Another day, another “whites only” club in Columbia, S.C. – only this one has some prominent members with decidedly liberal roots, including one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s nominees to the federal bench.
This website has written extensively in the past on these “legacy” institutions – including the infamous lily white Forest Lake Country Club – but it recently came to our attention that we have neglected to write about the Columbia Garden Club, perhaps the most hoity toity of the city’s “Kracker Konclaves.”
“Founded in 1926, the Columbia Garden Club has promoted a love of gardening among amateurs, encouraged civic beautification by sponsoring plantings in both public and private places, protected our native trees, flowers and birds through conservation efforts, and delighted South Carolina citizens with its decoration projects,” the organization’s website states.
They’ve also decorated the Governor’s Mansion each holiday season for the last thirty-five years.
Among the notable members of the club? Candy Dawson, wife of former SCGOP chairman Katon Dawson – a man whose duplicitous hypocrisy regarding his Forest Lake Country Club membership cost him a shot at being chairman of the National Republican Committee. Chris Hoefer Myers – sister of S.C. Supreme Court justice Jean H. Toal – is also a member, as is Susan DePass, whose husband Rusty DePass once compared U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama to an escaped gorilla at a local zoo.
One of the club’s newest members? Jamie Harpootlian – wife of former two-time S.C. Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian – who was admitted recently at the request of liberal U.S. District Court judge Mary Geiger Lewis, another recent member.
Ironically, Lewis was nominated to the bench by U.S. President Barack Obama – based on the recommendation of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn.
Yeah …
As we noted in our recent coverage of Jack and Jill – an allegedly discriminatory all-black private club – we have no problem with these groups choosing to accept or reject whomever they wish. But by making those determinations on the basis of race, their members are opening themselves up to legitimate criticism.
UPDATE: For the record “NO,” our criticism has absolutely NOTHING to do with this group repeatedly turning its nose up at our founding editor’s award-winning floral arrangements.
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80 comments
So “you have no problem with” all-black or all-white clubs, but you criticize them nonetheless, stating that such a practice opens their members up to “legitimate” criticism. So are we to assume that your criticism is therefore “illegitimate” since you have no problem with them? Never mind, it is after all a slow and lazy summer afternoon.
Willie “has no problem” with them as in he isn’t going to tell them they can’t do what they are doing. It’s the same notion as freedom of speech. I don’t have to like what someone says, I can’t stop them from saying what they want, but I damn sure can criticize it.
Exactly. Thank you, Smirks, for continuing to bring reason and logic to the comments section at FITSNews. There is a dearth of it.
Gillon and CNSYD (whose reflexive anti-me kneejerk is bound to be somewhere on here sooner rather than later) are good for the discussion, I think. Morons being exposed is good for the marketplace of ideas.
I agree. Sic Willie’s moronic babble is always good for exposure of libertarians.
Maybe Willie needs to have you proofread his musings for clarity. Incidentally, the picture of the white camellia–was that included because it happened to be available, or has Willie been reading up on the history of Reconstruction? Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
That flower is growing in MY garden, bitches.
Don’t get upset now. Remember all this is “good for the marketplace of ideas” and all that.
And Mrs. Sic looks fabulous wearing it in her hair — that’s two “thumbs up” for you.
Camellias bloom in winter….gardenias in summer. That pic is not a gardenia of course. Perhaps a white crepe myrtle would have been more appropriate. There is a college near I 85 that can provide insight on SC bloomers.
Looks like a rose to TBG.
Particularly the fact that the “Knights” opposed the Republican Party.
Looks more like a “Silver Moon” rose, to me – I have one that’s at least 73 years old in my yard.
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” I guess.
It’s a hybrid white camellia. Apropos of the article’s subject on Race, there was once a Klannish organization called the “Knights of the White Camellia.. Of course there is also an “Order of the White Rose” but I think that’s a Finnish honor sort of like a knighthood – wait, that’s racist…
It’s a rose, Gillon. Obviously, you aren’t in any garden club.
