Top 9 ways to know that you are having a Rough Thanksgiving

9) Your mama calls out "turkey's ready" and everyone grabs a cup.


8) "No, dad, he ain't my baby's daddy, but he loves me anyway. The least you could do is fix him a plate. Hurry up. He has to go be with his wife's people soon."

7) There are more beer cans than teeth at the dinner table


6) You have to carry your sister a plate because she is camped out in front of Dollar Tree waiting on black Friday.


5) You serve fried turkey, fried ham, fried green beans, fried potatoes and fried snickers bars.


4) After several drinks, Uncle Walter breaks out in a special thanksgiving in tongues message. 

3) You have empty chairs at your table for Elvis and Dale Earnhardt.


2) Your granny asks "what is white and bald headed and welcomed at the White House?  A turkey. "


1) You are a young turkey and you ask an older turkey what this Thanksgiving thing is all about.  The older turkey replies, "well when you grow up, those people over there are going to cut your head off, scold you, pluck your feathers and stick cornmeal up your butt.  But look at the bright side you were not born Nancy Pelosi."

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The 5th Annual Thanksgiving Political Awards

It is hard to believe that we are year five of the Thanksgiving Awards at VUI.  We are thankful for the readers and contributors who have kept this one of the longest lasting political blogs in South Carolina.  That said, let's get on to the 5th Annual VUI Thanksgiving Political Awards.  These things are coveted folks, and politicians around the state are waiting with held breathes.  LOL.  

First, there is the Cornbread Dressing Award for Career Achievement.  This year, VUI gives it to outgoing Congressman John Spratt.  Those with more crass motives and hearts might disagree, but Spratt served his constituents well during his tenure and frankly, was like Grady Patterson, in a being a sick old man that the Democrats should have let retire in dignity.  

We move on to the Cranberry Sauce Award for local government achievement.  This year VUI stays local and gives the honor to Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper.  As Sheriff, Skipper has led some major advancements in law enforcement investigations and his office is running efficiently for the taxpayers. Skipper seems to be the best Sheriff in South Carolina and that gets him the nod for this award. 

That moves us to the Holiday Ham Award.  That award is granted to the politician or political figure who, well frankly, has the ego that goes beyond the call.  This year is goes to blogger Will Folks.  Though we at VUI like Will, and actually believe his stories about Nikki Haley, the fact remains that there seems no bigger ego than Mr. Folks in politics.  Jake Knotts comes close, but no cigar, Jakie.  Will's self proclaimed conquest of the Governor-elect just takes the political cake, so to speak. Whatever you think of Folks, it took a pair to lay it all out about him and Haley. 

Now we move to the nominees for the Golden Drumstick Award.  That award is for the best political achievement in South Carolina.  We will outline the nominees.  


1) Governor-elect Nikki Haley.  Can anyone believe what this woman did?  She came out of nowhere to win the GOP nomination and to win the Governor's office.  She did so with otherwise credible folks talking about her, shall we say, indiscretions.  Haley is Teflon, and has a way of making people ignore her flimsy resume and her personal problems.  That takes incredible political skill. 


2) Congressman-elect Mick Mulvaney.  Mulvaney defeated John Spratt.  That was no small order.  Spratt was like Strom Thurmond in his district.  Mulvaney had the skill and the class to campaign around the health issues and age of Spratt while taking advantage of the close ties with Speaker Nancy Pelosi Spratt had to have to maintain his leadership position in the House.  While it was a Republican year, Mulvaney played every move right in sending Spratt into retirement. 


3) Congressman-elect Tim Scott.  Wow.  What can you say about this guy.  Scott is the first Black Republican elected to the House from the South since Reconstruction. Scott got the GOP nomination beating two old strong GOP families, Thurmond and Campbell.  Then, once elected to Congress, Scott is quickly rising, even before officially taking office, in the GOP leadership ranks.  This guy is a game changer for Republican politics and bears watching over the next few years. 


