Random thoughts with three dots

OK, so I'm not sure how related all of this really is, but it's running around in my brain, so here goes...

Rod Shealy caught with dirty tricks before the race even gets started? Shocked, I say, just shocked... I'm sure he'd never do that in any other race... or arrange for threats... or have people followed... or get unemployed fishermen into the race... nah, not good ole' Rod... (...just sayin')

Just as shocking: Tompkins & Sullivan's mouthpiece racing to Shealy's defense, in an attempt to take whatever the potshot of the day is at the Governor (as well as lay down the marker for future dirty tricks, no doubt). Definitely dog bites man stuff, but still...

(Side note, why do all of the consultant bloggers hate the Governor so much? I haven't figured it out, other than that he doesn't pay them, or they're tired of the second term already a la Bush/Cheney circa 2006... I've never been on his payroll, but that doesn't mean I feel the need to continually bash a sitting Republican Governor with an approval rating in the 70s...)

My take on the Ceips/Shealy/Bates Illegal alien affair: Shealy, Bates and the alien should all get fired. The alien should then work on a green card and list "actor" as his occupation...

Then you've got this "story" out of the Spartanburg Herald Journal, apparently alleging that nefarious groups are trying to influence state politics. You know those nefarious types - the State Chamber of Commerce, the REALTORs, BIPEC, Palmetto Family Council... OH wait, that's not who you thought I was going to say? Well, read to the bottom of the story (Ok, about 2/3 of the way down) to the paragraph entitled "Group Auditions". Bam - there's the list. Ricky B (and his planted mouthpiece Jason Spencer) thinks these are "outside groups"? Umm, we conservatives usually refer to small businesses, family values folks, and limited government types as "the Republican base". But hey, don't let that stop you from writing the story...

"Wilson Charles" at the Other Brooks Brothers has the right of this:

I always thought that in a representative government like ours, it was our duty to practice advanced citizenship. I’m not talking about that garbage they force you to swallow in elementary school about being nice to everyone. I’m talking about really getting involved.

It’s more than taking a few minutes out of your day to vote every now and then (which not enough people do anyway).

It means that as an American and as a South Carolinian, you should know what your leaders think and feel. You should know if they represent you. You should know if what they do in office is what they said they would do in the slickly designed campaign pamphlet somebody shoved in your door when you weren’t home.

The disturbing thing is that Spartanburg’s NEWSpaper actually condoned the line of thought coming from the party and consultants. Its editors sanctioned and published an article that seemed to include few facts except that someone ran polls.

One consultant accidentally made sense among those quoted in the piece. He said that there are “as many people recruiting candidates, and as many agendas, as you can count.”

What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want South Carolina’s best in public office? Don’t we want to elect people who believe like we do so that our thoughts and feelings are represented at City Hall, County Council, the Statehouse, or Congress?

I have to agree with that...

Then there's the little gem of a quote from the aforementioned Mr. Sullivan.

These third-party groups are spreading like a rash.

Somehow, that sounds familiar... Didn't Cindi Scoppe call them a "cancer"? And the forementioned Mr. Tompkins called them a "scourge"?

Y'all stay classy, now...

Speaking of classy, the Tompkins & Sullivan mouthpiece has now also attempted to "out" Brooks Brothers columnist Wilson Charles as belonging to another new consultancy group. Y'know, just for once, I'd love to see these consultant blogs focus on actual issues instead of constant attacks on each other...

But, I suppose that's way too much to ask for...