Is Nikiki Haley this stupid ??

[DeeDeeNY]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/nikki-haley-makes-no-mention-slavery-asked-name-cause-civil-war-rcna131407

“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run — the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do,” Haley said at the beginning of her response.
She went on to say: “I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people.
...
After the voter responded by saying he found it “astonishing” that Haley had not used the word “slavery” at any point in her answer, she asked, “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

[Celerity]

1. she is a wuthless piece of hog shit

[dchill]

80. So you're saying she's the perfect GOP candidate?

[Celerity]

90. no, she lacks a tiny todger, so no little dick rage

[Nasruddin]

100. Restraint

I have to admire your restraint.

As duplicitous, self-serving, and conniving as she is, that she managed to drop this anvil on her foot is completely disqualifying.
Who cares what she really believes (if anything).

[mucifer]

2. trying to get more deplorable votes at any cost

[SoFlaBro]

3. She is a dumb-ass motherfucker. Perfect for that shitty MAGA cult.

[Emile]

4. She is sucking up to the Trump voters.

She is hoping to win their votes when he goes to jail. She has been telling them she'll even pardon him if they will put her in office.

[Mad_Machine76]

78. It is absolutely stunning

that there is a group of people for whom saying that slavery was the cause of the Civil War is a radical statement.

[BlueTsunami2018]

5. She's not stupid, she HAS to say that.

She knows full well the impact slavery had on the Civil War but she can’t say it because her party’s base see it as the “War of Northern Aggression”. If she states a simple fact about the cause of the conflict, she’ll lose support. It’s that simple.

[ecstatic]

15. But those people won't vote for her anyway

She is not white. And she's a woman. Nazis are not your target audience, nikki. 🙄

[Zambero]

21. Herschel Walker for one suggests otherwise

Nazis reserve the option of employing tools and useful idiots outside the range of ethnic purity and white superiority, to advance their cause. It's part of the fascist "divide and conquer" strategy. It gives them cover while potentially pulling in votes from demographics they wish didn't exist.

[SoFlaBro]

25. Goddamn is he stupid. I had no idea until the election.

[brush]

61. Useful tool as he is, Walker still lost, as will Haley.

[uponit7771]

97. +1, Walker could've yelled he hates all white folk and MAGA still would've voted for him !!!

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

110. You'd have a point

If Walker had won.

He didn't. Not even in deep-fried racist Georgia did he win.

That sort of renders your point moot.

[Zambero]

111. Too close for comfort

And close enough that they'll keep pitching more "Herschels" if and when it suits them. MAGA "gets it", hoping that other unwitting voters won't.

[BlueTsunami2018]

29. They'll vote for her if she's the nominee.

Republicans always come home at the end of the day. She has to play to them as if she’s in the general. Stating the facts of that war would get her nowhere.

[Polybius]

83. She's white enough

And they make exceptions for Republicans. Even David Duke has stated that he supported Clarence Thomas.

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

43. Your Point is Taken But...

Republicon Nikki Haley did and does not 'have to say it'. She could tell the truth to her Nazi base, be a Democrat, not run for office etc.

[BlueTsunami2018]

45. As it stands, she's the alternative to Piss Wig.

Not running is out of the question, she’s ambitious. Becoming a Democrat is also out of the question, we’d never vote for her. Telling the truth on this matter would knock her out of contention, so she has to tell this lie and act dumb to stay alive politically.

It’s more disturbing to me that tens of millions of people would hold the truth against her than the fact that she’s lying about it. This country has a very serious problem.

[brush]

60. Rock and hard place. Still running for 2nd place.

[Caliman73]

81. Correct. Not Stupid. Immoral.

Haley is not stupid, she is a liar. She knows full well that the reason the Southern States seceded and made war against the United States was their fear that Slavery would be abolished. The election of Abraham Lincoln, who had no immediate intentions of abolishing slavery, sparked the Southern governments to leave the Union. The Northern states had already tried to stop the expansion of slavery into new territories and states. The South saw the writing on the wall and they say it clearly in the secession documents.

We need to accurately describe these Conservative candidates. Not Stupid but an immoral liar.

