"we've got a raghead in washington, we don't need a raghead in the statehouse"

Oh, wait. Is South Carolina already out of the running for Bill Maher's Stupidest State in America? Becuase Jake Knotts is trying to make a case for his state, home of shamed Governor Mark Sanford and Congressman Joe "You Lie!" Wilson. But Knotts wants it bad.

This week, the Republican State Senator appeared on an online political chat show and referred to Indian American GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, as well as President Barack Obama, as a "raghead": 'Raghead' slur is new ugly twist in S.C. race. It's getting dirty:

Front-runner Haley, an attractive "pro-family" candidate who has the backing of the tea party movement and Sarah Palin, has been the target of not one but two claims of infidelity to her husband — both lodged by conservative political operatives who claim to have slept with her. And on Thursday a state senator who is supporting one of Haley's opponents casually referred to her as a "raghead" and claimed that she is a Manchurian candidate launched by a "network of Sikhs" to take over the governorship.

During a visit Thursday to "Pub Politics," an online political chat show hosted from a bar in Columbia, S.C., state senator Jake Knotts said: "We already got one raghead in the White House; we don't need a raghead in the governor's mansion." Haley's parents are Sikhs of Indian descent; she has converted to Christianity but still attends Sikh religious ceremonies on occasion out of deference to her parents.

Knotts also apparently claimed that Haley was a "plant" being controlled by some sort of secret international network of evil, nefarious handlers:

Knotts says he believed Haley has been set up by a network of Sikhs and was programmed to run for governor of South Carolina by outside influences in foreign countries. He claims she is hiding her religion and he wants the voters to know about it.

Right. Not that it's any of Knott's goddamn business, but an Indian Sikh who converts to Christianity must be hiding something. Because a covert cabal of sneaky foreign interests could be the only logical reason why someone like her would run for public office in the great state of South Carolina.

Knotts has since issued a fake-ass apology for his "light-hearted" comment, claiming that it was "intended in jest" and that the "humorous content was lost in translation." You mean the translation from Hate to English? Ridiculous. More info over at Sepia Mutiny: That’s the Raghead-in-Chief to you.