The Curious Rise and Fall Of Palmetto State Politics .....
Sometimes you know even before you write a post, that you're going to shake the hornet's nest - but you do it anyway... When we started this blog, we never thought we'd be able to churn out posts for more than a few months without getting bored or boring.... Almost five years and 2800 posts later, we're still going, and it's given me more recognition (and some respect) than i ever got in running for office. Thanks to everyone for reading....
From the very start, we had an idea of what we wanted SC6 to look, feel and sound like - and we had a very simple premise: let the news come to you, and stir shit up without causing trouble... It's worked out pretty good, and it's a good reason why we stay close to (but not at) the top. There's a huge pile of blogs that have come and gone since 2005. Some we miss , and some we don't. Still, even if we differ in opinion, we still respect the time people put in to them, and appreciate the discussions they start...
Onto stirring up shit... Like lots of blogs, we get plenty of hearsay and rumors. Since we really don't have any axes to grind, unless we have proof of these things, we steer clear of printing them. Why? It's an easy way to get your ass sued. Also, things blow over, and people often never forget what you say about them - if it's true, you have nothing to be afraid of. If not true, well........... We saw some hope in Palmetto State Politics. It promised to give news on all things SC Politics -but ended up being an attack blog for Bill Connor's campaign. I like Bill Connor, and Joshua Gross I consider to be a very good friend, and if they win on Tuesday, good luck to them. But PSP has not done them a service - and he/she at PSP apparently is paying for it....
Along the way, PSP found some good, effective dirt on Connor's rivals in the primary. I know with a blog, when things start to go well and take off, you work for even better things, which often gets you into trouble. When the Haley - Folks affair happened,we all took sides, but PSP decided to figure out who was involved in the Columbia area scandal - from of all places, Florence County. I don't know everything about SC Politics, but I do know one thing ..... Don't Fuck With Rod Shealy. I missed a few days, then checked all the blogs on Primary night, to get their opines on the day.
PSP got a little kooky, at least trying to get on it. I needed to give my e-mail, and be accepted to read the blog, which seems kind of counterintuitive for a blog - preaching to the choir? Later, that cleared up, but the latest post was from late May. All of the recent posts involving Haley-Folks - Shealy - Knotts - Richter and everyone else were gone. Now today, we see an apology post for apparently all the wreckless accusation flying again. This after all of 75 posts... In 2800 tries, I've never apologized for anything, and the same goes for any good blog around. You can piss the world off, but if it's right, they have no recourse, and no reason to stop you....
Am I sounding a bit high-and-mighty here. Yeah, a little. But guess what? I've earned it, and so have the other dozen top blogs in our little fraternity. However, I know that my days are numbered as the 'Blog Dog' of the Pee Dee. It has to, for obvious reasons. Nothing lasts forever, and some new punk will one day wear my crown ..... I just hope it's not P-Luv! PSP could have been a good one, but he/she wrecked it on his/her own. Time doesn't make people forget what you did in politics. How you come out of the gate is just as important as how you finish, and if they had just been a bit more well-rounded, the message would have been a lot more effective - and the apologies would be unnecessary......
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4 comments:
Only when I can snatch the pebble from your hand...
Keep posting on NPH, and you might get there, Grasshopper! Unless Ed Robinson kills you first...
My thoughts on Palmetto State Politics: It's an inside job, possibly written by Joshua Gross.
I say this because both Palmetto State Politics and Gross's previous blog, Columbia Conservative, use the Blogger platform. Prior to Columbia Conservative, Gross had a blog called The Body Politic that also used Blogger.
Interestingly, Palmetto State Politics and The Body Politic not only use the same platform, they have identical backgrounds.
Palmetto State Politics is almost completely devoted to the S.C. Lieutenant Governor’s race. Gross is campaign manager for Bill Connor, who is running for Lt. Governor.
Since last October, there have been something like 45 posts on Palmetto State Politics. About 90 percent have been about the SC Lieutenant Governor’s race.
That seems odd for an office which holds relatively little power.
If you look at the 40-plus Lt. Governor-related stories, more than 30 have cast Ken Ard in a negative light and three cast Larry Richter in a negative light.
The remainder spoke glowingly of Connor, including testimonials, pro-Connor poll results and even a press release regarding Connor running an ad during the Daytona 500.
There were no stories that reflected favorably on anyone besides Connor and none that cast a discerning eye on Connor.
And there was no story about the primary, where Connor finished second to Ard, which seems odd for a blog almost entirely devoted to the Lite Guv race.
But, as I understand it, if you question Joshua Gross about Palmetto State Politics, he denies having anything to do with it.
Seems like an awful lot of coincidences to me.
I'll disagree, Anon. Joshua has no time to be blogging while running Connor's campaign. If he does have time to blog, Connor should get a refund for wasting his time..
Josh has had a couple blogs along the way, and his writing style is nothing like this. I'm pretty sure it's a local Flotown job by someone who has an axe to grind with Ken. There are too many local references for it not to be.
In a campaign, you often have well-intentioned loose cannons that you have no control over, who in the end, make your campaign look bad. Just the thought that it might be Joshua puts Bill's team ina bad light. I don't think it is him at all, but it does hurt.
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