FIRE BRAD CHILDRESS

Enough is enough fire Brad Childress. The Vikings can still win it all with another coach.

Brett Favre is a legend and Brad Childress is a moron

Hey Brad Childress I assume your public response about Favre throwing three pics would have been the same had Harvin been in bounds on that last touchdown??? You hypocrite. Did it ever occur to you that Favre threw three pics because his ankle was broken twice on the first one?

How about you get your O line (particularly Loadholt) to start protecting Favre.

You can't coach. Your team has not been ready to play at any position all year and when none of them are playing right that is on the coach. Your system is crap and you are wasting Favre and a super bowl victory.

Let Favre be Favre and shut up.

Todd Young: Liberal Republican from Indiana

"Or his dislike for big government?"

If this is the case then he could name one program/department of substance that he wants to cut...he has had a year and a half and that liberal has not named one cut. Just rhetoric. He runs on a balanced budget but has NEVER offered and way to make that happen. If you support a balanced budget then you support major cuts but he has never announced one.

"his position on the board of a pro-life ministry?"

Todd is not Pro-Life, he is a fraud. Todd could easily come out and say he wants to outlaw abortion and what he would do to make that happen...but he does not believe it!

He could easily say that Constitutionally a woman who has conceived has NO CHOICE but to carry the child and give birth but he never has and never will. Even if he did it now he would still be fraud because we are three weeks from him getting beat. He had his chance to be a conservative and he did not even try and fake it all that well.

Most of the GOP frauds who pretend to be conservative at least pick one issue where they play make believe conservative and throw out some red meat. Young has tricked some hacks and voters with only vague rhetoric.

Todd Young is not a conservative on any issue.

Travis Hankins, Mike Sodrel and Todd Young debate

I had the privilege of watching Travis Hankins and Mike Sodrel and two others debate in Indiana Saturday night.

You may remember from this blog's heyday in 2006 I named Sodrel to the official RINO list:
http://screpublican.blogspot.com/2006/05/official-list-of-rino-house-members.html

Mike was rattled early but fared better as time wore on and he deflected attacks from a GOP establishment candidate from the "Lugar" wing of the party. Mike obviously looked a little nervous and almost scared as he awaited all the potential attacks from his opponents. Attacks he knew were coming because he obviously knew he was guilty.

Candidate Todd Young attacked Sodrel from the right but the attacks gained little traction as the messenger lacked any credibility to defend conservatism. Sodrel is a huge porkster, voted to send federal dollars to planned parenthood, supported the socialization of prescription medicine, supported Universal mandatory health insurance, voted against the Contract with America renewed, and he was rated by Citizens against Government waste to have the same ranking as Barack Obama in 2006.

Usually Freshman Congressman wait until their second term to sell out to big government but Mike Sodrel sold out after ONE YEAR. He did not even wait until his second term.

Anyway, the attacks did not gain traction and Sodrel looked Congressional compared to the liberal Young. Although Sodrel faired better than Young, a Young supporter non-the-less stated afterward how he hated Sodrel's arrogance (driving to the debate in a Semi Truck while busing in and paying for atleast 30 people to attend has that effect I guess).

Travis Hankins won the debate and dominated the competition as he always does. While he did not win this debate by the huge landslide expected, he nonetheless won comfortably.

Hankins was the only candidate to offer any substance on any issue as everyone else just offered rhetoric. Hankins received the most applause and had the most supporters in the room. Even the non partisan moderator was overheard saying Hankins won! Which is obvious to anyone with any objectivity.

While Hankins needs to do better in the future and certainly a better job managing expectations; a win is a win! Hankins won by any fair definition.

There have been those asking me "what do you mean Romney will not play in South Carolina? I am a conservative and I support him".

Nine times out of ten this comes from moderate party folks who say they are conservative.

Today is a good example of what Romeny can expect in South Carolina from Christian Conservatives:

Romney grilling ‘in bad taste’

By LEE BANDY
lbandy@thestate.com

The quarterly meeting of the S.C. Republican executive committee Sept. 16 ended on a sour note when one of its more prominent members cornered Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and grilled him about his Mormon faith.

It was not a pretty sight, according to witnesses.

Romney, a possible Republican candidate for president in 2008, was in town to address the state executive committee.

Cyndi Mosteller, chairwoman of the Charleston County Republican Party, one of the largest GOP organizations in the state, came armed with a bunch of material — and questions — about the Mormon church.

The incident only underlines what could become an uncomfortable debate over Romney’s faith if he runs for the White House. The issue will be on the table in South Carolina’s early primary contest, where roughly 35 percent of GOP voters are evangelical Christians, many of whom view Mormonism with skepticism.

