Tag: dirty tricks

Civil War Within the South Carolina Republican Party

(Ed. Note: This is a guest editorial by a long time Conservative Libertarian-Republican)

On July 13th, 2021 the Horry County Republican Party approved a resolution to censure Drew McKissick, the Chairman of the SCGOP, for interfering in the reorganization process of the Greenville Republican Party.
This action may be somewhat confusing to anyone who has not played close attention to South Carolina politics or even national Republican Party politics during the past decade.
In case you have not noticed, there is a civil war going on within the Republican Party between those who want to see a Republican Party that is an actual opposition party to the Democrats and those who like the status quo, we’ll call them the “Establishment”.
Just a quick pedantic moment from “the Hoff”. We all know what the Democrat Party stands for these days. That party has been taken over by the progressive movement, some call them the socialists, and others call them Marxists. Basically, the party stands for big government collectivism with massive controls over your individual and economic lives. For many of us conservatives, this means the death of our constitutional republic which was based on limited government, individualism, and a respect for our unalienable rights (given to us by our creator, not government). We conservatives (who the press label as “extremists”) value individual and economic freedom. In today’s political environment, the U.S. really only has two parties that can influence national and international policy; the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. Therein lies the rub.
Since we know what the Democrat Party stands for, what does the Republican Party stand for? To be a true opposition party to the Democrat Party, the Republican Party would have to stand for limited government, respect for our unalienable rights, and be a strong defender of less government interference in the marketplace. The Republican Party unfortunately has been anything but the opposition party. In our own beautiful Palmetto State the Republican Party has significantly increased the size and scope of the state government, increased taxes at every opportunity, infringed on most of our unalienable rights (due process, right to keep and bear arms, etc, etc,) and has increased the regulatory environment where the middle class small business owner today finds it hard to compete with big business (crony capitalism).
Thus, the civil war within the Republican Party between the Establishment and the Reformers. The reformers want to give voters a real choice at the polls, not just a choice between socialism and socialism-lite.

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The Dirty Tricks Campaign Against Johnny Gardner

We live in a political climate where dirty tricks are used to create rumors to smear those seen as enemies by the rumormongers.

These rumors, lies are what they really are, come in all shapes and sizes, but they have the same thing in common – to discredit the person they are aimed against.

How well they work depends on the gullibility of the audience they are targeted to influence.

Some of the more ridiculous rumors about public figures we have heard include:

Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a young man attended parties where women were routinely gang raped. That one pushed the envelope too far to be believed.

In late 2015 when Donald Trump had established himself as a serious contender for the Republican nomination, a fake story said he told a magazine in 1998 if he ever ran for president it would be as a Republican because “they’re the dumbest group of voters in the country” and that “he could lie and they’d still eat it up.” Rather than hurt him with Republican voters, Trump went on to win the nomination and election.

In the 2000 primary season, John McCain was accused of fathering an illegitimate black child, which was actually a child from Bangladesh that McCain and his wife adopted. This one stuck a bit with South Carolina voters as George Bush came from behind to win the South Carolina primary and go on to be elected president.

Rumors were circulated about Nikki Haley having multiple affairs during the 2010 primary season, which the voters disregarded. In fact, the rumors were so poorly presented that Haley vaulted from fourth place to win the Republican nomination and go on to twice being elected South Carolina Governor.

More recently, Horry County citizens have been presented with a rumor about county council chairman Johnny Gardner. Interestingly, the Columbia website that played a prominent part in publishing a leaked memo about the fictitious plot from county attorney Arrigo Carotti, written in conjunction with administrator Chris Eldridge, was the same website that played a prominent part in the Haley rumors.

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SC Moves to Republican Primary Center Stage

For the next 11 days, South Carolina will be center stage for Republican candidates attempting to gain a claim to their party’s presidential nomination.

If history has anything to tell us, it is also time to let the dirty tricks begin, especially with a Bush candidacy in trouble and needing a big showing in South Carolina to remain relevant.

