By FITSNews || S.C. State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex is attempting to raise funds for his flagging gubernatorial campaign by attacking this website and its founding editor as “racist,” “extremist” and … wait for it … “Republican.”
“Wait … he called me a Republican?” our founding editor Sic Willie retorted angrily. “That son of a b*tch.”
Specifically, Rex has inaccurately claimed that our recent story assessing the Democratic gubernatorial primary included a racist depiction of Sen. Robert Ford (D-Charleston), who has actually been the recipient of some lofty praise on our website. In fact, earlier this month we did a story on Ford’s plan to bring back video poker in which we praised him for “doing what he thinks is right and taking on another controversial issue.”
Previously we have supported (and defended) Ford for his strong support of universal parental choice, which Rex opposes.
Nonetheless, from JimRex.com:
Yesterday, I was outraged to see this photo on the extremist website, FITS News, depicting my friend, State Senator Robert Ford, as a monkey. But unfortunately, I was not surprised. This photo represents just the latest in racist and closed-minded incidents coming out of the Republican Party …
… Senator Ford has been a loyal public servant in South Carolina for decades, a civil rights leader who marched with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a worthy opponent in this race for Governor. I applaud Senator Ford for his service to our state, and I call on FITS News to apologize to him for this racist depiction of him on their website.
Please join me today in our fight against Republican extremism. The closed mind, racist views of the past have no place in today’s society.
We must stop them.
First of all, like we said we’re not Republicans, dude.
In fact, we bash the GOP far more frequently on this site than we bash Democrats, because when you get right down to it Democrats are generally pretty honest about their desire to waste taxpayer money … whereas Republicans like to lie about it, often to your face.
Second, for as long as we can remember we’ve always used pictures of donkeys, elephants and rhinoceroses on this website to depict democrats, republicans and RINOs, respectively. Last time we checked, those were universally-accepted symbols, right? In this case, though – to be perfectly honest – we didn’t even notice that there was a monkey riding the donkey until a reporter called us and asked for a response to Rex’s comment, which we thought at first was a joke.
In fact, it took us a few minutes to figure out that the reporter was serious about the question… and that Rex had actually put out a statement condemning us.
Third, though, if you look closely at the picture the donkey with the monkey on board is in second place in the race – which is Rex’s current position.
Seriously, check it out …
That means without even intending to do so, without even realizing it in fact, we correctly identified the real monkey in this race – Superintendent Rex.
Look, we get what’s going on here … it’s been a disastrous few years for the Superintendent, and it’s painfully obvious at this point that his gubernatorial campaign is going nowhere.
First, his educrat buddies got busted trying to “dumb down” our state’s academic standards. Then, the myth of “budget cuts” that he’s been screaming from the rooftops has officially exploded by recent reports showing education funding in South Carolina at its highest levels ever (click here and here) in the middle of one of the worst economic recession in American history. On top of that, S.C. public schools have approximately $715 million currently sitting in reserve accounts, which is $200 million more than they had five years ago.
What have Palmetto parents, students and taxpayers received for that massive investment?
Well, the latest data shows that South Carolina’s graduation rate remains among the worst in the nation – which is consistent with our state’s declining SAT and ACT scores. On top of that, our rural graduation rate also ranks dead last in the country.
Sadly, Jim Crow still lives, in other words …
Bottom line, we understand why Rex is reaching. He’s hard up for money and desperate to ingratiate himself with Sen. Ford – who as we correctly noted in our controversial post could wind up playing the “kingmaker” in this race. But if he’s going to play the race card against us, he better come with a lot more than this- and he better damn well be ready to rumble.
As defenders of individual liberty, academic freedom and free market opportunity for people of all races, religions and sexual orientations, we don’t take lightly to those sorts of accusations, and we look forward to continuing to produce a body of work that disproves such desperate, politically-motivated attempts to undermine our credibility.
UPDATE: In another ironic twist on this story, one of the instances of “GOP racism” that Rex references in his fund-raising letter comes from a story that this website actually broke … and which we later used to decry the lack of diversity in the GOP.
UPDATE II: We’d also like to point out that last October, Rex’s campaign leaked the results of an internal poll to La Socialista – a.k.a. The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper. In leaking that data, Rex’s campaign deliberately excluded Ford’s polling data.
By SC Dem May 21, 2010 at 5:21 pm
How is Rex’s asking his supporters to make a contribution to his own campaign the best way to redress an offense toward someone else?
By 803andy May 21, 2010 at 5:26 pm
It’s funny, because I didn’t see the monkey either when I saw the post a few days ago. ‘And I’m black I should notice these things.
Yeah, Jim is reaching.
By Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo May 21, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Oh, I just assumed the black donkey was Ford. Just kidding, I didn’t think about it all. The fact that Rex did means that he is not living in a post-racial world as we should aspire to. The fact that he then makes a press release about it means he’s just a peddler of racial inferiority complexes and therefore no better than actual racists.
