Is There Something in South Carolina's Water?

Are there excessive hormones in South Carolina’s waters?

Is someone pouring testosterone into the drinking waters of the Palmetto State?

Why is it that South Carolina has a disproportionate amount of salacious political sex scandals?

Forget the Tea Party and tea baggers; ignore the GOP and West Hollywood sex clubs, David Vitter and Eliot Spitzer and their prostitutes, the sordid tale of John Edwards, the affairs of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and Senator John Ensign, et al.

Sleepy South Carolina has awaken!

Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” the Citadel cadets who fired the first cannon rounds at Fort Sumter, that South Carolina was the first colony to secede from England, Lee Atwater, the king of dirty tricks, this is all ancient history.

The current governor, Mark Sanford, while hiking the Appalachian Trail, fell on his penis in Brazil. He was lost. So much for the up and coming, politically conservative, family values, rising star of the GOP!

Unlike many political wives “who stand by their man,” Jenny Sanford unceremoniously dumped him.

Senator Strom Thurmond was nicknamed “Sperm” Thurmond because his youngest son was born in 1976 when the Senator was 74. Marrying a former Miss South Carolina helped the Senator live to 100. After his death, it was revealed that the segregationist’s first child was a daughter born in 1925 to his black maid.

South Carolina is known for knocked down, dragged out, no holds barred elections.

Racism has been a potent campaign issue in past elections.

Sexism joined racism in this election cycle.

State Representative Nikki Haley won almost 49% of the Republican primary votes, but will be in a runoff because she just missed 50%.

Just a short time ago she polled fourth among voters, but endorsements by Jenny Sanford, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party helped her, but then so did some outrageous claims by her political opponents.

Nikki (Nimrata Randhawa) is the daughter of Sikh immigrants from India, but has converted to Methodism. State Senator Jake Knotts, a supporter of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, one opponent, said “We’re already got a raghead in the White House. We don’t need another raghead in the Governor’s Mansion.”

On May 24, 2010 Will Folks, former press secretary for the disgraced Governor Mark Sanford, claimed on a blog to have had an inappropriate physical relationship with the married Nikki. Then on June 3, 2010, Larry Marchant, a former political consultant for Andre Bauer, also claimed a one night stand with Nikki.

She has vigorously denied both claims, asserted 100% faithfulness to her husband, and promised that if elected, and they prove those allegations, she would resign. As we say in Southern California, Nikki has cajones.

A double standard is at work here. The number of adultery claims that could be asserted against male politicians is almost infinite, but they usually don’t emerge. They tend to stick more to Republicans than Democrats. Think of President Clinton and his campaign being on constant "Bimbo alert' to fight any and all charges. He won, and Hillary continues to stand by him.

If Representative Haley wins the governorship, then she will join Governor Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, as Indian descended governors in the Deep South. President Obama, and the two Indians prove America has come a long way in recent years in achieving equality. Are we there yet? No. but we’ve come a lot farther than I ever thought possible back in the 60’s.

Even Democratic voters in the South Carolina primary showed their disgust with Washington. Allen Greene, an unemployed candidate who never ran for office before, ran no ads, set up no website, and engaged in no fundraising, won the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate with 59% of the primary vote, winning out over established candidates.

He received over 100,000 votes in his non-campaign. An estimated 70% of the Democratic primary voters were African American. Greene is African American, but his primary opponent, a traditional politician, was white. Make any conclusions you want from that.

Then it turns out the unknown is not unknown to law enforcement. He has a felony charge pending against him for showing porn last October to a college student. He was also kicked out of the Army last August, but received an honorable discharge.

The palmettos don't provide much shade anymomre in South Carolina.