One of my favorite quotes on politics is attributable to President Abraham Lincoln, who famously said “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” I believe this statement is particularly applicable with regard to the 2014 South Carolina Governor’s race, which is really heating up; SC Democrats are trying to cover-up their presumptive nominee’s record, but I’m betting that South Carolinians won’t be buying it.
The governor’s race is shaping up to be a rematch between now-Governor Nikki Haley and her 2010 challenger, Democratic state Senator Vincent Sheheen from Camden. So many things about this race mirror the 2010 general election battle, particularly Senator Sheheen’s pathetic attempts to portray himself as a conservative-style southern Democrat who breaks with his party on values issues like marriage and abortion.
With all due respect, Vincent, backing President Obama’s one-size fits all, premium price driving, abortion funding, job killing healthcare plan isn’t exactly “moderate.” Neither is the way in which you chose to kick-off your 2014 campaign.
On Wednesday evening, September 25, Senator Sheheen held a campaign kick-off / fundraising event in Columbia at the home of one of the state’s most strident abortion supporters. For a Democrat who claims to be conservative on issues like abortion and marriage, kicking off his campaign at the home of an abortion activist sends some mixed signals.
Robert Key, who hosted Sheheen and his supporters in his home, is on the board of an organization known as the New Morning Foundation, a very vocal supporter of expanding abortion in South Carolina. While I understand that some candidates and campaigns indiscriminately take financial contributions from supporters across the political spectrum, holding a major campaign event in the home of a high-profile activist is always a conscious decision. No amount of spin can make this major break with South Carolina values go away.
The New Morning Foundation has advocated against “personhood bills and conscience and moral clauses,” all of which have been hot button issues in the aftermath of the passage of President Obama’s healthcare overhaul in 2009. As a result, here in South Carolina, conservatives have taken significant and responsible steps toward protecting children in the womb since Governor Haley took office in 2011. In fact, just last year, Governor Nikki Haley signed two ground-breaking pieces of pro-life legislation that have made the Palmetto State one of the safest states in the nation for pre-born babies. One of these bills opted our state out of funding abortions under Obamacare, should the so-called “Affordable Care Act” be forced on the people of South Carolina through federally-funded exchanges. The second bill, known as the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, provides legal protections to babies who survive attempted abortions, and requires resuscitative care be administered immediately. Such bills are common sense humanity, yet the New Morning Foundation opposed both measures.
South Carolinians are faced with an incredibly clear choice between strongly pro-life Governor Nikki Haley and “personally pro-life,” and apparently politically pro-abortion, Senator Vincent Sheheen.
South Carolinians, don’t play political games; we’ve seen Democrats make absurd statements about being personally pro-life, while politically pro-abortion, before. We’ve also rejected these double-talkers dozens of times. It is my firm conviction that my fellow South Carolinians will do the same in the 2014 governor’s race. Governor Haley is the clear choice for South Carolina values in 2014, and no amount of political spin can cover-up Vincent Sheheen’s clear support for expanding abortion in South Carolina.
