Your morning jolt: Tea party challenges that didn’t happen
In politics, the only thing more dangerous than throwing a spear at the king and missing is declaring that you intend to throw the spear – then failing to do so.
This spring, a new coalition of conservative groups called the Peach Tea Party declared that it would target 16 House Republicans and the chamber’s sole independent for their votes against HB 954, a bill to shorten the period during which a woman can seek an abortion, and another measure to eliminate discrimination in public hiring by sexual orientation or gender identity.
Of those 17 targeted, only four ended up with Republican opposition last week:
– Incumbent Republican Amos Amerson of Dahlonega retired. Three Republicans and one Democrat will try to replace him;
– Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, no opposition;
– Mickey Channell, R-Greensboro, no opposition;
– Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, has no opposition;
– Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, no opposition;
– Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, picked up no GOP opposition, but has a Democratic opponent, 65-year-old Sandy Murray;
– Judy Manning, R-Marietta, 69, will be challenged in the GOP primary by 33-year-old Charles Gregory;
– Don Parsons, R-Marietta, 64, has a GOP primary challenge from JoEllen Smith, 52-year-old executive with an education company.
– Jay Powell, R-Camilla, attracted no GOP opposition, but one Democratic opponent, Jewell Howard of Baconton;
– Chuck Sims, R-Douglas, will face Republican Darwin Carter, a 72-year-old farmer;
– Kip Smith, R-Columbus, is being challenged by Republican John Pezold – but Pezold announced his entrance into the contest long before the Peach Tea Party produced its hit list;
– Richard Smith, R-Columbus, no opposition;
– Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, no GOP opposition, but one Democratic opponent, 23-year-old Lauren Craddock;
– Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, no opposition;
– Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, no opposition;
– Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, no opposition;
– and Rusty Kidd of Milledgeville, the House’s only independent member, won’t be allowed to qualify until July. But no Republican signed up to run against him – only Democrat Quentin Howell.
***
As Memorial Day weekend began, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers found himself explaining his previous occupation as a sports handicapper. Read the original piece by David Michaels and Atlanta Unfiltered here. From Channel 2 Action News:
Rogers faces Republican challenger Brandon Beach in the July 31 primary.
***
Over at the Athens Banner-Herald, Blake Aued notes that despite their outrage over state Rep. Doug McKillip’s switch to the Republican side of the aisle, Democrats were unable to find anyone to run against him:
“The reality of the situation is that, by betraying the Democratic Party and turning his back on the people who elected him, he bought himself a friend in (House Speaker) David Ralston,” former Clarke County Democratic Committee Chairman Bill Overend said. “He was able to draw himself a district, frankly, to the detriment of (state Rep.) Chuck Williams and Oconee County, that is very conservative.”
***
The decision by Hunter Bicknell to seek another term as chairman of the Jackson County Commission, rather than qualify as a candidate in the 9th District congressional race, changes the outlook for frontrunners Doug Collins and Martha Zoller, both of Gainesville.
A third candidate, Roger Fitzpatrick, remains in the July 31 race, but the odds of winning the seat without an expensive runoff contest have risen considerably.
***
Copy editors beware. We now have two Rick Allens in two separate Republican contests for Congress. In the 2nd District, Rick Allen of Columbus, the 61-year-old president of a medical supply company, is one of three Republicans out to challenge Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop of Albany.
In the 12th District, Rick W. Allen, a 60-year-old general contractor from Augusta, is one of four Republicans seeking the honor of doing battle with Democratic incumbent John Barrow, also of Augusta.
***
James Richardson at Georgia Tipsheet has been doing a fine job of tracking party-switchers at the grassroots in Georgia. Among them: Eight Bleckley County office-holders filed for reelection Wednesday as Republicans. Only the county surveyor remains a Democrat.
***
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said last week that he’ll vote for the transportation sales tax on July 31, but his Republican colleague Tom Price is less sure. From the Marietta Daily Journal:
“I honestly don’t know. When I was at the state level, I fought to make it so that we could try to get some regional decisions made in transportation that were truly addressing the areas of congestion. One of the things that we did was to make certain that the tolls on 400 were used for 400 instead of sent around the state. It’s clear that we need some transportation solutions and expansion of capacity in the metropolitan area. I’m not certain that this bill was the right way to go at it. I didn’t have a hand in it at all obviously because it was at the state level.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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87 comments Add your comment
DJ Sniper
May 29th, 2012
1:33 pm
Once again, td thinks that every woman who gets an abortion or is thinking of getting one does so simply because of irresponsible behavior.
