WILL HE BE HOLDING A REBEL FLAG?
Before “Republicans” ran the state of South Carolina into the ground year after year, Democrats did – although to their credit they never pledged allegiance to “limited government” when they did it.
Many of them did pledge allegiance to the Confederate flag, however …
Now Democrats are firmly ensconced as the Palmetto State’s minority party – occupying zero U.S. Senate seats, zero statewide offices, one heavily gerrymandered U.S. House district and a paltry 65 out of 170 legislative seats.
Pathetic, right? Yes … but with so many GOP officials subscribing to the same failed “tax and spend” mentality as their stated ideological antagonists, it’s not like anything has changed in the Palmetto State.
In fact check that … nothing has changed.
Well, except a price tag for failure that keeps going up and up and up …
Anyway, this week in Charleston, S.C. left-leaning “Republicans” like U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham will join Democrats in unveiling a new statute honoring former U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings. Expect lots of pats on the back and guffawing – with Hollings’ inimitable Gullah-infused drawl permeating the increasingly humid Lowcountry air.
Hollings, 95, was elected to the S.C. House in 1948. He became lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 1955 and governor in 1959. In fact it was during his tenure as governor – on April 11, 1961 – that the Confederate flag was first raised from the dome of the S.C. State House.
In 1966, Hollings was elected to the U.S. Senate – where he served until 2005.
Along the way, in 1986, Hollings was challenged by a (then) up-and-coming young prosecutor named Henry McMaster – whom he thrashed by a 63-35 percent margin.
The key moment of that campaign? During a debate between the two candidates, McMaster challenged Hollings to submit to a drug test.
“I’ll take a drug test when you take an IQ test,” Hollings told McMaster, a reference to the latter’s legendary intellectual incuriosity.
Game. Over.
McMaster, now governor, attended the Hollings’ statue unveiling which is either evidence of remarkably good political sportsmanship or remarkably acute self-loathing. Or senility.
Who knows …
Banner via S.C. Library