Posted on 06/14/2010 6:15:04 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Nikki Haley, the favorite to become the first governor of South Carolina who is neither white nor male, has always challenged established norms with her own brand of moxie.
As a girl, her parents — the first Indian immigrants this small, working-class town had ever seen — entered Nikki and her sister in the Little Miss Bamberg pageant. The judges of the contest, one that crowned one black queen and one white queen, were so flummoxed that they simply disqualified Nikki and her sister, Simran — but not before Nikki, about 5, sang “This Land Is Your Land.”
Ms. Haley, 38, upended things again last week after a sharp-elbowed primary that included allegations of marital infidelity and pitted her against the lieutenant governor, the attorney general and a congressman. Ms. Haley, a state legislator, received 49 percent of the vote, but faces a June 22 runoff with Representative Gresham Barrett, whom she beat by more than 25 points Tuesday. And this from a campaign that was so underfinanced that it had to sell yard signs at $5 apiece, Ms. Haley said.
Now, she finds herself one of the brightest rising stars in the Republican Party, a Tea Party favorite, a Sarah Palin endorsee and the subject of national attention.
“I love that people think it’s a good story, but I don’t understand how it’s different,” she said in an interview Friday, in a voice with a faint watermark of Southern drawl. “I feel like I’m just an accountant and businessperson who wants to be a part of state government.”
Ms. Haley — born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa and always called Nikki, which means “little one,” by her family — said that growing up in Bamberg was at times tough.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The story about the beauty pageant is a little amusing. It does not surprise me that she has been a contestant. She is lovely.
A perfect example of why I dislike the NY Times - in the very first sentence, they find it necessary to state Haley is “neither white nor male.”
Their racism pervades everything they do.
If the New York Times wasn’t against her, I’d be worried.
I’ve known lots of Indians - in school, business, church - and they would seem to be natural conservatives. There’s no place in the Democrat party for people who want to work hard, succeed in meaningful careers, and take care of their own families.
She’s got my vote!
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, please, but aren’t Indians considered Caucasion?
Oh, how the left would rally to support this candidate if she were a liberal and had a D next to her name: the Democratic Party, NOW, academia, the mainstream media... I love it when a conservative candidate happens to be a woman or a minority as the Democrats have trouble attacking anyone who is not a white hetersexual male....
For the NY Times, this was not bad. Aside from a snide comment at her dual relgious faiths(the rest of the article seems ok.
I think the South Carolina voters will be pleased with her leadership in office. I hope she does VERY well.
Of course, it’s all about race and gender.
Nothing to do with politics.
No, Indians are not Caucasian.
Few things in politics are less important than a candidate's sex, skin color, or eye color for that matter. I am completely indifferent to those peripheral details when voting. To the Dems, that makes me a racist.
I suppose at age 5, she can be forgiven for singing that horrible song.
Under the old, 3-race system of classification the peoples of the Subcontinent were included under the Caucasian category but nowadays they are given a special category by anthropologists.
I really don’t get the “lovely Nikki” stuff. I took a close look at her official portrait and, to be honest, “hard-looking” is the most accurate thing I could say about her appearance.
She’s white.
Indians are part of the white race and if she wasn’t passing as white she wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the South Carolina governor’s mansion.
Shem, Ham, and Japhet?
Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid
Wonder who has a better long term future..Haley or the Slimes..?
RE the focus of the dual faith marriages...whilea majority fo the TImes’ readership is predominantly secular, in the NYC metro area, the number of interfaith marriages (predominantly Jewish-Christian/Catholic) is astounding..
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