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Here's hoping Stephen Colbert's sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, turns Tim Scott's district in South Carolina blue. Despite former Gov. Mark "Appalachian Trails" Sanford's prior problems, he managed to win the GOP's nomination for South Carolina's 1st District House seat. (This is the district from which Jim DeMint resigned.)

Mark Sanford Wins GOP Nomination For South Carolina's 1st District House Seat :

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday cleared another hurdle in his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council member to win the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat he held for three terms. [...]

With all of the precincts reporting, Sanford had about 57 percent of the vote in the 1st District to 43 percent for Curtis Bostic, the former county council member. The candidates were vying in the GOP runoff after they finished as the top two vote-getters in a 16-way GOP primary last month.

Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt in a May special election.

Colbert Busch released a statement late Tuesday saying "I look forward to a vigorous campaign that focuses on creating jobs, balancing our country's budget and choosing an independent-minded leader who shares the values of the great people of South Carolina."

Sanford, a former three-term congressman and two-term governor, said earlier Tuesday that the runoff would give a good indication whether voters have moved past his personal indiscretions.

"I'm both humbled and grateful for the response of the voters here tonight," he said later. Read on...

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Stephen Colbert is still on vacation this week over at Comedy Central, but he did make an appearance on Jake Tapper's new show on CNN, The Lead. Colbert stepped out of character for the better part of the interview and discussed his support for his sister who is running for the U.S. House seat that was vacated by Tim Scott after he was appointed to the Senate to replace the Heritage Foundation's latest wingnut welfare recipient, Jim DeMint.

Colbert Busch's leading contender on the Republican primary side is none other than Mr. Appalachian Trails himself, Mark Sanford. If she's fortunate enough to find herself elected to the House, Colbert told Tapper she would be fair game when he's doing his show:

But now Colbert is breaking character to dip his toe into real politics – supporting his sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch, who works in business development at Clemson University and is running for Congress as a Democrat in their home state of South Carolina.

This is the first election Colbert has become involved in.

"I've actually worked very hard not to get involved in an election because I think people expect me - and I don't want to speak for Jon [Stewart], but people expected of Jon to exercise political power because we talk about politics a lot, and we did the rally and stuff like that," says Colbert.

But this time is different, says the Comedy Central star.

"She's my sister and I'm willing to break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her. Like I'm not worried about what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself, not as my character but as myself, and if people don't think that's the right thing for me to do, I don't care, it's my sister and I'm willing to help her," says Colbert.

Besides, Colbert says, "I've met these people and my sister is in the top decile."

And he would know. Colbert's faux conservative pundit shtick is basically the longest-running spoof of Washington, D.C., on television.

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Stephen Colbert had a bit of trouble pretending to remain objective about his sister's run for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, which was vacated by now Sen. Tim Scott: Colbert touts his sister's House bid:

Colbert, in his trademark sarcastic style, discussed her race on "The Colbert Report," saying, "Holy cow, my sister is running for Congress."

He referred to her as "Lulu," saying that was her childhood nickname.

"No free air time Lulu. As a broadcast journalist I am obligated to maintain pure objectivity. It doesn't matter that my sister is intelligent, hardworking, compassionate and dedicated to the people of South Carolina," he said.

He added, "Besides, I'm not sure I can support her because she's running as a Democrat."

Sixteen Republicans are running for the seat, including former Gov. Mark Sanford and Teddy Turner, the son of business mogul Ted Turner.

"Republicans are all over this election like white on Republicans," Colbert noted.

"At this point I'm leaning toward actual candidate and former governor of the Appalachian Trail — Mark Sanford. I'm a family values conservative, and Mark, he just seems so steady." [...]

Colbert concluded his segment on his sister with this note: "Lulu is kind of tough. She could win this one and, if you do Lulu, I certainly hope you'll sit down with me for a 'Better Know a District,'" referring to a recurring segment from his TV show in which Colbert irreverently interviews House members.

"It will give you a chance to defend some shocking revelations I've found in your middle school diary."

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Tim Scott appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox to discuss Haley's decision to appoint Scott to take Sen. Jim DeMint's place, who is off to collect his wingnut welfare over at The Heritage Foundation after his retirement.

