The Garnet Spy

Cindi Ross Scoppe of the increasingly irrelevent State newspaper has published a rant blasting Governor Mark Sanford “and his loyalists” for “distortions” – lies – about the state-of-the-state and what’s required to fix some difficult problems.

“Screed” is another way to describe Ms. Scoppe’s diatribe.

“The thing that has been so maddening about Gov. Mark Sanford’s quest to remake South Carolina in his libertarian image has been less the bad ideas themselves than the way he has tried to sell them — the rote recitation by him and his loyalists of “facts” and figures that are at best misleading.He has demanded deep tax cuts, selectively picking out statistics that seem to show our tax burden is high, while ignoring the many, many more (and more logical) calculations that show it is around the middle nationally.

“He has blasted our government’s inefficiency with the incessant claim that it costs 140 percent of the national average, without mentioning that the number reflects how our state government spending compares with other state governments’ spending, which glosses over the fact that local governments in other states are responsible for and spend much more than here.

“His allies, with at least his tacit approval, have built their campaign to pay parents to send their kids to private schools around a relentless assault on our public schools, painting them as the worst in the nation while completely ignoring the remarkable progress that has pushed us to around the middle on all but one measure (SAT scores).”

In fairness, Ms. Scoppe goes on to criticize the Governor’s critics, but does so because “they have adopted the same tactics.”

I don’t altogether agree with Ms. Scoppe’s assessment, but will comment on only two things.

First, in pointing out Governor Sanford’s “bad ideas,” she doesn’t correct them with facts or statistics.  But, it’s an opinion and she’s an Associate Editor, so facts and stats are  probably too much of a bother.

Second, I wanted to comment on her post on the increasingly irrelevent State newspaper’s site, but to do so, one has to register.  Registration includes name and address.  I don’t require anyone to register before they can enter a comment.  I don’t know of any bloggers who do.  I don’t want to give my address and other info required such as birth year and gender just to write something witty and thoughtful as “Oh, YEAH?”