Nikki Haley's Civil War troubles, Day 3 edition

The political axiom is that the longer you're explaining something, the more you're losing ground. This is Day 3 of the Nikki Haley Civil War fiasco. She still isn't close to putting that fiasco permanently behind her. She's still attempting to relitigate her reply.

First, she shouldn't have gotten into this position. It wasn't a difficult question. Frankly, the question was a softball, one that Haley should've hit out of the proverbial ballpark. If I'd been asked that question, I would have replied 'Slavery was what triggered the Civil War. The Confederate states tried arguing that it was a states' rights issue, which it wasn't.'

Then I would've replied that I was the governor that got the Confederate Flag removed. After that, I would have moved on to economic issues. Either that or I would've fielded questions from those gathered.

Next, it's obvious that she isn't willing to stop digging. The saying is that 'there's nowhere to go but up once you've hit rock bottom.' I wholeheartedly disagree. Thanks to old-fashioned stubbornness, it's quite possible to hit rock bottom, then keep digging. That's what Haley did. She's kept digging. Here's that initial cringeworthy moment:

That's a legitimate faceplant moment. I'd want to put that moment behind me within 10 seconds, if not faster.

Since that night, Haley's had multiple opportunities to put that behind her but failed:

In the more than 48 hours since, Haley has tried to walk back the comment, saying the following day on "Good Morning New Hampshire" that "of course the Civil War was about slavery,” but she has also continued to center her responses to the question on things like "individual freedom" and "economic freedom" as underlying drivers that caused the Civil War. In addition, she has said that the person who asked the question was a "plant" sent by Democrats, an assertion made without evidence.

"We are on day three and she is still trying to get past it," said Matthew Bartlett, a New Hampshire-based Republican operative. "I’m not sure litigating the Civil War is a top issue for New Hampshire voters, but when you make a mistake you have to get past it." "She needed to make her answer short, simple and patriotic," he added. "Instead she is trying to get philosophical and talk about the lessons of economics and capitalism. Just, like, stop."

It isn't that Haley isn't intelligent. It's that she's prone to overthinking things. This time, she overthought things when the lights were the brightest. That's the worst timing imaginable. Will this hurt her in New Hampshire? I'm betting it will. I'm betting that she's already given up on Iowa. if Haley doesn't do well in Iowa or New Hampshire, she's toast.

South Carolina doesn't follow after New Hampshire. The Nevada Caucuses follow New Hampshire. I don't see Haley doing well there, either, because it's a Hispanic-majority state (or close to it) and it's a caucus state, which means having a ground game. That's something that Haley doesn't have.

The corporate media and the GOP establishment did their best to create a Haley surge where it didn't exist. Thanks to Haley's Civil War Fiasco, that surge is dead and buried. Period.