Our tipline has been buzzing off the hook with the news Monday morning that a conservative blogger named Will Folks is claiming he had an affair with Indian American gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. Haley had a 30% lead in recent Republican primary polls and has been endorsed by Governor Mark Sanford’s ex-wife Jenny, the conservative blogosphere, and most recently, Sarah Palin. Here is what Folks claims:
In fact, on a very personal level I have become the primary target of a group that will apparently stop at nothing to destroy the one S.C. gubernatorial candidate who, in my opinion, would most consistently advance the ideals I believe in. For those of you unfamiliar with the editorial bent of this website, the candidate I am referring to is S.C. Rep. Nikki Haley.
…within the last forty-eight hours several pieces of information which purportedly document a prior physical relationship between myself and Rep. Haley have begun to be leaked slowly, piece by piece, to members of the mainstream media. I am told that at least one story based upon this information will be published this week. Watching all of this unfold, I have become convinced that the gradual release of this information is deliberately designed to advance this story in the press while simultaneously forcing either evasive answers or denials on my part or on Nikki’s part.
I refuse to play that game. I refuse to have someone hold the political equivalent of a switch-blade in front of my face and just sit there and watch as they cut me to pieces.
The truth in this case is what it is. Several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki.
That’s it. [Link]
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p>Nikki Haley flatly denies any of this is true:
News 4’s Mandy Gaither asked Haley if Will Folks said anything to her before the allegations came out on his blog.
“No,” said Haley.
“So, you had no idea? You were blind-sided?” said Gaither.
“I mean, look. This is what I will tell you. It is absolutely not true. My husband and I have been married for 13 years. We’ve been faithful to each other,” said Haley. “I will not stop pushing for good government no matter what they throw at me two weeks prior to the election.” [Link]
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p>The thing about a situation like this that we know to be true? At least one of the two is lying.
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p>It would be a great advantage to her opponents if she was bloodied by this so close to the election. And it is true that you can’t really ever trust what is real and what is illusion when political operatives and un-named sources are involved:
[A] source tells Free Times that on June 26, 2009, Folks called him, near tears, admitting that he’d had an affair with Haley and urging him not to tell members of the media about it.
Furthermore, the source — who is not affiliated with any South Carolina gubernatorial campaign — says former Haley staffer B.J. Boling told him Haley had confided in him about the affair around the time Boling was working on her House reelection campaign in 2008.
Boling, who is working on the GOP gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, said he didn’t want to comment about the allegations to Free Times.
“You know, it’s not something I want to talk about,” Boling said. [Link]
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p>The more compelling story here isn’t the search for the truth, that will most assuredly come out eventually. The more compelling story is that this flips the script on what we have come to “expect” (and yes, we have become that cynical) of scandals involving public figures. Typically, the center of an affair involving a media feeding frenzy is a privileged male and at least one “hot woman.” Think Mark Sanford, Tiger Woods, Jesse James. All of these were powerful men and seeing them humbled involved our scorn, but with a side of wink and nod. Mark, in love with his latin soulmate. Tiger, in love with any blonde with breasts. Jesse, in love with tattoos. But an attractive minority woman endorsed by Palin? This could become a whole different and ugly kind of Schadenfreude if true. The other difference is the alleged lover. Compare Rachel Uchitel (one of Tiger’s many mistresses) to Will Folks. Hot and Not. You may think it doesn’t matter in the way the public should react to an affair, but it does. See Red State’s (one of the biggest conservative blogs) take:
This violates the very basic laws of nature: hot women do not have affairs with ugly guys unless those guys are rich. The self-admitted adulterer is decidedly not rich, but decidedly wants to reinsert himself into the process as a player. [Link]
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p>And another website:
Only one word for that: Eeeeewww. In his dreams, maybe. [Link]
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p>I hope this affair is not true. I don’t feel that way because she is Indian American. I certainly don’t feel that way because she is Republican. I just want to stop feeling as cynical as I do about politicians and their intricate webs. I also don’t want to see any righteous misogyny.
