UPSTATE REPUBLICANS DESERTING LINDSEY GRAHAM IN DROVES …
This website has made no bones of its support for former politician turned reality television star Thomas Ravenel. Sure, politically speaking “T-Rav” may be damaged goods – and he’s obviously a long shot in his contemplated bid for the U.S. Senate – but he’s our friend.
And friendship matters for something in this business …
More to the point, though, Ravenel is unswerving in his support of the American free market – as well as those fundamental American freedoms Washington, D.C. has so thoroughly stampeded over in recent years. Like him or not, the bottom line is he’s rock solid on the issues that matter to us – fundamentally reducing the size and scope of government and its ability to infringe on our boardrooms, bedrooms and bank accounts.
We were reminded of this on a recent trip to Charleston, S.C. when – upon hopping into Ravenel’s Land Rover – we heard its speakers’ blaring audio from a foreign policy forum at the Cato Institute.
Seriously … who plays Cato Institute foreign policy forum CDs in their car?
Someone we want in our nation’s capital, that’s who … a guy who can’t be bought off by the powerful warmongers profiting from America’s unsustainable interventionism and incessant stream of military waste.
As he’s proven time and again, Ravenel can go toe-to-toe on these issues (and others) with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham – a whore of the military industrial complex and other establishment interests. Graham – who we believe is one of the most pernicious threats to American liberty and prosperity the “Republican” party has ever produced – is highly vulnerable this year, although his vulnerabilities were unable to be exploited this spring by a crowded field of primary challengers.
A pair of recent polls provided to FITS underscore this vulnerability (which we hope to write more about in the coming days).
One of those polls even tested Ravenel’s name on the ballot for the first time …
Anyway, it’s no secret Ravenel would likely score votes in places “Republicans” and Democrats don’t know where to look … but how many votes would he also take away from the two mainstream candidates?
Forty-four percent of “Republican” voters chose someone other than Lindsey Graham when they went to the polls earlier this month … how many of those would vote for Ravenel?
More than a few, it would appear …
“The elections are not over and grassroots activists still have time to ‘Lose Lindsey Graham,'” Upstate GOP activist Chris Lawton told BenSwann.com. “Ravenel has the charisma, has solid libertarian ideas, and has the money to unseat Graham this November.”
But what about Ravenel’s famous 2007 drug bust?
“What they do in their off time is their business,” Lawton said.
The BenSwann.com article also referenced swarms of “busy worker bees” who are “enthusiastically gathering signatures to put Ravenel on the ballot.”
“One thing is certain, there are grassroots activists in South Carolina who are still working very hard to oust Lindsey Graham and they are not giving up,” the article noted.
Good …
Not all anti-Graham “Republicans” are on board, though. In fact one named Bill Bledsoe offered up a bizarre conspiracy theory surrounding Ravenel’s candidacy.
“My feeling is that T-Rav is financed by the Graham super PAC,” he said, referring to one of the many political organizations working to reelect Graham. “T-Rav has too many connections – and too much propaganda – from (Nancy) Mace and FITS News. I feel he is a puppet to take all the Republican Graham hater votes away from (Democratic nominee) Brad Hutto.”
Ummmmm … okay.
Ravenel needs a lot of things to break his way if he expects to pull off a comeback – one that would be far more improbable than Mark Sanford’s 2013 return to public office.
One of the first things he needed? Evidence that conservative Republicans who voted against Lindsey Graham in the GOP primary were gravitating toward him – not Graham.
Looks like that’s happening …
97 comments
Looks like Will has signed his PR contract with T-Rav, why else would one endorse a candidate that has no chance and that nobody but paid employees of T-Rav even bother discussing. Will should have been a lawyer, at least everyone knows lawyers will say anything to make the person writing the checks look good.
Ravenel doesn’t have to be paid off with money, his daddy got enough to trickle down to him. He’s more likely to be paid off in young pussy, free booze, and nose candy.
Don’t discount the romance angle.
