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Thomas Ravenel: "My Skeletons are out there"
Politico ^ | July 16, 2014 | Sarah Smith

Posted on 07/16/2014 6:42:17 AM PDT by Din Maker

Thomas Ravenel is the first to admit he’s not a perfect candidate. “If I can just get the drug vote, I can win by a landslide,” he said cheerfully on Tuesday, the day after he filed a petition to run for Senate in South Carolina against incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham as an independent candidate. “I’m not a perfect messenger. But those so-called perfect people with those blemish-free backgrounds are the people that are running the Republic into the ground. My skeletons are out there for everyone to see.”

And Ravenel’s skeletons are well displayed — both in news archives and on the reality show he stars in. Ravenel, elected the South Carolina state treasurer as a Republican in 2006, was convicted of cocaine distribution charges in 2007 and served 10 months in federal prison, resigning his job as state treasurer after the charges were brought. He was charged with a DUI in the Hamptons in July 2013 and pleaded guilty in March.

His strategy for moving voters beyond his past? Just be honest, said Ravenel, who is running as an independent.

“I tell them the truth,” he said. He called himself “arrogant” for using cocaine as such a high-profile figure — and is “embarrassed and ashamed” of the DUI — but as for the rest, Ravenel firmly believes that the drug laws in the United States need to go.

“A reporter once said, ‘How can we trust you, you did drugs?’” he said. “My response was, ‘How about we ask Barack Obama: Would society have benefited if he’d been arrested and incarcerated? Would society have benefited? If not, why is he enforcing those drug laws?’”

Many of Ravenel’s policy positions came back to the drug war and his experiences living life as a convicted felon. He blamed the current immigration crisis on America’s drug war abroad, calling both for immigration reform that created an easier legal immigration process and a change to America’s overall drug policies in dealing with foreign countries.

“The way they enforce the drug laws is so racist,” he said. “The whole system is so corrupt.”

While Ravenel’s drug policies line up more with those of libertarian Ron Paul and his ideas on creating an easier path for legal immigration may align more with Democrats, he casts himself as a solid independent who abhors the two-party system. He’s staunchly pro-business, anti-union and supports states’ rights. At the same time, he’s for gay rights and against what he called the military-industrial complex that’s driving American foreign policy. He also supports term limits and, if elected, would impose one on himself.

Ravenel already has a platform to help voters get to know him if they don’t already: He’s one of the six stars of the Charleston-based reality series, “Southern Charm.” Bravo renewed the series Monday for a second season. Although Ravenel tweeted in June that he didn’t want to be in a possible second series, he changed his mind — partly because the show wouldn’t have gone on without him, and partly for political reasons.

“My political adviser said, ‘Are you crazy? You’ll have a platform for a wide, diverse audience,’” he said. Then the studio called and told him that they would cover the election and broadcast his speeches.

Ravenel will need the air time. Graham, one of the most powerful members of the Senate, has a sizable war chest and powerful backers. Once, Ravenel himself supported Graham — he donated $2,000 to Graham’s campaign in the early 2000s. But according to Ravenel, the senator changed while on the Hill.

“I think he’s just been up there too long,” Ravenel said of his opponent. “He’s not advancing liberty.”

Graham’s campaign referred POLITICO to the South Carolina Republican Party for a response.

“Thomas Ravenel’s candidacy isn’t about ideas or issues, it’s about ratings and buzz for his reality TV show,” Matt Orr, press secretary of the South Carolina Republican Party, said in a statement. “Most South Carolinians find his antics embarrassing and don’t appreciate these publicity stunts one bit.”

Ravenel was unperturbed.

“Listen to me. Listen to my ideas,” Ravenel said of the accusations that his candidacy was a publicity stunt. “I counter it with substance.”

The senatorial hopeful has another once-disgraced South Carolinian politician to look to as a model for building a successful comeback: Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). FEC records show Ravenel donated a total of $1,000 to Sanford’s congressional campaign in 2013.

“Had he not gone down, he could’ve been president of the United States,” Ravenel said of Sanford. “If we had 535 Mark Sanfords in Congress, we wouldn’t have racked up this debt. We’d be running surpluses.”

Even though Ravenel’s not officially on the ballot yet — the South Carolina state election officials have until Aug. 15 to verify the signatures from his petition — Ravenel’s begun to make the radio show rounds and work on his least favorite activity, calling potential donors. He believes his candidacy finally gives the people of South Carolina a real choice aside from the two-party system — and that his past won’t hinder him too much.

“You know that Meatloaf song from the ’70s?” he said. “I’m good in business, I’m right on the issues, and two out of three ain’t bad.”


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: ravenel; sc
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Wouldn't it be something if Ravenel caused Lindsey Graham to lose his Senate seat? John McCain would be very sad.
1 posted on 07/16/2014 6:42:17 AM PDT by Din Maker
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To: Din Maker

That’s the hope!


