I didn’t write a lot about the accusations of infidelity against Nikki Haley initially because, let’s face it: in politics, when someone is accused of cheating, it’s usually true. Call me cynical, but it’s reality. I started to spotlight the case as it unraveled, but it’s just gotten to the point of utter absurdity. It seems clear that all of this is the work of the Andre Bauer campaign, too, as evidenced by the fine work of Erick Erickson and Moe Lane over at Redstate.

Apparently, the first tactic Bauer used was the whore tactic. Makes sense, right? If a politician gets caught in a sex scandal, especially a conservative, family-values politician, then their career is over. But that was blown to hell, especially when it came out that both Folks and Marchant had ties to the Bauer campaign.

So now, he’s going after Nikki Haley on religion. State Senator Jake Knotts, who is supporting Bauer, called her a raghead. Yes, seriously.

A longtime South Carolina state Senator with a reputation for blunt language used the term “raghead” to describe Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and President Obama during an appearance on a political talk show Thursday.

Haley is of Indian-American descent.

State Sen. Jake Knotts, who backs Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in the four-way Republican primary battle, made the remark during an interview on “Pub Politics,” a popular online political talk show in Columbia.

“We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion,” Knotts said, according to multiple people present for the broadcast.

Knotts made the comment after discussing Haley’s Sikh background, said Phil Bailey, one of the show’s hosts and the communications director for the South Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus.

Haley was raised in a Sikh family but is now a practicing Methodist.

Un-freakin’-believable.

The savaging that these male South Carolina politicians have put Nikki Haley through is disgusting. I’m not one to usually call sexism, but that’s exactly what this is. And this is based on sacred honor? Please. There is no honor left in South Carolina apparently. As Ace pointed out,

First we had a wife-beater/cheater who told us that suddenly sacred honor compelled him to come forward with allegations of sex with Nikki Haley; now we have a drunk driver with a late-in-life kid on the way who claims an evidence-free liaison with Nikki Haley, and he, too, has come down with a bad case of sacred honor, his temperature, I’m told, reaching a dangerous 106 degrees F.

Doctors tried the ice-bath to cool his temperature, but in the end they ordered him to cool his conscience by babbling about one-night stands to the press.

I’m curious: why aren’t the feminist warriors out there defending her? Because she’s a conservative, she’s not worthy of it, of course. Conservative women are slaves to the patriarchy, and they’re just getting what they deserve.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this since Sarah Palin was named John McCain’s vice presidential candidate. The depths to which someone is willing to go simply to get elected — to be willing to destroy not only a good person but their family and their reputation as well — is horrifying. It really tells you all you need to know in and of itself.

If you live in South Carolina, vote for Nikki Haley. Regardless of where you live, donate to her campaign. We need to support Nikki Haley, but even more importantly, we need to make a stand against this kind of politics. It’s situations like this one that makes people sick of politicians. No wonder they’re all hated. There’s apparently no pride, no honor, no integrity left whatsoever. At least Nikki Haley would be a step away from the smear merchants and the rumor mongers. So please, support her campaign.