Mosteller, an evangelical, said she especially was concerned about the church’s attitude toward African-Americans and its stand on polygamy.

The Mormon religion was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing faith groups in the United States. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, it is known formally as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormonism’s short history has been tumultuous, with an early embrace of polygamy, which it later renounced. Still, Mormons grapple with their polygamous past.

It has been almost 30 years since the Mormon Church lifted a ban that kept black males from the church’s priesthood.

Brigham Young, who succeeded Smith as church leader, wrote that God put a curse on Cain — a “flat nose and black skin” — for killing his brother Abel.

Mosteller said the issues of race and marriage concern her. She fears they could become campaign issues and hurt Republican chances.

She had planned to ask the questions in an open committee session, but Romney nixed that idea by ending his short address with a final “thank you.”

The governor then proceeded to meet with the media for about 15 minutes.

Enter Mosteller.

Sensing trouble, Romney aides hurriedly ushered reporters out the door.

Afterward, Mosteller said the governor did not answer any of her questions. She described the meeting as “very tense.”

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/15594211.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp



If a guy like Mike Pence enters the race then Romney will have no chance in South Carolina. In a field without Mike Pence, Mitt Romney only chance is to be bold and take stands on important issues.
He simply will not over come the Yankee-Mormonism thing unless he is a real conservative and devolps a strategy for reining in the federal Government.
A Lukewarm Romney will go down to defeat,as well he should.
Romney needs to propose to eliminate some Government agencies.
Do not expect South Carolina Conservatives to compromise for Romney just because he looks Presidential and can give an OK speech.Ideology matters and we are looking for another Reagan.

Day full of Pence update

I was just told by a friend that last Friday he went to the West Oak High School football game in Westminster(Gresham Barrett's hometown) and that Pence volunteers were passing out game rosters that doubled as Pence 08 flyers.He said that everybody got one and they were well recieved.

West Oak was playing cross county rival Seneca.

A Day full of Mike Pence

A Day Full of Mike Pence

It is not easy being a conservative South Carolina Republican. Our party has more rivalries and infighting than I could list in an hour. Everyday one elected Republican attacks another, some party leader gets into it with a donor, some "consultant" attacks another one, and the sad part is most of it tends not to be ideological but rather about personal beefs and power.

The one bright spot is Gresham Barrett who no doubt will be our Governor in 2010, but after him it is curtains. When thinking about the future of our party and this nation it is hard to find any kind of vision and integrity. For the last several months I have been looking elsewhere for that Reaganesque Leader who will provide the vision to lead America forward and I found in an (then) obscure Congressman from Indiana named Mike Pence.

Mike Pence is Chairman of the Republican Study Committee and he describes himself as "a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican in that order".

There is a Draft movement to get Pence to run for President in 08 and I have been watching with great intensity the begining efforts to put Pence on the map here in South Carolina. You can imagine my surprise when last Friday it seemed I could not escape Mike Pence anywhere I went.

My morning started off with a meeting with the head guys of Draft Pence as we were to discuss possibly bringing me on in a official capacity next semester. Right now I am just a supporter and I have let the guys contribute to the blog at times. I need to do more. Right off the bat this meeting was unlike any other I have had in my political career. No cursing, no gossip. We simply discussed a vision for the future of America and we discussed the integrity and Character of Mike Pence.

This renewed my hope that this would be different.

After the meeting I then headed down to Clemson for a speech by Congressman Tom Tancredo. To my surprise when I walked into Brackett Hall all I saw was Mike Pence for President flyers, and they were everywhere. I found out that Tancredo was not speaking at the auditorium but rather teaching in a classroom so I didn't get to hear him speak. As I walked by the classroom to get a glimpse of the "Tank" entering, I saw a girl with a Mike Pence for President button sitting in the front row. I immediatly began to smile.

Before noon I was listening to some local talk radio as they discussed immigration.
They were talking about the need to seal the border and what compromise would be acceptable to them. Without saying Pence's name they went on to list the Pence plan verbatim "seal the border, pass sanctions, send the illegals home and make them sign up legally" Both of the guys on the air agreed this was the best deal possible.

As they went to break I was thinking "man, Pence is everywhere" so you can imagine my surprise when they came back and did a segment on the future of the party and where the heck is the next Reagan? They again listed all of Pence's traits without mentioning him by name.It is clear to me that Mike Pence is the next Reagan.

