Democracy Is Dead

[Shagman]

2. update

In a particularly embarrassing episode, Joe Wilson's wife confronted Jake Knotts outside his office. If I tried that, I don't think the security people would let me through the way they did her.

She wanted to complain about how her sister, who was running for office, got caught in the Great Candidate Purge. Knotts tried to brush her off. They went into his office, and she emerged satisfied.

Minutes later, Knotts went back to the Judiciary Committee and killed a bill that would allow the dropped candidates to run. Katrina Shealy, one of those candidates, was running against Knotts and had given him a run for his money last time around. Now she's out. Can you say "conflict of interest"?

Meanwhile, another candidate sued in federal court to have the primaries delayed. As it turned out, she was eligible to run, so the three-judge panel decided her suit had no merit--except for one thing. They could have delayed the primary while this whole mess got straightened out, which would mean that there wouldn't be enough time for absentee military ballots to come in. But wait, that provision only applies in federal elections, and we're talking about state elections. Case closed.

Also meanwhile, Shealy tried to have Knotts removed from the ballot based on an 1880 clause in the state constitution. In South Carolina it's illegal to participate in a duel or even to challenge someone to a duel. In December 2010 Knotts did just that. The state Republican Party turned down the request.

Only in South Carolina.