[mobeau69]

6. The video is brutal.

MJ played the full exchange. The guy in the audience was brutal!

[Rebl2]

59. Didn't he

say to her after she said what do you want me to say about slavery, he said I am not running for president, you are.

[mobeau69]

72. I'm not running for president. I wanted to hear what you thought.

He ended the conversation with “you told me what I wanted to know.”

[claudette]

7. Yes

[malaise]

8. Yes

That is all

[Eugene]

9. No, she's just dumb enough to believe that enough low-information voters to get her over the top.

Nikki is trying to dog-whistle Lost Cause mythology to the neo-Confederates in the MAGA base.
To this rational outsider, she looks absolutely horrid.

[brush]

62. Spot on accessment.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. She doesn't know it, but she just told you who she is /nt

[doc03]

11. If she came out and endorsed the KKK her polls would go up. nt

[apnu]

12. Freedom to do what?

… own slaves

[PTL_Mancuso]

30. Funny as Shizzle! Plus one extra kudo

for mentioning the truly annoying Annoying Orange

[Lovie777]

13. The GQP cult will believe her over any actual evidence or facts ...............................

concerning the Civil War. For years the GQP has and still denies any wrongdoing pertaining to Slavery. The GQP for years have told their cult that Blacks were happy as slaves. Now we know why education is one of the lowest priorities of the Republican party.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Nikki Haley's response is total word salad and sounds like something a child would say

This is supposed to be a college educated woman who is running for high office?

[jaxexpat]

18. Since her political inception, Nikki has exhibited a talent for consistency.

She can simultaneously say and not say whatever she believes to be the most expedient means to propagate her career. That is her will and her way. I've always wondered who or what has/is supporting her efforts and thought the nature of that support is nefarious, essentially lawless. I anticipate many will be stunned by how calculated and Byzantine the effort (plot) to embed her into Washington politics, even the White house.

[Irish_Dem]

23. Yep.

Most certainly, the wealthy backers with nefarious goals are not going to put all their money on Trump.

They are also going to put their money on other puppets they can install into the White House.

[PTL_Mancuso]

31. If you mosey on over to Open Secrets you will see . . .

. . . that big money gangs are pulling the strings on both sides of the aisle at the same damn time!

https://www.opensecrets.org/candidates-officeholders

End Citizens United NOW!

[Irish_Dem]

37. Yes our political system is open to the highest bidder.

Citizens United is probably one of the most destructive forces, it allows our democracy to be
taken over by oligarchs who basically purchase politicians.

So "we the people" no longer run the government, rich people have taken over with all kinds of
agendas, including foreign powers who wish to bring down the United States.

US politics has become corrupt and it probably won't stop. Because there is too much money to be made.

Politics is becoming the ultimate grift, you not only make a fortune but you have
some sort of get out of jail free card for life.

[brush]

64. There's effort behind her all right, but she's a woman and not white...

she'll never get to the White House. Maga, white males still see the presidency as a white, male preserve.

[Irish_Dem]

70. Yes but they will certainly use a woman in a ruthless way to get what they want.

If they think a woman plays better in the polls, they will use her and discard her when convenient.

Keep in mind that the GOP higher echelon certainly doesn't care at all about the red meat issues they throw to the maga base.

For example they and their kids all got vaccinated during the Covid pandemic and wore masks. They don't care about sexual issues. Or abortion, they will all get abortions anytime they want one, and use birth control. It's all just a way to control the GOP base and get votes.

[brush]

71. There's not enough of them. She has little chance to beat trump...

and just about none in the general once that word salad video of her trying not to mention slavery, then the other one of her asking what do you want me to say about slavery?

She might as well have said, "I can tap dance, I can pander, I can kiss orange ass."

[Irish_Dem]

73. Nikki Haley certainly knows this and her plan A is becoming vice president.

Plan B is becoming president if Trump is taken out of the picture for some reason.

Trump is a puppet who was installed into the White House and it could happen again, make no mistake that's the wild card.

[brush]

74. She's hoping. Those pandering videos though will doom her in the general...

if trump drops dead or goes to jail.

