Guess who won’t be coming to lunch with Obama?
Updated on Monday: Although a staffer said he didn’t plan to show, U.S. Rep. John Lewis was present for President Barack Obama’s visit to Atlanta, we’re told.
President Barack Obama’s second visit to Georgia this year may be one of those parties best remembered for the guests who failed to show.
The president will spend the better part of Monday in Atlanta — first speaking to a convention of disabled veterans. Then the president will be the featured guest at a Democratic National Committee luncheon and fundraiser.
President Barack Obama last week addressed the National Urban League. Associated Press
Many Democrats will flock to the downtown events. Michael Thurmond, the labor commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate, will be there. U.S. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta will greet Obama as he steps off Air Force One, as will Gov. Sonny Perdue — a Republican.
Mayor Kasim Reed will give the first African-American president an effusive introduction at the DNC fundraiser. A spokesman for Sanford Bishop said the Democratic congressman from southwest Georgia will be in the audience for both events.
But the list of Democrats who won’t be there is long and conspicuous.
Roy Barnes, the former governor and his party’s July choice to retake the office, has received the most attention for his decision to give priority to a Monday schedule that will take him through Middle and South Georgia. But there are others:
– Ken Hodges, the nominee for attorney general, will be in Albany for a case he’s working on for his law firm;
– U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, who faces yet another Republican challenger, has plans to help his daughter move;
– U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah will remain in Washington for “a minor medical procedure.” And, yes, he’ll have Republican opposition in November.
– A staffer for John Lewis said the Atlanta congressman simply has other plans;
– And U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Decatur will remain in Washington to prepare for the September impeachment of a federal judge. He’s one of the impeachment managers.
Clearly, some of the excuses are legitimate. The congressional summer recess began only last Friday. Monday, then, is the first real day of vacation for U.S. House members.
Given their large African-American constituencies, neither Lewis nor Johnson has anything to fear from being photographed at Obama’s side. Barrow didn’t hesitate to appear with the president in Savannah this winter.
But it is simply a fact that many other Democrats can’t afford to be seen with a president awarded a 37 percent approval rating by Georgia voters just last month.
Republicans are sure to chortle at the snubbing of Obama as something rare and, thus, significant. But in fact, Democrats are simply re-embracing a long-standing Southern tradition.
As a governor and U.S. senator, Herman Talmadge would schedule fishing trips that coincided with the quadrennial meetings of the Democratic National Convention.
Sam Nunn, concerned with winning his first term in the U.S. Senate in 1972, stayed as far away as he could from Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern.
Steve Anthony is the former chief of staff for the late House Speaker Tom Murphy and now his biographer. “Witness to History: A Memoir” (McGraw-Hill, $19.95) just hit the bookshelves.
One passage in the book dwells on Murphy’s reluctance to back Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988 — who was nominated at that year’s convention in Atlanta. The House speaker was at the apex of his power, but he had opposition at home that year.
“A reporter asked the speaker if he was going to vote for [Dukakis]. And the speaker deferred. It created a little bit of a firestorm with the liberal wing of the party at the time,” Anthony said.
“It wasn’t that they didn’t want to be engaged in national or presidential politics,” said Anthony, who now teaches political science at Georgia State University. “It’s that they knew what the voters of Georgia would tolerate. And when a candidate presented himself that fit that definition, they were for him.”
Murphy, for instance, was a reliable supporter of Al Gore. In the 2008 presidential contest, as the fight between Obama and Hillary Clinton reached fever pitch, Barnes was safely tucked behind the candidacy of fellow lawyer John Edwards of North Carolina.
But even safe decisions aren’t always safe. This week, the Georgia GOP sent out an e-mail with a photograph of Barnes standing next to the fallen, philandering Edwards.
Nor is the tradition of shunning national party figures restricted to Democrats. In 2005, Perdue — a year away from re-election — ducked an appearance with the not-so-popular Dick Cheney, then vice president.