“Don’t discount the romance angle”
Howie Rich is NOT amused . . .
Since I never gave the Mace Campaign my email address yet my in-box was flooded with her campaign emails should I expect to receive same from the T-Rav Campaign???
You gave a real email address?!
Saying that Ravenel is a foreign policy expert by listening to the Cato Institute is similar to that Simpsons episode where Homer put on some glasses because he thought they would make him look smarter.
Saying that Ravenel is a foreign policy expert by listening to the Cato Institute is similar to that Simpsons episode where Homer put on some glasses because he thought they would make him look smarter.
Still better than Miss Lindsey.
For that matter….so is Homer Simpson.
FITS didn’t say he was an expert because he was listening to the Cato Institute, only that he did listen to it, thereby giving an example of his diverse interests. (BTW you can find a lot of worse things to listen to than Cato’s recent forum on the current state of Libya. Try it… free MP3 download.)
“What they do in their off time is their business.” Can you imagine this imbecile saying that about Marion Barry?
Bitch set Marion Berry up!
Richard Benjamin?
Everybody loves a good train wreck, but….
Screw it. If a walking pustule like Sanford can be resurrected, why not a felonious second rate reality TV star. Got git ’em Thomas!!
The REAL bottom line,as Fits WELL knows,is that The only thing Ravenel can accomplish by running us to possibly throw the election to Brad Hutto.
Now maybe Fits has No problem with that,but let’s be clear about the reality of the situation.
I suppose it gets rid of Graham either way.
Bravo reality series Southern Charm, is that anything like community organizing?
SC voters will most likely overlook T-Rav’s drug conviction and prison….that is too insignificant an incident in comparison to his true potential. Somebody should ‘bitch slap’ him and say “boy, always look forward”. The biggest problem for everybody, including me, is what is his true potential? We have no recent examples to measure that…and need more insights into how he sees his role as a public servant. People are hurting and policy positions rarely provide immediate help.
What potential? And, what examples? He was treasurer for six months and that is a job where the career bureaucrats are the real work horses anyway.
The only thing we know he can do is run his mouth well enough (with the help of the family name) to scam SCGOP voters into voting for him and be successful in real estate during the bubble years, which doesn’t say much either.
Seriously … who plays Cato Institute foreign policy forum CDs in their car?
lol…
I think this question answers itself.
Fakes, that’s who!
…who plays Cato Institute foreign policy forum CDs in their car?
TBG plays CATO INSTITUTE foriegn policy 8-tracks in his car and believes we should pull out of SE Asia NOW!
When I was in SE Asia there was no CATO and the taps were reel to reel.
TBG’s 8-track is circa 1975 and narrated by E-Rav.
Just kidding.
A f^^^king playboy wanna be who never grew up. Oh, and a cocaine felon. That’s who plays Cato on a cd in their car.
Don’t forget the campaign law violations!
“That’s who plays Cato on a cd in their car.”
LOL You mean you’ve never thought about getting high and driving around and listening to a few Cato Institute CD’s???
Full Disclosure: When I was in college, there were a couple of nights of youthful experimentation whereby I played Cato Institute CD’s but I did not listen.
Full Disclosure: When I was in college, there were a couple of nights of youthful experimentation whereby I played Cato Institute CD’s but I did not listen.
Well played.
I knew you had it in you, at least at some point!
“… who never grew up…”
You done it…defined the Libertarian mentality.
“… who never grew up…”
You done it…defined the Libertarian mentality.
Yeah…..because personal responsibility is soooo juvenile.
Please don’t vote a Coke head into office people.
Please don’t vote a Coke head into office people.
TBG prefers to think of it as voting a war-mongering, gerbil stuffing, big government advocating, whore of the military industrial complex OUT of office.
“. . . . gerbil stuffing . . .”
TMI
been there…and he is enjoying a second term…
Where can I sign the petition?
Anyone who has to hire Robert Ford to collect petition signatures…
***
Where can I sign the petition?