[Irish_Dem]

76. Absolutely nothing has doomed Trump. So I wouldn't say any GOP candidate is doomed.

Make no mistake, the people who are funding the GOP do have a plan in place if Trump is out of the picture.

[brush]

82. What do you mean? Have you forgotten already trump lost to Biden?

[Irish_Dem]

86. Trump was installed into the WH in 2017.

By hook and crook.

[brush]

87. We know. He still lost to Biden in 2020.

[tanyev]

32. See also Trump, Donald J.

[Irish_Dem]

38. The people who fund these clowns love a certain type. Ignorant buffoons.

The people who are installing these puppets love someone who is easily manipulated, narcissistic
who are so bad they embarrass United States and make democracy look foolish and stupid.

[brush]

63. Yep, totally craven. Will pander, tap dance...anything for maga votes.

Even kiss orange ass. Still won't work.

[bottomofthehill]

16. For her followers

The only answer that will not cost her votes is “ it was the war of northern aggression”. That and say states rights really fast, let us not forget the states right they wanted to keep was the one that allowed wealthy slave owners to sell their own children (after raping their slaves) to other rich land owners. Let’s face it, these were truly fucked up people.

[Zambero]

17. Trumpian level ignorance

So according to Haley, in so many words, the U.S. Civil War was fought over "states rights" inclusive of perpetuating slavery. Just think, if the gubmit had not "meddled" so much, we would still have inhumane indentured servitude with a minimum wage of $0.00.

[Oopsie Daisy]

19. No, she's not stupid. She's smart. She knows who her voters are and who she must "play-to" *

* in order to have a chance. This is less an indictment of her and more of an indictment that reveals much about the MAGA voters as well as the rank-and-file "everyday" Republican voter.

They are deplorable.

[brush]

65. And she is just as deplorable.

[Oopsie Daisy]

77. Agreed. Grifting her donors, making promises she can't keep, telling them what they want to hear *

* just so that she can get donation after donation. I'm sure it won't be long until she "writes" another book that will likely be printed-on-demand (printed once per individual order) otherwise the first edition printings will end up on the bargain table at Books-a-Million or in the dollar-table/remainders at the Dollar Tree.

[Nasruddin]

101. Smart no

This might work to get thru a primary in some difficult state.
It won't win you a single voter for the general election, tho, & will make sure you lose some (like maybe some conservative blacks).

She didn't need to smash her face into the wall - she should've had a dodge prepared. Too stupid to be president. She should pack it in and go home (likewise for that guy from FL).

[Javaman]

20. I've been saying this for a while now. she's a moron. nt

[twodogsbarking]

22. There is a entire museum dedicated to lynchings. Good grief.

[everyonematters]

24. She answered that question the way she had to in order to keep the base with her.

[dem4decades]

26. Crazy like a fox.

She knows what's she's doing.

[brush]

67. Yeah, running for second place. She's a woman and not white. Maga voters won't pull the lever for her.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

27. Someone should ask her this question...

"Then why did you, as Governor of South Carolina, order to take down the Confederate flag symbols after the Charleston shootings on State Government property if the Civil War was not about slavery or hatred of African-Americans?"

https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/22/politics/nikki-haley-confederate-flag-south-carolina-press-conference/index.html

“Today we are here in a moment of unity in our state without ill will to say it is time to remove the flag from our capitol grounds,” said Haley, a Republican and the state’s first non-white governor, while flanked by a diverse group of South Carolina politicians.

“This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state,” she said.

You are on the record Nimrod.

[gibraltar72]

28. It's like a Seinfeld bit.

[surfered]

33. She's trying not to lose the GOP base...

…which includes white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, and neo-Nazis.

[comradebillyboy]

42. She's very comfortable with all those folks.

[dembotoz]

49. thou shall not offend thy base

[Marthe48]

34. I guarantee if rwnj get power

Their slaves will be all colors, not just dark-skinned. If rwnj get power to force their agenda on Americans, they will seize real estate, other assets, and enslave people who can't fight back. rwnj in power will kill the minorities they hate. They will wipe out older people to prevent history from being passed along, so the enslaved population won't know there was something very different.

