06-15-2010, 05:35 AM
A WOMAN STOOD outside a polling place last Tuesday holding a Nikki Haley sign. A man who was driving away rolled down his window to shout at her, "I hope your children worship cows!" That confused the lady with the sign. The man was a good way down the road before she decided it was meant as a slur on Hinduism. Nikki Haley, by the way, is not a Hindu.
At another point during the House District 87 runoff against incumbent Rep. Larry Koon, Haley campaign manager B.J. Boling received the following e-mail: "Please remember that she is a Buddhist. One of my friends . . . verified this for me. I can only vote for a Christian, Larry Koon is a deacon and a wonderful Christrian man an does a lot for bring money into Lexington County. Please send this to your friends."
Nikki Haley isn't a Buddhist, either.
A half-page ad in the June 17 edition of the Lexington County Chronicle proclaimed that "there is only one REAL Republican in the run-off," citing as evidence the fact that Mr. Koon had voted in every Republican primary in recent years, whereas "Nimrata N. Randhawa" once voted in a Democratic primary. Below that was an asterisk with the insinuating footnote, "As the opponent's name appears on the voter registration files. A different name appears on the ballot." (Implication: She ain't from around here, and she's trying to hide it.)
Nikki Haley uses a different name now because she's married, and her husband's name is Haley. She voted in a Democratic primary in 1996 when she was living in Orangeburg County, and there was no Republican primary for the state Senate seat vacated by the death of Marshall Williams.
And her religion? Well, as her campaign brochure says, "Nikki was proudly raised with her Indian traditions and her husband, Michael, was brought up in the Methodist faith." She was raised as a Sikh, but was encouraged to visit other churches. She was taught that "There can't be enough God in your life." She was married in the Methodist Church. Her children are baptized Methodists. She and the kids attend both a Methodist church and the local Sikh temple.
"I believe in one God," she explains. "I believe in Jesus. I'm pro-life. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman
At another point during the House District 87 runoff against incumbent Rep. Larry Koon, Haley campaign manager B.J. Boling received the following e-mail: "Please remember that she is a Buddhist. One of my friends . . . verified this for me. I can only vote for a Christian, Larry Koon is a deacon and a wonderful Christrian man an does a lot for bring money into Lexington County. Please send this to your friends."
Nikki Haley isn't a Buddhist, either.
A half-page ad in the June 17 edition of the Lexington County Chronicle proclaimed that "there is only one REAL Republican in the run-off," citing as evidence the fact that Mr. Koon had voted in every Republican primary in recent years, whereas "Nimrata N. Randhawa" once voted in a Democratic primary. Below that was an asterisk with the insinuating footnote, "As the opponent's name appears on the voter registration files. A different name appears on the ballot." (Implication: She ain't from around here, and she's trying to hide it.)
Nikki Haley uses a different name now because she's married, and her husband's name is Haley. She voted in a Democratic primary in 1996 when she was living in Orangeburg County, and there was no Republican primary for the state Senate seat vacated by the death of Marshall Williams.
And her religion? Well, as her campaign brochure says, "Nikki was proudly raised with her Indian traditions and her husband, Michael, was brought up in the Methodist faith." She was raised as a Sikh, but was encouraged to visit other churches. She was taught that "There can't be enough God in your life." She was married in the Methodist Church. Her children are baptized Methodists. She and the kids attend both a Methodist church and the local Sikh temple.
"I believe in one God," she explains. "I believe in Jesus. I'm pro-life. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman