Floyd’s Fractured “GOP”

On a gloomy, overcast Saturday in May, members of the badly-fractured South Carolina Republican Party limped into the State Capital in Columbia to hold their annual convention.

On the lips of the SCGOP’s new chairman, her staff and dozens of party activists is unbridled “next generation” optimism.

Spartanburg businesswoman Karen Floyd – the Upstate PR babe who now runs the Republican show – is promising big things for the party’s future, centering her vision around familiar buzzwords like “diversity,” “technology” and “unity.”

Apparently by sounding “proactive,” Republicans will be perceived as “proactive.”

One thing Floyd is promising not to do is referee a fight between fiscal conservatives and big government RINOs – which is too bad.

Paradoxically, the Republican Party could actually grow its tent via a few well-considered “ejections.”

What do we mean by that?

Well, it’s become obvious by now that over half of the Republicans in the S.C. Senate (and dozens more in the S.C. House) are caucusing with the Democrats.

So much for a majority, right?

In addition to their profligate spending, refusal to adhere to the party’s platform on education, resistance to long-overdue government reform and incessant tax hike bent, S.C. Republican lawmakers recently elected their second Democrat to the Supreme Court in three years.

Amazing.

When it comes to “Republican values,” the South Carolina Republican Party is all talk – and with the explosion of a new marketplace of ideas, talk from politicians gets cheaper with each passing day.

Unfortunately, party activists continue to swallow the same lies from the same politicians.

“I’m with you,” they’re told, and they keep believing it.

Never mind these politicians’ voting records, but then again those can now be changed after the fact without anybody being the wiser.

“Happens all the time,” one State Senator told FITS just last night.

Disgusting.

Worse still, taxpayer advocates who simply want the GOP to stick to its lower tax, less government roots are labeled “fringe ideologues,” or accused of being controlled by “wealthy out-of-state interests.”

It’s a deflection, a diversionary tactic – one that is slowly but surely outliving its electoral usefulness as people open their eyes to what’s happening around them.

But we’re not there yet.

After all, a true “Republican” party would immediately boot big-spending, anti-reform politicians like Bobby Harrell, Glenn McConnell, Hugh Leatherman, Dan Cooper, Larry Martin, John Courson and Bill Sandifer – all of whom view your tax dollars as their personal playgrounds.

But what does the SCGOP do instead?

It installs these thugs in its top legislative leadership positions and showers them with honors.

Far be it from Floyd to “referee” any of that, though, right? After all, “consensus” candidates don’t want to get their hands dirty, do they?

Anyway, on Monday we’ll be bringing you a remarkable story of how one of the “GOP” leaders mentioned above sold his party’s two most important constituencies (and Floyd, for that matter) down the river by … wait for it … cutting a deal with the Democrats.

We wish the tale was unique, but it’s not – this politician just happened to get caught doing it.

As for Floyd, we’re going to keep an open mind as she enters this position.

She ran an atrocious campaign three years ago (an embarrassing loss she still owes money on), she’s shown alarmingly poor judgment by getting involved in a taxpayer-funded senior citizens scam and she tends to come off as fake and flaky.

She’s also surrounded herself with bad strategists and stale messengers, not the caliber of people needed to turn the party around, if you take Floyd at her word that this is her goal.

But Floyd is not stupid – in fact, she can scheme, connive and cajole with the best of them.

When her public face is turned off, she’s as Machiavellian as they come, demonstrating a mental agility and cutthroat capacity that puts most of the boys in this business to shame.

In fact, it’s been said that the only thing sexier than Karen Floyd is her mind – and we believe it.

Speaking of which, with her telegenic looks and crisp, drawl-free voice, Floyd is infinitely better positioned to serve as “front person” for the party – assuming the GOP ever locates its principles and has something to say about them.

On both counts, we shall see …