and The State, as well as the state's two alt-weeklies, The Free Times and the Charleston City Paper. On one occasion, Haley even ran away from reporter Renee Dudley.

How is this habitual scampering away from reporters, the fault of President Obama?

Hard-core conservatives like Will Folks, however, weren't having any. He ably picked apart the fine points of Nikki's speech. Folks gives away his Ron Paul-partisanship, when pointing out that:

[The] fight over Boeing was clouded by the fact that the company relies extensively on billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded subsidies doled out from both the state and federal governments.

Aside: It's a sad day when it's up to libertarians to do the job of (snort) "liberals," pointing out how working-class taxpayers regularly foot the bills for big business. This might be why Democrats do so poorly around here. It's usually been up to the Paulites to highlight CORPORATE welfare, while the rank-and-file Repubs natter on about "government handouts." I still remember our counter-demonstration at the local Republican debate, when Ron Paul supporters were the only ones to applaud one protester's sign, "Drug testing for corporate welfare recipients!" They loved it, as Will Folks would probably love it. The regular Republicans rolled their eyes and ignored us. (Same as they do with corporate welfare.)

Nikki Haley initially marketed herself as a Tea Party Republican, all ready to challenge the status quo, and she has instead rolled her eyes and ignored the malcontents, just like the rest of the big-money Repubs. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. One hopes the Tea Party-affiliated Republicans in this state will not sit back and simply allow her to shit all over them, in her breakneck-climb to the cover of Newsweek, her fashion spread in Vogue, and the Conservative Book Club bestseller's lists.

At left: Governor Haley's photo from The New York Times Magazine. (Since she is afraid to talk to the South Carolina press, we have to go to national media to find pictures of her.)




The Charleston Post and Courier reports:

Haley’s star status has been on display here for days. Monday morning, she won a standing ovation from Florida’s GOP delegation. Georgetown County GOP Chair Jim Jerow, who is at his first convention, was there and noted Haley “is growing in her job.”

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who had the biggest moment at the GOP convention four years ago, said Haley’s speech would be a good honor for the state and for her as an individual.

He said she needed to make the home team proud, please the “chattering class” in the media and make a personal connection. “I think she’s going to do really good,” he predicted.

Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., agreed with Graham’s prediction. “She’s going to showcase the state well. She always does,” he said. “It’s got to help her. I’m focused on how it helps us as a party. She’s going to be the face of the party.”

World-class stupidity as the "face of the party"! Well, they didn't mind hosting Dubya for eight years, so this isn't too surprising.

Growing in her job? WHAT, pray tell, does that mean? Sounds like an internship, rather than an elected office.

NPR says it's all about being a minority female. They are pushing her out front because they feel they have no choice:

It's become a perennial problem for Republicans, but not one that the party yet knows how to solve.

Recent polls show GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney taking a drubbing among minority groups, badly trailing President Obama among Hispanics, Asians and single women.

One recent poll showed Romney's support among African-Americans at 0 (yes, zero) percent.

In a sense, this is nothing new. As long ago as 2001, Rich Bond, a former head of the Republican National Committee, told The Washington Post: "We've taken white guys about as far as that group can go. We are in need of diversity, women, Latino, African-American, Asian."

What has changed is that minority voters now make up a large and growing share of the electorate. Between 1992 and 2008, the non-Anglo portion of the electorate doubled, to 26 percent from 13 percent, as measured by exit polls.

According to a recent National Journal analysis, Romney will need the percentage of white voters to remain at 74 percent nationwide — and he'll have to take 61 percent of that white vote — in order to win.

"This year or 2016 will be the last time Republicans can do as well as they've done in recent decades with [just] a strong showing among white voters," says Henry Olsen, vice president of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "At some point in the not so distant future, Republicans have to start doing better among minorities or they will not win elections."

One way the party is hoping to speak to minority voters is by having minority officeholders speak to them. The GOP's convention lineup this week is loaded with high-profile minorities, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (Thursday), former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Wednesday) and Govs. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Brian Sandoval of Nevada (who spoke Tuesday) and Susana Martinez of New Mexico (Wednesday).

Haley claims to be all about bringing minorities and women into the Republican Party. Um, since when?

Well, since she was elected and they gave her the script, of course:

"It's offensive to me as a woman and as a minority that Democrats can go and say, 'That party hates you,' and can get away with that," Haley told an editorial board from Gannett and USA Today on Tuesday.

Haley suggested that her party offers a welcoming home to many minority voters and is a good fit for them on issues such as the economy and jobs.

The "We Built It" theme of the Republican Convention, actually tramples all over minority people, who built most of the South, where the convention is. It tramples all over the maids and janitors who are cleaning up all the balloons and streamers and vodka-puke that the Republicans leave behind. Ann Romney's maids and assistants, the overworked-seamstresses who sew Nikki Haley's designer wardrobe, the lighting technicians and the retail/fast-food grunts and the hotel clerks and secretaries, THESE ARE THE PEOPLE who keep everything going. And they/we built it too.

And if you persist in NOT seeing this, Republicans, you will fail.