Lion’s Den Adult Novelty store @ Bowman exit on I-26.
Damn! That is how Tom Ervin and the ugly bitch did it? Dildo Tommy? Love it!
Thanks…
“Lion’s Den Adult Novelty store @ Bowman exit on I-26?”
LOL Someone sure seems to be awfully familiar with said Den . . .
TBG was riffing on Robert Ford’s using campaign funds for purchases at said “Adult Superstore”.
https://www.fitsnews.com/2013/05/31/robert-fords-male-enhancement-pills/
TBG is a somewhat regular…
..at the PILOT station catty-cornered across I-26.
“And friendship matters for something in this business …”
Sweet Baby FITS Crooning to T-Rav . . . .
“When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand
and nothing, whoa, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there
to brighten up even your darkest nights.
You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am
I’ll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call and I’ll be there, yeah, yeah,
you’ve got a friend.”
Anyone who has to hire Robert Ford to collect petition signatures won’t get enough votes to matter in November.
I’m thinking a great petition signature slogan would be “sign the line, get a line.”
Sign this and snort that…
Anyone who has to hire Robert Ford to collect petition signatures won’t get enough votes to matter in November.
So tell me, is the religious right in this state going to support a drug dealer who got a girl half his age pregnant? Will they even let him within 50 yards of the Bob Jones Campus?
Yes, they will.
My sense is that the religious right likes to see it when people who were formerly lost are now find (and were blind but now they see. ) Anyhow, the Bible is rife with older men taking on younger wives and starting families… as is American culture, come to think of it. Remember the iconic Hollywood couple of Bogart and Lauren Becall?
…a bizarre conspiracy theory surrounding Ravenel’s candidacy.
Well…TBG….would vote for Hutto if he were the only one running against Graham and will probably vote for T-Rav (if he thinks he has a snowball in Hell’s chance…
A conundrum….
– “upon hopping into Ravenel’s Land Rover – we heard its speakers’ blaring audio from a foreign policy forum at the Cato Institute.
Seriously … who plays Cato Institute foreign policy forum CDs in their car?”—
Answer: D
A drunk driver. Do you really want to ride with him?
–“And friendship matters for something in this business …”–
Is he really a friend or is he just fun at parties and can always score some blow? He reminds me of Billy from “St. Elmos Fire” played by Rob Lowe. He returns to college looking for a job and his pal is enthusiastic so that Billy can provide quality dope.
As an independent this guy would have zero influence in the senate, he would be excluded from both parties, even though he identified with one more than the other.
He would have a vote. And, when the vote is close, one vote has value.
Not true at all. There are three ‘independents’ in the Senate now. T-Rav would simply caucus with the Republicans. Lisa Murkowski was elected as an independent but caucuses with the GOP already. It has no impact whatsoever.
I worry about you. Ya seem like a nice enough guy but just STUPID as hell.
You live in the ‘upstate’? Oysters on me at Bimini’s in Greenville next month!
p.s. I ain’t signing NO petition no matter how much you try and pay me!!!! :-)
Typical RWNJ. You can’t dispute my facts, so you attack me personally. The only way I would care what you thought of me, was if I respected your opinion, and I don’t.
Typical RWNJ. You can’t dispute my facts, so you attack me personally. The only way I would care what you thought of me, was if I respected your opinion, and I don’t.
It depends on whether or not it is an open or closed caucus. A republican or democrat cannot nominate an independent. Murkowski is a republican not an independent.
Bernie Sanders was elected on the Socialist Party ticket in Vermont and caucuses with the Democrats. Angus King was elected as an Independent and also caususes with the Democrats.
From Wikipedia:
Murkowski was appointed to the United States Senate in 2002 and elected to a full term in 2004. Her 2010 re-election grew turbulent when former magistrate judge Joe Miller defeated her in the Republican primary. Murkowski mounted a longshot write-in campaign, winning the general election; the campaign made national headlines.
Ravenel could and do doubt would do the same as Murkowski did. BOTH parties will take ANY member they can get in there caucus.