So “you have no problem with” all-black or all-white clubs, but you criticize them nonetheless, stating that such a practice opens their members up to “legitimate” criticism. So are we to assume that your criticism is therefore “illegitimate” since you have no problem with them? Never mind, it is after all a slow and lazy summer afternoon.
Willie “has no problem” with them as in he isn’t going to tell them they can’t do what they are doing. It’s the same notion as freedom of speech. I don’t have to like what someone says, I can’t stop them from saying what they want, but I damn sure can criticize it.
Exactly. Thank you, Smirks, for continuing to bring reason and logic to the comments section at FITSNews. There is a dearth of it.
Gillon and CNSYD (whose reflexive anti-me kneejerk is bound to be somewhere on here sooner rather than later) are good for the discussion, I think. Morons being exposed is good for the marketplace of ideas.
I agree. Sic Willie’s moronic babble is always good for exposure of libertarians.
Maybe Willie needs to have you proofread his musings for clarity. Incidentally, the picture of the white camellia–was that included because it happened to be available, or has Willie been reading up on the history of Reconstruction? Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
That flower is growing in MY garden, bitches.
Don’t get upset now. Remember all this is “good for the marketplace of ideas” and all that.
And Mrs. Sic looks fabulous wearing it in her hair — that’s two “thumbs up” for you.
Camellias bloom in winter….gardenias in summer. That pic is not a gardenia of course. Perhaps a white crepe myrtle would have been more appropriate. There is a college near I 85 that can provide insight on SC bloomers.
Looks like a rose to TBG.
Particularly the fact that the “Knights” opposed the Republican Party.
Looks more like a “Silver Moon” rose, to me – I have one that’s at least 73 years old in my yard.
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” I guess.
It’s a hybrid white camellia. Apropos of the article’s subject on Race, there was once a Klannish organization called the “Knights of the White Camellia.. Of course there is also an “Order of the White Rose” but I think that’s a Finnish honor sort of like a knighthood – wait, that’s racist…
It’s a rose, Gillon. Obviously, you aren’t in any garden club.
Sic Willie would not want to be a member of a club that would have him as a member.
CNSYD as I live and breathe!
I have to give attribution to Groucho Marx.
Why? Didn’t Will Rogers say that?
Edit: It was Groucho Marx.
Groucho said that since his daughter was half-Jewish she should
be allowed to go into the pool up to her waist.
My favorite Grouchoism:
“East is East and West is West and…if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce…it tastes more like prunes than rhubarb does.”
Sic Willie would not want to be a member of a club that would have him as a member.
CNSYD as I live and breathe!
I have to give attribution to Groucho Marx.
Why? Didn’t Will Rogers say that?
Edit: It was Groucho Marx.
Groucho said that since his daughter was half-Jewish she should
be allowed to go into the pool up to her waist.
My favorite Grouchoism:
“East is East and West is West and…if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce…it tastes more like prunes than rhubarb does.”
I used to work somewhere in Columbia where garden clubs participated in one of our annual events. There is a predominately black garden club downtown which was created because the women could not join Columbia Garden Club. They used to take real pride in the fact that at shows where they both participated, they always beat out the Columbia Garden Club women.
They were probably actually interested in gardening.
And I’ll bet black men tended most of the snoot-set’s gardens anyway.
I used to work somewhere in Columbia where garden clubs participated in one of our annual events. There is a predominately black garden club downtown which was created because the women could not join Columbia Garden Club. They used to take real pride in the fact that at shows where they both participated, they always beat out the Columbia Garden Club women.
They were probably actually interested in gardening.
And I’ll bet black men tended most of the snoot-set’s gardens anyway.
Garden clubs are full of “Blooming Idiots”….having been a member of one I can tell you that who’s planting their stems into someone else’s wife is discussed more than petunias.
Garden clubs are full of “Blooming Idiots”….having been a member of one I can tell you that who’s planting their stems into someone else’s wife is discussed more than petunias.
@FITS – I’m not sure The Cola. Garden Club would let you in either. It’s only for women. Sorry dude.
yeah but I have better taste in women’s shoes than all those bitches
pics, please?