[DeeDeeNY]

35. The "moderate" pundits think she's great

They've been talking her up as a good alternative to Trump.

[Traildogbob]

36. Those pundits

Are paid for by the Koch’s. They want Trump gone and are all in for her puppetry without the complete bat shit. They know they went too far with Trump and he will fuck them when he is king and the country free falls into hell. Nobody could buy from all their businesses.

[Freethinker65]

39. She needs to win the GOP primary. Many of those voters are ignorant racists

Problem for Nikki is being able pivot from batshit crazy positions she needs to take now for their primary votes.

[comradebillyboy]

40. She's not stupid, she just lacks integrity.

She's not stupid, she's dishonest.

She's not stupid, she's a liar.

[tazkcmo]

41. I didn't need to read the OP

Yes.

[Lonestarblue]

44. Haley goes on to say that government shouldn't interfere in our lives.

“Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom,” she said”

I hope some reporter asks her why, if government doesn’t need to tell you how yo live your life, the GOP has passed law after law telling only women how to live their lives by forcing them to have an unwanted child and denying them the freedom she describes to live their lives without government interference.

[yardwork]

46. This is a standard belief in South Carolina.

SC seceded from the Union because of "government interference" not in their right to own slaves, which the federal government was not questioning, but in their right to extend slavery to the new states in the west.

Haley's response was a defense of the right to own slaves. She's not ready for a national race.

[BumRushDaShow]

47. Saying "slavery" is "too woke".

And if forced to say it, then it becomes nonsense like "Well the slaves enslaved other slaves" or they could even do a fabricated convoluted manufacture of history that would assert that "slaves who bought their own freedom or those, including freed family members or sympathizers who bought the freedom of other slaves, were 'slave-owners', so there".

[AverageOldGuy]

48. She's actually quite smart and perceptive . . .

. . . but she knows her audience is ignorant, so she talks on their level.

[JustAnotherGen]

50. She knew EXACTLY

What she was saying. . . and why she said it the way she did.

[brush]

68. Rignt, if you call tap dancing, pandering and ass kissing intelligent.

Last edited Thu Dec 28, 2023, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

I call it craven.

[malthaussen]

51. "What do you want me to say about slavery?"

This suggests she has no opinion about slavery and will say whatever someone wants to hear.

As with slavery, then, presumably this applies to other things as well.

Stupid? Hard to say. Blatantly opportunistic? Certainly.

-- Mal

[RandomNumbers]

56. Pretty amazing that someone would need cues about what to say about slavery.

The only possible answer was that "slavery was awful, of course". But then, her initial answer really hobbled her. I mean seriously? "it was about freedom" lol, the freedom to own other people?

[Ford_Prefect]

52. IMO Nikki sees herself as one of the elite who are not subject to the rules of culture and truth. Thus she can break

those rules whenever it is expedient. For all I know she may even see it as a leader's "duty" to tell her people whatever gets the job done. Elitists think that way, it seems.

Nikki has heard the difference all her life I am sure. Her father was a professor of biology at Voorhees College, a historically black institution in Denmark, South Carolina.

No Nikki is not stupid, nor naïve, and knows exactly the significance of her distortion. She is attempting to gather Trump's followers in the most efficient way by telling them what they most want to hear.

[spanone]

53. NO, she's that fearful of her racist constituents.

[niyad]

54. Yes. Next question.

[hildegaard28]

55. Yeah it was about

The government and rights. Specifically, it was about the government not wanting to allow the right for some people to own other people.

[Upthevibe]

57. DeeDeeNY........

She's despicable

IMHO, there's an upside to this. Anyone who was fooled by her seemingly mild demeanor will now have NO doubt that she's horrific.

I believe there may be some Independents who will now have a realization of who she really is and maybe vote for President Biden. This was a bridge too far.....

[Voltaire2]

58. The Civil War was about state's rights is part of the fascist creed.

They are all performing the required loyalty acts.

[wiggs]

66. Like many gop leaders, she's fine with the racism, homophobia, misogyny in her party and will campaign and

govern in that context. So who will make her and her colleagues pay for that politically? Will media outlets replay that video 24/7? Will sunday shows focus on that for hours? Will dem leaders talk about it at every opportunity?