By crackahasscrackah May 21, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Jim Rex was handed his position 4 years ago when Karen Floyd had an absolute melt down in the last ten days of the campaign. He won by a margin of couple of hundred votes equaling 46% of the vote. Rather than accepting his good fortune as just that, Rex decided that he was a political genius. His career has been doomed ever since.
Vincent is going to beat him by fifteen points – quite possibly avoiding a run off in the process. If Rex does manage to limp into a run off, it will be ugly – perhaps a 20 point route for Sheheen.
The real question is who will Vincent face? The nominal front runner Henry MACKmaster who was born without a brain? The insiders’ favorite Gresham Barrett – who appears to be in a free fall? The man-child Andre who IS DEFINITELY in a free fall? Or perhaps just maybe Darling Nikki whose tea-party street cred may allow a girl from subcontinent to rise to the head of the White Boy Party??? While the Dem primary is a yawner, the Repub primary is shaping up to very, very interesting.
By Push and Pull May 21, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Jim Rex is a classic case of a good man gone bad thanks to the SC political machine. Four years ago he would never have done this. Now narcicism and self serving consultants have driven him to sewer politics.
By just another person May 21, 2010 at 5:50 pm
I hope this story causes you all kind of hell, just like you caused for Rusty Depass. So it is fine for you to bash Rusty, but no one can ever bash you. I dare someone cross that line. Don’t act for one minute you did not see the monkey. You knew damn well what you were doing.
By james May 21, 2010 at 5:50 pm
I voted for Rex over the crazy republican upstater for superintendent of education. I then expected him to work to strengthen public schools: instead , after 2 years of doing nothing he wants to run for governor. Bye bye
By Gen. Longstreet May 21, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Haw! Last time I seen eyes like that kitty’s was when Pickett was leading that damn fool uphill charge up Bobby Lee ordered across the meadow to the dug-in Yanks.
By EB May 21, 2010 at 6:26 pm
“..we did a story on Ford’s plan to bring back video poker in which we praised him..”
Rex read that and interpreted it as “voodoo” poker.
Ah… the benefits of a public education background.
By Old Yeller May 21, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Now you have really done it! Depicting Rex as an hallucinogenic cat!
By Bobby May 21, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I’m a Democrat and I haven’t voted for a Republican for a major office before, but if Vincent Sheheen is nominated for Governor I will either vote for Henry McMaster (assuming he is nominated) or stay home from the polls. Vincent would be a disaster for this state. He’s not ready and he is running out of ambition, not out of a desire for the best welfare of the state.
Will Folks knows that, and that is why he is waiting until June 9th to pile on him if he gets the nomination somehow. He doesn’t want to report what he knows about him until then, because that might give the man who beat Karen Floyd a chance at the nomination. And we know the Republicans fear that, because he’s the only one who can beat them in November.
Dr. Rex is still going to win. Vincent lacks a ground game and experience, and both of those things will come back to haunt him in the end. If Democrats choose him, he’ll get slaughtered in November, and they know that.
By FITSNews May 21, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Bobby,
Vincent is a hick who is a slave to the same failed status quo as “Dr. Rex.”
We wipe our backsides with both of them, and for that matter the vast majority of the GOP field.
-FITS
By FITS Gals May 21, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Funniest post of the day, can’t stop laughing.
xoxo,
FITS Gals
By jackolantern May 21, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Mr. Rex is making a big deal of this for several reasons. 1)to pander to the black vote; 2) to deter the white voters from supporting Ford by bringing up Ford’s race and a comparison of him to a monkey; and 3) to get ahold of Ford’s vote in the runoff.
By SC Dem May 21, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Bobby is either a) Zeke Stokes or b) has never talked to or heard Vincent Sheheen in his life. I tend to think A.
By Fred May 21, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Jim Rex need not worry about Monkeys, FitsNews or Republicans. The reason his campaign is treading water is because he has lost sight of the enemy.
The enemy is Vincent Sheheen.
Will: Thanks for keepin’ it real. I still hate you.
Fred
By John T. May 21, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Sheheen plays low-key, making friends with the legislative insiders. I don’t expect him to propose or do anything noteworthy for the state as governor. He is playing the “soft” role of “Mister Rogers” — nice neighbor sort of guy. “Mr. Leatherman, may I take your order?” sort of guy. Will not change the status quo.
Jim Rex? I don’t even know who he IS.
Distant relation to the dinosaur, “T. Rex” ?
By Cooter Brown May 21, 2010 at 11:01 pm
If’n heed called me a ‘Publikan, I rekon weed hab t’ duel!
By The Colonel May 22, 2010 at 2:59 am
Welcome to the club Fits, I’ve known Rex was crazy from the minute he announced he was going to run for governor.
