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Posted 11 a.m., Friday, April 25

Greenville County Republic Women joined Republican women from throughout South Carolina for the annual Legislative Day in Columbia April 15. They received a VIP introduction to the South Carolina House by Rep. Nikki Haley and a VIP introduction to the S.C. Senate by Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. They had a picture taken with Gov. Mark Sanford on the state house steps.

Click here for more Legislative Day photos. Pictures from Patty Stoner.

Posted 1:30 p.m., Friday April 18

Assembly candidates to speak at April 24 meeting

We are pleased to have a lineup of candidates for the June 10 primary who will be introduced at our April luncheon. We will have the candidates for House Districts 18, 20, 21 and 22 and Senate District 6 represented.

To make reservations, please e-mail Cheryl Pressley at gcrwreply@bellsouth.net or call her at 246-6448 by noon, Monday, April 21. To avoid paying $15, cancellation must be made by 8 p.m., April 21.

Posted 2 p.m., Wednesday, April 23

Greenville County GOP Stump Meeting, Saturday, May 24, 11 a.m. until ...
Greenville Jet Center (turn off Woods Lake Road onto Piper Lane)
Cost $15 for adults, $5 children under 12
Barbecue, hot dogs, brownies and cookies, popcorn and drinks. Bluegrass Music.
Children's activities: moon bounce, contest with prizes for children who dress up in patriotic outfits
All incumbents and candidates will be invited to speak.

Posted 10:20 a.m., Friday, March 28

Gresham Barrett: not good to be a conservative Republican
in Washington now

Gresham Barrett, third district congressman from South Carolina, addressed the Greenville County Republican Women’s monthly meeting March 27 at the Poinsett Club.
“If you are a conservative Republican, and if you are in Washington right now, it ain’t too good,” Barrett said, relating how he just voted against the largest budget in history passed by the House, which contains a $643 billion tax increase. It increases spending. It increases unfunded liabilities and grows the government, he said. President Bush has said he will veto the budget, and the House will get another look at it.
“In the short term, I don’t think history is going to be very kind to George Bush,” Barrett said, “but I think in the long term it will show that he stood in the gap in this nation when we needed someone to stand in the gap. He is one of the finest men, I don’t always agree with him, and I have told him that, but he is one of the finest, most honorable Christian men I have ever met.”
Barrett spoke about his hopes to make South Carolina energy independent. Fifty-four percent of South Carolina energy comes from nuclear, he said, and the state can be an energy leader, whether it is nuclear, clean coal, bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, wind, solar or hydrogen.
Barrett, who returned from visiting Iraq and Afghanistan three weeks earlier, said “it is unconscionable for me to know that we could possibly have a president of the United States, Barack Obama, who has never been to Iraq and who has never been to Afghanistan.” You cannot know what is going on over there until you see it firsthand, he said.
Barrett praised Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, for the relative security in Iraq including Anbar province. “The soldiers, the sailors, the airmen make you all proud.”
Barrett said that the 2008 race is split right down the middle as far as ideology goes. “If you support less government, if you support less taxes, if you support overhauling the tax code, if you support keeping the country safe, if you support you making the decisions in health care, you making the decisions with your children, you making the decisions with your family, John McCain is the clear choice.
“If you support higher taxes, if you support more government, if you support universal health care, socialized medicine, if you support the government telling you what you can do and how you can do it … Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are your choice.”
He predicted that it would be hard for the Republicans to take back the House in 2008, though he thinks the party can pick up some seats. In the Senate he predicted the GOP would lose two or three seats. He hopes for a Republican president with veto power and a House that can sustain a veto.
Barrett is often spoken of to succeed Gov. Mark Sanford when his term ends in 2011.

Virginia Boney awarded GOP women’s internship

Virginia Boney, a junior political science major at Furman University, was awarded the Dorothy Kabis Internship for this summer at the National Federation of Republican Women headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
Boney was one of three nationwide to receive the six-week internship. She was honored at the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club meeting March 27 at the Poinsett Club. The internship provides housing, roundtrip airfare and a small monetary allowance.
Boney is active in the Furman College Republicans and worked in the Mitt Romney presidential campaign last fall and winter.
Kabis was president of the National Federation of Republican Women from 1963 to 1967. She served as treasurer of the United States under President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1971.

Bob McLain asks: Could 2008 be worse for GOP than 1964?
By Thomas C. Hanson

Is the Reagan era over? NewsRadio WORD’s Bob McLain asked Greenville County Republican Women at the Poinsett Club Feb. 28.
McLain was quoting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who said, “It’s time to redefine the nature of the Republican Party in response to what the country needs.”

