More On SC Dems “Big Lie”

VICTIMS OF THE NINETY-SIX TUBERCULOSIS OUTBREAK KNOW WHO TO BLAME

Last week we published a piece entitled “SC Democrats Big Lie.” This story chronicled the ongoing – and 100 percent dishonest – efforts by the Palmetto State’s perpetual minority party to pin the mishandling of a March 2013 tuberculosis outbreak in Ninety Six, S.C. on Gov. Nikki Haley.

Missed our report? Click here … 

This story was a bit out of the ordinary for FITS in that it took a position defending Haley’s administration … something we almost never do (because there’s almost never a good reason to do it). But this is one of those exceedingly rare instances in which the truth is on Haley’s side … and we felt compelled to point it out.

Anyway this departure from the norm caused some to question our reporting … including several commenters who insisted we had things completely backward.

We get it …

Democratic elected officials like S.C. Sen. Vincent Sheheen and Rep. James Smith have been peddling their fictitious version of the Ninety Six tuberculosis saga for months – seeking to drain every last bit of political capital from it.

That fact isn’t lost on the people of Ninety Six.

“It appears your zeal has a bit too much political motivation attached to it as you continue to raise questions,” The (Greenwood, S.C.) Index-Journal noted last August in sizing up the Democratic spin machine.

“The public would like to get some answers, too,” the editorial added, “but as we said before, it would be nice if this sad situation that caused plenty of grief for a lot of families in Ninety Six could be less politicized. Seems some folks are spreading a sort of political form of TB these days.”

They still are … in fact the tuberculosis scandal has become one of the party’s most reliable talking points, trotted out ad nauseam to fill the void left by their candidates’ total lack of substantive statewide policy.

But let’s get back to the heart of the matter: Who is really to blame for the Ninety Six debacle?

As this website has exhaustively reported (here, here, here, here, and here), culpability for this fiasco rests exclusively with Greenwood School District 52.  District officials ignored state law by failing to test an infected employee, then they actively engaged in a coverup after this employee infected dozens of children with the disease.

Of course Democrats are loathe to admit this because they are slaves to this state’s failed government-run school system. And admitting it would obviously deprive Sheheen (their gubernatorial candidate) of one of his badly needed rhetorical crutches.

Again, though, let’s turn to the people of Ninety Six: Who do they blame? Why not ask the parent in the video below, who (rightfully) rails on Dr. Michael Bryant – a school board member who is married to the nurse at Ninety Six Primary School (where the outbreak occurred).

Bryant, FITS readers will recall, is the guy who was informed of a “probable infectious disease” at the school on March 27 (several weeks before anybody appointed by Haley was notified of the outbreak).

Also consider the view of Amy Hilley, another Greenwood County parent who took Rep. Smith to task for criticizing Haley in the wake of last week’s State of the State address.

“I cannot … allow someone to make a comment as being factual; when it is very obvious they do not have a clue to what actually took place, in order to gain some higher political standing,” Hilley wrote to Smith. “I ask you, Representative Smith, did you personally assess each one of the talking points you made in response to Governor Haley’s State of the State Address, or did you rely on others to take care of it for you?”

Wow … and these are the people the Democrats claim to be standing up for?

Far from attacking Haley’s administration, Hilley singles out S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) director Catherine Templeton for praise – saying it was only after Templeton’s involvement that the town “started to get the much needed attention it deserved.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) concurred – saying it was “very impressed” with the agency’s handling of the outbreak (after conducting a full audit). This report was posted on the S.C. General Assembly’s website and provided to all of the Democratic politicians who conducted hearings into the epidemic.

Like the people of Ninety Six, that report was ignored … and continues to be ignored.

Again, this website cannot stand Haley. Generally if her lips are moving, she’s lying (although occasionally she uses them for other purposes). But as we noted in our report last week “you can’t use lies to bring down a liar – especially given how much truth is available attesting to Haley’s failed leadership.”

Democrats are well within their right to continue spouting this fiction … but we would strongly advise them to insert a legitimate SCDHEC scandal into their repertoire of anti-Haley talking points.