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.”
Tom Ravenel is the best choice of the current candidates for Senate in South Carolina.
South Carolina has runoffs, and Goober got a flat-out majority.
I agree completely.
I think there are different types of behavior issues, and the resolution/explanation of various ones makes a difference.
We need to figure out how to address them.
I hear ya re:transparency, at least Ravenel is an open book, unlike a ghost written one like Obama’s Bill Ayers ‘work’.
and another point to this…..being obsessed with personal shortcomings in our candidates means we throw out a lot of older, more experienced people, who have had time to make their mistakes, and learn from them. These people are generally better office holders than the young untested - who have been runinng for office since they were in middle school, and thus have managed to keep their public record pristine. Those are the folks you can’t trust.
“That is a “huge” voting bloc. You just wouldn’t believe.”
If you combine recreational drug users with the prescription drug users then you easily hit 70-85%. I lump them together because a very large number of prescription users are really just “legal” recreational users who in no way need 90 hydrocodon (sp) per month.
My point was that his statement was both in-eloquent, poorly worded, and rather stupid sounding.
I am not referring to the facts of the debate - just his personal messaging style. It was stupidly done.
I do not need pristine candidates - I just am sick of really stupid ones who say stupid things in a very stupid way.
Communication = Influence = politics.
“being obsessed with personal shortcomings in our candidates means we throw out a lot of older, more experienced people, who have had time to make their mistakes, and learn from them”
Depends on the “mistake.” You don’t need a psychology degree to know the truth of this statement: 95% of people will never change, never grow, and never learn.
Using a person’s life decisions as a barometer to gauge their general “goodness” is not only a great tool for choosing candidates, but also - friends.
John Edwards made some mistakes. Do any of us believe that when he runs for office again (and he’s planning to) he will have learned anything? Advocation for treading lightly on flawed characters is contrary to wisdom.
“Pristine” candidates are a fantasy, but ones who, for example, have drug “mistakes” in their past and who see the solution as simply getting rid of the social and legal morés surrounding it aren’t actually admitting to do anything wrong - nor growing and learning.
They are simply looking to remove the obstacles that made their life more difficult in the past in hopes to alleviate themselves of stigma.
That is why “flawed” candidates remain.... flawed.
I think you are misapplying the 95% rule…..fact of the matter remains, it is far more important how government allows you to live your life and walk out your faith than it does how elected officials live theirs and walk out theirs…and yet, many, including Freepers, are obsessed with the latter.
Each case is different, so I am generalizing….
“Each case is different, so I am generalizing….”
I, also, am generalizing. We probably don’t disagree on anything here.
I understand. But, he was making a funny and I think most people probably snickered while rolling their eyes.
Tom Ravenel is the best choice of the current candidates for Senate in South Carolina.
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No disagreement here.
I could see his approach playing in the mountain states or maybe even in New Hampshire. South Carolina? No.
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I hate to tell you this Doc, but the people in SC are no more righteous than people in other States. There are sinners, partiers, and hypocrites everywhere. I would not want to know what percentage of the good folks in SC, who will be on the church pews this Sunday, who are closet drinkers, hooked on prescription drugs or do recreational drugs, having affairs, streaming porn on the computer at 2:00 a.m........ After all, they’ve been electing a gay blade to the Senate for years.
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.
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Sigh.... Where is Ronnie Reagan when you need him. That’s not the job of a political candidate....to make you feel really good about values. That comes from within.
That’s not a choice, it’s a death sentence for our Republic.
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Your feminine side is showing. Don’t over dramatize DJ.... Hell, 13% of American doctors do cocaine. There are millions of rec drug users who are still leading productive lives. But, Ravenel does NOT do drugs anymore.
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