We should have seen it coming …
About two questions into Sic Willie’s interview on the S.C. State House grounds Friday with WIS TV anchor Ben Hoover, it became clear that this was no ordinary Q&A session.
“Aren’t you just a tabloid?” Hoover asked.
“Wait, what?” a flustered, flat-footed Sic said as Big Ben prepared to hurl a little more journalistic chin music his way. “What is this interview about again?”
“Blogging,” Hoover shot back.
So much for a puff piece.
Obviously, Sic Willie deserves every bit of the slicing and dicing that’s inevitably coming his way with this piece … he dishes as much (and worse) on a daily basis here on FITS, and you know the old expression about dishing it and not being able to take it. Plus, he’s made fun of Hoover in the past personally, as well as the station he works for, so it’s not like some reciprocation is out of order.
Fortunately for us, though, Sic didn’t throw his microphone down and walk off the State House grounds. He decided if he was going to be cast in the role of the asshole, he might as well give WIS viewers their money’s worth.
“I drive the debate in this state,” Sic arrogantly told Hoover at one point during the interview.
“That’s a pretty bold statement,” Hoover responded.
Sic said that he “backed it up,” providing as one example a higher ed slush fund (masked as a venture capital tax credit) that he exposed last year and then single-handedly shut down this year.
In one of several moments of bad form, however, Sic boasted about how “the stuff (he) write(s) costs people their jobs,” seemingly gloating in the demise of people’s careers – which obviously wasn’t cool.
More zingers? Asked about some of the racier pop culture content on FITS, Sic said that critics could “kiss his ass” and defended some of his hit-inflating posts by saying “I can’t help it, I love Lindsay Lohan.”
“Don’t you worry about getting sued?” Hoover asked.
“I’ve got great lawyers,” Sic replied smugly.
One of the few circumspect responses Sic offered, oddly enough, was in response to what was perhaps Hoover’s most incriminating question – the one about Sic Willie’s infamous 2005 guilty plea on a first offense CDV charge.
“I’ll tell you,” he said. “The best day of my life was when I realized I couldn’t control what anybody thought about that.”
Good answer.
Once the bloodletting was done, Sic and Hoover sat down and actually had a nice chat, trading pictures of their kids and discussing some of the different stories they were working on.
In spite of that detente, however, odds are this interview – which will air at 11:00 p.m. on Monday on WIS – isn’t going to go very well for Sic.
In fact, Hoover basically told him as much.
“If you put yourself out there like you do, you can’t expect it to always be good,” Hoover said.
True that … and props to Hoover for “bringing it” instead of doing some puff piece on how awesome and influential our founding editor is. That aggressiveness is certainly something we can respect … even if we would have preferred a puff piece.
To get air times for Hoover’s story, visit WIS TV …
Pics: Ashley Hester
By Steve V September 18, 2009 at 11:31 pm
That was ballzy. Real ballzy. You just received man points back….
By BIN News Editorial Staff September 18, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Our Funding Editor would ask sic(k) willie some really probing questions.
Like, what about his bogus claim that a Midlands’ elected official has a Strom problem?
Like, what about his wacko claim of a SLED “beat down squad.”
Like, what about him trying to “dig gold” over the grave of “some poor little black girl.”
So many willie scams. So little time.
The only thing sic(k) willie has “single-handedly” shut down are a few Vista bars – but they always reopen the next night.
Calling this porn site a “tabloid” is giving it too much credit.
BIN News
Flair and Balanced
By Pricey Flack September 19, 2009 at 6:40 am
Sic,
As long as they spell your name and the blog correctly, it’ll help your hit count. Ditto on the man points.
By NoObama September 19, 2009 at 7:43 am
Who the heck is BIN News? Sounds like a gang of losers to me.
By Soft Sigh From Hell September 19, 2009 at 8:03 am
“There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.” —
Brendan Behan
By political hack September 19, 2009 at 10:21 am
BIN news get a fucking life, FITS you are a true patriot, you are what the next generation of journalism wants to be, keep up the good work and always remember that there will always be haters of the game, but thats only becuase they envy you
By Whit Suber September 19, 2009 at 10:38 am
True that such a play was inevitable. The Columbia based tradtional media have been scooped so hard lately by the “tabloid types” they now resort to using their “legitamacy” as an excuse for their own incompetence. You see Sic, it’s only the threat of legal action that prevents them from revealing the location of Jimmy Hoffa.
REPORTERS: “Hey editors! Let’ s do hit piece explaining that while we suck, we don’t really suck b/c the other guys use legally questionable methods such as personal connections, real-life experience and Google searches.”
EDITORS: “Great idea, but we need to balance-out this hard hitting journalism with some good ole fashion puff pieces. Say Ben, why don’t you do a three part expose on our beloved Mayor Bob… but don’t mention anything about the City’s financial ruin… or the missing $40 million on the City hotel deal… or the CCI deal… or the trolley’s… “
By PasserBy September 19, 2009 at 11:46 am
Sic:
Win, Lose or Draw, I’ll look forward to the interview. Hopefully, they’ll have a ‘longer’ version on their website, since the nightly news is only gonna give you a segment at most.
By 1 + 1 = 3 September 19, 2009 at 12:03 pm
If you weren’t rattling nerves, nobody would do a story on you so you must be doing something right
By BIN News Editorial Staff September 19, 2009 at 12:11 pm
sic(k) willie maintains his hit count by posting and indexing porn to draw unsuspecting misdirected Googlers and “one click wonders.” What a scam.
And our Funding Editor wondered this morning what kind of pathetic life political hack has. She thinks he needs to get a new girlfriend or a new boyfriend or a new goat. political hack is not particular with friends.
Why-o-why don’t political hacks demand sic(k) willie prove his past claim that a Midlands’ elected official has a Strom problem?
