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Tuesday, 19 June 2007
What does Ravenel cocaine bust mean?
This post is now somewhat outdated. For newer, related material, see this post. Or better yet, go to the main page of my blog to see what else I've posted.
Aside from LIndsey being safe, at least until the extremists come up with somebody else?
- It means the governor probably gets to pick a new treasurer. Greg Ryberg, whom we endorsed, comes to mind. He was the best candidate for the job, and he certainly wanted it -- spending $2 million of his own money.
- Mr. Ravenel's supreme, cocky confidence as a candidate will be seen in a new light -- regardless of his guilt or innocence.
- More people will go back and watch my Grady Patterson video clip, and say to themselves, "He was old, but he was honest." (They'll also say, "So that's what he meant by 'He makes up stuff.')
- These indictments have demonstrated that it's harder to get away with being a corrupt official in South Carolina than it once was. After Charlie Sharpe and Thomas Ravenel, who else should be looking over their shoulders?
- Cocaine isn't as passe as those who put the '80s way behind them may have thought it was.
That's about as far as free association takes me so far. What do you think?
Posted by Brad Warthen at 04:27 PM
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If Grady Patterson were alive today, I'd bet he'd be smiling.
Posted by: Johnny | Jun 19, 2007 4:50:57 PM
Actually, this gives T-Rav the perfect out to say he didn't go back on his campaign pledge. If he's kicked out of the Treasurers spot, he can run for Senator without any problem.
It is interesting how Brad can barely contain his glee at this news. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
Posted by: Johnny | Jun 19, 2007 4:55:37 PM
What do we think? We think he was indicted about ten minutes ago and have no idea what the evidence is yet. I don't believe the old saw that a person is "innocent until proven guilty" because if that's true, OJ Simpson and Hitler are both innocent.
Still, you're way jumping the gun.
Posted by: Raymond | Jun 19, 2007 4:57:02 PM
Think maybe the General Assembly ratted him out??
Posted by: Claudia | Jun 19, 2007 5:00:03 PM
Hey, I don't roll that way. D-Brad doesn't roll that way.
Besides, we endorsed the guy, remember?
Gleeful? No way. It's not like Kevin Geddings got indicted or something. Oh, wait, yes he did. But I'm not gleeful about that, either.
Seriously, I guess laypeople don't know how pumped news people get at news. And boy, is this news. It probably didn't take me as much by surprise as it did you, since I had known that a "statewide official" was going to be indicted at 5 p.m., and had had a little time to get used to the idea, and speculate as to who it was. Various names went through my head, as you might imagine.
But "Thomas Ravenel" did not, probably because I think of him as a smart guy.
When that name did come out, though -- WOW.
This is news, people. Don't you get excited about news, regardless about how you feel about it? Maybe not. Sometimes I think normal people don't -- they tend to think about whether it makes them happy or sad, or matches their preconceived notions or something (that's what partisans tend to do, from what I've seen of them). But news is news, and yeah, I dig it. That's why I do this.
Posted by: Brad Warthen | Jun 19, 2007 5:18:32 PM
I bet I can guess whose name went through Brad's mind first... Rhymes with Shmandre Shmauer.
Posted by: Johnny | Jun 19, 2007 5:23:25 PM
He is probably on his way to rehab with Lohan, Britney, Paris etc. as we speak. Oh, wait a minute, Paris is in jail.
Posted by: moe | Jun 19, 2007 5:26:34 PM
Yeah - I get it Brad. It has not so much to do with Ravenel as it does about really BIG stuff happening... and no, it's not "scheudenfreud" (is that the term?) either. About twenty minutes after the story broke I had talked with four people on the phone, emailed with two and started posting here. It's a totally different kind of news and if we find it exciting, well, that makes people like us just people like us. Sorry folks, but I ain't apologizing!
Posted by: Claudia | Jun 19, 2007 5:33:34 PM
Well, it would certainly explain a lot if the name had been "Andre."
Posted by: Ready to Hurl | Jun 19, 2007 5:35:40 PM
BTW - I don't know him personally but have witness of the guy being a real jerk. Hence my comment on the other thread.