4)Lt. Governor-elect Ken Ard.  Sure, Ard has family troubles and his consultant was arrested after Election Day.  But, Ard is something to watch.  He went from Florence County Council to Lt. Governor, defeating Tea Party favorite Bill Connor in the GOP primary and then defeating a well funded low country effort by Democrat Ashley Cooper.  Ard has a lot of political horse sense and that will serve him and the state well in the next four years. 


5) Congressman-elect Trey Gowdy.  The Solicitor turned Congressman whipped longtime incumbent Bob Inglis with a message that was humble and basically let Inglis implode.  That was smart politics.  


The winner of the Golden Drumstick is........Congressman-elect Tim Scott.  Years from now, Scott will be a national political force, just wait and see.  


That brings us the nominees for Political Turkey of the Year.  You figure out the meaning.  The nominees are: 


1) Congressman Henry Brown.  Let's look at this year for Brown.  He was once the powerful Ways and Means Chairman of the SC House.  He gave that up to be a Congressman.  He gave up being a Congressman to run for Supervisor of Berkeley County, and got soundly defeated.  Wow.  It is unprecedented in SC history for a sitting Congressman to get whipped for a county office.  


2) State Rep. Dan Cooper.  We at VUI like Dan Cooper, the powerful House chairman.  But, this year, Cooper's laziness darned near got him.  Some kid gave him a run for his money in the GOP primary and then some third party candidate got far too many votes in November against him.  Cooper is in trouble in 2012 if he does not shape up and actually learn how to run a real campaign for his post again. 


3) Vic Rawl.  This guy takes the political cake.  Rawl was a former legislator and Democrat insider who thought he was going to be the man that took on Republican Senator Jim DeMint.  Rawl and Democratic leaders were so confident of that fact they sat on their behinds in the primary.  The result?  Alvin Greene whipped Rawl and opened up South Carolina to one of its strangest political races in history. 


4) Congressman Gresham Barrett.  Again, we at VUI like Gresham Barrett.  But, come on, you raise more money than any candidate for Governor by far and you get whipped by a candidate who did not even show up to her own committee meetings in the SC House?  Further the Barrett camp seemed afraid to call such things against Haley.  It was like they were in a trance by her campaign.  Pathetic.  


5) Congressman Bob Inglis.  Speaking of pathetic, perhaps the saddest and most pathetic campaign of 2010 was the Congressional primary campaign of Bob Inglis.  Whatever his accomplishments, in the Spring of 2010, Bob Inglis came across as the crazy old neighbor who ruined all the neighborhood cookouts with his rantings about crazy ideas.  Far too many voters saw Inglis as the crazy neighbor who would set his head on fire to prove a point instead of a veteran Congressman who would serve their interests.  


The Political Turkey of the Year Award goes to.....Congressman Henry Brown. You lost a race for Berkeley County Supervisor after years in Congress?  That's history made and that is worthy of the VUI Political Turkey of the Year Award.  


That brings us to our last, and most controversial award.  This award has gotten VUI in "hot water" over the past years.  It is the Holiday Fruitcake Award.  This year, we had many to choose from, but as we like to stick to just South Carolina politics, the winner was clear.  Alvin Greene is our Fruitcake Award winner.  Never before have we seen someone so strange.  From touting "action figures" in his own likeness to saying recently that he "was born to be President," Mr. Greene personifies the word fruitcake.  Greene's web campaign ad sealed the deal.  Wow.  Here is the video.  It shows how deserving Greene is of the coveted Fruitcake Award. 

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Thanks for reading and have a great Thanksgiving Week.  Stay tuned for our Thanksgiving Top 9 and then we get back to daily posts about politics come December 1.  We will be looking at Congress, the State House and bills filed and everything else.  

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How bout them little bears!