2 posted on 07/16/2014 6:44:56 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: Din Maker

“If I can just get the drug vote, I can win by a landslide”

That statement, alone, is enough to make me vote, no. What an idiotic way to express one of his core campaign issues.


3 posted on 07/16/2014 6:47:09 AM PDT by Noamie
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To: Din Maker
Almost anyone who can make Lindsey Graham go away and make McCain sad should be encouraged.
4 posted on 07/16/2014 6:56:20 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
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5 posted on 07/16/2014 6:56:43 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: GBA

Not a druggie. Got enough drunks and druggies in DC.


6 posted on 07/16/2014 6:57:29 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Noamie

I agree with you on the “drug vote” comment - but I will say, to this guys credit, he has hit on a point that far too many Freepers can’t get through their heads….which is supposedly pristine candidates are running the country into the ground.

Sometimes it’s better to have an obviously flawed candidate in their personal life, who has the right view of government. Because in the end, it’s government bureaucrats and officials carrying out government policy that ruin our lives, our freedoms, our businesses, our school……wife cheaters and other imperfect candidates do not do this.


7 posted on 07/16/2014 6:57:31 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: Noamie

I think that was a tongue-in-cheek statement. He was trying to be humorous, but, there is a lot more truth to that than people realize. It would surprise you if you knew how many people, from all walks of life, do some type of recreational drug. That is a “huge” voting bloc. You just wouldn’t believe.


8 posted on 07/16/2014 7:00:17 AM PDT by Din Maker (Time to insure GOP will NOT get control of Senate. If you don't like revenge, you've never tasted it)
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To: Din Maker

This is the price you pay for not getting behind ONE primary challenger who could have defeated Linda.


9 posted on 07/16/2014 7:00:38 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: DJ MacWoW

Well, you get to choose between drunks/druggies or a faggot.


10 posted on 07/16/2014 7:01:56 AM PDT by Din Maker (Time to insure GOP will NOT get control of Senate. If you don't like revenge, you've never tasted it)
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To: Din Maker

Sad. That’s not a choice, it’s a death sentence for our Republic.


11 posted on 07/16/2014 7:03:45 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Din Maker

He’s kookoo for Cocoa Puffs.


12 posted on 07/16/2014 7:06:53 AM PDT by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
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To: bigbob

This is the price you pay for not getting behind ONE primary challenger who could have defeated Linda.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now, that is true in Presidential Primaries. One Moderate (Romney) against a gazillion Conservatives who divided up the vote and Romney waltzes to the nomination. But, in this case, that does not hold true. Graham got over 56 percent of the vote. Whether you get 56% against one guy or five, you still win. Your logic does not apply here.


13 posted on 07/16/2014 7:08:05 AM PDT by Din Maker (Time to insure GOP will NOT get control of Senate. If you don't like revenge, you've never tasted it)
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To: Din Maker

The rehab rate has to be higher w/ drunks&druggies that the other. I’d give this guy a chance.


14 posted on 07/16/2014 7:08:56 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Obama - The Scandal a Week President.)
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To: Din Maker
My skeletons are out there for everyone to see.

Kind of refreshing when you see Obozo spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep his and Michelle's past sequestered. Can any of you liberals who lurk here explain why someone with nothing to hide spends that kind of money to keep the public in the dark? Methinks Mr. Transparency is afraid of his past.

15 posted on 07/16/2014 7:11:06 AM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy...I just know what you should be doing.)
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To: Din Maker

Get the drug vote. Get the gay vote. Everybody votes but the conservatives apparently, or we would not be in such a sad condition.
I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils but we don’t always get a candidate who makes us feel really good about values.


16 posted on 07/16/2014 7:12:03 AM PDT by ruesrose (The Anchor Holds)
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To: Din Maker

I would NOT be upset if this dude steals away enough votes to cause Graham to lose.


17 posted on 07/16/2014 7:14:55 AM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry (Audentis Fortuna Iuvat)
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To: Din Maker

He may have a chance if he stays after it. It is for sure Grahamnesty doesn’t generate any passion to get folks off the couch and drive to the polls. As a matter of fact apathy has probably unseated many in the past.........


18 posted on 07/16/2014 7:15:31 AM PDT by JParris
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To: Din Maker
‘How about we ask Barack Obama: Would society have benefited if he’d been arrested and incarcerated? Would society have benefited?'

Actually, society would have been better off, all over the world, if Obama was sitting in a jail cell and not the oval office. Bad example, fella.

19 posted on 07/16/2014 7:26:32 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Who is John Galt?)
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To: Din Maker

I could see his approach playing in the mountain states or maybe even in New Hampshire. South Carolina? No.


20 posted on 07/16/2014 7:41:33 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("If you're litigating against nuns, you've probably done something wrong."-Ted Cruz)
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