Or is it already gone from public discussion? Or, if not eliminated as a subject, will the media make sure they balance their topics with discussions about Biden's age, Biden's current polling, Hunter, or a recap of racist dem ancient history in the south?

[Ocelot II]

69. She's not stupid; she knows her intended audience,

and she knows that if she speaks the truth and agrees that the cause of the Civil War was the southern states' insistence that their citizens had the right to own other human beings, she'd be in hot water with the MAGAts whose votes she's hoping to lure away from TFG.

[rurallib]

75. Yes she is this stupid

I tried but failed to find an interview that was played last week in Iowa by the public radio. There were several parts where I looked at Mrs. Lib and said "This woman is just plain stupid."

Mrs. Lib said Haley reminded her of Palin.

[Bettie]

79. I suppose it's technically true

if the "freedom" she's talking about is the freedom to own people as property.

Weasel words from the party of weasels.

[jcgoldie]

85. you have to say a lot of stupid shit to avoid pissing off the magas

If she says anything about slavery they will accuse her of being woke.

[gulliver]

88. Nope. Slavery is obviously a sore spot with Southerners

Haley bringing up "slavery" when she needs white Southerners to vote for her in the primary would have been a huge mistake. It's similar to bringing up Nazism in a townhall in Germany. No one alive in the audience did anything wrong, but they'll feel they're being "guilted" about something their ancestors did.

There is no end to historical references that can be used to, in effect, "rub people's noses in something their ancestors did." Haley didn't take the bait and very cleverly included the word "slavery" in a rhetorical question back to the questioner.

Sure, it caused an explosion in the media. I'll bet that doesn't bother her a bit. I'll bet she beats Trump in NH now.

I'm very impressed with Haley, and I'm on edge. If she is the Republican nominee, she has a very good chance of defeating us. A win by her wouldn't kill the country, and it would help get us all back to sane town. If Trump is the nominee, there's a much lower chance he'll defeat us, but the impact would be catastrophic for the whole human race.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

89. In case you thought yesterday's avoidance was something new for her

Link to tweet

[INdemo]

91. I think all Republicans are that Stupid

[chowder66]

92. She's craven.

[Evolve Dammit]

93. no moral compass at all. Average MAGAT. No different.

[Martin Eden]

94. She doesn't want to alienate Repuke primary voters by speaking the truth

Most of the MAGA worldview is based on lies, so speaking the honest truth is heresy.

[JenniferJuniper]

95. It's not that she didn't mention slavery,

it's that she's clearly saying the government tried to trample slaveowners' rights.

Of course root causes of the war are more complicated than this, but I doubt she knows anything at all about American history.

[elleng]

96. She is not stupid,

she foolishly didn't have a rational response to the question; there are many available.

[ananda]

98. Is she a Republican?

Nuff said

[dlk]

99. She thinks her supporters are...

[Iggo]

102. Eh...let's say she's too dumb to be President. (n/t)

[Skittles]

103. she is pandering to the cult

for the same reason she cannot use her real name. Is she racist? I don't know......but she certainly PANDERS to racists and, well, that kind of makes her racist too, right? She is DISGUSTING.

[moondust]

104. Trying to push "small government"

(like Raygun) without driving away MAGA racists by mentioning slavery.

[Skittles]

105. but it's fine to get between a woman and her doctor

how is that "small government"

[moondust]

106. You'll have to ask her.

Really. Maybe plant a Democrat in the crowd to ask her.

[Joinfortmill]

107. No, she's that dishonorable.

[SunSeeker]

108. No, she's that craven.

She's so craven she'll lie about the Civil War to court the vote of racist Republicans.

[Warpy]

109. This is southern boilerplate that they've taught in their schools forever

all tied up with a pretty ribbon and a label that says "state's rights."

I wasn't too polite to point out that the only right those states were concerned about was the right of their rich men to own human beings and treat them worse than cattle. Teachers didn't contradct me.

[ificandream]

112. To answer the OP's question ...in one word: YES!