SOUTH CAROLINA MUD

Boy, they really play dirty politics in South Carolina. It was in that state that John McCain lost to George Bush in 2000 after false stories about the Arizona senator. Just before the primary election, stories came out about McCain’s having fathered a black child out of wedlock. In fact, McCain and his wife adopted a child from India. False stories like that contributed to McCain’s loss to George Bush in the primary. That in turn led to the disastrous Bush presidency.

As the primaries loom in the Palmetto State, politicians there are up to their old dirty tricks. Someone sent out a bunch of Christmas cards, supposedly from Mitt Romney. The cards said the former Massachusetts governor endorsed polygamy. Rumors have been spread charging that Huckabee is not a real conservative. (What a low blow!) They’re after McCain again with lies about what happened when he was a POW.

False stories have come out that Obama is a Muslim. In fact he is a devote Christian. Democratic candidate Carl Perrin has been attacked as well. Perrin has been confident of his strength in South Carolina because he served in the Dixie Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, during the Korean War. Anti-Perrin forces do not deny his military experience, but they say, “Just because he was in the Dixie Division, that doesn’t make him sympathetic to the Confederate point of view. Even though he was in that division, he was still a Yankee from New Hampshire, a Yankee liberal at that. Perrin never even liked grits. He ate them only once. He thought he was too good to drink white lightning. He always preferred cheap beer. He was in the Dixie Division all right, but he was probably a Yankee spy.”

The professional politicians are prepared for dirty South Carolina-style politics. They have truth squads out to counter the lies and mud that are thrown at them. But Perrin doesn’t have to resources to carry on that kind of fight. He is really worried about what will happen in the South Carolina Democratic primary.