In 2000, after John McCain slapped George W with an 18 point loss in New Hampshire, all the Lee Atwater wannabe’s associated with the Bush campaign in South Carolina smeared McCain as being gay, fathering an illegitimate child, committing treason and having a drug addicted wife, among other things.

With Jeb Bush’s candidacy on life support, I can’t wait to see what the dark side comes up with between now and voting on February 20th.

Of course, this year is different. There is an anti-establishment anger among voters. A full 90% of New Hampshire voters said they were dissatisfied with the federal government in exit polls and 50% of both Republican and Democratic voters said they want an outsider as a candidate in November.

And with 35% of the Republican vote in New Hampshire, Donald Trump demonstrated he is for real by bringing those angry voters under his tent.

A key question in South Carolina voting is how well John Kasich can do. Taking second in New Hampshire voting with 16%, Kasich needs another good showing in South Carolina to demonstrate his campaign is for real.

Ted Cruz gained 12% of the New Hampshire vote with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio each capturing 11%. All are hoping for at least a second place finish to Trump in South Carolina to continue momentum into Super Tuesday voting on March 1st.

Although, for Bush, it appears his only hope is to keep using the large donations he has received to stay in the primaries, finishing third or worse along the way, and hope for a brokered convention where his cronies may be able to swing the nomination his way.

Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina dropped out of the race yesterday and it’s time for Ben Carson to do the same.

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Dirty Tricks Hit Horry County Council District 6

By Paul Gable
It took a while, but what passes for dirty tricks has arrived in the special primary runoff election for Horry County Council District 6.
A piece arrived in the mail today for District 6 voters stating the LGBT Association of Horry County supports Cam Crawford.
On the back side of the card it states Crawford will sponsor a county ordinance that will provide tax breaks for same-sex couples.
Such an ordinance is an impossibility to introduce. There is no provision in state law, which is what county ordinances must conform to, to allow for such a tax break. Just goes to show how little the author knows about South Carolina law and county legislation.
Then, when you consider there is no LGBT Association of Horry County, the only conclusion that can be drawn is Crawford’s opponent thinks this mailer will hurt Crawford’s vote count.
The piece looks to be exactly the same stock and typesetting that was used in an attempt to smear Tyler Servant during his campaign for Horry County Council District 5.
Now it has moved over to the special election campaign for Horry County Council District 6.
Is there a common denominator in both campaigns?
Possibly one. Jay Specter managed Chuck Ottwell’s campaign for District 5. The same Jay Specter is managing the campaign of Kirk Hanna for District 6.
Is Specter the common denominator? No way to know for sure, but if this piece does hurt Crawford, Hanna would be the only beneficiary.
Dirty Tricks 2.0 is more inflammatory than its predecessor in District 5 with a final line which reads in part, “let Cam know you are here because you are queer and are queer because you are here.”
I doubt it will work. The attempt backfired in the District 5 race as Servant’s voters were energized to get out the vote in response.
Not only should Crawford’s supporters be energized, but the entire LGBT community as well as all reasonable people who see this for what it is.

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Freedom Works Weighs In on District 56

Over the last two days, I have received two e-mails from FreedomWorks, an initial statement and an expanded statement after I requested one. The statement is here in full:

October 25, 2012

Statement from Allen Page, Southeast Regional Director, FreedomWorks

Yesterday, I released the following statement. The statement was sent to Mr. Paul Gable.

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More Dirty Tricks

The past two days we have attempted to discover the source of a door hanger, that Grand Strand Daily has labeled “dirty tricks”. The door hanger appears to be a push piece favoring one candidate in the House District 56 race while claiming to be a non-partisan informational message to voters.

That quest continues as we are awaiting information from Freedom Works Southeast Regional Director Allen Page as to who printed and who paid for the door hanger. We were told yesterday that Page had all the information and would be in contact with Grand Strand Daily.

Regardless of the provenance of the door hanger and whether it is in fact a partisan piece, one question addressed on it falls into another area of dirty tricks that is much more egregious, in our opinion.

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