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Nikki Haley is having image issues. We thought she might let her defense of her expensive European business trip stand on its own, but yesterday, during an interview with the Laura Ingraham show (around 11 minutes in) she slipped in a quick barb about Post and Courier writer Renee Dudley--the writer who revealed the expenses behind the "fiscally responsible" governor's pricey trip. "God bless that little girl at the Post and Courier," Haley said in reference to the 25-year-old Dudley. "I mean, her job is to try and create conflict, my job is to create jobs and in the end I’m going to have jobs to show for it."
Melanie Balog, the Post and Courier's digital editor and colleague of Dudley's, fired back at Haley today.
Little girl?
The governor of the great state of South Carolina called another woman a little girl?
Aren't you the same governor who just weeks ago spoke at a Center For Women event in Charleston recognizing women's suffrage and practically berated the leader of the group for correctly pointing out that South Carolina ranks worst in the nation in terms of the number of women in elected office? Well, maybe this does start to make sense.
You have a school-age daughter, so I'm pretty sure you understand the definition of the word "girl."
Dudley certainly does not need defending. Her journalistic ethics prevent her from responding to your comments, especially because she's likely to write more well-reported and well-documented stories about you... It's also worth noting that you would not have stood for such a remark had it been directed at you -- by a man or a woman.
Balog continues, "And, yet again, just like you did here in Charleston, when Ingraham asked about how conservative women are subject to intense professional scrutiny, you said the answer is simply for more women to run for office. 'When we start having more and more (women in office), people will stop picking on us.' It would be great if we could start by not picking on each other. Shame on you Nikki Haley."