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:33 pm
@ Good Grief
I don’t agree with abortion, but I understand that outlawing makes it unsafe for everyone
Well said. I could not agree more. This also happens to be the view of the majority of Americans.
Look before I leap...
May 29th, 2012
1:34 pm
“No if you really want to be technical it is doing away with a law currently on the books.”
Except that is not what is being proposed.
And the end result is the government is inserting itself into a medical decision between a woman and her health care provider where it currently has no place.
But keep up the argument. It amuses me.
BitterEXdemocrackkk
May 29th, 2012
1:34 pm
STRIVE to be SMARTER than the EVIL CORRUPT and CRIMINAL democrackkks* WANT you to BE,
ALWAYS!!!
*spelled with 3 Ks to honor and characterize the historically violent history of the real party of SLAVERY…
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:36 pm
“Those women deserve the consequences they receive for not being responsible in the first place”
Consequences? Children are not consequences.
td
May 29th, 2012
1:36 pm
If you libs in your 30’s and 40’s want to know why there will not be enough money to pay your social security when you get to retirement age then you have to look no further then the 50 million abortions preformed since 1973.
Look before I leap...
May 29th, 2012
1:37 pm
They currently have the right to take another human beings life that others do not have so that is not an equal right but an extraordinary right and yes women should not have the right to take another human beings life.
By your definition of “human being”.
Not everyone agrees with your definition.
td
May 29th, 2012
1:39 pm
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:36 pm
“Consequences? Children are not consequences”
Children are consequences to two peoples actions (sometimes planned and sometimes unplanned). Every action an individuals takes in life has consequences attached to them and every individual should think about those consequences and be responsible for them when they take an action.
td
May 29th, 2012
1:43 pm
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:33 pm
@ Good Grief
“Well said. I could not agree more. This also happens to be the view of the majority of Americans”
I do not think you are correct. This is the reason the Obama administration is not pulling out the old abortion argument this year and would rather divide by the contraception propaganda.
Jim Galloway is still here? hahahaha
May 29th, 2012
1:46 pm
He can’t write.
GaBlue
May 29th, 2012
1:49 pm
td,
It doesn’t matter how many bullies you misogynist control freaks deploy. You’re not stuffing womankind back underneath your thumbs. Not in THIS country! Not even in Georgia. That y’all keep trying just shows us how little you really care about other human beings. That y’all keep bullying just shows us how much more direct and retaliatory our responses need to be.
You dare to preach “Freedom” and then except us? Yeah. Keep imagining that happy ending. It’s likely your imagination is the best thing going in your reality anyway. Bless your heart.
td
May 29th, 2012
1:51 pm
I guess you libs support this as well since it is a woman’s choice.
“Live Action says Planned Parenthood and other U.S. abortion providers are willing to assist in the termination of baby girls for pregnant women who choose abortion because they want to have baby boys.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/29/pro-life-groups-hidden-camera-footage-shows-complicity-in-sex-selective-abortions/#ixzz1wHYfKoEL
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/29/pro-life-groups-hidden-camera-footage-shows-complicity-in-sex-selective-abortions/
td
May 29th, 2012
1:55 pm
GaBlue
May 29th, 2012
1:49 pm
Another BS war on women argument. Supporting human life has nothing to do with controlling woman. Woman have about three choices they can make before abortion that will result in them not getting pregnant. (Abstinence, birth control and morning after pill). This argument that it is controlling if they do not take responsibility three times is total BS.
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:55 pm
I do not think you are correct. This is the reason the Obama administration is not pulling out the old abortion argument this year and would rather divide by the contraception propaganda.
Since every major poll on the issue has validated this over the past few years I am pretty sure I am correct. There was a new one released a couple of weeks ago. The number of personally pro-life individuals has increased, still a solid majority of Americans around 60% are against outlawing all abortions.
As far a dividing with the contraception issues, its an issue that the women voters (Conservative and Liberal) I know care about.
zeke
May 29th, 2012
1:58 pm
you can’t pay into social security if you don’t have a job td; can you imagine what unemployment rate would be if there 50 million more folks since 1973. guess the republicans would want to go to war with everyone since we would have all these disposables in their view. and bitterexdem has got to be a real genius for blaming the democrat party to be the party of kkk. maybe 100 years ago and to some degree more recent in south, but to claim the repubs are the champios of civil rights is hilarious. they do there best to make sure minorities have trouble voting. i know we are supposed to be polite, but you sir are an ignoramus. wonder which side harbours birthers?