Who is this Ravenel that you keep writing about? Any kin to the Nancy girl that you wrote so much about?
This discussion and article of support reminds me so much of Nancy Mace who finished with lik 6% of the vote after I was led to believe she would bend Ms. Lindsey over with a strap on. Is this anything different? I’m guessing T Rav loses with similar numbers in the fall.
Is Will going to confess that he’s gay, and is having an affair with T-Rav?
His false accusations helped Nikki. Why wouldn’t they help T-Rav?
Nikki never did show any naked pictures of herself with Will… that’s true…
“Nikki never did show any naked pictures of herself . . . .”
Please – let’s not go there.
Nikki never did show any naked pictures of herself with Will…
…NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
I gave you a thumbs up, not because what you said was true, but because it was damn funny.
Anyone with no more willpower does not deserve this. I can forgive and forget but this man let me down as bad as Bill Clinton let this country down.
When did they quit selling American trucks in SC?
This is one of the dumbest pieces you’ve ever written Will. Self serving, idiotic suppositions, really, is T-Rav paying you for this fluff?
Graham funding T-Rav?!? Preposterous, he has enough money to whip “Who Hutto?” without breaking a sweat. The only realistic statement in this entire Ravenel puff piece is this line, “Ravenel needs a lot of things to break his way if he expects to pull off a comeback – one that would be far more improbable than Mark Sanford’s 2013 return to public office.”. What he needs is for his name to be the only one on the ballot and even then there’s some question.
Will Folks has never been anything more than a self-serving, money-grubbing, narcissistic whore. If the descendants of Dr. Joseph Mengele offered him enough money he would publish an article recommending the good doctor for sainthood.
Poor Will….He has hit his own glass ceiling. He will never move on to more lucrative (or honorable) employment. He will be publishing this flotsam until the day he chokes to death on a bagel at the keyboard. Then he will find himself sitting in an endless purgatory, still typing, still uploading, still frothing at the mouth, still yearning for just a little more money, and, ultimately, still choking on a rancid, thousand year old bagel…
FITS News is playing their tired old propaganda card once again. They’re worse than MSN or CNN. This politician, like every politician, says he’s a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul and will save the world.
We all know that we can’t judge any politician by what he says. It doesn’t matter how many times FITS Propaganda News tells us to.
We can only judge politicians by where they get their campaign money and how they voted. Until we see where T-Rav’s money for his campaign is coming from, he is no better, or no worse, than any of the other Politician Liars. Without a voting record, we’ll never know how he’ll vote until it’s too late to stop him.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=517995928329486&set=gm.872308332798610&type=1&theater
And, THAT is exactly what the Koch owned Cato bunch fight tooth and nail. They set up floating money laundering operations that change names as they move across state lines. Above all, they don’t want anyone but the politicians they are buying to know where the money is coming from.
Unfortunately, Nikki Haley proved 4 years ago that SC voters – and, it is not just SC voters – vote for the candidate who tells them what they want to hear and totally disregard the facts of their political and personal lives that show what they really are.
Oh, there was another factor a play in SC 4 years ago, a political hanger on who claimed to have had sex with Haley which inspired the besotted SCGOP voters to rush to her defense and vote for her as a sign of support?!?!
Can we elect someone who isn’t allowed to vote?
But what about Ravenel’s famous 2007 drug bust?
“What they do in their off time is their business,” Lawton said.
That proves Libertarians are not only ignorant, they’re delusional.
Can’t you just imagine the opposition ads running of Ravenel’s televised partying, his Hampton’s DUI mug shot, switching to shots of him and his little coke supplier coming and going from the federal court? Destroy the little bastard once and for all?
“Friends” don’t let “friends” humiliate themselves and their family any more than they already have…but, that has been a really hard one for narcissistic SC politicians AND their narcissistic hanger-ons.
I think the coke dealer past (present?) and teenage girlfriend (with her own minor in possession conviction) are facts on the negative side of the tally sheet.