McLain asked: “Is Newt Gingrich right, and is the Reagan era over?” He said that conservative philosophy itself is not antiquated and that Reagan brought a sunny optimism to conservatism, the bright, shining city on a hill that exemplified all that is good about America.
He spoke about how Democrat Lyndon Johnson defeated conservative Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, taking 61 percent of the votes, and asked: “Might it be an even worse defeat for the GOP in 2008? Frankly I think the possibility exists.”
McLain noted that voter preferences are shifting with 50 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats, 36 percent as Republicans. Independents favored Democrats by 18 percent in the 2006 elections.
McLain asked: Does choosing an electable candidate mean sacrificing conservative principles on the altar of realpolitik, exchanging Reagan conservatism for populism that has broader appeal in the 21st century?
Gingrich, conservative writer George Will and others seem to be saying that the GOP cannot avoid redefining itself. “I think they are missing an element to this,” McLain said, comparing this strategy to the New Coke of the 1980s or the Edsel of the 1950s, which failed because consumers rejected the products.
McLain contended that the conservatism is still strong, but the product is suffering from lack of a strong brand advocate.
“The idea that the Reagan era is dead stems from a poor job of selling the ideas that Ronald Reagan stood for. Unless and until the GOP can find someone who can express those ideas with the passion and conviction of Reagan, his era will be over. It will have died in the name of practicality and so-called electability,” adding that “if the GOP is selling a watered-down populism as an alternative to what the Democrats are selling, they may meet the same fate as New Coke.”
McLain noted that Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic frontrunner, is not running as a politician, but as the leader of a messianic movement with flowery prose and speeches that inspire audiences. Obama, like Reagan, is a visionary passionate about his ideals. “We just don’t know what ideals specifically Barack Obama favors at this point,” McLain said. “He hasn’t had to talk specifics on issues.”
When asked whether he thought presumed GOP candidate John McCain would be helped by naming South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as his running mate, McLain said that though he likes Gov. Sanford, he doesn’t think Sanford would influence national voters that much. He suggested that the country is heading toward another 51 to 49 percent election, which means that independent votes are going to decide the winner. He said the ticket needs someone who could help carry Florida and Ohio.
He noted that this election is going to be crucial in a number of aspects, the war on terror and nominations to the Supreme Court, and also that if a Democrat wins the White House, attempts may be made to restrict talk radio.
In response to a question, he said Condoleezza Rice would make a terrific vice presidential candidate bringing a lot to the table—conservative values, being a woman, the right age, and that she is African-American.
McLain’s talk radio program airs in the afternoon on WORD 1330 from 3 to 6 Monday through Friday.

Posted 11:45 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 31

Dr. David Woodard addresses GCRWC

Dr. David Woodard, a political scientist who serves as a political consultant for Republican candidates, addressed the Greenville County Republican Women's Club Jan. 24 at their monthly luncheon at the Poinsett Club. 

He analyzed the Republican and Democratic primaries in South Carolina, Florida and the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5.

Dr. Woodard has been a professor in the political science department at Clemson University since 1983.  He teaches political theory, political parties, politics and the cinema and American government.   

Successful candidates include the following:  Bob Inglis for Congress, 1992; Lindsey Graham for Congress, 1994 and 1996; Jim DeMint for Congress, 1998;, Bob Peeler for Lieutenant Governor, 1994; George W. Bush for President, 2000; Gresham Barrett for Congress, 2002; and Jim DeMint for Senate, 2004.

Dr. Woodard is the author of several books.  His last book is Why We Whisper:  Losing Our Right to Say It's Wrong.  He co-authored this book with Sen. Jim DeMint.  

Here is a photo of Mary Carolyn Garton (left) and Faye Jay with Rep. Gresham Barrett.

 

 

 

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Photo galleries

Incumbents and challengers April 24 meeting

Bob McLain, WORD Radio,
Feb. 28 meeting

Photo galleries 2007

Installation of new officers: Dec. 6, 2007 meeting.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE): Aug. 23, 2007 meeting

Glenn McCall, second vice chair, South Carolina GOP, July 26 meeting

June 28 meeting on Americanism

Bob McAlister, political communicator, May 24 meeting

Rep. Duncan Hunter, April 13 meeting

Jason Miller from Gov. Mark Sanford's office, and Councilman Butch Kirven, March 22 meeting

Mitt Romney, Feb. 22 meeting

Katon Dawson, state GOP chairman, Jan. 25 meeting