I then was able to have three Pence-free hours before I called my moderate buddy and politics came up. He thinks we have to go with Rudy or McCain because "retaining 1600 is the only thing that matters." He didn't even know who Pence was before I told him a few weeks earlier. He called me a couple hours later to tell me (in a half yelling way) he just viewed Pence's LIBERTY ad online and it was the greatest he ever saw and he thinks Pence is the man.

What did this day tell me?
One, that moderates base everything on their emotions and that good campiagn ads can get their votes.

Two, that there is a small flicker of support of Mike Pence in 2008 and it grows everyday. There is a sweeping brushfire of support for the return of Reaganism and no one emodies Reagan more than Pence.People are searching for and demanding a new leader with vision and intergrity to lead our nation in the future.

Can Pence win in South Carolina? Certainly yes. Will he? The odds are long but each day that passes things are looking good. I know for certain that no other candidate will excite this South Carolina conservative base. Pence has the total package: Strong on defense, stalwart Fiscal conservative, and strong on moral questions. Pence is the only guy I have seen who can play to both the Upstate Christians and the Low Country coastal Libertarians.

Mike Pence's message will play here is SC, it did in '80 and '84 and it will again someday!
These next two years could get real interesting here in South Carolina.
Next I will do a blog speculating on whether Pence even wants it in 08.



Mike Pence for President and Gresham Barrett for Governor!

GOP debates closing primary

GOP debates closing primary
By LEE BANDY
lbandy@thestate.com
Since 1980, South Carolina Republicans have used the open primary process to build the party into the political force it is today.

Now, some in the party want to close it, making it tougher for independents, disenchanted Democrats and mischief makers to cross over and vote in the GOP contests.

Some legislative leaders are lukewarm to the idea. But other party leaders are out to replace the “y’all come” invitation with a members-only sign.

The move is “a degree of arrogance” on the part of Republicans, said Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen, a Republican activist and consultant.

“They rose to power on it,” Thigpen said, referring to the open primary. “Now, they want to close it.”

South Carolina is one of 20 states allowing open primaries. In such contests, voters are free to choose the party ballot they want.

If S.C. Republican leaders have their way, voters would have to swear their loyalty to the GOP before participating in the primary, a move designed to discourage Democrats from crossing over to create mischief.

In theory, the Democratic mischief makers cross over to the GOP’s primary and cast their ballots for the weakest candidate, making it easier for the Democratic candidate to win in the general election. But studies show such voters account for only about 2 percent of primary voters at most.

Still, GOP leaders want to close their party’s primary.

“The time has come for people to stand up,” said state GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, who favors a closed primary. “It’s time for the debate.”

The 2004 state Republican convention voted overwhelmingly for closed primaries, with 58 percent of the delegates favoring voter registration by party.

“It’s time,” Dawson said.

For the last six years, the Republican-dominated General Assembly has failed to adopt legislation to end open primaries.

State Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, chairman of the election laws subcommittee, shows little enthusiasm for closed primaries or registration by party.

“South Carolina has a pretty rich tradition of independence when it comes to voting in primaries,” he said. “Closed primaries take a lot of folks out of both parties, probably more out of the Republican Party. I don’t know that would be healthy to our political process.”

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Harrison, R-Richland, doesn’t hold out much hope for party registration either.

“It has been before a subcommittee and debated for at least six years, maybe longer,” he said. “Nothing ever comes of it.”

Drew McKissick, a GOP consultant with close ties to the conservative religious community, admonished Republican legislators “to get with the program and get it passed.”

But Dan Ross, former state Republican chairman from Blackville, is opposed vehemently to party registration.

He noted the party has collected more than 600,000 names, thanks to the open primary. “That’s a gold mine.”

State Democratic chairman Joe Erwin, of Greenville, sees no need for party registration.

“One of the things South Carolinians value is their independence. We’ve always been a very independent-minded people,” Erwin said, citing exit polls showing 28 percent of the state’s voters called themselves independents in the last election..

“If that’s true, why cut them out of the process?” Erwin asked. “By being open, we encourage more participation.”

Greg Shorey, former state chairman from Beaufort, has led the fight for registration since the late 1950s.

“By what right do I have intruding into the candidate selection process of another political party?” he asked.

“We’ve become of age now in helping develop a viable two-party state. It’s time we matured and grow up. We’re no longer a minority,” Shorey said of the state GOP.

Shorey also had a word of warning for reluctant legislators.

“They’d better wake up,” he said. “Their jobs are now in jeopardy.”

S.C. parties could be forced to close their primaries. In a federal court case yet to be decided, the Virginia GOP contends open primaries are unconstitutional.

Added Shorey: “If we don’t settle this legislatively, it’s going to be settled in court, and it will be expensive and an embarrassment.”