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by WILL FOLKS
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A South Carolina Democrat lawmaker ripped U.S. senator Tim Scott this week, referring to him as a “turtle on a pole” who could “hardly speak” – while crediting former S.C. governor Nikki Haley for launching his political career.
The comments – made by state representative Seth Rose – came after Scott posted a video to his social media feed touting voter integrity.
“I watched your video and seriously wondered how you can hardly speak and be a U.S. senator,” Rose wrote in a since-deleted post on X. “Then I remembered how much you owe Nikki Haley for being a turtle on a pole – dumbed down that means placed there.”
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In politics, a turtle on a pole – or a “post turtle” – refers to an elected official who has risen to a place of prominence due exclusively to someone else’s assistance. Post turtles are generally seen as subordinate to the individual or entity that placed them where they are – and are also viewed as lacking the ability to either manage their newfound status or change their outlook (i.e. get down from the pole).
The term was popularized in 1998 by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, who referenced it during an interview on Good Morning America.
“You know, if you find a turtle on a fence post, it didn’t get there by accident,” Clinton said. “And I just look at the landscape around here, and I see just lots of big old turtles sitting on lots of fence posts, and I think we need to find out how those old turtles got on those fence posts.”
Scott, 60, of North Charleston, S.C. was raised in poverty by a single mother. After working his way through college, he founded his own insurance agency and at the age of 30 was elected to Charleston County council – becoming the first black Republican elected in the Palmetto State since Reconstruction.
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Scott served fourteen years on county council – the final two years as chairman – before being elected to the S.C. House in 2008. Two years later, he was elected to the U.S. House and in December 2012 he was nominated by Haley to replace retiring U.S. senator Jim DeMint.
Scott was elected in 2014 to fill the remainder of DeMint’s term, and was reelected to full six-year terms in 2016 and again in 2022. In addition to being the longest-serving black senator in U.S. history, Scott is chairman of the chamber’s powerful banking committee and the leader of the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC).
FITSNews reached out to Rose to get his take on the situation. Curiously, he claimed to have stood by what he wrote – even while confirming his decision to delete the comment.
“I stand by what I said,” Rose told FITSNews. “I deleted the tweet because I didn’t think there were enough characters to convey my full thoughts.”
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RELATED | ‘THIS IS ABOUT A FAIR TRIAL‘
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Rose added that his animus against Scott – and U.S. senator Lindsey Graham – was over their failure to condemn the shooting of two protesters in Minnesota by officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Bottom line Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham are everything that’s wrong with Washington D.C.,” Rose said. “Federal agents have now shot and killed two U.S. citizens on tape and rather than address what the federal government is doing, Senator Scott is trying to distract us by talking about voter fraud.”
Rose also asked us not to forget his contention that “history won’t look kindly” on either Scott or Graham based on their failure to call out the shootings.
Rose, 45, is a criminal defense attorney from Columbia, S.C. who has represented S.C. House District 72 (.pdf) since 2018. Prior to that, he served on Richland County council where his claim to fame was ensuring that the mugshots of violent criminals were not posted to the county’s much-maligned detention center website.
BANNER VIA: LINDIE NAUGHTON
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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9 comments
How are you?
The Republicans of Reconstruction era and the current Republicans have zero in common. The Republicans of today are the product of the worst elements of the Democrat Party that left during the civil rights fights of the 50’s and 60’s. Look up The Southern Strategy as defined by SC’s very own Lee Atwater.
The fact that Republicans these days claim to be the party of Lincoln with a straight face is laughable.
Also, a lot of us “worked our way through college”, but that does not mean we did not have help. I want Scott to let us know if he took any student loans, Pell Grants, or other monies or grants during his college years.
Well, I can’t say he is wrong about Scott or Graham. Neither is decidedly pro-Second Amendment. Both have voted for laws that go against 2A. Both are neocon war monger trash, though Lindsey probably gets the biggest boner from the idea of attacking or bombing another country. Both are reliable votes to keep the harmful, anti-liberty, “Patriot Act” renewed whenever it comes up for a vote. Both are card-carrying RINO’s.
The version of the “Post Turtle” I read some years ago was similar but went like this. (paraphrased)
“When you are riding along and you see a turtle on a fence post, some things are readily apparent. One is, that he doesn’t belong there. Another is that he didn’t get there by himself. Some jackass obviously put him there and that brings up the question as to just who that jackass was and why they did such a damn fool thing.”
Then Governor Haley appointed Scott as Senator due to the vacancy, she did not “nominate” him.
Notice how all the “libertarian” Will Folks will write about the issue of a masked police force wrongfully arresting and murdering civilians is coverage of some social media bs that doesn’t matter. Do you have a spine at all?
Maybe Will hasn’t been paid to take a side yet?
I think he has been paid to take a side. Otherwise, why would he ignore, almost totally, the biggest threat to liberty and justice in America since the Civil War? Masked men, without warrants, are breaking down doors, breaking car windows, dragging people into the street, assaulting both citizens and non-citizens, and executing people in broad daylight. We have thrown our traditional alliances in the trash can, we have threatened our allies with invasion, we have forced a country to turn over oil, which we have sold, and put the money in a bank account in a foreign country controlled by a corrupt leader. We have become more like Russia, Communist China, Nazi Germany, or some Banana Republic than any version of the USA I have known in my lifetime. Let’s face it, we are no longer the good guys, and I, for one, am sick and tired of it.
There was a lot of Russian money floating around among the right-wing influencers a while back; maybe some of it made its way into Will’s pocket.
Hi, Frank! Now do January 6 detainees.
Communist Democrats.