Right out of the gate we had Scott promising to focus on getting that government spending, that they all hate when there's a Democratic in the White House so much under control and advocating for a flat tax. Haley heaped praise on Scott and said that "he earned" this appointment. I guess that's true if anyone thinks there's merit in being even more of an extremist than his predecessor and so far, that seems to be the case.

Here's more on that from Think Progress: Meet Sen. Tim Scott: The Tea Party Lawmaker Who Wanted To Impeach President Obama And Kick Kids Off Food Stamps:

Though DeMint left big, controversial shoes to fill for Republicans, few conservatives will be disappointed with Scott’s record. Elected to Congress just two years ago in the Tea Party wave, Scott has already garnered headlines for his plan to impeach President Obama, his legislation to cut off union members’ children from food stamps, and his defense of Big Oil.

Here’s a quick look at Scott’s record:

• Floated impeaching Obama over the debt ceiling. As the debt ceiling debate raged in the summer of 2011 because of the intransigence of Tea Party freshmen like Scott, the nation inched perilously close to defaulting on its obligations. One option discussed by some officials to avoid that scenario was for the president to assert that the debt ceiling itself was an unconstitutional infringement on the 14th Amendment. However, Tim Scott told a South Carolina Tea Party group that if Obama were to go this route, it would be an “impeachable act.”
• Proposed a bill to cut off food stamps for entire families if one member went on strike. One of the most anti-union members of Congress, Scott proposed a bill two months after entering Congress in 2011 to kick families off food stamps if one adult were participating in a strike. Scott’s legislation made no exception for children or other dependents.
• Wanted to spend an unlimited amount of money to display Ten Commandments outside county building. When Scott was on the Charleston County Council, one of his primary issues was displaying the Ten Commandments outside the Council building. According to the Augusta Chronicle, Scott said the display “would remind council members and speakers the moral absolutes they should follow.” When he was sued for violating the Constitution and a Circuit Judge’s orders, Scott was nonplussed: “Whatever it costs in the pursuit of this goal (of displaying the Commandments) is worth it.”
• Defended fairness of giving billions in subsidies to Big Oil. Scott and his Republican allies in Congress voted repeatedly last year to protect more than $50 billion in taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil corporations. When ThinkProgress asked Scott whether it was fair to do that, especially at a time when oil companies are earning tens of billions in profit every quarter, the Tea Party freshman defended the industry: “fair is a relative word,” said Scott.
• Helped slash South Carolina’s HIV/AIDS budget. As a state representative, Scott backed a proposal to cut the state’s entire HIV/AIDS budget, despite the fact that South Carolina ranks in the top-third of reported AIDS cases. The cuts were ultimately included in the state’s budget, impacting more than 2,000 HIV-positive South Carolinians who needed help paying for their medication.

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On this Sunday's Meet the Press, Lindsey Graham was asked whether the "tea party" Republicans are going to line up behind the nomination of Mitt Romney even though what he represents is everything they supposedly despise. Graham lets one slip here with his admission that those so-called tea partiers are just more corporate backed big business supporters in the Congress. I found it ironic that Graham also said that the attack ads in the GOP primary and the primary dragging out for too long isn't helpful to their candidate, but he still refused to say he'd vote for Romney in the South Carolina primary.

Of course what's taboo on these networks is the admission that the "tea party" is nothing but a Republican rebranding effort to get the Bush-stink off of the label, promoted by the Koch brothers and a bunch of AstroTurfers pretending to be a grass roots movement.

And regardless of his denial that he knows who he's going to vote for here, we all know Graham isn't going to cross his BFF McCain who's firmly in Romney's camp now. And they all know that Gingrich and Santorum and Perry refusing to get out of the race is just a way to assure that Romney gets the nomination. Perry was going to drop out an then changed his mind. I have to wonder if that decision came after a phone call from the Romney campaign asking him to stay in and help to continue to split the vote in these early primary races. The Big Money Boyz have picked their candidate and they're not going to allow anything to get in the way of that.

Full transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry delighted a conservative audience in South Carolina Monday with his simple stance on gun control legislation.

"Honestly, the next question is so easy that I don't even want to ask it," event host Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Perry. "Are you for gun control?"

"I am actually for gun control," Perry deadpanned. "Use both hands."

The Texas governor followed his joke by flashing a toothy grin and giving the audience a thumbs up.