See previous post.
well, he’s a republican…so like juanita broderick, paula jones, and kathleen willey, there’s no real political motive to lie. could be a great feminist moment.
a high-tech sati
“inappropriate physical relationship” sounds interesting. dude is keeping us in suspense. he’s got game
I thought ugly guys could score if they’ve got “game.” Or maybe I’ve been reading too much Roissy. In Hong Kong it does look like Red State describes–it takes a lot of money to score the “conventionally attractive” women.
GOPers are twice as sanctimonious and half as authentic as the the population. Niki Haley is a GOPer and nothing else matters. She seems to be the country club version of Piyush Jindal in most respects, and very similar in most everything else such as
“Finding faith” and becoming a holy roller to get ahead in life (rather than languish like Swati Dandekar, Kumar Barve, Subodh Chandra, Satveer Chaoudhry and Ashwin Madia or come within a hair’s breadth like Raja Krishnamoorthy), and putting that god, guns and gays thing right up front
Serving the chamber of commerce crowd with fanatical zeal
Staying v. close to the political structure – Niky Haley’s campaign is simply a furtherance of the Mark Sanford regime. Just to be careful Mark is lying low, while his wife Jenny endorses Niky, while buckets of cash from his cash from Mark’s campaign have found their way into Niky’s
Niky’s politics lack even the veneer of responsibility that Piyush’s pompous pronouncements carry. S. Carolina is a playground for the rich where the working poor are pawns (not only for the US based kleptocrats but also for the European variety that has patronised the American South for > 50 years) and Sanford and Haley will ensure it stays that way.
@5
Yeah, we need governors like the Democrats produce… McGreevey & Spitzer.
Yeah, like Spitzer who had to resign for no crime, but for rolling in the hay in his calf-length socks. Forget the fact that he kept Wall St thugs in their place. As opposed to a corporate toady like Mark Sanford or a fundamentalist secessionist loon like Rick Perry who executes the innocent, or the incumbent governor of Virginia who wants to get back to them days, those antebellum glory days of Southern charm, plantations, and plenty of free unpaid help. No sir, who wouldn’t want GOPer governors?
Spitzer used state funds to fly to and from his “rolls in the hay”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/12/spitzer-prostitute-detail_n_91116.html
Seems he learned a bit more from those Wall St thugs than he should have…
But let me guess, he being a Democrat makes it all ok.
Using state funds to fly around? You mean like Sarah Palin, double dipping? No sir, which GOPer would do that? But I guess it is OK if you are a GOPer to call for secession or atleast an antebellum dispensation.
It’s so charming when cons eat their own. Really, it is.
I have a question.
Who cares about politicians’ sex-lives and why are such petty, puerile people permitted to pick politicians?
Is this a holdover from the Clinton years where we expect our statesmen to be saints?
jyostsana and bluedogs,
Did you guys think about career in television punditry. FOX news, MSNBC and the other cable news channels are always looking for experts. Start sharpening those edges and you have a beautiful future ahead of you. 🙂
Who cares about the personal lives of these idiots.Let the wives/husbands worry about their marriages. Let their priests worry about their souls. I am more worried about taxes, public works, oil spills etc.
If I lived in SC I would have written in Jenny Sanford for Governor. She conducted herself with class and dignity. Refused to appear next to her philandering husband. Now there is a true feminist.
What’s up with these self-laothing Republican desis who have traded their names, their religion, and their integrity for a political position like this. Piyush “Bobby” and Nimrata “Nikki” are traitors, are opportunistics, and have no true conviction, except that they desperately want to be leaders. This is the ONLY thing that they feel sincere about. Nimrata would have probably giggled at that ‘macaca guy’.
It’s not the sex here or even the hypocrisy. It seems more to be a case of a conflict of interest and blogger ethics, if there is a such a thing. (No offense to the fine SM bloggers.) Folks was a big supporter of Hawley. If there was a sexual relationship, how much of that colored favorable coverage of her on his blog, which as I understand is pretty influential and popular when it comes to SC politics?
I’m not buying the hot girl/unattractive rich guy arguments. If you pictures of her family, Hawley’s hubby doesn’t look too different from he blogger. Maybe sista girl has a type? Just sayin’.
