National Correspondent
The best you can say about the South Carolina political scene is that it's not boring. But while recent headlines have been about sex, the latest controversy returns to that old South Carolina favorite -- race.
"We already got one raghead in the White House," Knotts said on
"Pub Politics." "We don't need another in the governor's mansion."

Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She was raised as a Sikh but converted to Methodism and has said she attends services in both faiths, according to The State newspaper. In Haley's 2004 winning run against the longest-serving lawmaker in the S.C. House, anonymous fliers incorrectly claimed that she was a Hindu.
Knotts' comments about Haley and Obama were "intended in jest," Knotts said in a statement. "Bear in mind that this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It's like local political version of 'Saturday Night Live.' Since my intended humorous context was lost in translation, I apologize. I still believe Ms. Haley is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I apologize to both for an unintended slur."
In an e-mail statement, state GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd said, "The South Carolina Republican Party strongly condemns any use of racial or religious slurs."
The show's host, Wesley Donehue, said in
The State, "I, along with everyone else at the table, was shocked" at Knotts' remarks.
Though Knotts and Haley are both from Lexington, they stand on opposite sides of GOP state Republican politics. Knotts has backed Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, one of Haley's opponents in the June 8 GOP primary. In the past, Haley has supported outgoing Gov. Mark Sanford, a Knotts adversary.
"Nikki is a strong, pro-life, pro-business, conservative reformer. And she isn't afraid to take on the entrenched powers," the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate says in the message. "When you do that, they come after you with all kinds of made-up nonsense to try to knock you down. Believe me, I've been there."