If you have ever been subjected to Newberry High School Athletics, you know that they have played the Grammy-winning recording “Who Let the Dogs Out,” by Baha Men, on occasion. It fits right in with their mascot, Bulldogs.
I lived and worked in Newberry for more than 20 years and, used to be, we would wave (plastic) dog bones during football games and, using a stencil, paint dog bones on the sideline after football wins. It’s just a natural thing, and it is no joke, people in Newberry are serious about their athletics.
So it was somewhat confusing the other day to hear letting the dogs out referred to as a joke. It’s something our governor, Henry McMaster, has been saying for years, his people say, “I look forward to the day that Democrats are so rare we have to hunt them with dogs.”
Democrats were mad (of course, they were, in this age of EEOBE, you can’t say nothing any more). It was just pure coindence that the governor’s remark came shortly before a man with a Nazi flag in his truck rammed said truck into a barricade outside a white house where a Democratic President lives, and another disgruntled man attacked a Democratic Congressman’s staff with a hammer. Governor McMaster’s spokesman urged the Democrats to start winning and stop whining.
It’s a joke - except it’s not a joke. Every self-respecting hunter knows you don’t waste a perfectly good dog on a Democrat. The governor, obviously, needs to get out into the woods more.
And the only thing that “he’s been saying it for years” proves is that McMaster was MAGA before MAGA was even cool. And, letting the dogs out is not racist - just read the DeSantis-approved U.S. history textbook in Florida. No enslaved people were ever chased by dogs. Nor hoods. Nor ropes long enough to reach the first branch.
Democrats in Charleston and Anderson, the state’s two most liberal counties, called on the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate.
But, because the Governor appoints the Chief of SLED, that is not happening. So, South Carolina makes NATIONAL headlines again - as if having TWO of ours running for president at the same time isn’t enough - because people just can’t take a joke.
No one is “coming for” Democrats. The Jan. 6 Insurrectionists were coming for all members of Congress - remember? But if you just have to have a dog hunt, Alex Murdaugh has a couple, maybe they can help (for a nominal fee).
Vic MacDonald is Editor of The Clinton Chronicle. In June, Vic will observe his 50th year in community journalism. Reach him at 864-833-1900.