Oh well, if the blogger is lying, Hawley should pursue a defamation case. Even under the stricter standards for public figures under Sullivan, it should be a pretty easy case.
Yeah because she is providing the Mark Sanford run Chamber of Commerce managed kleptocratic GOP machine a respectable front. To be sure sanctimony isn’t the only abhorrent thing about the GOP, it comes tons of other garbage such as crank economic and social policies, cavalier disregard for liberties, and a deep seated denial of learning and culture, and the rankest hypocrisy. Newt Gingrich is a perfect storm of GOP garbage, with the IQ of a peanut, as authentic as a mare’s nest and the honesty of a grave robber. What people do in their personal lives should be no concern of their constituents, and should never matter for GOPer loyalists whose icons are Limbaugh and Gingrich.
If divorce-remarriage is legal then how can extra-marital relations be objectionable. How do you think a divorce happens before remarriage without an extra-marital fling? Are we so naive as to imagine that it is coochie cooing, and pious hand holding before (or between) marriages and straight on to the altar? There’s no romping and rolling at all? What kind of pious prudes and frauds are we?
Boston,
It looks like for some time, at least for another 10 years, it will be v.difficult for Hindu-Americans to make it to anything beyond state level office. I saw Subodh Chandra’s primary campaign for Ohio AG up close, and despite vigorous backing from the Cleveland Dems – Kucinich, Tubbs Jones, Lee Fisher and Sharad Brown (and his gracious journalist wife Connie Schulz) the Ohio Dems saw to it that Mark Dann (a punk of a candidate) won the primary. Mark Dann went on to transform the Ohio AG’s office into a cocktail lounge and resigned in disgrace. Sharad Brown is now pushing the candidacy of Jay Goyal in Mansfield, who is currently representing the Ohio House district that Sharad began his political career in. There are a few Hindu-Americans who work with the GOPers and they fall into two categories – “I am for the War on Terror”; or Corporate Shills. I have tried working with GOPers and the corporate types are the easiest to get along with as their patronage comes without the condescension Dems (especially the Libs) love to dish out with the laundry list (nuke disarmament etc) But unfortunately as Bill Maher puts it in the last 30 years while the Dems have moved right, the GOPers have moved to the mental asylum, so supping with the GOPers means buying into the entire package. The utter lack of conscience of the GOPer corporates is frightening, as I learned from my GOPer neighbor’s reaction to the slaughter mining Massey disaster in W. Va. You can only hold your nose that long.
As for Piyush he has shamefully remained silent even when called out by Subodh Chandra twice – first during MacacaGate, and second during the recent fracas over Franklin Graham’s abhorrent references to Hindus after his disinvite from the Pentagon. How can Piyush say anything when he believes (and has said and written as much) that in leaving Hinduism he has been saved from the clutches of the devil? Forget for a moment the Va. H-Am GOPer supporters who shared the stage with George Allen and compared him to Shri Krishna dismissing the Macaca incident as inconsequential!
In the meanwhile here’s a diss from Nikki Haley for all desis (not just Hindus but everyone, because our heritage teaches us to respect all traditions, even if we follow it imperfectly). My aunt who has kept a JC icon on her dresser for as long as I can remember and reads out the Vishnu Sahasranamam every morning would be shocked to know that you must become a Christian to admire JC. And so would Swami Abhishitananda life long Catholic and Vedantist and one time disciple of Ramana.
It’s out of line to call Republican desis “traitors”; that’s a nasty line of thought that we shouldn’t follow. As far as I can tell, Jindal and Haley both really do believe in their incompetent policies and dead-end ideologies. It’s enough to leave it at that and not attack who they are.
(I wouldn’t to read too much into the anglo-nickname thing. Several of my Indian friends had an english-sounding nickname just as a matter of course. It seemed like half of all Indian kids were called “Bobby” when I was growing up.)
boston_mahesh,
Why are you so sure that they are self-loathing?
May be they were genuinely moved by the teachings of the other religion ? may be it was peer pressure ?