I am so proud of the Honea Path Bears. Never have I coached a team I was prouder of. County Champions! Woo hoo! Thank you, Coach Williams for the
opportunity. It was a privilege to coach with such fine coaches and
coach such good kids. I am a proud Bear tonight! Praise God.

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Thank you Veterans

Today is Veteran’s Day.  It is a day that once was much more celebrated than it is today.  Indeed, we live in a country in which so many people forget that so many sacrificed for our freedoms.  Indeed, there are so many who still do.

Veterans are easy to find.  One could be your grandfather or the old neighbor who lives down the street.  It might you dad or mother, your uncle, brother or sister.  Veterans are co workers, spouses, and even sons and daughters.  They are all around us, the men and women who stood up and stood post guarding our freedom.

But, with each passing Veterans Day, America seems to forget that.  Most schools will be in session.  A smaller number of cities will have parades or ceremonies.  Indeed, Americans just seem unplugged from the idea that so many are still fighting for freedom in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.  Further, more and more Americans seem even more removed from the truth that the freedoms that we enjoy came from the service and sacrifice of military members and their families.

VUI includes families, because in today’s military, especially, families are hit hard by service.  Many a good military service member has to face multiple deployments in today’s military.  That leaves their families with a missing place at the dinner table, or a missing parent at a play or ball game.

Some will not come back.  Others will but never be the same.  Whether they served years ago, or serve today, the veterans of the United States are owed a debt of respect for their service in protecting the freedom of the United States.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a veteran who has since passed away.  I took notes because I had a notion of writing about him and those who served with him.  I haven’t, because I did not think my poor writing skills could do their service justice.  But, one line he said stands out.  He told me it was fitting to remember the fallen, but went on to say, “we got remember those who killed and come home and had to live with that killing.”  It was a remark that haunts me to this day.  Because so many died, but even more killed and live with that.

Service in the military is not easy, even for those that never see enemy fire.  We should never let that service be a thankless job.  So, today, seek out a veteran, shake his or her hand, and thank them for their service to our country. 

Thank you veterans.  Here's a tribute from country artist Toby Keith.  

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RIP and Thank you, Bob Fulton

In today's world of college football being constantly on television, it is hard to for younger people to know just how much a radio broadcaster meant to those of us who grew up as college football fans in the late 1970s and the 1980s.  Back then, colleges were limited to three games on television every two years in the regular season.  If you could not make it to the stadium, the radio broadcast was your connection to the teams you followed.  

In this area, we had giants in the radio broadcasting field.  The late Jim Phillips called the games for Clemson.  Larry Munson called them for Georgia, and Bob Fulton called them for the South Carolina Gamecocks.  Each had their own style.  Fulton had the knack of knowing the biography of every player that was noted in the broadcast.  

People have their favorite memories of Fulton broadcasts. Three favorites come to mind for me.  The first is when I was still a kid, and I and my dad listened to Fulton call the game as the USC Gamecocks whipped the USC Trojans, 38-14 in 1983. We were actually Clemson fans pulling for the Gamecocks that evening.  My next favorite Fulton broadcast came after I became a Gamecock.  Watching the Carquest Bowl on January 2nd, 1995 on television, with the sound turned down and the radio turned up as Fulton called his last football game for Carolina, which turned about to be Carolina's first bowl win was a real treat.  

But, perhaps it was in retirement that Gamecock fans and all football fans got an idea of the class of Bob Fulton.  When Clemson broadcasting legend Jim Phillips suddenly passed away during the 2003 football season, Fulton came out of retirement to call a Clemson series for the broadcast of the Clemson-Middle Tennessee State game that immediately followed Phillips's death. Such was the mutual respect of the old great broadcasters.  Further, just a over a year ago, there was a story in the media about how Fulton would give play by play calls for games for those who could no longer see in the assisted living center Fulton lived in.  