DJ Sniper
May 29th, 2012
1:58 pm
How in the hell did td make a connection between Social Security and the number of abortions performed since 1973?????
GoodGrief, I agree with your earlier post. I have no problem with a message of abstinence, but it needs to go hand in hand with comprehensive sex education.
WOW
May 29th, 2012
1:59 pm
TD:
Consider your source on that story.
Auntie Christ
May 29th, 2012
2:04 pm
I’m a good Tpartying conservative and I believe the following:
I believe in personal responsibility, except when a corporation dumps a poisonous, or lethal product onto the public, Then, I think tort reform is in order, and we shouldn’t be able to recover damages when our children die from cancers or injuries caused by said corporation’s neglect.
I demand the unborn must be protected, but you should hear me cheer when I see shock and awe brought down on living, breathing Arab children.
If my taxes are going to programs that I don’t agree with, I’m gonna protest mightily. But you liberals protesting about your tax dollars being spent on misbegotten, unnecessary wars have no right to question the DOD’s decisions, and you are not good red blooded patriotic Americans.
I believe in ’small’ government, that stays out of my business. However if you are a pregnant female, or a homosexual, or want to relax in your living room with anything other than alcohol (which btw is not a drug, only the substances those hippies use are drugs) you should be subject to the full force of the law scumbag.
It is not the government’s place to help you stay alive, however the government does have the right to kill you any time it likes. Guilt or innocence may or may not be a factor, depending on your nationality, sexual orientation, and/or skin color.
I love America, but I hate most Americans. But I also honor great Americans like RE Lee, Jeff Davis and Stonewall Jax.
I boast of and honor my “Southern Heritage.” Just because it is rife with murder, rape, lynchings, slavery and a 100 other offenses to humanity doesn’t make me ashamed one bit.
I hope this clears things up for you misguided liberals.
BIg Hat
May 29th, 2012
2:06 pm
Buy stock in coat hanger factories; sales are bound to go up thanks to HB 954.
Road Scholar
May 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
What if there was a “whining” tax? We could drop the income tax in this state!
td: You don’t have to have an abortion,don’t have one. But others may want/need one. Stop inflicting your moral and religious rules on others. I respect your opinion, because it is just that…an opinion.
Kris T
May 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
If we do not stop the idiots GOP next they will be telling our doctor’s which end to take our temperature or how far to put the digit. VOTE THE GOP OUT. while we can.
zeke
May 29th, 2012
2:14 pm
another blithering idiot, auntie christie, to say that DOD cannot be challenged. maybe for a soldier, but citizens?
zeke
May 29th, 2012
2:16 pm
i meant to add, hope he is just being sarcastic
Don
May 29th, 2012
2:23 pm
So the TEA party doesn’t care about taxes? It’s all about social issues?
Kris T.
May 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
The tea party (TPI tea party idiots) only care for their personal agenda nothing else period.
td
May 29th, 2012
2:40 pm
Kris T.
May 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
The tea party (TPI tea party idiots) only care for their personal agenda nothing else period.
And what is this personal agenda? Lowing taxes, more responsible government? Is this not the wish of every American?
deb
May 29th, 2012
3:31 pm
The tea-peeps didn’t make a peep when gw was running this Country into the ditch.
Refugee from the "Sahara of the Bozart" (Thank God and H.L. Mencken We Escaped)
May 29th, 2012
3:37 pm
Thanks, Auntie Christ. I fear for the few sensible voices in Dikkksie.
There is much greater danger for the sentient than most believe. Especially the young and idealistic should bail immediately, as a sea of trouble is rapidly rising, while all the idiots rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Bobby
May 29th, 2012
3:41 pm
Poor TD wants less government except when it affects his rights. Other than that he want’s more laws to tell women what to do with their bodies; more laws to tell gays who the can and cannot marry. If TD doesn’t want a woman to have an abortion, he shouldn’t make her pregnant.
Auntie Christ
May 29th, 2012
3:52 pm
One of the t buggers asked: And what is this personal agenda? Lowing taxes, more responsible government? Is this not the wish of every American?