What makes them traitors ?
We know very little about their early lives. Why question their integrity ?
What about a guy who was once a believing Hindu but is now an agnostic or an atheist ? Is he a traitor too ?
Why should we care what religion he follows ?
You should be able to disagree with their political philosophy without questioning their integrity and their religious beliefs ?
@ Nara
Heh… I always wanted to get a job on tv. Spitzer is apparently looking to replace Campbell Brown on CNN. Anyway, Democrats are pretty good about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. So we’ll see how this all plays out at the polls in 2010 and ’12.
What the fuck are you on about, jyotsana? There’s no “diss” in someone finding a new faith, unless you’ve got a chip on your soldier about being a “Hindu-American” (and the hell? that’s not even an ethnicity). Straighten yourself out.
There, that’s the problem with Lib Dems condescension, dismissal, and worse. DevP; This is not a discussion on Hindu identity so I won’t discuss that. I will school you another time when the topic comes up.
I am a Hindu, but a lot of my folks thought I was an atheist because I decided (with my mum and sister) to make a clean break with tradition and not perform any post death samskars for my dad. When I started going Ayyappa beard, celibacy, vegetarian for 48 days every year (no kudi, kutti, kari, Tamizh guys would understand what I mean) a few years back, family that thought I was atheist were alarmed! Atheist, agnostic doesn’t mean anything to a Hindu. You can be atheist and Hindu at the same time.
And no Piyush and Namrata are not traitors, they are decent family folk and they are deluded opportunists, helping perpetuate an odious ideology – GOPerism.
Nikki’s children are named Rena (which I think is pronounced Reena) and Nalin, FYI. The ‘fit in argument’ would have naming her kids lorelai or some such nonsense. Jyotsana, what’s with your habit of referring to Jindal as Piyush and Haley as Namrata? They are not school children.
It’s not about the sex, it’s about the lying. And it’s about the sex.
jyotsana, are you a guy?
Let’s get off questioning the authenticity of these conversion experiences, you”ll only succeed in alienating Indian-Christians with terms like “traitor”. I know of people who have converted and it was not out of economic or political expediency. The reason Jindal and Haley look so conspicuous is that most educated people of any faith these days leave their birth tradition in favor of “no faith” (e.g. agnosticism/atheism/pantheism). Most of my liberal practicing Christian friends find anyone who wears their religion on their sleaves while in public office to be a scoundrel. Even Bush Sr. found Dubya’s variant of Christianity disturbing.
Though no fan of Haley I find this story unbelievable. Somehow I think the ladies have no trouble behaving themselves around this master of the blogosphere.
I too feel like ignoring these things but when my Assembly of God friend (also from India) and my Baptist twice a week at church friend here in the US tell me that they find these tales phoney, I can’t help taking notice. We aren’t talking about what Piyush or Nikky would do if they stumbled upon my bank login creds (not that I am a millionaire) It is about the buying in to that odious thing called GOPerism with its various flavours of millenarianism/dominionism etc.
NYX, that’s right.
Coming back to the politics of this, is Rove anyway involved ? From some reliable sources, there was no major news org. actually trying to out this story. But this blogger guy decided to come out with it. Maybe someone “paid” him .
If GOP (I considered myself a Republican until Bush and then Palin and her tea party ruined it for me) wants to know how did they got here, they will see Rove’s foot prints all over this descent. winning in the short term at any cost was the mantra. Remember the campaign against McCain and his Bangladeshi born daughter in SC. if not Rove himself,may be someone who learnt well from the master is involved.
Hmmm. Conspiratorial but not outlandish given Rove’s history in SC. Rove learned from Lee Atwater. So maybe his ghost rises again?
well, everyone agrees hypocrisy is newsworthy. we may disagree whether or not raping hamsters is wrong, but if you rape a hamster while condemning hamster rapists, you’re definitely wrong. thats why anti-gay gay politicians should be outed. spritzer probably would’ve survived if he didn’t prosecute prostitute users. clinton was vulnerable b/c after clarence Thomas its unclear why the state shouldn’t look into allegations of sexual harassment in the work place.
the only guy who appears to have gotten a raw deal is john edwards, but i guess there’s an extreme asshat exception to these rules. where nikki fits in this whole scheme i haven’t the slightest, but we should note the best position in this framework is to have as little morals as possible.
