THREE REASONS …
Let’s get one thing straight: Nikki Haley hates being governor of South Carolina almost as much as South Carolina hates Nikki Haley being its governor. Get past the transparent “It’s a Great Day in South Carolina” cheer-babble and you’ll find a woman who desperately wants to take her game (such as it is) to the next level.
That’s why Palmetto politicos are scratching their heads trying to figure out why Haley passed up a perfect opportunity to ditch her current gig – which clearly doesn’t suit her – in exchange for the U.S. Senate, where she could have rebranded herself with voters at home while dramatically elevating her national profile.
Seriously … Haley’s announcement that she was ruling herself out of contention for DeMint’s seat caught many (including us) off guard, initially. However looking at it in perspective it makes sense.
Three reasons …
(1) Glenn McConnell wasn’t going to play ball
Technically, Haley couldn’t have appointed herself to fill DeMint’s seat – she would have had to resign as governor and then been appointed to the Senate post by Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell. Given McConnell’s longstanding feud with Haley, that was going to be a dicey proposition.
(2) Self-appointment never works
Only once in the last eighty years has a governor who appointed himself to the U.S. Senate been able to hang onto that seat in the next election. Who was it? Kentucky Gov. Albert “Happy” Chandler – who appointed himself in 1939 and then won elections in 1940 and 1942 (Chandler resigned his seat in 1945 to become baseball commissioner). Every other time it’s happened – including here in South Carolina in 1965 – the governor appointing himself has been defeated in the very next election.
(3) Haley’s numbers are still terrible
Haley’s current approval rating is just 38 percent statewide – 61 percent amongst registered Republicans. Not only has her administration suffered a thousand small cuts, she’s absorbed a pair of major body blows – the “Savannah River Sellout” and the ongoing debacle at the S.C. Department of Revenue. In other words she really can’t afford to take another hit – like the blowback from a self-serving appointment.
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30 comments
And yet she says she won’t appoint Stephen Colbert because he didn’t know that S.C.’s state drink was milk? Shouldn’t it be sweet tea instead?
Unlike the other losers routinely mentioned for the senate seat, Colbert has a SuperPAC full of cash and ready to go. Maybe that $$ can be put to use on a new governor who knows that no one in S.C. (except babies) drinks milk.
Colbert plays you giddy little, pop culture dulards for fools…
He is as much a lame and predicable cliche as you and FITS…
the only reason she did not do it was because she could not pull it off.
exactly
Will,
You use the term “still terrible” like you expect them to improve. Something you want to tell us about?
I’ve long felt the “he doth protest too much” principle applied, and been suspicious that Will may actually intend to help Haley. He has inside information far too fast for the normal OODA loop to operate.
There are 535 members in Congress. Around 10% are sought after in Washington DC social and media circles and the job is fun for them. The rest of them are slogging through shit on a daily basis, doing constituent stuff, hating most every minute of it. The reason for having the job is as a stepping stone to bigger, better, high paying, no show jobs. Jim DeMint grabbed the brass ring. Given that she only has this one shot, I’m surprised Nikki isn’t going for it.
yes, I think it has become clear that the reason most politicians run is because they can get a salary + benefits and perks they could never, ever hope to get if they had to settle for a job that depends on their actual intellect, talent and skills rather than their anti-social personality traits.
Joe Wilson is a perfect example of this.
She has already accomplshed more in 2 years than Sanford was able to do in 8…He was just a much better con-artist…
She is far from as BAD as you say, especially when cmpared to thre cretin who soiled the office before her…but there are better Conservatives than her…So she could face a challenge…
That said: FITS’ Democrat-Obama Buffoons have no shot, regardless…
This post proves one thing. You are absolutely insane.
She’s a train wreck in every way possible.
Only through the eyes of blind haters…
Unemployment’s down, Funding to liberal art gruoups is down. The education lobby has been gut-punched.
Massive pay raises to gov’t workers has slowed.
Gov’t workrs have been made to share in their insurance costs.
Homer-Schoolers are NOT discriminated against for extra-curriculars (Tip of the ice-burg to taxpayer funding of private schools)….
Continetal Tire, Brigestone, Amazon have located here, in addition to expansions of other industries…
Discovered and dealt openly w/ hacking attack…
Much to do: But Haley is doing OK…
Judging by your posts, grammar is down too.
Amazon? Come on..u know better than that.
BUT – is Stevie Coal-Bear a “resident” South Carolinian???
…. must the nominee be a resident of SC? I don’t know the rule.
Insider word says that GagMaster has tentatively accepted Nikki’s offer to be a caretaker senator for two years. The unspoken but apparent part of the bargain clears the way for Nikki to run for the seat. But wait!
