My Buddy and Me

Last week the Charleston Post and Courier did a piece on the Republican Senate race here in the great state of South Carolina. The focus of the piece was on the divide between "centrist" Republican, and John McCain supporter Lindsey Graham and his traditionalist conservative opponent, Buddy Witherspoon. For those of us who can't stand Lindsey Graham, the challenge of Mr. Witherspoon seems rather exciting and it has gotten a degree of support from the paleo blogosphere.

As one could probably guess from recent postings on this site, I have a litmus test for all candidates. In order to get the vote and endorsement of yours truly, one must openly dissent from the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and must be interested in a serious reassessment of our foreign policy. While the standards I apply to candidates running in major parties and candidates running as third party "outsiders" are different, these are the minimum requirements necessary for my support unqualified or otherwise.

Buddy Witherspoon is an un-PC, shoot from the hip kind of guy. By all accounts he can be taken at his word. He has shown a willingness to take some strong populist, conservative positions. His stands on immigration, spending, the 2nd Amendment and trade will make him interesting to any anti-status quo voters. But he's not "my buddy".

We have achieved some success in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and I am not willing to set a deadline for withdrawal and I will not cut and run.

That is Mr. Witherspoon on Iraq, and this is me saying "no thanks". War is not the only thing that matters, but it is the issue that is most tied up with the other key issues of the day (immigration, spending, size of government, taxation, civil liberties, et.). Witherspoon could easily pull a Murray Sabrin, and argue that the WMD are gone, Saddam is out and it is time to come home. Instead he spits the neocon "cut and run" line, and senselessly babbles on about not having a timetable for withdrawal (without a timetable, one can assume our presence will go on forever, a withdrawal will require planning and informing the troops that they are coming home).

Buddy, you may be better than Lindsey, but who isn't? Anti-war conservatives and South Carolinians deserve better than this from a populist challenger. I'm not the biggest fan of former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, but he talks the non-interventionist talk, and is on board with the paleos on the other issues too. If you want a serious alternative to GOP elitism, he is the guy for you.