Haley keeps taking the Southern test

This is a litmus test, which if administered by Demmocrats would be excoriated by conservatives. But, this is South Carolina.

She was born in small-town South Carolina, attended South Carolina schools and won election three times to the state legislature. But in her surging campaign for governor, Nikki Haley has been tested far more than other candidates on her cultural connections to the state. Mrs. Haley, 38 years old, is an Indian-American, born into the Sikh faith, who converted to Christianity as an adult. Her background has prompted some voters to seek assurances that she is committed to her Christian faith and understands the feelings among some about the state's Civil War history.

It is both disgusting and hilarious that anyone in 2010, 145 years after the Confederacy was defeated, believes this nonsense. But they do, and those that do have influence in this state.

Like her three GOP rivals for the governor's office, Mrs. Haley sat this spring for a videotaped interview with the Palmetto Patriots, a local activist group that aims to "fight attacks against Southern Culture" and talks with candidates "to ensure compliance with conservative values."

Balderdash!


Nikki Haley Goes Extra Mile in Proving Commitment 2:15

As WSJ's Peter Wallsten reports, Nikki Haley is having to prove that she understands the traditions and culture of the state she is seeking to lead. Ms. Haley, an Indian-American, is the surging GOP candidate for governor in South Carolina.

Mrs. Haley's half-hour meeting with the Palmetto Patriots illustrated how she has sought to assure potential skeptics while also embracing her ethnicity. She pledged to retain a political compromise that gave the Confederate flag a place of prominence in front of the State House, a position that puts her within the mainstream among GOP leaders in the state. Further, Mrs. Haley noted that "as a minority female" she was ideally suited to counteract an ongoing boycott led by civil rights groups.

Being a minority female does not obviate the use of the Confederate flag: the stripes and bars are objectionable, no matter who the governor is in South Carolina.

Mrs. Haley chose her words carefully in talking about the causes of the Civil War. "You had one side of the Civil War that was fighting for tradition, and I think you had another side of the Civil War that was fighting for change," she said.

Tradition versus change, a curious way of putting a war over slavery.

She did not use the word "slavery" but hinted at it, saying that "everyone is supposed to be free."

Supposed to be?