Your cartoon-convention, scrambling to find minorities and women to put on stage and on camera, is just that, a cartoon.

Governor Haley goes nationwide tonight

Governor Nikki Haley, Vogue-vetted fashion plate, models her trademark designer duds, while mouthing some indecipherable nonsense in Tampa at the Republican Convention. Since she has proudly bankrupted the working class of South Carolina, this is the closest the rest of us will ever get to designer clothes, so you might want to tune in tonight at 10pm to see what she wears.

~*~

The good news is, maybe she will get a national gig and GO AWAY.

The bad news? Tonight, the unbearable Haley-fawning reaches a fever pitch... Newsweek, Vogue, Christiane Amanpour, The View, a hardcover biography and now she is at last ready for prime time. All this prepping, all this hoopla, and you can almost hear em sing THERE SHE IS, MISS AMERICA... as she struts those infamous mega-pricey stilettos up to the GOP podium. This is it! She's ready for her close-up, Mr DeMille!!!

Some of the up-and-coming politicians who have historically been selected for this coveted time-slot at past conventions include Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Yes, our little Nikki has hit the big time. And all she's done is creatively manage her dad's books and dodge an ethics investigation. Oh yeah, and receive endless genuflection from the national press as an attractive Indian-American female star for the GOP; currently the youngest governor in the country.

As Newsweek famously summed her up two years ago:

[The GOP's] freshly anointed gubernatorial nominee arrived: Nikki Haley, 38 years old and Indian-American, wearing a snug, saffron-colored suit and stilettos you could impale a small animal with. Only a few months ago, she was an obscure state representative. Then former Alaska governor Sarah Palin endorsed her, the Tea Party movement embraced her, and she proceeded to dispatch a U.S. congressman, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general in the Republican primary and runoff. Now she’s the hottest thing in South Carolina politics. And if she wins in November, becoming the state’s first female and first nonwhite governor, she’ll likely rocket to national prominence and secure a spot in the GOP firmament.

Yes, and here we are.

Ron Paul draws thousands of eager, dedicated young kids to the Republican Party and hosts raucous Republican rallies, yet he is denied a speaking spot at the Republican Convention, while our governor, a walking disaster (albeit a very fashionable one), who can't even make sure our roads are repaired, is officially anointed as the hot new thing.

As Ayn Rand would say, choke on it, Congressman Paul, life isn't fair.

And all because she endorsed Romney early and allowed Mitt and Ann (as well as every other Republican presidential candidate) to use the Governor's mansion as a Motel 6, on our dime. She has just given her staff big raises (again, on our dime), but is nonetheless heralded as a fiscal conservative and Tea Party true-believer. And just wait till she gets started on her newest melodramatic role, "military spouse"--a role she coincidentally landed just in time for the convention.

It's enough to make you sick.

Like, really sick.

And hey, I ain't the only one. Her jilted lover, blogger Will Folks, is even more nauseated than the state's lefties are.

For him, it's personal, as he offers an amazing (and quite comprehensive) a laundry list of her offenses at his conservative blog, FITSNews. He reminds everyone of what is now known as the Savannah River Sellout, and fulminates at some length. (Preach it, Will!)

But in the end, we are just huffing and puffing. It's Haley's night. I've got some DVDs, some Marx Brothers, some American Dad, and if it gets too painful, I will not subject myself to lengthy torture. After all, I live here under Queen Nikki's rule, and I am tortured every time I drive down Woodruff Road, taking my life in my hands.

The only good thing about Romney possibly winning the election, is that Queen Nikki will undoubtedly be dispatched elsewhere. (But then, what about the rest of the country?)

I'm afraid there is no good outcome, and either way, we all lose.

Enjoy the speech... and the fashionistas among you may want to play "name that designer!" while you watch. Bring those anti-nausea meds.

Babies having babies is a bad thing, Pt 2

Left: Alaska governor Sarah Palin, first Republican woman nominated for Vice President. Photo by ABC NEWS.

~*~

The Palin groupies are on my last good nerve. However, in reading their effusive praise of Governor Sarah Palin, I am at last able to articulate my problem with her.

I was once in the same position as Sarah Palin. I went into my high-school-aged daughter's room very late one night, to sneak some clean laundry into a drawer. And alas, she was gone, the window open, the curtain flapping in the night air. ALIEN ABDUCTION!?! Well, sorta.

It was, I knew, the Video Store Guy. I felt the blood rushing to my head. I was livid. As I wrote in the piece linked above, if I'd known about water-boarding then, I might have given it a try.

But quickly....another emotion flooded in. OMG. No. Please, no.

We must act. NOW.

Of course, no gynecologists were available at 3am in the morning here in the Carolinas, but I left a hysterical phone-message anyway: WE NEED AN APPOINTMENT! (Like, last week.)

As a Catholic, I don't mind admitting to you: I am uncomfortable with abortion. I would never have one. (I would also never make it illegal, FTR.) Therefore, the idea that I may have to make this decision for my minor child, sent me into a panic. I honestly didn't know if I could. The very idea made me dizzy, seriously. NOT GOING THERE.