Yeah, and if Spitzer hadn’t gone after Wall St as well, because he should have known that Wall St embezzlers snort, mainline and romp with abandon. Yeah, and Clinton? We didn’t know about Newt Gingrich yet! To be fair Manju, Bill Clinton’s problem was different, it was mutual. Unlike in the case of Scalia’s go-between Clarence Thomas. There’s another Supreme Court Justice, the great – I’d say the greatest ever – Thurgood Marshall – who was never the model of chastity or sobriety. The GOPers hid their punk Newt and decided to go after Bill Clinton. Just as the Dems decided to go after a monumental mediocrity like Clarence Thomas who was so bad that he couldn’t even keep his hands to himself.
Paula Jones, Kathleen Wiley, and Juanita Broderick all alleged force. Jones, the most salient figure regarding the impeachment, was also most similar to Hill, in that the force used was the harasser’s power differential relative to the victim, not literal groping as wiley alledged or rape as broderick did.
u argue by assertion a lot. whats your evidence? i thought the nytimes bought down spritzer. strangely, Patterson is still standing.
I don’t understand why you have to keep bringing in Wall St or the GOP everytime it is pointed out that a Democratic politician acted inappropriately – just because one side is wrong does not let the other side off the hook, esp. when they are a government official breaking the law. My biggest issue with the Clinton scandal was that he lied under oath, and in Spitzer’s case, his narcissism was out in full force and reflected, to some extent, his belief that he, personally, was exempt from following the law (and that he did this while simultaneously prosecuting a prostitution ring is absurd). It’s not about the morality of extramarital affairs, but about the fact that our high-level lawmakers don’t follow the law. If our elected officials cannot be held to following the law, they have no business being in office. And while this doesn’t put Wall St in the best light, they didn’t take up any oaths to uphold the law, so that comparison of yours is like apples v. oranges.
tell me about it
Manju,
You seem to have never taken any class beyond Coulter on Clinton 101
u argue by assertion a lot. whats your evidence Dey some powerful words! Wow! Make a trip to Wall St and try telling people at large that Wall St embezzlers don’t do all that and are pious lambs!
jesus guys get a room
i am totally shipping manjsana <3 <3 <3
@ak, I was a republican who voted for McCain but even I don’t buy this.
Another chance for many here to bash Jindal and Haley for the crime of not being brown enough. I wonder if alot of the hate towards them is jealousy.
Funny if some white american converts to sikhism or hinduism, they are seen as being very open minded.
My problem is not that these individuals have converted, changed their names, adopted a folksy accent, etc. That’s their prerogative, and it’s possible that at least with the conversion to Christianity, they really felt drawn to it.
I have a problem with the fact that it would be impossible for these same individuals with the same conservative ideals to have been elected as Republicans if they had kept their ethnic names and religions. The fact that this is the game, and they’re willing to play it, makes me ill.
manju – hysterical! i didn’t read that post when it first came out, so missed your comment. but, it actually goes to show that his ego seems to have come down a bit if he can laugh at your jokes
So. . . since your judgement is clearly questionable does that mean I’m supposed to give it another look?
@ Nara – I’m not following – why don’t you buy this?
Well, it’s not just Republicans, is it? The 2008 presidential election came with a message that to be elected a a president in this country, it seems that Christianity is a pre-requisite. Obama kept his name, but was so vociferous in denying any individual connection with Islam. I understand that this was the game that had to be played, but in trying to disassociate himself from Islam, there was a subtle (or not so subtle?) message that it’s not OK to be Muslim (or whatever religion) if you’re aiming to be president. Colin Powell may have said it late, but he def. had the attitude I would much rather have seen from a political candidate.
@ak–
You’re right that the general election and several other instances made it clear that Christians have the upper hand in running for a major public office. However, Democrats seem to be more open to the idea that non-Christians can hold major office (see Keith Ellison, who swore in on the Quran amidst conservative backlash–there are sure to be more examples like this in the future).
