Clyburn: 'Elephant dung' all over S.C. Dem primaries
"I saw the patterns in this,' House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said Sunday of his state's recent Democratic primaries. (Photo Credit: CNN)
(CNN) – A leading South Carolina Democrat charged Sunday that his state’s recent Democratic primaries had been tainted. And House Majority Whip James Clyburn used some very colorful language to do so.
In addition to the fact that Alvin Greene, an unemployed veteran with no apparent campaign apparatus, won Tuesday’s race for the South Carolina’s Democratic Senate nomination, Clyburn also told CNN of a suspicious element in his own primary race - a consultant with Republican ties worked for Clyburn’s unsuccessful challenger.
Watch: Clyburn speaks out on recent S.C. Dem primaries
“I saw the patterns in this,” Clyburn said on CNN’s State of the Union. “I know a Democratic pattern. I know a Republican pattern and I saw in the Democratic primary elephant dung all over the place. And so I knew something was wrong in that primary. And this result tells us that.”
Clyburn also told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley that he did not see himself supporting Greene in his effort to unseat popular conservative lawmaker Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina. And Clyburn reiterated his theory that Greene’s candidacy was orchestrated to disrupt the electoral process in South Carolina. “Of course, Candy, I never said [Greene] was a Republican plant,” explained Clyburn. “I said he was someone’s plant.”
Related: Clyburn calls for an investigation into Greene's bid
Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon in an interview that aired Saturday night, Greene denied that he had been planted in the race by the Republican Party.
(Video of Lemon's interview with Greene embedded after the jump)
“No, I’ve always been a Democrat,” Greene told Lemon. “And I am the best candidate for United States Senate in South Carolina.”
Greene, who is jobless and living with his father, said he used his personal savings to pay the roughly $10,000 filing fee required to initiate his Senate bid. And Greene had “no comment” about criminal charges pending against him, repeatedly telling Lemon that his lawyer “was dealing with that.”
Greene also called two South Carolina lawmakers who have questioned his mental health “knuckleheads.”
The chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party called on Greene to withdraw from the race soon after the criminal charge against him was first reported, but Greene refused.
“The election was certified as 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time yesterday,” he told Lemon Saturday. "So, I’m on the ballot from here on out. I’m in all the way and I’m the best candidate for United States Senate in this race in South Carolina.”
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Here we go. Gore, Florida and Y2K all over again.
Democrats are opposed to their own candidate? They are just angry because they didn't control who it would be! Funnier than hell.
The right=wing Supreme Court gave Bush the Presidency when Gore won the popular vote and the GOP cheated in Florida and Ohio to give him another term, so I don't put anything past these Greedy Corporate shills.
Easy enough to explain, just show us the saving withdrawal statement.
Tainted? That's a laugh. Don't believe it for a second. How about "Buying Off" their own party? This was just a fluke. Democrats do not want to accept responsibility so it must be those "Nasty Republicans" who did this. There was no advertising or support prior to his election. Gosh – this was probably Bush's fault!!
The wealthy Dems and Repubs working for the puppet masters are upset because their money did not buy the SC democratic nomination. This country would be better off with a House and Senate full of people like Greene.
Poor guy doesn't even know he is being used. Did you hear him speak, he can hardly string a sentence together. He doesn't comprehend what is happening, he thinks that he is honestly trying to win. So sad.
Either Mr. Greene was a planted in the dem. primary from another party with their seed money or the people of SC were sick of the Incumbant dem and picked the first name on the list that was not him.
So untill their is actuall proof Mr. Greene was planted and not just opinions from sore losers I will say it's the second and the people of SC were just tired of their Incumbant.
Smells more like sour grapes than elephant dung.
It really doesn't matter if allegedly he was "planted" by the opposing party. What the democrats should focus and learn was how an outsider, without money and machinery, no support from his party, no political experience and from out-of-nowhere wins the democratic primary.
They should ask the voting public why they chose him over a more experienced, highly educated and moneyed opponent. Stop blaming the other party for their faults and failures. I'm waiting for the democrats to announce that this is Bush's fault.
Could it be repuglicans were trying to interfer with the election to get a nobody elected for the Democrats because they were so afraid of losing in November? I hope the people of SC and the nation think before and if they are so stupid as to vote for any Party of No candidate!