Why-o-why don’t political hacks insist sic(k) willie prove his claim that SLED has a “beatdown squad”?
So many willie scams. So little time.
BIN News
Flair and Balanced
By Natasha September 19, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Be sure to post it Sic. Can’t wait to watch.
By rebel September 19, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I love how when you go after the Eduthugs, the chorus accuses you of not ‘getting facts straight’ or being a tabloid. So I guess the NY Times and all the other traditional media are both on the story and always get it right, huh? Jeesh. Not to mention tabloid journalism in its truest sense–not the celebrity tabs but the Pete Hamill tradition of journalism–is all about exposing local Tammany Hall-style corruption and cronyism, demanding accountability, sticking up for the little guy, and defending Lilo, for that matter.
By jeffy September 19, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Hey BIN….when are you being interviewed….by anyone? Jealous?
Didnt the new Spiderman comic just come out….dont you need to run go get a copy?
By Mab September 19, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Lit up? Like a Christmas tree? Merry Christmas!
By James the Foot Soldier September 19, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Mr. Hoover: when do you plan hard hitting questions of any of the incompetents in Columbia – no, not luv-guv, the incompetents that actually run the state?
By Lou September 19, 2009 at 8:42 pm
WIS and Ben Hoover have been sitting on the latest Jeal Toal story (fiasco) for over a week and are either too afraid to air it or Jean has put (tied) the ball gag in their collective mouths. See Post and Courier, September 10 and 11, 2009. The State has it also but absolutely no one is left over there with balls big enough to match Jean’s. Hell, even Rick Brundrett who broke the stories on Toal before is leaving.
By Mike Honcho September 20, 2009 at 12:26 am
Yeah, it’ll blow the lid right off this make believe news site.
I’m sure if it was going to be bad, there wouldn’t be a story promoting it here.
This is what we call misleading expectations. Sort of like when you tease a story that is merely rumor to get enough to make up the rest.
One day we’re all gonna find out if those lawyers are as real as the “women” who work for you.
By southernmapart September 20, 2009 at 12:37 am
By BIN and others infer that no Midlands elected official has a “Strom” problem. Whoa, now. They could be talkin’ ’bout Strom III, but everybody knows that a lot of state elected officials have an ol’ Strom problem. That is not really off subject. Up here in the Wild West part of the state, where we put up with Lindsey Graham for no good reason, we kinda been thinkin’ that Little Lindsey inherited ol’ Strom’s badboy list from across the state, and has found the list very useful.
No doubt about a SLED “beat down squad. We’ve seen some of the plain ol’ regular agents in action.
We don’t know anything about digging gold over the grave of a little black girl. We do know that the e-mail, published by that paper in Columbia, of so-called love notes supposedly between the luvguv and his Argentine contact had to be made up because the timeline was out of whack. Shame, shame on that Columbia paper for trying to fool us.
Until evidence shows that says Sic Willie is out of his mind (in spite of the porn) I’d believe him any day over msm or BIN News.
By Libb September 20, 2009 at 9:37 am
Well, Southernmapart, I’ve always wondered if that badboy list wasn’t used against T Ravenel. Seemed a bit too coincidental that his Teacup trouble began just when his name was getting serious mention for a run against Lindsey.
Have also wondered the same as you about the emails–the timeline, how Miss Jenny found one in a financial folder (say what???),were they a plant to start “Plan B” to distract SC from the “real story”,how much were his C St buddies involved w/ this, and now wonder if the author of these emails might have been a talented erotic fiction writer.
By Mike September 20, 2009 at 9:57 am
If Will won’t ban BIN from posting here and wasting the tenth of a second it takes me to scroll past his/her/their comments to get to those written by non-GED toters, can we start some type of grassroots organization to hire the SLED beatdown goons to go take care of it? I’m begging at this point- my tolerance for stupidity is too low for continued exposure…
By Cooter Brown September 20, 2009 at 11:35 am
Congratulashuns on yer intervu an’ fer naught ‘poligizin’ fer bein’ hoo an’ what you is.
I’s mitie proud ov you an’ yer ancesters wood bee too (despite yer yankee werld view)…
By Todd September 20, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I agree with Mike. Sic, can or will you get block BIN from this site. Bin, get your own http://www.IhateSicWillie.com site and leave the rest of us alone.
By Laura Campbell September 20, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Regardless of what I think about this website, FITS and Sic operate in the same manner of SC politics. It’s completely understandable why FITS operates in the manner they do. There’s no other ear to whisper into all the dirt known about prominent politicos and others, and no one else is brave enough to report on it.
By Cooter Brown September 20, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I dont belieb dat mista willie will ban anieone frum dis hear site, nor do I thinks he shud.
I belieb Mista Willie is a gud man hoos got t’ do a dirtie job.
Iz he yankified? yep. Iz he honourable? Dis ol’ cuss ‘spects dat he iz an’ a kind yung feller az well.
I’m'a gonna shut my ol’ mouf hear. Yall is gonna think dat I loves th’ boy or sumthin!!!
Mista Willie, ye can still kiss my old arse… so thar!!!
By Toyota Kawaski September 21, 2009 at 8:41 am
the role of asshole what about the whole ass?
By Jonny D September 21, 2009 at 9:03 am
“I drive the debate in this state!”
Actually Fits, you’re just part of the conversation. But you do have great legs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt4wqDmwZ2A
By Laura Campbell September 21, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Gotta love to hate FITS…or hate to love FITS.
By dean September 21, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I have to wonder when I read this … is this who you really want to be? If you weren’t Will Folks, and were just one of us who hear what you say, would you like who Will Folks is? You wouldn’t want to punch Will Folks in the nose?
Maybe this IS who you want to be. I don’t know. I’m just sayin’.