But the fact that Obama is a sitting president has posed an unfamiliar problem for Georgia Democrats. Appearing with Jimmy Carter was a matter of state loyalty. Bill Clinton, too, was a familiar Southerner — sponsored and encouraged by then Gov. Zell Miller.
And the situation is made more discomfiting by the possibilities that 2010 has dangled in front of Democrats.
“My question is, when I first heard [Obama] was coming was, why did they do it? Who are the brains in Washington that thought, let’s do something in Georgia — and that it would benefit the candidates in Georgia?” Anthony asked.
“Here you’ve got a decent situation for a Democrat to win the governor’s race. Their move here could endanger that,” he added.
For the record, the state Democratic Party referred all inquiries about the Obama visit to the DNC in Washington.
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238 comments Add your comment
Left in the South
July 31st, 2010
9:21 pm
Billy Joe it’s obvious the only thing you salute is Hitler and the KKK. As to my tag, you are too ignorant to understand it’s double meaning. I prefer to stay and make things better for ALL Georgians!
My Opinion
July 31st, 2010
9:21 pm
The President Of The United States comes to town and some look at the numbers and decide not to show up? The commander in chief comes to town? The man who represents the USA? Conflicts aside at some point people need to understand they represent the people.
Laura K.
July 31st, 2010
9:31 pm
@Dawg 88
Obama wasn’t a member of Congress when the Born Alive Act passed through, so he definitely did not vote against it.
@Hear what you want to Hear
You wrote we were spending 10 billion a month for the wars as if Obama has not continued the massive spending on war. In fact in the month of February 12 billion was spent on Iraq and Afghanistan. Which is an increase from the Bush years
It is truly disappointing that almost every comment on this page blindly supports one party and defiles the other constantly. Obama has flaws but he is also trying to do good things for this country. Politics should not be so black and white, you dont have to hate or love a politician, there is a middle ground.
Every year we seem to become more rabidly attached to a party instead of the people who make up that party, this problem is extremely obvious on this board where 85% of what is being spewed here is hateful, accusatory and incorrect.
Billy Joe Poteet
July 31st, 2010
9:31 pm
@Left in the South
Yeah, I guess everyone is “ignorant” of the fact that your tag means you are a left-wing liberal in Georgia. No one could possibly figure that out without help. I guess I just “accidentally” used it the other way.
Simpleton . . .
Juanita J
July 31st, 2010
9:35 pm
Well, well. Not only do you need to watch Fox, ABC, CNN and others……..KEEP LIVING. IF YOU ARE 35 OR YOUNGER, YOU MAY BE FOOLED, BUT THE REST OF US, KNOW THE REAL DEAL. AND IN THE PAST I HAVE VOTED FOR REPUBLICANS. I DON’T AGREE WITH ALL OF MR. AND YES, I DID SAY MR. PRESIDENT OBAMA’ S POSITIONS, BUT HE HAS BEEN THERE LESS THAN 8 YEARS. MR. REAGAN, WAS A GREAT PRESIDENT TO THE WHITE PEOPLE. MINORITIES WENT BACK 20 YEARS; THEY WENT BACE WITH MR. BUSH,, .THERE SHOULD BE EQUALITY FOR ALL… A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE OUT OF JOB BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!! A LOT ARE LAZY… AND YES, SOME JUST DON’T GIVE A DARN. DON’T BLAME EVERYTHING ON BUSH NOR MR. PRESIDENT OBAMA. LOOK AT YOURSELF!!!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MAKE THE COUNTRY BETTER? STOP BEING A HINDRANCE. DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE FOR A CHANGE.
Sick and Tired
July 31st, 2010
9:37 pm
Most of these post are proof positive why Georgia ranks 49 out of 50 in the educational sector. Just plain ole ignorant.
Sick and Tired
July 31st, 2010
9:40 pm
As for the rating argument. Obama does poll 30 percent in Georgia. He may never get above that in this state. Last time I checked he did not win the state in the election. Odds are he will not win it in the next. For the record he did not need it. He won get over it. Move on with your life. go watch Fox news reading may be too much for you to do.
Juanita J's Mammy
July 31st, 2010
9:41 pm
I done taught you better than this, girl!
