What a douche..

[R13]

(CNN) - A longtime South Carolina state Senator with a reputation for blunt language used the term ?raghead? to describe Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and President Obama during an appearance on a political talk show Thursday.

Haley is of Indian-American descent.

State Sen. Jake Knotts, who backs Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in the four-way Republican primary battle, made the remark during an interview on ?Pub Politics,? a popular online political talk show in Columbia.

?We already got one raghead in the White House, we don?t need a raghead in the governor?s mansion,? Knotts said, according to multiple people present for the broadcast.

Knotts made the comment after discussing Haley?s Sikh background, said Phil Bailey, one of the show?s hosts and the communications director for the South Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus.

Haley was raised in a Sikh family but is now a practicing Methodist.

Bailey told CNN that Knotts unexpectedly showed up at the webcast and was invited to sit down with the hosts and their panel, which featured two state representatives.

The show?s other host is Wesley Donehue, a Republican operative whose name surfaced in text messages posted online by conservative blogger Will Folks, who alleged last week that he had an affair with Haley. In the text messages, Folks accuses Donehue of shopping rumors about the alleged relationship, which Haley has denied.

Rep. Boyd Brown, a Democrat, was one of the show?s guests Thursday. He said he was ?taken back and appalled? by Knotts? remark.

?He said some things he shouldn?t have said. That?s Jakey,? Brown told CNN. ?If I could have crawled under the table I would have.?

Haley campaign manager Tim Pearson blasted Knotts, saying he "represents all that is wrong with South Carolina politics.?

?He?s an embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party,? Pearson said. ?South Carolina is so much better than this, and the people of our state will make that quite clear next Tuesday.?

South Carolina Republican Party chairwoman Karen Floyd called on Knotts to apologize.

?The South Carolina Republican Party strongly condemns any use of racial or religious slurs,? Floyd said in a statement to CNN. ?Senator Knotts should apologize for his inappropriate comments, so that we can put this unfortunate incident behind us and focus on issues important to moving our state forward.?

Repeated attempts to reach Knotts for comment were not successful.

Along with Haley and Bauer, Attorney General Henry McMaster and Rep. Gresham Barrett are also seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The primary is June 8.

CORRECTION: The initial version of this story said the video of Knotts' remark was pulled from Ustream after the broadcast. Donehue told CNN the video was not removed from the web, and will be posted online Friday.


CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - TRENDING: Nikki Haley called ‘raghead’ by political opponent - Blogs from CNN.com

[Milk3]

Shut up. If this would have been a dem. saying something like this you'd be making excuses for him. You're so annoying.

[R13]

Thought you learned your lesson coming in here, oh well. You do realize that he called a fellow replublican this and I was defending her. Also, using your example, it'd be extremely unlikely for a dem to refer to anyone as a raghead..esp the leader of their own party too, but with anyone.Lmao you do it again. Liberals aren't intolerant generally(definitely nowhere near as bad as conservatives) esp. with something like this.

[centennialdawg]

Just out of curiosity, r13, but is the picture of the fallen soldier's coffin an expression of you gratitude or something else entirely?

[R13]

Just out of curiosity, r13, but is the picture of the fallen soldier's coffin an expression of you gratitude or something else entirely?

That's what it symbolizes pretty much, esp. since you have the top guy in the back saluting the caskets at 2 in the morning.

[1inStripes]

I meant to ask you about that the other day. Kudos to him on doing that. It should be done as much as possible IMO. The lighting makes it look a little PS'd though.