I believe that it would be nearly impossible for these examples to exist in the Republican party– Christianity is pretty much a requisite for any serious candidate for a major Republican position, and I don’t see that changing.
My problem is not that these individuals have converted, changed their names, adopted a folksy accent, etc. That’s their prerogative, and it’s possible that at least with the conversion to Christianity, they really felt drawn to it.
Last time I checked Jindal changed his religon in high school, a long time before he thought he would run for governor and Haley did through her marriage, before she was planning a run for governor. Also both were born and raised in the south which may have something to do with there accent. As for there name change, americans of all backgrounds have including many white ethnic-americans have done that.
But if you want to see desi who keep there background so much, just come to Surrey, BC or Brampton, Ontario and you will see desi’s in office who are brown as anybody. But most of them only get elected cause of the huge brown community in the area and in many of these areas all the party runs desi’s canidates. And when in office they don’t really do a damn thing.
since when were united methodists holy rollers? i checked out nikki’s church’s website out of curiosity after she became more public with her methodism, and it’s pretty milquetoast. i’m not too interested in psychoanalyzing someone’s conversion at this point (it can be fun, and i tend to lean toward the view that there’s a lot of calculation involved, but then you know what i think of religion generally), especially a politician, but let’s get the nature of their religion correct. holy roller connotes a certain type of charismatic sectarian christianity, and united methodism is not that (though forms of methodism arguably did start that tendency in american protestantism). bobby jindal has come out giving the nod to intelligent design and other views which are marginal for someone of his educational background. i’ll be interested to see if nikki haley has gone in that direction, though from what i can see she’s mostly focusing on economic issues and staying generic conservative on social ones (check the boxes, but don’t talk too much about them).
i assume we’ll see a member of a non-abrahamic religion win statewide office in this decade. though i would bet it would be in oregon or vermont, not any red state. (a muslim probably will come after a hindu or a buddhist).
also, south carolina republican politics is notorious for dirty tricks. from where SM readers stand nikki haley may be a “sell out” to the white christian establishment, but in south carolina she’s most definitely not a “good old boy.”
My problem is not that these individuals have converted, changed their names, adopted a folksy accent, etc.
do we know the accent is affected? i’ve heard it is with bobby jindal. but what about nikki? i’m prejudiced against southerners enough to find it weird that any brown person would speak with this accent, but i understand why politicians must. but aziz ansari has a south carolina accent. is it part of his schtick? my impression is that that’s the accent he picked up in small town south carolina.
really we need detailed dossiers on the backgrounds of indian american politicans and how they’ve changed their identity. so we can discriminate fact from fiction as they analyze their motives, ends and psychological hang-ups 🙂
I think he had to play it this way because he was trying to pull in moderates and independents who probably leaned right and would have voted republican if they had not been scared of by right wing extremists. I think when you’re dealing with a Democrat primary for a more minor position (house of rep., for instance), you’d be more likely to see religious and ethnic tolerance (gasp, even acceptance!). I’m just pretty convinced that a Piyush or a Nimrata wouldn’t be accepted by Republicans.
I should be clear that I am aware that both Bobby and Nikki were born and brought up in the South, and I’m sure their accents are real, but I’m also sure that Bobby folkses it up during public appearances, cynics would say to counteract his darker hue. Not sure that I should have included the accent and a critique against these individuals– they have enough other fodder for me to work with.
As I grew up I’ve lived in just about every region of this country and, as a result, tend to slightly modify my accent depending on my mood and my audience. It’s mostly involuntary and I’m only half-conscious of it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if other people had similarly variable cadences.
And frankly, the Patrician Southern Accent is a pretty good one for addressing large groups of people. You can seem at once down to earth while also being able to use florid language and advanced vocabulary without it sounding pretentious.
And frankly, the Patrician Southern Accent is a pretty good one for addressing large groups of people
which politicians use that anymore?
Very few people in general use it anymore. The class of folks who spoke with it have mostly been assimilated into the General American newscaster accent.