A lot of Alumni from my alma mater are going all out to convince other graduates of a certain distinguished military college-that one should support the primary efforts of Nancy Mace to unseat Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014. Now I am not a South Carolina resident, so in theory I have no dog in the fight, but at the same time I am interested in the race-for what it says about the sad state of Republican politics in the United States today.
Nancy Mace has the distinguishing feature of being the first female graduate of the Citadel, a feat obtained by being a transfer student and therefore not having to complete a full four years at the fortress of learning. ( to be fair she did complete a full plebe year as did many other women). Her association with the college is neither here nor there in my humble opinion-but it is important to use it as a backdrop to provide some context on why her candidacy is a really bad idea.
Contrary to what some Alumni believe-Citadel graduates can back the wrong side politically sometimes and have. It is for this reason and not the reason of being a graduate-that smart thinking South Carolinians should spurn her candidacy.
First of all, the idea of replacing a sitting Senator, who by all accounts, has served the State of South Carolina well and is a problem solver, is pretty stupid. Its generally never a good idea to trade someone of that amount of seniority in the Senate for an inexperienced new comer. Furthermore, Graham-while not my favorite Senator by any stretch of the imagination-is a part of a dying breed in the Republican party. A moderate Republican who votes issues on their merits-not some screwed up conservative ideology. He's criticized the Tea Party-deservedly so-which in the screwy world of tea loving aficionados is tantamount to an unforgivable sin. Add to that the fact that he has worked to compromise on a red button issue such as immigration. ( He's right on that issue by the way-and no amount of head in the sand whining by Americanus Teabaggerus is going to change that).
Which leads us back to Ms Mace. To mount this challenge, she is allying herself with some very unsavory people. People who really don't care about her per se-but do care about destroying what is left of the Republican party. Their goal is change it over from Ronald Reagan's "big tent" to the brain dead organization we have today, producing such paragons of national leadership such as Paul "Zombie Eyed Granny Starver" Ryan, Eric Cantor, Aqua Buddha Rand Paul as well as the dumbest Congressman on earth ( a title formerly held by the poster child, but he got beat) Louie Gohmert.Freeeeeedoooooommmmmmm!
Taking on an established candidate like Graham is a big effort, and Ms Mace is cozying up to the folks who have all the dollars and the bad ideas. She has boarded the Tea Party Express train to hell-no local stops-even getting kind wordsfrom that wise old man Glenn Beck. Yea-there's an endorsement for you.
She even attended a "Faith and Freedom" event held by Congressman Jeff Duncan, who's still a fking birther.
She is being backed by PAC's that are led by Jim DeMint as well as others led by equally whacked out people.
These people are destroying the Republican party, and in choosing to ally herself with Tea Party cause, Ms Mace gives lie to her statement that she is running to bring sanity back to Washington. The people supporting her and the tea party are anything but sane.
When you associate with scum-a lot of it sticks to your clothes. And the smell takes a long time to wash out.
Personally I think this is all part of carefully orchestrated Public Relations strategy on her part. She knows she will lose to Graham-and if it were any normal state she would never have even attempted such a candidacy. This is South Carolina however-the same state that elected such bastions of intellectual integrity as Nikki Haley. So by running and making noise now-she can establish a name for herself, scare Graham and force him to veer to the right into areas he has no business going into, and build up a war chest for her real aim, some Congressional seat in South Carolina or Georgia.
I find that more than a bit disturbing and for that reason, not her college diploma, she is undeserving of any support from any alumni.