South Carolina, your racism NEVER disappoints

Washington Post

The knock-down-drag-out brawl for South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial nomination just got nastier.

A GOP state senator called front-runner Nikki Haley, the only woman in the race and a daughter of Indian immigrants, "a raghead" on a political talk show Thursday night.

"We already got one raghead in the White House," John M. "Jake" Knotts Jr. said on the Internet talk show "Pub Politics," according to The State newspaper. "We don't need another in the governor's mansion."

Knotts, a supporter of one of Haley's opponents, later apologized and said his comment was made in jest.

The comments were made on the June 3rd episode of Pub Politics, a South Carolina politics webcast co-hosted by conservative Wes Donehue and Democrat Phil Bailey.

As Dave Weigel reports:

Video of the interview has been kept offline since its initial broadcast. In a statement, Bailey and Donehue say that "what Senator Knotts said on Thursday’s show does not fit with our program and its goals." Conveniently for Knotts -- who has been condemned by state Republicans anyway -- the lack of the video prevents the story from taking on more steam. What's interesting about this is that Knotts is a close political ally of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) -- and Donehue, according to FEC reports, has done work for Wilson.

Nice. Really nice.