Sources close to Mac say that he, as an incumbent, would challenge Lindsey Graham for the other senate seat: two incumbents.
Henry plans to take after his ol’ mentor, Strom, and be at every in-state event the next two years. He plans to out-flank Lindsey on the right, gaining Tea Party and libertarian support, maintaining his Establishment base, while preempting other challengers to Lindsey, and a few Democrats who refreshingly recall that as attorney general, he was “not Condon.”
This is the preliminary plan, but the situation is volatile. Stay tuned.
this is dumb post. stop dunking and go to bed.
“GagMaster has tentatively accepted Nikki’s offer”
Laughable. “Foghorn Cleghorn” hasn’t ever tentatively accepted or declined any appointment that was free of merit. His whole damn resume is based on merit, the lack thereof.
The only way McMaster has any semblance of connection to Strom would be that Strom’s best dribbled down his leg.
For God’s sake, he couldn’t even find his way back to Winnsboro, much less Greeleyville.
Henry is no Strom and won’t ever be no matter how many events he attends.
Henry could HELP constituents mired up to their eyeballs in manure and win points.
If it’s Henry, it’s clearly and only up to him to decide how badly he would want to return to the district.
He didn’t step forward after the primary to support Haley for nothing. He is very shrewd and played what remained of his hand like a pro. This would be his reward for his loyalty. McMaster was the first person that came to mind when I heard DeMint was resigning…would not surprise me at all if he is appointed.
I’m glad she did not aPpoint herself cause she would be in DC out of the SC limelight. She is, make no mistake about it, ONE FUCKING HOT HOT HOT LOOKING WOMAN.
Unless I missed it, as of Saturday morning she had not made a pick.
So she is still in play, because she is a player, how much of one, we shall see.
Is there any doubt that Glenn wants to become the Admiral Gov.
Glenn can not do that in an election.
Most would say that after two years, the Gov post gets boring.
So perhaps he is just being Glenn and has not fully agreed to anything yet, while she lets every ego in the State see the name they love the best, their own, in head lines as a potential.
After all the boys get picked, she then says, “after careful examination I believed that I was the only choice with a Statewide mandat and so I will go and fight Obama in DC.
And then large numbers of people contemplate what life is like the next day with Gov Glen and all his knowledge pulling the levers.
The point about being closeted is that it only scares you if you are ashamed or it can prevent you from getting to your goal.
If he is Gov, then what else is there to accomplish.
He can not be impeached for being a penis sucker. Because he may just start naming other penis lovers in the State and that scares more people than you might think.
Sail on Nikki, this is the last chapter of an improbable ride. make the most of it. DC FITS your lifestyle very well.
And Glenn, Gail says go for it.
I hope Glenn is thinking along these lines.
Send Haley to DC where she will be un-elected in 2 years.
Then, she can get a job at the RNC – they love their tokens there – or a think tank as stupid as Heritage and be gone from SC permanently. Maybe, she will take her entire family with her.
Glenn is the kind of experienced politiciam who could actually do good things for the state PLUS, he doesn’t have the kind of blind ambition to forever seek higher office.
We don’t need any more governors using us a stepping stones in a career.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to take over DeMint’s room at C Street…Only women allowed to sleep there are mistresses…Oh wait,according to Will, she qualifies.
(4) Ethics
As governor, Governot Nikki Haley basically as free will to do as she pleases. Sure, the Ethics Commission has told her that she must value those flights that she takes on those “Corporate Flying Boardrooms”, ie, charted flights on Gulfstream jets and such at their true operating costs, rather than valuing the flights with a small entourage as mass transit coach airfares.
Even though, during her primary and general election, she said that she was going up against the “Good Ol’ Boy” system, she has become one of the “Good Ol’ Boys” with her wheeling and dealing. She’s just a regular “Boss Hogg” from the Dukes of Hazzard.
Governot Haley is doing an effective job at bamboozling the nation’s public, except for South Carolina, as to what she is not.
Alaska Governot, Sarah Palin, had a thin skin even though she lived in Alaska. Governot Haley has an even thinner skin than Palin.
When Governot Haley is critizied, she pulls our her “race card” and claims that she’s being blamed because of racism.
What no one seems to realize is that no one other than Jim Demint has anything to do with this appointment other than protocol. A senator with Demint’s tenure and power would not have ever announced his resignation without first getting full assurance from the Governor that his choice would win the day. The time lapse is just part of the act. Onward and upward Tim Scott!
coolhandluke at 10.58pm:
You have been spending way too much time alone. Are you sure you aren’t “HOT-hand Luke”?
—- CONFESS!
I am beginning to believe that Big T(urd) is Simran.
The real reason: she doesn’t think she’s done a good enough job in her current position:
http://t.co/eDvCsr5C