President Obama is "White Too"
July 31st, 2010
9:44 pm
Everyone talks about President Obama as being black !! You forget that he was not raised as a black person. His values came from his “white grandmother” and his “white mother”. He really has not experienced being “black” until now. Now that he is the Commander and Chief of the United States of America. President Obama has addressed more issues in the 18 months he has been in office than Former President Bush did in his 8 years, yet the Republicans are blaming him for this mess. This mess started before he took office, people !! Even in Georgia, The Georgia Republicans started this mess we are in !! Neither party can get us out if they won’t get together. Even when you go to the polls and vote- Republican in November, things still won’t be fixed !! in fact, they will probably get worse !! Republicans say, cut taxes but where is revenue going to come from, Republicans say, downsize government, who will govern !! Think People !! Stop looking at Race !!
and remember your current President is White, Too !!
Karen
July 31st, 2010
10:03 pm
I have read all the comments posted…This hatred is truly sad. Everyone deserves RESPECT.. God is not pleased!
Billy Joe Poteet
July 31st, 2010
10:05 pm
@President Obama is “White Too”
Obama claimed his “white grandmother” and “white mother” as an electioneering ploy only. The out-of-control massive spending of money that the U.S. doesn’t have only creates problems for futue generations of taxpayers – IF this country can survive that long. Since only roughly 50% of Americans pay income taxes, half of the country isn’t too concerned with the ever-growing problems created by Obama and the liberal democrats.
When the 50% paying income taxes finally say, “Enough is enough” or the U.S. is unable to borrow more money, the “entitlements” will finally end. For generations of people who have “lived off the government” (the people paying taxes), it will be a very rude awakening.
Then, and only then, will all the people fully see the folly of Obama, liberal democrats and their ilk.
Alas, it will be too late . . .
Tony
July 31st, 2010
10:07 pm
Jill, and Left, keep whistling past the graveyard. Come November, the Democrat, liberal, quasi-communist Congress will take a hit like it never has in our Nation’s history. The 46 seats lost in the ‘94 election will look penny ante after the votes are tallied. How is Obozo fixing ANYTHING? Unemployment is still near 10%, the average person can’t get a loan even AFTER he bailed out all the banks, and we are STILL mired in two wars we can’t afford to fight and he PROMISED to get us out of. Throw in the fact that he and this pinko Congress of his shoved a healthcare plan up our a– that even THEY exempted themselves from, and you have a recipe for a major butt kicking in the fall elections. Keep on spouting your false hope…that’s all it is. And Left, if you think this state is that bad, the last time I checked, I75 North was still open.
A
July 31st, 2010
10:09 pm
Wow.@jbstoner is so off his meds. The actual JB Stoner was the man who once offered his hand to me, not by saying hello but by saying ‘white power’. And that silly pansy confederate flag offended lots of Americans, black and white. Glad it’s burning up in somebodys cookout grill. Since you flag people have already been appropriately ridiculed by Eddie Izzard I will skip the derision. I’m pretty sure you knuckle-draggers are used to it by now. You guys have been called stupid so often that you have no choice but to embrace it: “Yeh, I’m the guy with the GED who knows I’m better than everybody else ’cause I’ve got me a double wide and a case of PBR and the skin of white Jesus’ angels. Ah’m a patriot, an Obama is gonna take away mah guns (which make me a real man ’cause guns are sexy and fool wimmin into thinking I’m well endowed) and take away my 2 mile per gallon pickup truck. I use it to drive to work (back when I had a job-me loosing mah job, well, that was Obama’s fault too) but cain’t seem to find anything to pick up. You can call me stupid to my face but what I am is a upstanding member of the tea party and the Westboro Baptist Church and I represent ‘merica at it’s finest cause I got good common sense and all and I don’t fool around with facts cause they’re commanist. We don’t need no smart president-we liked George Bush jes fine, even tho he was plannin to take away my social security and my medicare and stuff”.
I absolutely have too much fun when Im doing this.