Short answer, no. Responsible Americans want to pass on to our children the things that made this country great, contrary to the t baggin wish to turn our nation into a third world entity. These people didn’t mind ‘big government’ and the Departments of Education when they were getting their education, they didn’t protest ‘big government’ and the Departments of Health when they were eradicating the scourges of polio and small pox in their youth, they didn’t protest ‘big government’ when the Interstate highway system, bridges, sewers, water systems, the telecommunications network and all other infrastructure was being built, which brought the prosperity they enjoy today. Today these beneficiaries of so-called ‘big government’ suddenly don’t need government, i.e. they don’t want to pay for what they have enjoyed. They want a society where charter schools are the norm, attended by the privileged, while public schools starve. They want a society free of unions, disregarding the fact that their overtime pay, vacation days, sick days, 40 hour work weeks and every other progressive measure in worker compensation is a direct result of union activity. They want a society free of regulation, disregarding the fact that the stock and commodity markets are reminiscent of mob controlled casinos, where suckers lose their money without recourse. But of course they will be the first to scream about the incompetent ‘big government’ when their child doesn’t learn, or emergency responders don’t show up immediately, or bridges fall down, as a result of their austerity demands.
Had it not been for FDR and his ‘big government’ policies we would have become a third world nation 80 years ago and s td and other ‘libertarians’ protesting ‘big government’ would never have been born, their parents would have gone uneducated and starving dying of childhood diseases, and living in filth while 2-3% of the populace lived like royalty. Never mind that this country saw its greatest period of prosperity with tax rates triple what they are now, they will try to convince you that donald trump and paris hilton’s taxes being kept low are the real keys to prosperity. If the t buggers had any vision or sense of history, or any sense period, they would see that their advocacy of no taxes, union busting, and austerity are leading to the downfall of a great nation.
td
May 29th, 2012
4:08 pm
no more republicans
bud
May 29th, 2012
4:14 pm
cons do it with the lights off.
td
May 29th, 2012
4:44 pm
Auntie Christ
May 29th, 2012
3:52 pm
There is go with the BS no government argument of the Tea Party. Please provide us some proof that a tea party person has EVER said they want no government? The Tea parties position is about responsible government.
How many people need to be on government assistance to say that the government is doing its job and protecting people? How much of our GDP needs to go to the government to take care of the people?
This is a debate about the role and need for government. No Tea Party person has ever said that government is not needed or the we need to become a third world nation.
Bill from Atlanta
May 29th, 2012
5:14 pm
Auntie Christ what are you talking about????
FDR and IKE did more to destroy private mass transportation in this country than anybody!! FDRs administration had communists influencing the new deal programs that you applaude. Ikes administration sold the Chinese out to Chairman Mao and it was RED AMERICANS that was instrumental in creating Communist China. Your sense of history is completely warped to the left!! FREE ENTERPRISE without government inteference is the only way to honest prosperity. Anything else is false or inviduals with incestuous relations to politicians ex-TSPLOST. All the things you credit FDR for accomplishing could have been done more efficiently and quicker by the private sector. It was FDRs policies then like Obamas now that prevented the US economy from recovering.
Auntie Christ
May 29th, 2012
6:51 pm
How’s the weather there in 1950, Bill? Must be tough with all the ‘reds’ and communists running around selling out America. You and ole joe mccarthy need to ferret them out and get that black list started. I hear Lucille Ball is ready to name names and give you all those Hollywood types that are corrupting the youth there in 1950.
As for free enterprise unrestrained by any government interference, I’m glad you’re all for it. I’m thinking about opening a 24 hour strip club right next to your church. Thankfully you will go with me to the zoning folks and we’ll explain how we don’t want any interference like zoning regs impeding my free enterprise endeavor. I’m also counting on you to stand with me as I dump by product from my industrial farm,ie acids, pesticides, and raw sewage into the creek near your house. We’ve got a real fight on our hands with that annoying EPA, but with your help we can defeat the big government types.
I’m hoping you’ll go to court with me to defend against a few lawsuits I’m facing. Just because those kiddie pajamas I manufactured and sold had carcinogens woven in, shouldn’t mean I can’t sell them. That medicine I sold to cancer patients and guaranteed it would work, should do the trick in a few years, so I shouldn’t have to face lawsuits for recklessness or fraud, that just impedes free enterprise. Any attempt by some government agency to stifle my free enterprise rights must be met with vigilance on our part. So glad you stand with me. NO GOVERNMENT TRAMPLING ON FREE ENTERPRISE!!
Auntie Christ
May 29th, 2012
7:01 pm
td: There is go with the BS no government argument of the Tea Party. Please provide us some proof that a tea party person has EVER said they want no government?
Please provide proof that I ever said t party wants no government.
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