Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a struggling Republican presidential hopeful, named South Carolinian Henry Jordan one of his campaign co-chairmen late last week. Duncan called Jordan, unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor last year, “a great, conservative Republican leader” who agrees with him on immigration and national defense.

This is the same Henry Jordan who, in 1997 as a member of South Carolina’s Board of Education, wanted to impose Christianity on public school students. When one of his colleagues on the board alluded to concerns about religious minorities in the state, this board member said, on tape, “Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims. And put that in the minutes.” Calls for his resignation were ignored and the GOP establishment in South Carolina stood by Jordan.

I found this significant, not just as indictment of Hunter and the South Carolina GOP, but in the context of the “controversy” surrounding John Edwards’ former bloggers. A Democratic candidate hired a couple of fairly low-level staffers who’d written some intemperate blog posts about religious fundamentalists, and outrage was everywhere for a week. A Republican presidential candidate gives a high-level position to a man who once publicly announced his belief that Buddhists and Muslims should be “screwed” and “killed,” and it’s barely noticed.