SC Dem chair resigns after "send Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from" remark

[alp227]

Dick Harpootlian, the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, resigned on Saturday. As Politico reports:

South Carolina Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian, imploring party activists Friday night to defeat this state’s Indian-American governor, predicted next year’s Democratic standard-bearer would “send Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from.”

Haley was raised in South Carolina and attended college here, but her parents were Sikh immigrants.

Harpootlian, a longtime Democratic figure who has a history of using harsh rhetoric, made the comments at the party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner just moments before Vice-President Joe Biden took the stage.

Asked what he meant by comment, Harpootlian wrote in an email: “Lexington County.”

Before being elected governor in 2010, Haley lived in the suburban Columbia county and represented the area in the state House.

As to whether he thought the comment could be seen as touching on her race and parents’ immigrant status, Harpootlian responded: “No, she was born in Bamberg (South Carolina) and lived in Lexington. Anybody implying anything different is attempting to feign insult.”

The article by Jonathan Martin concludes:

As was long planned, Harpootlian stepped down from his post Saturday. He was replaced by Jaime Harrison, who became the first African-American party chair in a state with an ugly racial past.

Never mind this statement was pointedly about an election, even with the awkward phrasing, once again the Politico.com comments section is full of the typical right wing drivel response that the media expected. Ugh. I've heard this "go back to where you came from" comment from birther types directed at Obama. Harpootlian probably knows that too. Why'd he use that language then?

[tblue]

1. I agree. A poor choice of words.

An apology can never hurt in a situation like this, but I wouldn't even say he has to make one. My mom is from Asia and if someone made that comment about me, I wouldn't think he wanted to send me to Japan. Um...I'm not from Japan. I feel sorry for anyone who makes a non-PC statement by accident when they really would never ever do it on purpose. He should not have to lose his job. Good grief.

[gejohnston]

2. have to disagree

I would demand him to resign. Maybe I'm just being priggish, but that sort of thinking and language shouldn't be acceptable from our side any more than we would tolerate it from some right winger.

[arely staircase]

3. seems relatively mild given what they say about us

I believe Rush Limbaugh spent the day tying the President of the United States to recent high profile kidnappings, but one should conduct themselves based upon real morals and not those relative to one's enemies. So bravo.