A
July 31st, 2010
10:12 pm
Oh and Jill, you aren’t a… well, you know.
Billy Joe Poteet
July 31st, 2010
10:15 pm
@A
Enjoying that Scotch (Rye, Gin, Vodka)?
Left in the South
July 31st, 2010
10:15 pm
Tony, the bank bailout was Bush not Obama. Keep watching FAUX NEWS and stay ignorant as ever.
Billy Joe Poteet
July 31st, 2010
10:17 pm
@Karen
Respect is not “deserved”: it is earned!
A
July 31st, 2010
10:18 pm
O billy jo, you have the purtiest mouth. If I were drinking it would be better liquor than you will ever enjoy in your life. Not because I can afford it but because I have so much better taste than you.
Obama-2-Faced
July 31st, 2010
10:19 pm
Obama speaking at the Vet Convention is a photo-op only. It has nothing to do with his respect for our troops.
If Obama respected veterans, he’d give future vetarans (our current men and women in uniform) all the support, funds, equipment and reinforcements they need to get their jobs done and get home. As it is, he continues to give *just enough* which continues to put our American soldiers at risk.
Shame on this two-faced, attention-seeking, publicity-grabbing president. I’m ashamed of the *leader* of the free world.
Billy Joe Poteet
July 31st, 2010
10:22 pm
@A
IF I still was a drinking man, I believe my choice for the evening would be a very old, very good brandy.
I only wondered because you came “out of the gate” whistling . . .
To Colin
July 31st, 2010
10:23 pm
You love your scouts, do you?
Ask your beloved Commander In Chief why he declined to speak at the Scouts’ 100 Year Anniversary on Wednesday.
He couldn’t be bothered. He was busy taping an appearance on *The View*
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69988
A
July 31st, 2010
10:27 pm
Scotch. Not scouts. And billy jo is on the wag-on. Wonder why. Weak spine? And that ‘out of the gate’ thing has me confused. I guess your humor is a bit lower than mine.
Tony
July 31st, 2010
10:30 pm
OK, Left, then with all the “economic stimulus” Obozo has pumped into our rapidly sinking economy tell me then why unemployment is still around 10%? Or 20% if you count the ones who have given up and run their unemployment benefits out. Explain to me why he would give AMNESTY to ILLEGAL immigrants who freely admit their status, even file suit against a state who is trying desperately to stem the tide? Or how about those two wars he PROMISED in his campaign to get us out of? Gitmo still open? Yes sir it is.
You dodged what I said initally….you and the rest of the libs know your party is going to take a hit in the fall elections…..if you don’t the YOU are the ignorant one, not I. As information, I am not a Republican, I am a Libertarian who thought Bush was a sorry President. But I have to admit, in the 30 plus years I have been a voter, I haven’t seen one as sorry as the one we now have and if I were any of these politicians I wouldn’t want to be associated with him either.
President Obama is "White Too"
July 31st, 2010
10:30 pm
@Billy Joe Poteet – You can’t “claim” DNA !! It is too bad that white’s do not want to admit that President Obama is also white, in fact more white !!
What the US needs to do is change our economic policy !! We are our own country ! We should be able to do what we want, we should be able to make as much money as necessay to achieve economic stability !! but it is really smoke and mirrors !! We have another country backing “our” money, come on.. We should get those money presses going, but the money into circulation at the consumer level instead of in corporations hands !! Put people back to work !!
both sides of the coin
July 31st, 2010
10:44 pm
If we are going to talk about Obama being two-faced in regard to the military, you have to talk about Bush too. We soldiers have to ask relatives to send them scape metal so they won’t be blown up in their own vehicles while Bush fiddles in the White House, that is every bit as much as betraying our troops as anything the new administration has done.
2010BishopOut
July 31st, 2010
10:50 pm
http://www.VoteBishopOut.com
We have had enough of Bishop’s “politics as usual” down here in South Georgia. We will be voting him out this year.
Left in the South
July 31st, 2010
10:50 pm
Tony it’s gonna takes a while to undo the 8 years of Bush f’ng America. Wow you admit your wrong about the Bank Bailout. Maybe you can learn.
