Saxby Chambliss: ‘I care more about the country than a 20-year-old anti-tax pledge’
As the nation began to shut down for Thanksgiving Day, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss tackled that anti-tax increase pledge he once signed – the one pushed by Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform. From 13WMAZ in Macon:
From the TV station’s website:
“I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” Chambliss says. “If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.”
….Does Chambliss think Norquist will hold the anti-tax pledge against him during his next re-election bid in 2014? Yes.
“But I don’t worry about that because I care too much about my country. I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist,” Chambliss says.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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151 comments Add your comment
professional skeptic
November 22nd, 2012
10:30 am
Amazing. Never thought I’d see the day that a Republican politician from GA would come to his senses like this. We elect our leaders to pledge allegiance to America– not smarmy, entitled, self-important, power hungry opportunists like Grover Norquist.
That’s one Georgia Republican to see the light, and a whole mess to go. I am thankful for small steps like this
AMAZED
November 22nd, 2012
10:37 am
Sanity comes back to the GOP.
Thanks Saxby.
Burroughston Broch
November 22nd, 2012
10:41 am
Saxby, plan on being retired by the voters in 2014.
Dave
November 22nd, 2012
10:42 am
Good for Saxby. A couple hundred more conversations and perhaps rationality will return to Washington, D.C.
yuzeyurbrane
November 22nd, 2012
10:53 am
I have never voted for Saxby. I find many of the criticisms of him to be accurate. He was elected by one of the dirtiest negative campaigns in American history. He carried the water for W and plentiful special interests. He is lazy and out of touch with your average Georgian. He is ultra-conservative on almost all issues. If the Democrats come up with a credible opponent I will vote for them. Yet, now and in recent years he has acted like a statesman on fiscal issues. I applaud him for that and for that he far outshines any of the petty alternative universe Republicans who have been mentioned as possibly challenging him in the Republican Primary. It is up to the Republicans to clean their own house but I have enough reasonable Republican friends to hope that Saxby will be chosen to continue as Senator.
Gritz Blitz
November 22nd, 2012
11:01 am
Senators are supposed to represent their states. This country would be better off if the election of our senators was returned to our state legislators. Zell Miller was correct when he said our founding fathers had it correct in the beginning. Repeal the 17th amendment.
Dennis
November 22nd, 2012
11:12 am
Saxby needn’t think that one correct act will absolve him from all the rest of his political career.
The man has been nothing but a political sell-out to corporate interests over what is best for the American people.
And a shill for the intelligence agencies who have broken, and still are doing so, all kinds of laws in order to spy on average American citizens.
Church of the painful Truth
November 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
Tell me one thing that Saxby has done for Georgia.One bill or funding that has improved the lives of everone who lives in Georgia.Time to retire Sax.Happy Thanksgiving but it is your time to go home.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
November 22nd, 2012
11:27 am
Good for Saxby. Bless his heart. Now if a few Republicans in the House will do the same. Dems picked up more seats in close contests where results were in doubt. Just need a few lame duck GOP Reps to do what is best for country and not what some unelected bozo tells them.
Auntie Christ
November 22nd, 2012
11:46 am
This is just like the life-long criminal who is about to be sentenced to 30 years hard labor and claims he has ‘found jesus.’ This life-long opportunist sees the writing on the wall for beloved gooper party and after a life of putting party before country, he suddenly ‘finds jesus,’ and tells us he that the country is more important than party. What will come as a shock to this bozo is that his sudden conversion will mean nothing to his detractors, who wouldn’t vote for him at the point of a gun, but it will matter deeply to his one-time supporters who will finally see him for what he is, a sell-out and opportunist, who will say or do anything to stay in office.
Rafe Hollister
November 22nd, 2012
12:19 pm
Gritz Blitz is correct, the 17th Amendment was the death knell for states rights. The states have no representation in WA.
I think we need more revenue and should focus on the problem rather than the symptoms. If Obama had put as much emphasis on growing the economy as he had on health care and social justice, the economy would have fixed most of our problems Again, we attack the symptoms of a stalled economy. The tax revenue, Ole Sax is talking about is just going to be wasted on more government spending, so what is the point. Dedicate it to the national debt and I will sign on.
