Shut Up, Dick

Dick Harpootlian just can't keep his mouth shut. I had hoped that I had heard the last of that self-aggrandizing blowhard when he stepped down as SC Democratic Party chair in May. But given a chance to take a dig at a fellow Democrat and the national Democratic Party about the 2004 Senate race, I guess he just couldn't resist:

"Keep your noses out of our business," Harpootlian was quoted as saying to DSCC in an interview with Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. He told The Greenville News: "These are the guys who brought us the disaster of '02."

…

Harpootlian said he isn't against Tenenbaum, but "for Bob Coble based on my belief that he would be better, more electable and has a broader range of experience.

"My experience with the DSCC has been that it's a very Washington-insider inbred group. They're more motivated by who can raise the most money, not by electability, and they ought to stay out of it."

Now, primaries are all about picking sides; Harpootlian has as much right to do that as anyone else. But no interest is served (besides the narrow one of seeing one's name in the paper) by going hard negative on the "other side" this early in the race over an insignificant process issue.

Harpootlian is clearly lying when he says he "isn't against Tenenbaum" — the substance and tenor of his remarks make that clear. Tagging her as an unelectable, inexperienced candidate beholden to out-of-state special interests is an attack on her qualifications and her character, nothing less. But he's not doing Mayor Coble any favors either. Coble is a relative unknown outside of Columbia, and now his first introduction to many voters statewide is as a negative campaigner with no positive agenda. Not helpful.

Harpootlian has thought for years that the national Democratic Party has been out to screw him and the state. According to Dick, most all the political problems Democrats have had in SC in recent years are because of mistakes made by the "Washington insiders", not by him. If he wants to avoid responsibility for the failures that took place on his watch, fine; he's not in charge anymore, and I really don't care. But someone should tell Mr. Harpootlian that it's time to grow up and move on.