What did the Repubs do about immigration in the 8 years they had control. Nada. The Arizona Law is racist and unconstitutional.
I’m not happy about Gitmo either but Bush put us there.
Libertarians gave Bush the edge in election.
I’m not dodging anything All the polls show that a greater # of Americans trust Dems on the Economy, Security, Health Care etc.. over Repugs. You better recheck your polls because the are already leveling off http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/30/4784189-first-thoughts-are-democrats-closing-the-gap
Nobody is as sorry or stupid than George Bush who should be in jail w/Cheney for war crimes
To Colin there are plenty of Presidents that did not address the Boy Scouts…..Reagin, Nixon, Eisenhower. So what’s your point?
Left in the South
July 31st, 2010
10:56 pm
Sorry mispelled Reagan
Independently yours
July 31st, 2010
11:16 pm
The sorry state of our education systems shows in some of these posts. Too bad people don’t care enough to put some in depth study into history, economics, finance and government. To use a sports analogy, Obama is only in his second quarter. Let’s see how the country is faring as we get closer to the end of his third and the beginning of his fourth. I bet a lot of you critics will be eating a whole lot of crow.
Grandpa Right, formerly of Cochran
July 31st, 2010
11:17 pm
I am disturbed that such a large portion of our population is too ignorant to see that Obama is NOT trying to improve our way of life, but is trying to restructure our fundamental structure. He is oblivious to the desires of the populance because he believes that his vision of a socialist America is worth any price to accomplish- even the political career of those in his own party.
I pray that the damage he has done in his short tenure can be reversed. He is attacking the institutions that made our country the greatest of its era in the world. He is leading us down a sharp decline.
And no, liberals, disagreeing with his world-view does not make me a racist, just a patriot and a father who cares about the future of his children.
sports analogy
July 31st, 2010
11:21 pm
Obama may be behind in the 2nd quarter but Bush was Cumberland College playing Georgia Tech in 1916.
Much ado about nothing
July 31st, 2010
11:24 pm
We have a great system of checks and balances in our country, and the Republicans will reign in much of Obama’s excesses after the November elections, just as the Dems did to the Republicans back in 2006.
It’s still dysfunctional as hell, but at least it does prevent total self destruction.
Tony
July 31st, 2010
11:31 pm
OK, Left, who had control of Congress the last 4 years of Bush and the last two….can you say DEMOCRATS? Did THEY address illegal immigration? No sir.
So Bush put us in Gitmo…..why can’t Obozo get us out? It should be relatively easy to do if Bush could accomplish it.
Iraq and Afghanistan….notice you left those out. I believe Obozo asked for MORE troops for Afghanistan and is still waffling on getting us out of Iraq. And as far as war crimes go, why would Obozo insist on CONTINUING a war that allegedly begat those crimes we speak of? Why not pack up the equipment and men and bring them home instead of blindly flailing around with no clear objective?
Unemployment? He’s had two years to at least SHOW he is making progress in that sector…..not even a few percentage points. We’re still near double digits. And no relief any time soon. And the deficit is going UP, not down. Bush has been gone awhile…can’t continue to blame him. But then again, that’s what libs like yourself do best, blame somebody else.
Arizona law unconstitutional and racist? All they did was try to do what our Federal Government is SUPPOSED to do and refuses to because it doesn’t want to alienate the “Hispanic Base”. Doesn’t matter a rat’s butt that these people are here illegally, let’s not p–s anybody off by sending them back from whence they came.
Keep whistling past those graves old buddy and keep your head in the sand. I hope your still on here in November when those bums get thrown out. It’s going to happen. And it will be interesting to hear your excuse for why. Very interesting.
jonica gay
July 31st, 2010
11:38 pm
Hatred hatred hatred no wonder the world is slowly dying
too many BIGOTS
crabapplejoe
July 31st, 2010
11:39 pm
“Given their large African-American constituencies, neither Lewis nor Johnson has anything to fear from being photographed at Obama’s side.”
