February 2, 2006

        As many of you already know, Barney Giese, son of the winningest coach in University of South Carolina history and retired Republican State Senator, Warren Giese, has left the Republican party.  If you want a very clear view of HOW this happened, read the exclusive article by Adam Beam and Tim Flach in The State newspaper.

        I want to talk about WHY it happened.

        I remember, back in the day, when, if a person was a Republican at all, he was either African American or a Yankee or both. Then came Strom Thurmond.  Some well-placed Republicans in Washington got tired of having the crap beaten out of them every national election and began to do something about it.  They sought conservative Progressives from the South.

        Cocktail Republicans did not like it at all.  They were the ones who were conservative as long as it didn't effect their well-placed families' bottom line or their ability to weild power.  There are still some.  W's dad was thought to be one, until the Gulf War.

        And there was war in Republican heaven.

        About the same thing is being done, today, in Columbia.

        See, Barney wanted to run for his Daddy's seat - a time-honored tradition in the Palmetto State - only there were personages in the Governor's office who did not want him to win.   So, they supported a guy in the Republican primary whom they thought oughta be in that senatorial desk.  The Gov's guy won the primary.  Problem was, the Republican "survivor" was running against another legend's son and the Gov's people didn't have the brains to realize just what a disadvantage this was.

        There will be those who will tell you that Barney was ostracized because he supported his old school friend in the general election.  But Geise's friendship was miniscule in the final result.

        Consequently, the son of the late, beloved Isadore Lourie, Dem. Joel Lourie, was swept into the seat, leaving a lot of bad blood among factions in the Republican party.

        This was a problem only Superman could solve.

        Latest I looked, Superman was a fictional character in bullet-proof tights.

        So now, Barney Guise is a Progressive and the Republicans are scrambling for a Richland County candidate for Solicitor.

        But as Caporegime Clemenza said to Michael Corleone in the Godfather, "That's all right - these things gotta happen every ten years or so."

        Dick Anderson