Jaime Harrison on the Symptom of the Democratic Party 2016

I use symptom in the sense of Slavoj Zizek-the Slovene Lacanian psychoanalyst writer. From Jacques Lacan he has the idea that 'woman is a symptom of man.'

http://www.lacan.com/zizwhiteriot.html

To boil it down, basically 'woman is the truth of man.' Think of it this way, no matter what public image a man puts forth of himself, you see the truth of his character by looking at his woman. If she is not a happy woman then probably you're dealing with a not so nice guy.

You could say that this year the symptom of this year's Democratic primary is the black vote. Rachel Maddow had SC Democratic party chairman Jaime Harrison last night and asked him about the race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the state.

It seemed Maddow expected him to admit to her that Bernie is making inroads but this was not his view. He says Bernie still has a very high wall to climb. For more on the chairman, see here.

https://twitter.com/harrison4sc

As he explained it, the key to the black vote in SC is actually black women. According to Chairman Harrison, middle age black women will be the key; 'Those of my mother's generation' he said.

That should be good news for Hillary.

Bernie Sanders did get a major Democratic endorsement in SC politics last week from former SC Dem Chairman, Dick Harpootlian.

Still, it's not one Bernie will be able to brag about too much and I'm not so sure it will get him many votes. Harpootlian earlier this primary had said that maybe the Dems would do well to lose this election-as then the GOP will 'mess things up again.'

Strange logic. He admits that it would be terrible for the country yet wants to do it to better position Dems in later years?

“In the short term we could end up with Republicans running the country. I think in the longer term that’s good,” said Dick Harpootlian, the former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. “Every time the Republicans have run anything, they’ve the screwed pooch.”

http://observer.com/2016/01/the-democrats-will-have-a-shell-party-if-they-dont-win-the-white-house/

So maybe this is why he endorsed Bernie? Because he wants a GOP victory? You might say that can't be it surely Harpootlian doesn't desire a GOP victory.

You'd think so if it weren't for this.

Known as an earthy wisecracking politician, Dick Harpootlian, a candidate for Chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, suddenly found himself at the superheated center of a swirling political scandal that now threatens to end his long and pockmarked political career.

"Unexpectedly, Jamie Sanderson, a political blogger, discovered that Harpootlian gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates."

When the scandalous charges hit him, Harpootlian did not deny his contributions to a list of radical Republicans:

1. Jake Knotts (“Obama is a raghead!”)
2. Henry McMaster (radical extremist on the Republican right-wing) and
3. Walt Wilkins (staffer for the segregationist, Strom Thurmond).

"In another awkward and insensitive quote, Harpootlian responded to a question about the minority vote with the breathtaking comment, “I don’t want to buy the black vote, just rent it for one day.” Harpootlian’s casual racism did not sit well with the African-Americans who make up the heart of the Democratic constituency in South Carolina

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/26/970360/-

This might not be the guy to get Bernie the black vote. His endorsement of Bernie seems to have more to do with his support for Joe Biden than anything.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/01/14/former_sc_dem_chairman_harpootlian_im_a_joe_biden_guy.html

Meanwhile it sounds like SC Congressman is close to endorsing Hillary; he had previously said he'd stay neutral.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-james-clyburn-weighing-presidential-endorsement-ahead-sc/story?id=36835890