Can you imagine an AJC writer saying “given their large European-American constituencies, neither Tom Price nor Gingrey has anything to fear from being photographed at Bush’s side”….LMAO…its really funny how the press allows that blacks vote strickly along racial lines…and that’s OK with them.
Left in the South
July 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
Tony Repugs still had total at least 4 years of total control.
I guess you can’t count either ……Obama has only been in office for 1yr and 6 months.
As to immigration I guess your an American Indian and truly are the only one who belongs here.
Tony
July 31st, 2010
11:47 pm
jonica gay, bigotry has nothing to do with it.
Obama is a sorry President and would be that way even if he was white, just as George Bush would have been if he were black.
As far as the illegals go, they are just that, ILLEGAL. Wanting them gone is not bigotry. I have no problem with anybody coming here and making a living, as long as they are here LEGALLY, either applying for citizenship or having a green card and paying taxes and SS just like me. These people that leach off the rest of us are not only a slap in our face, but a slap in the face of all the immigrants who ARE here legally.
Anytime anybody has anything bad to say about our current Socialist President, the race card is played. “You all are only against him because he’s black…” There’s your bigotry right there.
Tony
August 1st, 2010
12:00 am
Left, I can tell you know you are on the losing side of the argument now….making snide remarks about my ability to count, and quibbling about a few months more or less that Obama has been in office…..the Dems have been in office since 2007 and the only thing Pelosi and gang have accomplished is to balloon the deficit to record levels and put the national debt to a point where our great great grandchildren will be paying on it. Oh yes, and buy, cajole, and ramrod through a healthcare bill that they EXEMPTED themselves from,,,,,gotta wonder about that.
You still have no answer on Iraq or Afghanistan. If Bush could get us in so easily, why can’t the “Messiah” get us out? Just asking.
Illegal immigrants do not belong here. They are just that, ILLEGAL. If they want to come here then there are plenty of legal ways to do it, but they choose not to, and our Federal government, who is headed by the current President, CHOOSES NOT to do anything about it.
Gitmo? Still didn’t answer me on that other than to say “Bush put us there.” Well, if it was so easy for Bush to “put us there” why can’t your “Messiah” get us out just as easily? Isn’t that where a lot of the “war crimes” you speak of were committed? Why would your champion leave it open? Can’t he issue and executive order closing it down?
Go ahead, pick out something trivial such as a misspelled word or an arithmetical error in my post to hit me with. That seems to be all you have in your arsenal. And it isn’t much.
calvinb
August 1st, 2010
12:11 am
Did I read this right Governor Sonny Purdue will respect the POTUS and meet him. KillJoy Roy will go to the Segergated Prom in Butler, Ga.
Well Gee Jolly Whiz. Well Mr. Governor Purdue whoever you endorse in the Republican Party is who we are going to vote for(as long as its Mr. Deal).
Now, will the AJC write a couple of articles about the Senatorial race. Issakson is in trouble. MICHAEL THURMOND WILL BE THE NEXT JUNIOR SENATOR FROM THE GREAT STATE OF GEORGIA!!!
Lynn Westmoreland’s Phone Poll.
1. Do you support Obama Care?
2. Do you support the 2nd Amendment?
3. Do you think marriage is between a man and a woman?
There were a couple of other asinine questions like that. But I can’t remember them, but you get the picture. Just like the AJC poll of Pres. Obama 37% approval rating. You must had polled just yourselves, because we all know his approvals are much higher than that. Since we are 50% of the vote now. We will exercise our VOTE!!
HANDS THAT ONCE PICKED COTTON, NOW WILL PICK WHOM WE PLEASE!!!
Well, whoever shows up to meet our President, I am sure you presence will be greatly noted. Disappointed, if not surprised by the absence of John Lewis.
calvinb
August 1st, 2010
12:25 am
Hey Progressive Democrats don’t fuss with the Silly repbucli-Ants who have been robbing you all these years. They get their Sixteen Pieces of Silver, War Monger all over the World and get our youth killed and maimed. ]
Then the threw us out of work, trying to ruin the economy so that the public will blame Pres. Obama.