Great lech(I prefer black engineer boots,and nothing else)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qbeIwn5jR8
@FITS – I’m not sure The Cola. Garden Club would let you in either. It’s only for women. Sorry dude.
yeah but I have better taste in women’s shoes than all those bitches
pics, please?
Great lech(I prefer black engineer boots,and nothing else)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qbeIwn5jR8
That is amazing that Harpootlian and Lewis would be member of such an organization that excludes members of a particular race–particularly Lewis since she is a sitting federal judge.
Why? Because all Republicans are racist and all Democrats are saintly progressives? That’s one of the biggest misconceptions out there and one that Democratic leadership has been remarkably effective harping on until people assumed it was true.
Probably because people who are in positions of power or in the spotlight tend to exercise better judgment than people who are not.
And both of Queen Jean Hoefer Toal’s sisters, Chris Myers and Lilla Hackett. The SC Democratic elite are such hypocrites.
That is amazing that Harpootlian and Lewis would be member of such an organization that excludes members of a particular race–particularly Lewis since she is a sitting federal judge.
Why? Because all Republicans are racist and all Democrats are saintly progressives? That’s one of the biggest misconceptions out there and one that Democratic leadership has been remarkably effective harping on until people assumed it was true.
Probably because people who are in positions of power or in the spotlight tend to exercise better judgment than people who are not.
And both of Queen Jean Hoefer Toal’s sisters, Chris Myers and Lilla Hackett. The SC Democratic elite are such hypocrites.
Is Nikki Haley a member??? I bet she has some whinney tale to tell about how the Garden Club “ladies” couldn’t decide whether to let her join because she was “brown”.
Is Nikki Haley a member??? I bet she has some whinney tale to tell about how the Garden Club “ladies” couldn’t decide whether to let her join because she was “brown”.
Has anyone not “lily white” been rejected for membership in the Columbia Garden Club?
Has anyone not “lily white” been rejected for membership in the Columbia Garden Club?
Whats the big deal about a white or black garden club? Does everything known to man have to always be about the color of one’s skin? We have all white or all black churches so time to step outside the color box and just be people………
Whats the big deal about a white or black garden club? Does everything known to man have to always be about the color of one’s skin? We have all white or all black churches so time to step outside the color box and just be people………
Who wants to be in a Garden Club and why is this news?
Who wants to be in a Garden Club and why is this news?
This is a subject I know well. I’ve done it. The ‘garden clubs’ take credit ,while people who actually know something about horticulture and landscaping,do the work,and that includes ,black guys….You think those bitches are gonna get their hands dirty? Sheeeit!
Fits is defensive because he’s deliberately being racist,and he knows it(I hope).
This is a subject I know well. I’ve done it. The ‘garden clubs’ take credit ,while people who actually know something about horticulture and landscaping,do the work,and that includes ,black guys….You think those bitches are gonna get their hands dirty? Sheeeit!
Fits is defensive because he’s deliberately being racist,and he knows it(I hope).
SIC, BS. You justed posted this article to neutralize how bad the Jack and Jill semi-black bitches really are and some of your semi-black supporters have gotten to you. That’s okay. The Benjamins are coming down anyway. Mary Geiger Lewis and Jamie Harpootlian hypercrites? No crap, Sherlock. Ask Rusty Foster, Esq.
SIC, BS. You justed posted this article to neutralize how bad the Jack and Jill semi-black bitches really are and some of your semi-black supporters have gotten to you. That’s okay. The Benjamins are coming down anyway. Mary Geiger Lewis and Jamie Harpootlian hypercrites? No crap, Sherlock. Ask Rusty Foster, Esq.
Sic: Check this out. Seems you went national and Judge Lewis’ involvement here.
http://www.quintonreport.com/2013/07/27/is-obama-appointed-judge-a-member-of-an-all-white-club/
Sic: Check this out. Seems you went national and Judge Lewis’ involvement here.
http://www.quintonreport.com/2013/07/27/is-obama-appointed-judge-a-member-of-an-all-white-club/
Why can’t Whites have their own clubs and Blacks the same? We are adults, aren’t we?
Why can’t Whites have their own clubs and Blacks the same? We are adults, aren’t we?