Mortal Combat in South Carolina

Barely concealed racism, vicious attacks on opponents, false accusations: The Republican primary in South Carolina has gotten dirty.

If Terry O’Neill could guide the hand of God, he would clone his chosen candidate to have Rick Santorum’s morals, Newt Gingrich’s cunning, the prophet-like charisma of Herman Cain and, in God’s name, Mitt Romney’s managerial abilities. He grudgingly admits that such an ideal candidate is needed to beat Obama and rescue America.

Now this former obstetrician-gynecologist originally from Massachusetts is attending the tea party congress in Myrtle Beach, seeking a mortal substitute. Cain had been his choice, but O’Neill says he was lured into a trap and his wife sadly nods her head in agreement. The 73-year old O’Neill is a high school Latin teacher when he’s not on the road as a tea party activist from Bluffton, South Carolina. He’s an educated man who says he has no problem with other religions or races.

That’s more than one can say about a lot of members of Congress and at least one Republican presidential candidate. On one of the book tables, among the “It’s the Spending, Stupid” bumper stickers and the guides to school choice lies a bright blue pamphlet entitled “The New Democrat” written by “Dr. Truth.” On its cover, Barack Obama is depicted as a frolicking, grinning monkey. He wears a red ribbon and a fur hat bearing a red star and the hammer and sickle, a Soviet army souvenir. For a mere $20, one can enjoy the adventures of President Monkey; it’s highly reminiscent of the caricatures depicting “Japs” during World War II.

They Constantly Invoke the U.S. Constitution

What the O’Neills think about such propaganda remains their secret, as does an explanation for why an educated couple traveled so far just to be poisoned by a hatred of Obama that drives them nearly crazy. For the O’Neills, Obama represents something foreign, mysterious, dangerous and anti-American.

The following day, Rick Santorum will explain to the O’Neills and about 300 other tea party movement followers the significance of the constitutional imperative called “the pursuit of happiness.” The founding fathers didn’t have hedonism in mind but rather the command to do what’s morally right — in other words, God’s will. The O’Neills applaud him in ecstasy. Then Newt Gingrich appears and says that happiness back then meant the constant search for wisdom and virtue and not temporal pleasure. Again, great applause from the O’Neills.

The U.S. Constitution is constantly invoked these days in South Carolina, not as a magnificent historical document of its time but as if it were a book of the bible that had been forgotten but, now newly discovered, is the only proper guide for America. The founding fathers are thought of as apostles carrying out God’s will in America. Santorum, Gingrich and Ron Paul all preach this headlong rush toward the purity of the early republic. The present — globalized, secularized and even Islamicized — is horrible, and it’s all Obama’s fault.

Politicians don’t look just for victory in South Carolina, they seek the destruction of their opposition. Thus it was in 2008 when John McCain, George W. Bush’s main competitor, suddenly acquired not only an “illegitimate child” but a black-skinned one at that. It was a disgusting reminder of those days when white masters enjoyed making babies with their black slaves. McCain’s adopted daughter, born in Bangladesh, nearly cost him a primary victory.

Rumors of infidelity circulated about Governor Nikki Haley, the daughter of Sikh immigrants. Someone tried to trap a senator by recommending an undocumented alien worker to him for home renovation work. Things have gotten even worse since the unemployment rate hit 9.9 percent and in some areas has topped 20 percent in South Carolina. Racism is spreading like a latent virus there.

Disguised Racism

Newt Gingrich, a southerner from Georgia, best understands how to use political camouflage to disguise racism: “Food stamps,” the government-issued coupons used to buy groceries, is code for “poor blacks.” When he condemns Obama as “the most effective food stamp president in history,” the racism association is doubled: Poor blacks being made dependent by a half-black president, and all designed to prevent his reelection.

Gingrich understands perfectly how to style himself as an advocate for liberating blacks from the yoke of social assistance: Obama is the racist, not Gingrich. Gingrich is the the one trying to help them toward independence. During a televised debate, Gingrich berated black moderator Juan Williams as if he were a misbehaving student, addressing him as “Juan.” Williams had addressed Gingrich as “Mr. Speaker” when posing his question; Gingrich’s “Juan” was code for “boy.” Thousands of whites in the Myrtle Beach auditorium jumped to their feet and wildly applauded a man who told it like it is — and the way it always has been.

Gingrich’s Popularity Ratings Skyrocketed

It’s Gingrich’s campaign successes that make the South Carolina election on Saturday so exciting. Mitt Romney is comfortably ahead, but Gingrich’s numbers skyrocketed after the debate, from 15 percent (to Romney’s 37) up to 26 percent to Romney’s 31. As Ron Paul and Rick Santorum lag behind, Gingrich is already predicting his victory over a Massachusetts pushover who had been everything at one time or another – liberal, moderate and, right now, an arch-conservative. Besides which, as one of the super rich, he doesn’t understand the common man’s concerns.

Whether he’s speaking at a tea party congress, in a Brazilian steak house, in the warm tent of the evangelical “Faith and Freedom” coalition or before the cameras in a television debate, Gingrich sells himself as a statesman and Ronald Reagan’s only rightful heir, a man at whose side he once stood as they created “16 million new jobs.” Gingrich would immediately send the United States Marines into the Straits of Hormuz in order to show Iran who gives the orders around here. He is ashamed of President Obama’s cowardice and his weakening of America as he delivers the United States into the hands of its enemies.

Compared to the Nuremberg Laws

Gingrich’s most impressive magic trick in South Carolina was his ability to mobilize a bunch of (white) have-nots to support more tax breaks for the richest 1 percent of Americans. Rick Santorum, meanwhile, has absolutely no scruples to prevent him from exploiting public sympathy for his severely disabled three-year-old daughter, Bella, all with the goal of arousing the hatred of a conservative group against Obama and his health care program. Under Obama’s plan, according to Santorum, his little daughter would have to prove that she is worthy of treatment.

Santorum didn’t produce one shred of evidence for his horrible assertion that Obama was willing to allow those children he didn’t consider economically profitable to die. Two hours later, a gray-haired Ron Paul supporter made the assertion that Obama’s anti-terror law was worse than the Nuremberg Laws. That’s another “handwriting on the wall” canard popular among the far right: Barack Obama’s concentration camps for patriotic, liberty-minded opponents of government.

Ironically, it’s South Carolina about which it is said their choice for Republican candidate always proves to be the person who wins the nomination. If Newt Gingrich doesn’t finish a close second at worst, he will have to ask himself if continuing the grind is worth it. The $60,000 per speech he currently gets will perhaps balloon to $100,000 and his books are selling like hotcakes.

But there could be another reason that keeps him from striking his flag: Unlike previous primary elections, a state’s delegates are no longer winner-take-all but are apportioned. And that presents all sorts of opportunities for tinkering with loyalties.

Terry and Bobby O’Neill worry about their children and grandchildren. The O’Neills have worked hard and had a good life. Now, according to tea party doctrine, they have to help defend their personal freedom and the liberty of American society by providing for themselves.

Barack Obama is their enemy, not Mitt Romney with his millions stashed away in the Cayman Islands and the tax bracket that lets him pay a lower rate than a laborer. And not Newt Gingrich, a millionaire who has always been for sale to the highest bidder. The O’Neills look back to an age they understood. An age when America was inherently decent and outwardly dominated the (free) world.