Is Gresham Barrett a worthy Gubernatorial candidate?
January 14th, 2010 in 2010 Elections, Gresham Barrett ~ (5) CommentsBarrett has caught a lot of flak, especially from upstate Tea Partiers, over his TARP vote. One bad vote out of so many good ones. Should Barrett be forgiven for this vote, and accepted as a good and viable candidate for the South Carolina Governorship?
Here is a Facebook comment by Matthew Hilley, Anderson County Republican Party 2nd Vice Chair, and my response.
Matthew Hilley: Grooms never actually had a chance in this race! A lot of time good people get into a race they can’t win! This race will come down to Barrett and McMaster baring any big upsets or political blunders! Haley is a great candidate and she has some good ideas but she is not going to be standing at the end of the day.
Everyone knows my personal choice and favorite is of course Gresham Barrett for Governor! I think he has a great shot at this. The only worry I have is the amount of money the other one has! I encourage anyone who thinks badly of Gresham Barrett should research him a little better and actually get to know his voting record and look into what he has done for this state, this country and 3rd Congressional district! Gresham is a great man, an awesome leader and a wonderful friend! He is also a great friend to our men and women still serving in the military to defend our rights! I know this man PERSONALLY and I think he is Awesome! He is the right choice for SC and he is the right choice for Conservatives!
We need to STOP tearing down good people because we disagree with a very tiny percentage of the hundreds of decisions they have made! You tear down good people hoping for a long shot and at the end of the day you get stuck with the one you do not want because you tore down a good man!!
Research, ask questions and analyze the truth do not fall for the spin even when it comes from the right side of an argument!
Response:
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew. Why must it come down to Barrett and McMaster? Pray tell, why will Haley not be standing at the end of the race? Do you not “get” the tea party movement? Do you not know what it is that are getting people up off their lay-z-boys for the first time ever in their 50+ year lives? And do you not know that there are forces at work in this election that haven’t been present since possibly the Civil War?
By the way, the good ‘ol boy network is called that because they are all FRIENDS.
If the TARP vote of Barrett’s was an innocent mistake then there would be room for forgiveness. The problem is that he went into this thing with their eyes wide open. We have video footage of Barrett’s speeches on the house floor to prove it. He blatantly violated the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. THAT, my friend, is no small thing.
(Besides, I personally believe the sub-prime mortgage “crisis” was a lie, a scam, and could have been fixed simply by reversing the intrusive and negative influence that Congress had imposed years earlier. Our American markets are more resilient than our politicians give them credit for. But that is another story for another day.)
The second big problem I have with Barrett is that even though he mostly voted right, he is not a fighter. At least not compared to DeMint. If he were a fighter of that caliber we would not be able to help knowing it. Jim DeMint is in the news constantly because he’s causing such a ruckus.
IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO VOTE RIGHT ANYMORE! WE NEED PEOPLE WHO WILL FIGHT.
The third big problem I have with Barrett (and this one makes me mad) is that I feel he has been delinquent on his job and has avoided his constituents. He’s one of our Anderson homeboys, he should show his face more often. When was the last time he was at an Anderson GOP meeting? He didn’t show up at our Anderson Tea Party on 4/16/2009. Why, he has had the grand total of ONE townhall, in Seneca of all places, since the healthcare debate started up. Is he a coward? (Inglis, as unpopular as he is, had no less than 5 very controversial townhalls.) Or is he too busy campaigning? I dare say the latter, since he also missed 337 out of 971 house votes in 2009 (34.7%). I’m not paying him $174k/yr to miss one third of the votes. I know campaigning is hard, but if you’re not doing your job as a representative what makes me think he’s going to do a good job as a governor? (In contrast, Rep. Mike Wamp, who is running for governor of TN, only missed 8%.)
Could you please let us know exactly how TARP “violate[s] the Constitution?” There are plenty of aspects of TARP that reasonable people can disagree on; its Constitutionality, however, is not one of those aspects.
"The second big problem I have with Barrett is that even though he mostly voted right, he is not a fighter." And, if he were a "fighter," you would move the bar even more. Its pretty apparent that he is not your candidate and probably has not been from the start. But, despite your comments, it looks like you should do some more research. To start with, he is not from Anderson as you state…
Yes, you are correct, I now know that he is from Westminster, SC, which helps me understand a little more why he would have his only townhall in Seneca. However it would still seem to be a good strategic move to pick a location more central in the district, and more populated.
Anything else?
Well…yes. As you note, he has consistently voted conservative in the house and that is the reason we voted him into office to begin with – to represent our conservative viewpoint – which he has done. Yet, you deride him for not being a "fighter" like DeMint. Can you point to anything in particular that DeMint has achieved that would differentiate him from Gresham (and I am also a DeMint fan)?
Media. DeMint has taken advantage of many national media interviews fighting against legislation and bad policies. I appreciate being represented by people who share my views, that's what representation is all about, but when we have a rogue government on our hands it isn't enough to be passive about it.
Some other notable accomplishments are:
* Blocking an anti-democracy ambassador to Haiti
* Stalling the healthcare senate bill, delaying the vote until day or two before Christmas (he and Coburn were the only ones willing to do sentry duty and say "I object" to prevent unanimous consent)
* Introducing term limits and balanced budget Constitutional amendments
These are recent things. He tells some of the earlier actions he took in the House and Senate, which are detailed in his book Saving Freedom. He has a measure of initiative that some of our other republicans apparently lack.