Posted by: Claudia | Jun 19, 2007 5:38:48 PM
Ravenel, Bauer, Sanford, what's the difference?
Posted by: JoJo | Jun 19, 2007 5:44:27 PM
I hear Ravenel quit Giuliani's campaign:
http://www.palmettoscoop.com/
Posted by: Claudia | Jun 19, 2007 5:59:37 PM
Hmmmmm foreshadowing? I teach Language Arts and I seem to remember some brouhaha with Sanford giving the representative some grief for his love sick phone calls. Hmmmm, it definitely smacks of irony with Sanford having to discipline his golden boy.
Posted by: Wendy | Jun 19, 2007 6:39:07 PM
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ahem, ha ha, snort snort, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....
Posted by: chris | Jun 19, 2007 6:57:54 PM
just legalize drugs and then regulate them.
Posted by: nonny | Jun 19, 2007 7:06:45 PM
Claudia:
I ain’t got no Schadenfreude, but do feel like we dodged a bullet -- a treasurer with a fondness for the white stuff boggles the mind. What could be worse? An indictment for check-kiting?
A relative employed at one of the nicer (pricier) places in town told me that the dearly departed was a jerk too: rude to the wait staff, inconsiderate to other diners, and generally boorish.
Not that it makes much difference, but if a public servant doesn’t display much civility when out in public, one wonders about his treatment of employees.
Posted by: Mike Cakora | Jun 19, 2007 7:12:10 PM
Cocaine, Republicans, Ravenels - mercy me, what is this world coming to. Read between "the lines". Ravenel spelled backwards is "lenevar" and bad real estate and business since Pug.
Btw, I've been trying to access the fred thompson website all day and can't get in. Geuss I'll call it any early night and get back to reading my mom's copy of "conscience of a conservative"....
Posted by: mottes_mom | Jun 19, 2007 7:17:55 PM
D-Brad? I think you missed the pattern there...shouldn't you be B-Wart?
Posted by: U-Elm | Jun 19, 2007 7:33:09 PM
I am an Horry County Democrat.lol.
Anyway , who cares about Brugs, I don't, but I say Make ALL Drugs legal, and tax them like Cigs/booze, Imagine NO MORE DEA >//// Great.
Posted by: Fogarty | Jun 19, 2007 7:39:54 PM
Fogarty -
I’m too busy with other matters to dig up the sources, but I suggest that you change your “Make ALL Drugs legal, and tax them like Cigs/booze” to “tax them like restaurant meals/beer” and you’d make more money.
Posted by: Mike Cakora | Jun 19, 2007 8:00:08 PM
Thanks, Mike C... great word; I just have trouble remembering how to spell (or pronounce) it!
Posted by: Claudia | Jun 19, 2007 8:11:33 PM
"Ravenel, Bauer, Sanford, what's the difference?"
Two have been stopped by law enforcement and one hasn't.
Posted by: Randy E | Jun 19, 2007 8:20:28 PM
Brad, I thought I remember a TR campaign commercial with him and a family. I read that he has no family. So this guy is a bachelor?
Posted by: Randy E | Jun 19, 2007 8:42:20 PM
Thomas Ravenel comes from a family of public servants who have made a tremendous difference in South Carolina. Whether he is guilty or not (our laws say that he is innocent until proven guilty), this is a very sad day for his family and our thoughts and prayers should be with them.
Posted by: Advocate | Jun 19, 2007 9:05:21 PM
The fact that the taxpayers of the South Carolina are being asked to pay rent for a millionaire public official means that the War on Drug is just crazy.
Look, Thomas Ravenel ran a large business, ran for public office, won an election, and served the public interest of South Carolina with honor and distinction.
Now we're putting him in jail.
Some people like martinis. He liked cocaine. What the heck is wrong with this country?
Maybe we should all grow up and spend less money on prisons and prosecutors and a little more on schools and tax cuts.
Or we could just continue to throw Americans in jail even when they are minding their own damn business. Your choice, America.
Posted by: dudemeister | Jun 19, 2007 9:09:57 PM
