(CNN) - Jenny Sanford is re-affirming her support for Nikki Haley in the South Carolina governor's race, a day after the Indian-American candidate was called a "raghead" by a political foe.
"I have watched with revulsion the spectacle that is now surrounding the Governor's race," Sanford said in a statement Friday. "Our state is better than this."
Haley has also denied multiple claims of infidelity over the last two weeks, accusations she says are being pushed by rival campaigns.
"I can't help but think that these attacks are being leveled at Nikki Haley because of the courageous stands she has taken over the years in defense of taxpayers and government reform - stands that offend many of the most powerful interests in state government," said Sanford, who endorsed Haley last November. "I am more convinced than ever that Nikki Haley is the best person to be South Carolina's next Governor."
Haley, a state Representative from Lexington, is seen as Gov. Mark Sanford's ideological heir in the governor's race, but the scandal-tainted governor has cautiously stayed out of the race to succeed him.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, Rep. Gresham Barrett and Attorney General Henry McMaster are also seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination on June 8.
McMaster was endorsed Friday by former Gov. David Beasley.
From CNN Politics
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Actually, Ms. Sanford, your state really isn't better that this. This is what it has always done. Usually your fellow Republicans use smears like this against anyone who seems different for political purposes. Now you are just bringing the vile behavior inside your own tent. Hope you enjoy it!
Bobby Jindal is an Indian-American. Why don't Republicans call him a "raghead?" The Republicans got a lot to learn, a LOT.
No Mrs. Sanford, your state is EXACTLY like this!
Jenny, I like you; but, I think you have it backwards. YOU are better, far better, than your state. Come on out to California. You will be more than welcome and you'll actually find people here who walk around without their heads up their butts.
No, Ms Sanford, you state is not better than this. Your state is a collection of misfit rednecks. Your incestuous (sp) state is starting to come across as the illiterate fools that live there.
Nothing personal.
No Jenny you are wrong. Your state is not better than that. Just take a look around the SC political scene. From your husband's shameful behavior to Jim Demint's heavy handed meddling and support for questionable candidates to this latest example of blatant racism, South Carolina is a virtual cesspool of the worst poitics has to offer.
Ummm..No..Your state continually shows all of us that you aren't better than this.
Your state may be better than this, Jenny Sanford, but the Republican Party is not.
It was inevitable that the tactics of fear and smear that Republicans used on Democrats, that conservatives used on liberals would someday be turned on yourselves.
Now, today, if a candidate is "not Republican enough" or "not conservative enough" they get the same treatment once used on members of other parties.
The GOP is discovering, like Dr. Frankenstein, that they have created a monster of which they no longer have control.
Yes, Jenny, you are right, Any state that can elect someone like Senator Lindsey Graham is way better than than. I probably disagree with him on every major issue, but the man is class act and a true southern gentleman. You won't find him running around chanting "drill, baby, drill", accusing people of "paling around with terrorists", or characterizing moderates as socialists. That is the kind of person South Carolina needs in the Governor's Mansion. I hope that at least one of your candidates has at least half the integrity of Senator Graham.
Wow! South Carolina's Governor's race has become more fun than Linda McMahon's CT Senate campaign!
Racial slurs, allegations of sexual misconduct, Dick Cheney vs. Sarah Palin! You folks really know how to have a good dirty political fight! When all is said and done, will anyone be left standing to challenge whoever the Democratic party candidate is?
And to top it all off, the guy who made the Raghead comment now has a challenger for his seat!
This is more fun than the office pools in CT as to which mayor will end up in prison next! (We can't go more than a couple of years without one of them doing so through their own stupidity. And we don't differentiate – we send Democrats and Republicans up the river!)
The state is no better than the low life Party of No members who talk family values and then practice hypocracy!
Obviously your state isn't better than that Jenny.
This is a prime example of what is wrong with Republican politics in the south. It is close to the same in NC where GOP primaries are basically inquisitions where on the pure have any chance of escaping unscathed.
I encourage real American conservatives to examine the Modern Whig Party.
I would hope that we all act better than that. Unfortunately, there are those among us who dislike and hate those that are different. Stereotypes and hatred still abound here in the US. I would hope that we could all be enlightended and not hate.
What a surprise. Crackers.
Hey Jennie,
What makes you think your state is better than these racist, rude, corrupt and phillandering politicians? The people of your state continue to elect scum time and time again. In the words of one of your elected representatives: "YOU LIE"
I'm from Georgia; our state motto is "Thank Gawd We Ain't South Crolina."
South Carolina is a beautiful place but many of the people that live there are white trash bigots who would still like to see slavery as a way of life in this country. If this political foe can't come up with anything better than to make a racial slur, he/she is too ignorant to be speaking.
Evidently the above posters haven't heard of California...
Where has Jenny Sanford been hiding??? I was born in SC, still have family there and attended college there. That is EXACTLY what I expect out of a good number of the citizens of my home state.
What she should be saying is "What can I do to help the back-woods, racist masses that live here become better than this?"
The comment has NOTHING to do with politics and EVERYTHING to do with her being a minority and a woman seeking the highest job in a state where a large number of people, (mostly middle-aged, white males), probably don't see anything wrong with that comment.
That butthead just made the "raghead" a shoo-in!
GI Joe June 4th, 2010 2:56 pm ET
Uh, Jenny – it isn't. We've seen it for YEARS !!!!! The prejudice, hate, discrimination – the womanizing men and the women with round heels. This did NOT start in the 21st, or 20th century. It's in-bred into the very genes of the people with MONEY
-------------------
You really don't think only folk with with money act this way do you? If you do, please explain generational welfare!
"Your state" has a congressman that called the president of the United States a liar during a state of the union address. "Your state" is responsible for the civil war, the formation of the confederate states of America, who's basis of it's very existence is that blacks should be slaves. "Your state's" governor lied about a trip, which he made using "your state's" money to fly to South America and have an affair. "Your state" has long been the laughing stock of the rest of the nation. So now, you think your "better than this?" Please!
BTW, does SC still have liquor stores with red dots painted all over them because it's illegal to have a sign saying "Liquor Store?"
No it isn't. You are a bunch of inbreeding Southern White Fat (males are, anyway) bigots, who have had control of all SC citizens since the beginning of Statehood, and even before. You didn't change a thing after the Civil War. You didn't change a thing after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All the SC ruling class did was change political parties and continue as you have since the servitude days. This self indulgent behavior, self indulgence being the hallmark of those who have enslaved others to avoid physical work, both the two sexual episodes of Haley and the telling of it on the Internet by other foolish people, is nothing short of what I expected. You are a disgusting unreconstructed bunch of peckerwoods. This time if you wish to secede, you'll get no arguement from me. If you do, please leave the African Americans behind with us, as they appear to be the only decent, worthwhile group in SC.
I dont understand how Sanfords endorsment for Haley would influence anyone's vote in the first place. Didn't she vote for the B-hole thats in office now?