OT:
Anyone here old enough to remember when “Show us your papers!” was the catchphrase used to describe totalitarian regimes that were an anathema to “Murrican ideals?
http://www.infowars.com/oregon-celebrates-independence-day-with-no-refusal-blood-checkpoints/
How far we have *progressed.*
TBG, you threaten the memory of our former bromance by posting “Infowars.com” stuff…
yeah that
sic(k) willie, plus TeenBugger Rav and the wacko-right: three pees in an teabag.
Listening to Cato Institute CDs in his Landress Rover?
That’s staged for sic(k) willie, Cuz we know the BabyMommy would not listen to that krap on the way to pick up diapers, formula and other supplies.
sic(k) willie is such a political pimp.
The SC GOP is a corrupt bunch. Being a GOP’er myself, I can speak honestly. I am voting for some non-GOP candidate this time as we must break up the cabal. The Dms can’t spend any more than us, they can’t be anymore corrupt than us, and they ARE likely to be more entertaining.
So, with any luck the GOP will slide out of power for 4 years, re-learn what they have forgotten about honor and interiority, then retake the government.
We will all be better off for it.
We need 20k unemployed to move into Florence…and vote. SC-02 needs about 8k to register and vote to swing elections. Fight fire with fire…and it’s perfectly legal.
I met Thomas about 6 years ago. I was very impressed. I won’t mention the event. What can I say, I still respect him after all the negative things he did. I like him even though he is a republican. I think I even trust him. By the way I vote D. I don’t think he has changed over the years, but back in my mind I would like for him to be a positive thing for SC. I challenge Thomas to show us leadership !!!
Have you ever met a sociopath? I don’t mean a Ted Bundy type. I mean the average types that are all among us. I’m talking about people with the psychological evaluation in writing that diagnoses anti-social personality.
Those everyday average and above intellect sociopaths are the most engaging, charming people you will ever meet. They can draw you like a moth to a flame. There is something exciting about them. Is that the effect Ravenel had on you?
Read euwe max just above you. Ravenel is a certifiable anti-social personality.
I have met Sandi Morals if that is what you mean.
I’m no shrink, but I do own a current DSM and have the interwebs at my house. You could pick from sociopathic traits (superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, risky personal behavior, poor behavioral controls, failure to accept responsibility, and my personal favorite- unrealistic goals (e.g., “I think I’ll be a US Senator, yeah, that’s the ticket!”), OR… how about Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Sense of superiority, exaggerates own talents, expects constant praise, disdain for those felt to be “inferior,” trouble maintaining healthy relationships, and (again) unrealistic goals. Flip a coin! ;-)
a current DSM
——–
What percentage of the “captains of industry” would you say are sociopaths?
At least a few…that’s an old theme too. Pols, CEO’s, generals…
No stats?
Are you calling me a sociopath?
In the space of a few minutes on national television, Thomas Ravenel admitted to smoking pot, streaking nude and participating in … er, ah … unusual sex acts.. He also declared his likely candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“I’m not trying to say that wasn’t a stupid move, you know: Doing cocaine and sharing it? But, obviously, justice was not blind,” says Ravenel. “I got a worse sentence than the drug dealer. How’s that work? He had a thousand customers. What happened to the other 999?”
The new, younger, “hipper” face of the tea party.
We get the friendship angle; we really do. Plug away for this clown until your heart’s content, it’s your website; we get that too. If, however, you want to keep even a tiny shred of your credibility, you really should stop saying silly things about his “developments” in this story. Nothing has changed, and his chances are no better (they’re actually probably worse) than they’ve ever been. No group of any consequence is “rallying” to him; that “44%” of R voters to which you keep referring represented 44% of a pathetic 14% primary turnout. Depending upon how you split those hairs, that was about 6-8% of the potential overall vote, although those types of calculations are invalid for a host of reasons (differences in voter profiles between primary and general elections, primarily). Endorse your guy, wax on philosophically about his potential, etc. Just stop describing him as some kind of foreign policy savant or political genius. The guy’s in his fifties, loaded, and is still not doing a fantastic job of running even his own personal life. The fact that he is 100%, no kidding, absolutely unelectable is apparent to almost everyone in the state- he’s either running a disingenuous campaign as a spoiler to get rid of Graham (and he can’t even pull the numbers to do that!), or his narcissism has rendered him delusional.
