Michael Barone: Tim Scott and Daniel Inouye show a better America

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

On Monday, the U.S. Senate got its newest member and lost its most senior member.

The newest senator is South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott, who Gov. Nikki Haley said she would appoint to fill the vacancy caused by the pending resignation of Jim DeMint.

The most senior senator was Hawaii's Daniel Inouye, who died at 88 just a few hours after Haley's announcement.

Much has been made of the fact that Scott will be the only black senator and the first black Republican senator since Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, who was elected in 1966 and 1978.

Haley noted that fact and made the point that he was qualified on the merits. He has served only one term in the House, but that's also true of his South Carolina House Republican colleagues, except one who asked that he not be considered for the seat.

Scott also served a term in the South Carolina House and for 13 years on the Charleston County Council. He built a real estate and insurance business in Charleston with both black and white clients. That seems like a good set of experiences to bring to the Senate.

[Draggingtree]

Great Scott! Racist GOP Picks An African-American Senator

 

 

Wed, Dec 19 2012 00:00:00 EA14_ISSUESPosted 12/18/2012 06:58 PM ET

 

 

Congress: The first black Republican senator in three decades will be a spokesman for Tea Party conservatism and a proud member of the party that was founded to fight slavery and made the civil rights revolution possible.

 

Though he'll inevitably be dismissed as a "token" or worse, Rep. Tim Scott, the next Republican senator from the former slave state of South Carolina, and the first black GOP senator since Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, shatters once again the stereotype of the GOP as a party of racists and sexists.

 

GOP long ago lost the perception battle on race

 

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/121812-637548-nikki-haley-picks-tim-scott-for-senate.htm?src=IBDDAE