Also, the idea that a BABY (Video Store Guy's BABY!!!!) might materialize on my doorstep, quite literally? NOT GOING THERE EITHER.

It should be noted that here in the south, my daughter was a seasoned veteran of abstinence-based education and workshops. They offer these everywhere; she attended several of these programs at her friends' churches, as well as one at our own. They aren't all bad; they are usually fun for the kids, featuring food, music and what-all. They try to emphasize positive family-communication through role-playing. They just didn't address the actual existence of Video Store Guy and his winsome good looks.

Clearly, that was gonna be MY job.

And so, I acted. After the Rx was given, I could actually breathe again. And as I mentioned in this space last week, I AM now a grandmother, but on my daughter's terms, and (WHEW!) Video Store Guy is long out of the picture.

~*~

This is why I am suspicious of the Sarah Palins of the world. We were in the same place, and she looked the other way. She allowed her daughter's biology to dictate her life. As a candidate, of course, any discussion of putting the baby up for adoption (a reasonable and intelligent choice, but one I knew my daughter would never choose, since she is incapable of giving even KITTENS away) has been scuttled. How much of a CHOICE is young Bristol being given? Was it her choice to broadcast her personal business all over the country, climbing on a stage PREGNANT and YOUNG, her sexual history up for discussion before she even realizes that this will follow her throughout her life? (Especially with an identifiable first name like BRISTOL: "Oh yeah, the kid from Alaska that got knocked up!" is not something you want to hear when you are in your 30s and trying to get a decent job.)

It is considered unfeminist to call Sarah Palin a lousy mother, yet she is the type of 'pro-family' and anti-feminist Republican woman who called ME a lousy mother when I dialed up the gynecologist. I received a phone call from one of the mothers of the aforementioned church-going teens, my daughter's friend. (Or, was.) The call went like so:

"Don't you think that's [birth control Rx] giving her permission to have sex?"

"Well," I replied, "She didn't ask my permission to climb out the window, so I don't think my permission matters much, at this point."

Of course, you all know the outcome of this conversation: this woman's daughter was no longer permitted to hang out with mine. And I'm sure Sarah Palin would have reacted similarly.

Interestingly, during the New Hampshire GOP presidential debate, back in 2000, there was this exchange between candidates Alan Keyes and John McCain:

KEYES [to McCain]: What you would say if your daughter was ever in a position where she might need an abortion? You answered [earlier today] that the choice would be up to her and then that you’d have a family conference. That displayed a profound lack of understanding of the basic issue of principle involved in abortion. After all, if your daughter said she was contemplating killing her grandmother for the inheritance, you wouldn’t say, “Let’s have a family conference.” You’d look at her and say “Just Say No,“ because that is morally wrong. It is God’s choice that that child is in the womb. And for us to usurp that choice in contradiction of our declaration of principles is just as wrong.

McCAIN: I am proud of my pro-life record in public life, and I will continue to maintain it. I will not draw my children into this discussion. As a leader of a pro-life party with a pro-life position, I will persuade young Americans [to] understand the importance of the preservation of the rights of the unborn.

And now, McCain chooses someone who DOES draw their children into this discussion, who is supposed to be an example for all of us. Senator John McCain has uttered the nauseatingly contrived phrase: AND WHAT A LOVELY FAMILY! AND WHAT A LOVELY FAMILY! at least 50 times now. (I just saw another stump speech with Palin today, in which he repeated this.) What are we to take away from that? That teenage pregnancy is good? That forcing girls to get married is good?

Sarah Palin's motherhood is being presented as a pro-life example. And as such, that POLITICAL example is open to analysis and criticism, since they are the ones making it political.

Not us.

(Crossposted at Feministe.)

Moose-lovers against Palin

No, I don't like Republican presidential nominee John McCain's new running mate, Alaska governor (and proud moose-hunting mama of five) Sarah Palin. Icky poo. More about which in due course.

But in the meantime, lots of people are writing really good stuff. I offer some links for your perusal:

Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview (Huffington Post)

Before the Speculative Commentary Gets Out of Hand (Feministe)

"It's not a choice, it's a child"--Except when it's beneficial to say it's a choice (The Curvature)

Palin (Astarte's Circus)

Turning Attention to Pregnancy Prevention (The Curvature)

Palin Also Supported The "Road To Nowhere" (And May Still) (Huffington Post)

Factchecking Palin (Obsidian Wings)

Thoughts on Palin Speech (The Curvature)

Palin Was Director of [Ted] Stevens' 527 Group (Crooks and Liars)

Palin Fails by her own standards (AlterNet)

How Palin Changed the Race (Politico)

EDITED TO ADD: From someone who has known Sarah Palin since 1992 (Anne Kilkenny of Wasilla, AK) (The LA Progressive)

The RNC has no Heart (unrepentant old hippie)

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean” (The LA Progressive)

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Listening to: New York Dolls - Trash
via FoxyTunes

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Bring Them Home Now!

MARCH ON THE RNC! (Thanks to Raven for poster!)

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Listening to: The Beatles - She Said She Said
via FoxyTunes