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You are here: Home / Featured / WILL HALEY DECLINING TO SAY CIVIL WAR CAUSE CRIPPLE HER CAMPAIGN? (WITH REACTION ROUNDUP)

WILL HALEY DECLINING TO SAY CIVIL WAR CAUSE CRIPPLE HER CAMPAIGN? (WITH REACTION ROUNDUP)

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During World War II there was a saying used on government advertising: Loose lips may sink ships. In a Presidential campaign, saying too much or the patently wrong thing when answering an easy-to-answer question can help sink a campaign.

When former UN ambassador Nikki Haley declined to say the everyone-knows-it cause of the Civil War gave a she made an unforced error that some now think will slow her growing momentum for the number two spot in the battle for the Republican Presidential nomination. Or even end it.

It was a mega-MAGA unforced error: she could have said simply “Slavery.” But she didn’t which prompted a short reply from President Biden:

“It was about slavery.”

Haley later blamed the question on a Democratic plant. But the question came at a town hall where politicians traditionally receive questions from anyone who asks them — even those who might disagree and oppose them. Nimble politicians can handle hard questions and even turn them to their advantage. Within 24 hours she tried to backtrack.

But the damage was done. Politico headline: “‘She’s toast’: Republicans of color disappointed by Haley’s slavery misstep” and The Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis wrote that Haley’s slavery gaffe showed how scared she is of MAGA Republicans.

The Hill:

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s answer about the cause of the Civil War during an event in New Hampshire has sparked blowback just as she’s looking to pull off an upset in the Granite State primary next month.

The voter who asked the question, which came during a town hall Wednesday, called Haley out after she failed to mention slavery in her response.

Haley has sought to clarify her remarks since, saying Thursday that “of course the Civil War was about slavery” and arguing that the voter who asked the question was a “Democrat plant.”

But the moment has led to criticism from across the political spectrum, including from top GOP rivals. And while Republican strategists are doubtful the blunder will be a decisive factor for her campaign, they acknowledge it’s a distraction that doesn’t help.

“What it does is it’s an unnecessary fumble for her at a time when she doesn’t need something like this,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean.

Democrats were quick to seize on her comments, with President Biden sharing a clip of the exchange on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying, “It was about slavery.”

Leading voices of color have also rebuked Haley’s comments.?

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement that he is “disgusted” but “not surprised,” calling her comments a “slap in the face to Black voters.”

“This isn’t hard: condemning slavery is the baseline for anyone who wants to be President of the United States, but Nikki Haley and the rest of the MAGA GOP are choking on their words trying to rewrite history,” Harrison said.

But it wasn’t only Democrats who criticized the former South Carolina governor. Republicans — including primary rivals such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and allies of former President Trump — also hit her for the comments.

That remark drew a swift rebuke from operatives on both sides of the aisle.

“McCain knew he’d get an ‘Obama is a Muslim’ or ‘Obama is an Arab’ question,” tweeted Republican strategist Liz Mair. “And he knew how to handle it.”

The controversy comes at an awkward time for Haley, who has been on the rise for weeks in GOP polling, especially in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. She reached 30 percent in one poll for the Granite State from earlier this month and only trailed Trump by 4 points in another.

She has also regularly turned in strong debate performances and avoided any notable mistakes on the campaign trail until now.

Political Wire’s Taegan Goddard:

The question was certainly simple, but nothing about it was “loaded.”

A “loaded question” contains an assumption which can lead a candidate to inadvertently agree to something they might not otherwise agree to.

It’s “loaded” because it’s structured in a way that a direct answer may imply an acceptance of a premise that might be controversial.

For example, asking an incumbent politician “Will you stop wasting taxpayer money on unnecessary programs?” presumes that the candidate has previously been wasting taxpayer money, regardless of whether he or she actually has.

Loaded questions are designed to trap a candidate into an admission they don’t want to make.

Almost 160 years after the end of the Civil War, there’s a simple and commonly accepted response to the question asked of Haley.

It says quite a bit about Republican voters that Haley wouldn’t answer directly.

Other reaction:


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