REPUBLIC-ANTS Stick the head of the Butts of Wall Street, and the Rich & Powerful begging for their Welfare Checks, and call anyone who might disagree with them SOCIALIST and worse.
Now they are crying for another TAX CUT for the Rich while they just sit on the money and watch you and me suffer.
Then on top of all they bring about how Solidly “CONSERVATIVE” the South remains. Yeah, Right. We will find out come November!!
No Longer Republican
August 1st, 2010
12:27 am
It really baffles me how some people get sooooooooooooo stupid. Keith Helms and those who agree with his idiotic post are simply that…idiots!!!! Makes me wonder what happened to them to be so friggin stupid.
And Jaunita and the others who say they won’t vote for Barnes because of him not appearing with our President…shame. We have had eight years total idiocracy from the do-noting but build me a fishing hole Sonny Perdue, and if we don’t elect Barnes we get Perdue’s hand picked choice karen Handel or the crook of the Georgia congressional delegation for 18 years Nathan Deal. My God people WAKE UP! Do you not see what 8 years of Republican rule in this state has done???? Are you just mindless and follow what the right wing bloggers and tv pundits say? We have millions to build a fishin hole for Sonny, but we are cutting the school year, increasing class sizes, laying off teachers, charging kids to ride a school bus because we have no money. YET YOU STUPID PEOPLE will still vote for a Republican because your dumb ass preacher who has no college education told you to. I love my home state of Georgia, but I see it quickly fading to be worse than Mississippi or Alabama when it comes to backwardness, Please wake up people!!!
Robert
August 1st, 2010
12:38 am
Pres. Obama still has my vote. This man cant turn things around in a short time give him time. Bush mess this thing up for eight years.
Left in the South
August 1st, 2010
12:48 am
Amen No Longer Republican
Tony I give up you are an f’ng idiot.
As long as Sarah, Rand, Joe Barton (God bless BP), Michelle Bachman and Gov of Arizona keep making headlines Dems will win/
Wow did the Repugs just vote against small bus tax break….wtf….
What’s that Mel Gibson just joined the Repugs!
Call IT
August 1st, 2010
1:33 am
Who cares?
No one wants to hear the Socialist Racist speak as it will not be from the heart!
Barry is done in 2012!
Enough Said!
julia
August 1st, 2010
1:45 am
Why in the hell is he speaking at the Disabled Veterans of America convention? They should have run his off long ago
Garry Owen
August 1st, 2010
2:31 am
Don’t you just love it when the Dems complain about the Republicans not supporting the legislation the Dems put forth? Maybe if the Dems would stop putting sneaky legislation as a rider on major bills the Dems could get more Republican support. And by the way – in 2014 when you are trying to see a doctor call your Democratic member of Congress and see how his/her health plan is working, you know the one us common citizens can not have!
Tony
August 1st, 2010
3:30 am
Well, I can see Left finally ran out of ammo. Never answered me on Iraq, Afghanistan, or gave me a reason why the “messiah” couldn’t close Gitmo either……I guess he loves supporting ILLEGAL aliens with his taxes, that is, if he EVEN pays taxes, he//, he might even be one. Couldn’t explain why the Dems in Congress EXEMPTED themselves from THEIR own healthcare plan but forced it down our throats. No, all he could come up with was “You’re a f—ng idiot.”
Yep, typical lib response. And that’s why they’re in for a beating come November. And in his commie heart I believe he knows that.
Georgia Pete
August 1st, 2010
4:37 am
YOU MORONS WHO DON’T KNOW ENGLISH….GET THIS. tHERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS DISRESPECTED. YOU DON’T DISRESPECT SOME ONE. YOU SHOW DISRESPECT. YOU SHOW YOUR IDIOCY WHEN YOU SAY “THEY DISREXPECTED HIM” WHEN YOU SHOULD BE SAYING THEY SHOWED HIM DISRESPECT. ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO SAY THAT. AND N O, NOT A RACIST. JUST TIRED OF PEOPLE TRYING TO ACT INTELLIGENT BUT CAN’T SEEM TO GRASP SIMPLE PROPER ENGLISH USAGE. IDIOTS!
