***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — SPLITTING HAIRS — “For approximately three hours Tuesday a seven member panel of South Carolina House members questioned attorneys for Governor Mark Sanford, to determine if he should be impeached,” reports the South Carolina Radio Network’s William Christopher. “The panel examined nine counts Tuesday, including count 20, the ‘hair cut flight,’ where Sanford flew back from business in Myrtle Beach during March of 2006, business including speaking to a Rotary Club, and had his hair cut in Columbia. The hair cut point stems from a note jotted in his calendar. One of Sanford’s attorneys, Butch Bowers, says the governor was already in Myrtle Beach on official business, speaking to a Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and had gotten there on his own, when a staff member flew in and they flew back to Columbia. Bowers said the governor did not take a flight to Columbia just to get an $11 hair cut and called the idea absurd. He said that Sanford had to return to Columbia at some point anyway. Bowers said that the governor also ate dinner that night but that, as well, had nothing to do with a flight at tax payer expense.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — NFIB’s JJ Darby is celebrating today. The 864 area code is 14.
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NATIONAL LENS — “President Barack Obama started the clock on the U.S. war in Afghanistan this week, announcing that the beginning of the end would come in July 2011 even as he massively expanded the war by ordering 30,000 new U.S. forces into the fray,” The Associated Press reports. “Selling that mixed message to Congress just hours later, Obama’s three chief war managers promptly put the countdown on hold. The exit strategy isn’t absolute, they said, disappointing Democrats for whom the July 2011 date was meant as an olive branch from a Democratic president bearing bad news. Republicans got Gates to say that the July 2011 date is intended to mean different things to different audiences. To the Afghan government, it’s a prod to improve and a reminder that the United States won’t be its policeman forever, Gates said. To Americans sick of the war, it pledges that the United States won’t be in Afghanistan for another decade, he also said.”
QUOTABLE — REMINDERS — “‘I would just like to remind everyone there is another audience that wasn’t mentioned by Secretary Gates,’ growled Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. ‘It’s the enemy. They have a vote in this war.’”
WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? Politico reports from a gathering, last night, of tea party activists in Washington for the premiere of a documentary about the movement: “After seeing Rep. Joe Wilson raise more than $1 million in the days following his ‘You lie!’ outburst during President Obama’s September address to Congress, Sen. Jim DeMint, a fellow South Carolina Republican, said he wished he’d been the one who lashed out. … When he learned it was Wilson, DeMint said he immediately became concerned that his friend could face a firestorm of criticism that could threaten him politically. But, DeMint said, ‘a couple days later, after he raised a few million dollars off of it, I was thinking “why didn’t I say that?”’”
BLOCKAGE — DeMint also “credited that movement with blocking Democratic health care reform efforts and predicted the conservative activists behind the movement could ultimately thwart the passage of that bill and others. ‘The only reason we don’t have national health care right now is you – is the people outside of Washington.’”
BLOCKAGE II — “Senate Republicans are boasting about their health care opposition strategy, and frustrated Democrats are responding in kind. If the GOP keeps up its stall tactics, Democrats said today, they are prepared to stay on the Senate floor to debate health care through Christmas. Republicans are not shying away from the fact they are trying to slowly kill Reid’s bill,” according to CBS. Senator DeMint “sent a letter to his Republican colleagues on Tuesday laying out the ways the party can slow down the process. ‘We, the minority party, must use the tools we have under Senate rules to insist on a full, complete and fully informed debate on the health care legislation,’ the letter says.” LETTER HERE
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HEATING BACK UP — Senator Graham is meeting with Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Reid “early next week … to discuss an outline of their [climate change] legislation that will be released later in the conference.”