All true, but what does truth and credibility have to do with this website. I know you are going to defend some of the good things Will does, but I maintain that all those good things are merely incidental.
I shouldn’t dismiss those good things. After all in a properly governed free market, selfish behavior can have benefits to all. But, fits only objective is to make money by generating hits, occasionally diverted by “personal friendship” and equally “personal grudges”.
I agree with you, but only to a point, I guess. I don’t lump “credibility” in with terms like “fair” or “unbiased.” Will engages in absolutely NO pretense regarding that. However, he does possess a fair amount of credibility, in that he has developed a pretty good network of sources and informants (assets, as we say in the intel business), and he blows up a decent number of “scoops” over the course of a year. However, I believe that when he writes in a manner as to suggest that Ravenel is somehow building momentum, or has foreign policy cred at any level, or is in any way electable to statewide office again, Will hurts his credibility in a way that is different from the “Unfair. Imbalanced” shtick because it’s disingenuous, not unfair. You’re right, too, when you say that he’s only trying to make a buck. I don’t worry about that one bit. All media outlets are capitalist ventures (even NPR/PBS/etc., in some ways). You can retain your credibility and make money…
Diamonds and dust
Poor man last
Rich man first
Lamborghini’s, caviar
Dry martini’s, Shangrila
I got a burnin’ feeling
Deep inside of me
It’s a yearnin’
But I’m gonna set it free
I’m goin’ in
To sin city
I’m gonna win
In sin city
Where the lights are bright
Do the town tonight
I’m gonna win
In sin city
Let me roll ya baby
Ladders and snakes
Ladders give
Snakes take
Rich man poor man
Beggar man thief
You ain’t got a hope in hell
That’s my belief
Fingers Freddy, Diamond Jim
They’re getting ready
Look out I’m coming in
So spin that wheel
Cut that pack
And roll them loaded dice
Bring on the dancin’ girls and put the Champagne on ice
I’m goin’ in
To sin city
I’m gonna win
In sin city
Where the lights are bright
Do the town tonight
I’m goin’ in
To sin city
Sic: I think the SC right rallying to Ravenel is happening only in your dream world.
Run on this:
I think the banking cartels with US tax dollars and their manipulations are fighting a global strategic war for economic domination. Our jobs as voters is to put pressure on our states and D.C. to rectify the free trading agreements that have destroyed our middle class.
1) bring back manufacturing
2) drop employer healthcare plan expectations
3) drop employer pension expectations
4) drop single payer healthcare trojan horses and blueprints
5) adopt group policy healthcare outside current employer/state/federal group policies such as group policies for counties, regions, religous affiliations, age groups etc
6) with healthcare and pensions off the backs of states, federal government, and employers, hike wages and mandate private retirement accounts that can be grouped same as healthcare
7) with healthcare and pensions off the backs of states, federal government, and employers, expect core government functions to be properly maintained
8) with healthcare and pensions off the backs of states, federal government, and employers expect full employment for all able bodied workers with great wages (higher and less taxed)
9) with healthcare and pensions off the backs of states, federal government, and employers expect core government functions to include modified current Acts that allow a safety net yet not a free ride. Families become extended units (grouped) to care for each of their own
This is a thumbnail sketch for a prosperous America
And it is fucking July…start rolling out transcripted youtube productions and podcasts ameliorating yourself and eviscerating Graham and Hutto. Max out the alternative media and do it now.
I ain’t voting for Graham but not sure about T-Rav yet.
Maybe he’ll make a graham of cocaine a misdemeanor in SC.
if you need a CD to tell you how to think, you aint that smart…….