HCo
August 1st, 2010
4:58 am
I think Obama is doing a good job. He is facing extraordinary challenges and trying to do what he thinks is good for the country. He realizes most folks in Georgia do not agree with him. He is just here to speak to the veterans. We should be asking what his policies are for veterans and whether they are better or worse than in years past. An article on who is meeting him at the airport is really useless.
calvinb
August 1st, 2010
5:24 am
Mark Shields: GOP playing dangerous game
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Mike Murphy, the successful and shrewd Republican media strategist, is a heretic within his own party. Sensitive to the near-universal reverence Republicans of all ages pay to the legacy and presidency of Ronald Reagan, Murphy bluntly warns his fellow GOPers that — given the profound, and continuing, demographic changes over the past three decades — Ronald Reagan would have a tough time beating Jimmy Carter today.
Consider this reality. In his 1980 race against President Carter, when Gov. Reagan won 56 percent of the nation’s white vote, whites comprised 88 percent of the total national electorate. Simply stated, Reagan’s 1980 share of the white vote alone constituted 49.3 percent of all voters. This meant that for the Gipper to achieve his overall 51 percent majority he simply had to earn the support of one out of seven non-white voters — which is what he did.
But by 2008, enormous changes were taking place. The white share of the national vote had fallen to 74 percent. So Reagan’s 56 percent share of that group would have translated into just 41.2 percent of all voters. Demographic shifts, by themselves, would have subtracted more than 8 percentage points from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 victory margin.
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Mike Murphy uses facts such as these as a reminder that nobody can live in the past and succeed politically. Having worked for a couple of dozen Republican candidates — including John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger — Murphy has real credibility when he warns his party that anti-immigrant rhetoric of the variety heard from — mostly losing — Republican candidates in 2008 and 2010 could doom the party of Abraham Lincoln and Reagan to permanent minority status.
Consider California, where Murphy now lives. In 2008, whites were just 63 percent of the total state vote. African-American, Latino, Asian and other totaled 37 percent. By Murphy’s calculations, unless Republicans can dramatically improve their following among those groups of voters (whom Barack Obama carried collectively by more than 75 percent), Republican candidates will be required to win a minimum two out of three California white votes in order to win a statewide election. In 2008, John McCain received 46 percent of the votes of white Californians.
California is a case study of what can happen. Between 1948 and 1992, the Republicans carried the Golden State in every presidential election — except for LBJ’s 1964 landslide. But since then, the Democrats have carried California in five consecutive presidential elections. In a reminder of political consequences, Republicans should remember that Pete Wilson used menacing TV spots featuring footage of illegal immigrants to win re-election while endorsing Proposition 187, which banned undocumented immigrants from receiving public services, including public education or medical care.
As 2008 could very well turn out, that 1994 campaign provided a short-term political advantage to Wilson and the GOP. But two years later, two committed civil-rights Republicans on the national ticket, Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, won barely one out of five Latino votes in California, while losing the state. Since Proposition 187, no California Republican has won a U.S. Senate race.
Even more alarming for Republicans, the white share of the overall U.S. population is predicted by Census projections to drop to 60 percent by 2020. Another cautionary note: The lion’s share of the Latino growth over the next generation will not come from immigration but rather from the children of past immigrants who already live here.
In fact, Democratic pollster Peter Hart predicts that Texas — the reddest Republican of the nation’s big states — will, because of its fast-growing Hispanic population, by 2024 — just four presidential elections away — have become a Democratic blue state.
Over the remaining three and a half months of the 2010 campaign, the future competitiveness of the Republican Party nationally may well hinge on whether GOP candidates can resist in these difficult economic times the cheap demagoguery of immigrant-blaming and instead seek common cause with the new and ever-changing American electorate.
Mark Shields, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA, 90045.
Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2010/07/24/1204761/gop-playing-dangerous-game.html#ixzz0vLQfyLv6