Ariail, Haley and the S.C. Policy Council

When former The State editorial cartoonist Robert Ariail took a new job with The Herald-Journal, we thought it was a good thing for an accomplished guy and a nice move by a newspaper that is perhaps not going down the path of running a mid-size daily paper with the staff of a 7,000-circulation weekly. But what of the recent past? Ariail had joined up with the S.C. Policy Council for a little while, working with the half-baked but excessively well-funded The Nerve.

And that’s the rub. On July 18, Ariail went live with the cartoon above, which got more that a little bit of play for showing Rep. Nikki Haley in a burqa. After discussing the piece with friends, we decided that was perhaps not the best way to go. At the very least, it might be considered more than a little insensitive considering Sen. Jake Knotts‘ publicized ill-timed remarks.

But the Policy Council and Haley are tight, as she is with all of the little satellites of the disintegrating Sanford cabal. When the cartoon came out, though, we don’t remember hearing a peep out of the SCPC or anything from the Haley campaign drawing attention to the Policy Council’s association with Ariail. And yet, the following passage went out from a Nerve email on Wednesday.

The Nerve wishes cartoonist Robert Ariail the best as he begins his new venture with the Herald-Journal in Spartanburg. Ariail, who was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, has been a great asset to The Nerve over the past several months. We’ve all enjoyed hearing his clever ideas and seeing him turn his thoughts into brilliant sketches. We are looking forward to seeing this gifted artist’s continued success.

Interesting.