But, for me, the passing of Bob Fulton is a loss of another of those pieces of childhood.  Great broadcasters like Fulton could paint the game right before you.  Those broadcasters like Fulton had the talent of great writers on the fly.  They could make you feel that you were right there at the game.  So many people have so many memories that revolve around those broadcasts.  


So, Rest in Peace, Bob Fulton, and thank you, sir, for the memories.  The friends and family of Bob Fulton have our prayers and sympathy.

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'Nuff said

We will be breaking down the results and working to hold our new elected officials accountable. But, for now, this picture says it all. What a night for Republicans.

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Vote for a Vet

In state elections, it is easy to get lost in the issues of local affairs and the shortcomings of character of those running. But, in Congressional elections, being a Republican is easy. Voting Republican means voting for our vets.

Whatever your feelings about domestic policy, the Obama-Pelosi agenda in regards to our veterans and to our men and women still fighting to keep us safe from terrorists leaves a lot be desired. In the past two years, the military has been served with nothing but insults by the Obama-Pelosi machine. Our military has been told to expect cuts in their and their families' health benefits. They have been told to accept homosexuals openly serving or else. The leftists who back the President and Speaker Pelosi have spent money and time portraying our troops as the bad guys. They even tell us that its okay for Muslims to celebrate the attack on the United States on 9-11 by building a mosque on the site of the attacks.

Now, perhaps Muslims do have the constitutional right to build a mosque there. But, wouldn't it be nice to have leaders that at least say that such is inappropriate. Instead, we have a President who embraces such at a Muslim dinner and Congressional leadership that wants to write laws that make it politically incorrect for our troops to even speak ill of the Muslim extremists that they fight. Heck, Congress even pressured NPR to fire a commentator who said he was uncomfortable being surrounded by devout Muslims on a plane.

That is Obama's America. It is a place in which our military is gutted of its benefits and its morale. It is a place in which political correctness overrides common sense when it comes to securing people. Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security frets over good ole boys having shotguns while she fights Arizona being able to secure its borders.

That is the nonsense that is Obama's America. Domestic stuff can be debated ad nauseam. But, the safety of this country and the men and women who fight to protect it is not up for debate. Whatever you think of Republicans, they will fight for the folks who fight for us. They will be there. That is why, state elections aside, it is important to vote Republican in all federal elections. We need a Republican Congress to hold the President and his band of naive ne'er do wells in check. Consider a vote for a Republican a vote for a vet.

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Top 9 things we don't want to hear on Election Night

9) "Ya'll take a look at this video of the Governor-elect. See what you idiots voted in. That's her with the towel on her head. I swear to GAWD that's her. Where's my drink? Is the dog still in the car?" State Senator Jakie Knotts

8) "Take that Lucy, Charlie Brown just got himself re-elected. Trying moving that football on me again, bitch. Yeah, and tell Barber you are the real cock fighter." lovelorn Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom

7) "Wow, look at all these brown shirts. What a movement we have!" Nikki Haley

6)"....(incoherent)....(incoherent)....(mumble)...wait, you can not video tape me...(incoherent)..." Congressman John Spratt

6)"Thank you America for returning me as Speaker of the House. I have to tell you, I was running low on Zoloft. This really helps. Wait, you said Joe Wilson just won? You lie! I need a pill." Nancy Pelosi

5)"President Obama just called me, and I told him I would do for South Carolina what he has done for America." Vincent Sheheen

4)" I told Nikki to tell the SLED guys if the SUV is a rockin', don't come a knockin'" Mark Sanford

3)"What do you mean I can't hire my daughter as my chief of staff? She got me elected." Ken Ard

2)"I thank you for re-electing me, but I got to ask, does anybody other than me really want this job? Hell, I can't even have a scandal with this job." Secretary of State Mark Hammond

1) "So ladies, you chose Jim DeMint, a bad man. Well, take a look at these pictures to find out what you will be missing for the next six years. I bet you feel bad now. Yeah, you could have had that. All lady peoples want that." Alvin Greene

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