From the DIQ’s (Dipsh1t In Question) web site “I am running because South Carolina needs a Turnaround Governor” A turnaround governor?!? Does that mean that he’ll turnaround and immediately start running for something else assuming we were stupid enough to elect him? Or perhaps it means he turn the state around like he has the education system? (I just threw up a little in my mouth)
He’ll make a dime off of you Fits because there are people out there stupid enough to buy his BS (he did get elected after all). In the end, Sheheen wears him out at the polls. It may take two tries but Sheheen wins the nomination. (Unless someone has pics of him and the “Boy Blunder” wearing dresses and sitting on the couch in the lobby of the state house)
Rasmussen (obviously biased political hacks in the vein of Fox News) has Sheheen with a 10 point lead (Sheheen 30%, Rex 20% and Ford 4%). Sheheen has money and doesn’t look like a slack jawed goober (even though he is) so it may not take two tries.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/south_carolina/election_2010_south_carolina_democratic_primary_for_governor
By Retards... May 22, 2010 at 4:27 am
Maybe you should have used a picture of a donkey riding Jim Rex…
He’s a gym teacher from Ohio…
Who gives a shit what he thinks?
By Bobby May 22, 2010 at 9:58 am
I’m definitely not Zeke Stokes; if I were, that stupid email never would have been sent out and the Rex Campaign wouldn’t be making so many mistakes. But I am someone who understands that Vincent Sheheen is a tool and he can’t win in November. Keep insisting that he can; if he gets the nomination he’s going to get his ass whooped by Nikki Haley or Henry McMaster.
By Lilly Collette May 22, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Whoa dude — love the cat in the tin foil hat !!! Reminded me of that damn f. p. segars-andrews.
By R. Kelly May 22, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Retards & SC Dem & sclawboy & notsayinjustsayin = the same person?
Fits, what’s the 411?
By Fred May 22, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I concur. I think Bobby is Zeke Stokes.
By Austin Myers May 23, 2010 at 5:27 am
Second, for as long as we can remember we’ve always used pictures of donkeys, elephants and rhinoceroses on this website to depict democrats, republicans and RINOs, respectively. Last time we checked, those were universally-accepted symbols, right? In this case, though – to be perfectly honest – we didn’t even notice that there was a monkey riding the donkey until a reporter called us and asked for a response to Rex’s comment, which we thought at first was a joke.
+1
By Step to the Right May 23, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Both Rex and Sheheen support Obama and everything ‘Democrat’. That is all I need to know. When they hold a joint press conference and condemn the Obama administration and the socialist, pro-union, ‘government can solve everything’ agenda then there might be a glimmer of hope that these two fixtures of “bend and kiss” politics might have a clue. Not going to happen.
They are more at home trying to whip up the clueless by dropping the race bomb and all the cute little Democrat tricks that always worked in the past. They both depend on voters who think someone else is to blame for all their problems and that FREE FOR ME from the government is the best economic model to follow until death catches up with them.
By Bobby May 23, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Not everyone who dislikes Vincent is Zeke Stokes. You’ll see that on June 8th.
By mike May 23, 2010 at 7:05 pm
“End GOP Racism! Contribute Now” Thats what it reads on his website. So if I give him a $100 what exactly is his plan to end GOP racism? Or maybe he is selling racism credits like Al Gore’s carbon credits?
By Politics Rocks May 23, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I think it’s time for Zeke & Rex to demand Nikki Haley provide a birth certificate …. well, I’m sure one of the R campaigns is about to come out with that this week probably.
By John May 23, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I think Nikki’s personal life will be enough to sink her ship. But of course we’ll hear about that soon.
By Jackie Black May 24, 2010 at 1:45 am
Let’s get this straight! Obama is a Muslim and Haley is a true Budist. Now we have a Muslim as president and perhaps a Budist as Governor! What are you people thinking. Haley would like for all of us idiots to believe sje is a Methodist! Ask about her sister and the slick tabloid that was publist and placed for free in the STATE. so many people complained…it was never sent out again via The State.
She’s cute and smart. That does not make her governor material!
By Earl Capps May 24, 2010 at 1:54 am
There are some things that may be believed about you, but racist? Wow, that’s pretty funny. He HAS lost his mind, that’s for sure.
By sclawboy May 24, 2010 at 8:30 am
R. Kelly,
I am me. Just me. I only post under this name.
Thanks.
ps: Lay off the underage girls.
By ya think? May 24, 2010 at 9:14 am
when I saw the pic, I just assume FITS meant that all Dems are dumb as monkeys. I concur.
By Commonsenseplease May 24, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Jim Rex is as big of an A$$ as anyone I know. I have had dealing with him in the past regarding education. He is one of the brain damaged in Columbia that thinks education cannot survive without them. Abolish the SC Dept of Education, fore these idiots who have nothing to do and make it a county and town jurisdiction. It’s their CHILDREN!!! We will find a much more conservative way of spending money and gettting the job done without these clowns. Jim Rex is perfect in the role as Superintendent of schools………he’s the head clown. Governor……well, if you think it can’t get worse, place him there and he will remove all doubt. Freaking Jerk!