In a saner political climate, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address last night would have been taken for what it was: a reasonable, mercifully brief address that wisely gestured toward cool heads and the country’s growing immigrant population and indicated an evolving, welcoming national Republican Party.
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You can say, “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better”, as President Barack Obama shared in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
“During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices”, she said, an obvious reference to Trump.
Wednesday on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Hewitt asked Coulter if she really did want Donald Trump to deport Haley and the columnist said it was a joke. “But yes, Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk”. “I think we’re seeing it across the country”.
Earnest said the White House still won’t agree with Haley on all issues, but added “her willingness to stand up for some important principles was noted and it took courage, and for that she deserves credit”. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she’s right. The first thinks that we have overcome our problems with race and that the United States is a shining example of racial harmony (hey Ben Carson!) and the other thinks it’s our very obsession with race and political correctness that’s dooming us altogether.
Haley confirmed to NBC news the comments were referencing Donald Trump.
The GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union highlighted divisions within the party and “doubled down” on a rejection of the angry conservatism espoused by the front-runners. But Carly Fiorina said the speech hit the “wrong note”, and Trump himself pretty much would have fired Haley if possible. “So it’s sort of interesting to hear her”.
The reviews were more mixed among other Republican presidential candidates.
HH: That…and she also said today she is against illegal immigration.
In the SOTU address, Obama also seemed to climb on the anti-Trump bandwagon, at one point saying that “We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion”.
Haley was among the dozens of Republican governors in November who requested the Obama administration not resettle Syrian refugees in their states, citing concerns over the vetting process in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
“The one that got me is when he said, ‘Ban all Muslims”, she said.
She’s big on amnesty but very weak on illegal immigration.
Kimberly Ross, a contributor at RedState, called on her fellow conservatives to rally behind Haley.
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Across the aisle, the SC delegation’s only Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, said he was impressed. But the front-runner so far, Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the US illegally. “I’m angry because our country is a mess”.