VIEWPOINT — CASE STUDY IN POLITICAL COMPROMISE — Thomas J. Pyle of the American Energy Alliance tees off on Graham in a Post & Courier Op-Ed. “Our elected officials often speak of compromise. Sometimes they even cooperate to the nation’s benefit. Generally, we approve of leaders who, when working to craft commonsense solutions, make principled compromises. But when compromise erodes and undermines principles, the public rightfully objects. Yes, government officials are elected to demonstrate strong leadership. At times, this means making tough choices and taking unpopular stands. Abandoning one’s principles altogether, however, is never acceptable. We’re seeing a case study in political compromise right now in South Carolina, as Sen. Lindsey Graham continues to shepherd cap and trade legislation through the Senate.”
ROUND 3 — South Carolina lawmakers are holding a third hearing over the possible impeachment of Gov. Mark Sanford.
MOOT — “South Carolina’s highest court declared the S.C. State Ethics Commission must release any documents related to its investigation of Gov. Mark Sanford that also are turned over to the governor. … The decision is somewhat of a moot point, after Sanford’s attorneys released the disputed document last week, but could set a precedent for future cases.”
RAINING PERVERTS — McMaster gets another one.
VIEWPOINT II — HEART OF THE MATTER — Dr. Michael Foster, a Columbia cardiologist and past-president of the S.C. Heart Center writes in The State, “By this time tomorrow, some 2,400 Americans will be dead from cardiovascular disease, which takes more lives each year than cancer, accidents and diabetes combined. By this time next year, though, rates of cardiovascular deaths may well have increased significantly if proposed Medicare regulations are implemented. These changes are separate from the large health reform debate and have been crafted unilaterally by the Center for Medicare Services, the federal agency that administers the Medicare program. At issue is the amount Medicare reimburses cardiologists for life-saving diagnostic testing. South Carolinians’ access to specialists and to timely diagnostic testing will be severely impeded under the new scheme, which will especially affect patients with heart disease. These reductions also will cause the closure of many offices and outpatient clinics, particularly in rural South Carolina where more than 182,000 of the state’s half million Medicare policy-holders – a third – reside. … We have come so far in our battle against America’s No. 1 killer. We cannot afford to turn back the clock. I urge Medicare and Congress to make a difference in protecting the heart health for all Americans.”
AQUISITIONS — From the godfather of Palmetto Morning comes this: “BULLETIN — WSJ.com: ‘Comcast Corp. agreed to take majority-ownership of NBC Universal from General Electric Corp. in a complex deal valued at more than $30 billion … Combining Comcast–the nation’s largest cable operator and third-largest phone service provider–with a major media and entertainment conglomerate that owns cable and broadcast TV networks, a major film studio and a theme parks business threatens to further shake up a media industry already reeling from the rise of digital media.’” ALSO — D.C. lobbying/public affairs powerhouse Dutko Worldwide has been acquired by British public relations firm Huntsworth Plc.
CLEMSON — Professor’s work wins accolade
ORANGEBURG — Former midwife, 81, says she delivered more than 500 babies from 1950-1975
YORK — County’s ties to Charlotte could put damper on growth, one expert says
STATEWIDE — South Carolina’s economic forecast looks bright
STATEWIDE — Jobs unlikely to return to economy quickly, economists say
OCONEE — S.C. county OKs tax deal that could attract 150 jobs
FINALLY THIS — EYE-POPPING — “With 10 declared candidates jostling for a shot at the governor’s mansion in 2010, the angling for attention is sure to produce some seriously eye-popping proposals. Enter the curious candidacy of state Sen. Robert Ford.” The Free Times writes, “The Democrat from Charleston has based his campaign in part on the promise of bringing the video poker business back to the Palmetto State. The practice was pushed out of South Carolina by the state Supreme Court in 1999. On Nov. 30, the 61-year-old black former civil rights activist discussed his controversial plan that he believes could suture together the state’s unraveling economy. The first thing Ford says he’ll do if elected governor is ask the General Assembly to bring video poker back to the state, either by a resolution or referendum, and then tax the revenue at 25 percent.”
THAT’S IT FOR THIS MORNING – STAY TUNED ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES THAT JUST CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW. HAVE A GOOD ONE!
