by Eric Dondero

And now it comes full circle. The very man who allied with Democrats and the liberal media to get libertarian Republican Governor Mark Sanford ousted from office, State Senator Jake Knotts, has now viciously attacked Sanford's hand-picked successor State Rep. Nikki Haley.

In a radio interview yesterday, Knotts said the following via our friend Stacy over at TheOtherMcCain.com:

“We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion.” – South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts

Ironically, Haley is of Sikh descent and not a Muslim.

The remarks were made on the freewheeling internet radio show "Pub Politics."

The South Carolina GOP immediately called on Knotts to apologize:

“The South Carolina Republican Party strongly condemns any use of racial or religious slurs,” -- Karen Floyd, State Party Chairwoman

Knotts has said he is sorry for the slur. But a firestorm of media and on-line coverage has already taken off, and no doubt calls for his own resignation will soon be forthcoming.

Knotts is the same Senator who famously quipped on MSNBCduring the Sanford affair, "Lies, lies, lies... that's all we have are lies from the Governor."

What's at issue here? With most things in life, follow the money.

Ace at the almighty Ace of Spades blog, has finally had enough of it all. After being an extreme skeptic on Nikki Halley, this morning he formally endorsed her after Knott's remarks.

That's it -- I wholeheartedly endorse Nikki Haley, if only because it will make monsters cry.

However, he also adds a most excellent analysis.

Now, you might ask, what on earth would provoke a large fraction of South Carolina's political class to lose its minds and begin suicide-bombing a single candidate?

Commenters were discussing that last night. Let them put you some information:

Vic: That is one thing that the Sanford detractors try to hang around his neck. That he constantly fought with the SC legislature and "nothing" got done.

Of course that was going from the Dem controlled MFM media here which favors big government. The SC legislature is nominally Republican, but a large portion of them are "converted FDR Democrats" so it is really a Dem controlled legislature.

They believe in "tax and spend" just like Obama. Look at the last major battle with Sanford, a 50 cent a pack tax increase on cigs. He vetoed it and they overrode the veto. That has been the normal thing for the last 8 years.

Obama style tax and spend Democrats-turned-Republican porkers in the legislature, best exemplified by a massive increase on the tax on cirgarettes that a libertarian Governor fiercely opposed.

And Nikki Haley, strongly backed by Mark and Jenny Sanford, not to mention libertarian-leaning Republican Sarah Palin, promises to carry on with Sanford-style fiscal conservatism.

There you have it folks. Real live libertarian elected officials have the tendency to turn regular politicians absolutely bonkers.