Elder Ray
November 22nd, 2012
12:21 pm
Such is the state of career politicians: comparing themselves to another citizen who has an alternative opinion. Such is the joke of those in the Washington power plant.
MiltonMan
November 22nd, 2012
12:21 pm
“That’s one Georgia Republican to see the light, and a whole mess to go. I am thankful for small steps like this”
…and yet there is zero dems in this state who have came to their senses and will be able to defeat Saxby or the GOP candidate.
BehindEnemyLines
November 22nd, 2012
12:21 pm
Good ol’ Sellout Sax, determined to take the country down in flames along with his political career. Can’t get this vile excuse for a RINO out of office fast enough, he’s reached the point of being worse than useless.
MiltonMan
November 22nd, 2012
12:24 pm
“The man has been nothing but a political sell-out to corporate interests over what is best for the American people.”
The lib morons who think that Saxby represents the American people must be graduates from the APS system. He represents the residents of GA.
political arsonist
November 22nd, 2012
12:47 pm
saxby has shown brief moments of lucidity in his older years, but his team’s time is over and its time for him to retire to south ga
Democrat Seeking to Work With the Former "Big Tent" GOP
November 22nd, 2012
1:09 pm
If moderates in the Republican Party are called RINO’s, they
should wear the title with honor. The Republican Party should
be inclusive enough to build coalitions. Senator Saxby Chambliss
knows the consequences of not dealing with the ” Fiscal Cliff”
problem.The GOP needs to move away from the desire to seek
ideological purity from elected officials on every issue. People
derisively use the term RINO, but beware of the GOP LEOPARD
(LEOPARD = Lose Elections On Presidency After Rejecting Dissent).
No political party is always right, and ethical, logical, and reasoned
dissent is critical to building a stronger party and a nation.
Chris P
November 22nd, 2012
1:29 pm
I recently moved down here to Georgia but I’d like to tell the good Senator that if you want to return to fiscal sanity you start by reducing waste and getting rid of legislation that inhibits business growth. Until these good folks in Washington learn to live within their means and can begin to reduce the debt I’m afraid that any tax increase will only be spent on some frivilous program.
Finally
November 22nd, 2012
1:29 pm
Now if we can only find a Democrat that will agree to REDUCE FEDERAL SPENDING (not reduce the rate of increase, reduce actual spending)? Then we’ll have two smart people as politicians.
Joseph Wilson
November 22nd, 2012
1:42 pm
Raising the top marginal rates in the first term of President Bill Clinton resulted in eight years of peace and prosperity. George W. Bush gave huge taxes cuts to the rich, fought two wars on the credit card (emergency spending), and crashed the economy. Bill was out there campaigning every day for Obama’s re-election. W.’s picture appeared on milk cartons as missing. Republicans lost the election and cannot continue to drive it over the cliff.
techengineer
November 22nd, 2012
1:56 pm
Chambliss is nothing but another big gov’t liberal neo-con!
No amount of American blood and treasure wasted in the Middle East is enough for Chambliss and the Neo-Cons.. They love to piss away our money in that damn desert for their masters in the Middle East..
Tychus Findlay
November 22nd, 2012
2:02 pm
Here’s a thought- if you voluntarily accept benefits from the State/Fed, you voluntarily give up your right to vote until the aforementioned status is reversed. If you don’t have skin in the game, you don’t get to play.
burntgrassroot
November 22nd, 2012
2:19 pm
Happy,safe and blessed Thanksgiving, all! I’m grateful that Sen. Chambliss has stated his patriotism, and I’m hopeful that he will build a bipartisan consensus among his colleagues in re-prioritizing their function while in Congress.
Apropos of Sen. Chambliss’s remark, here’s an excerpt from President Lincoln’s 10/3/1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation: I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
l jones
November 22nd, 2012
2:40 pm
I hope this is the beginning of the end of Grover Norquist’s influence on the Republican Party. But I doubt it. Grover will find an obedient robot to run against Chambliss. Georgia’s voters are predominantly morons who will do as Fox News and Rush tell them to do. Between our governors and our legislators, Georgia keeps falling further and further behind while the politicians and their business partners and contributors get richer and richer.
CC
November 22nd, 2012
2:50 pm
NO federal retirement for presidents, senators or congressmen. Such terms in office are a service to your country, not a career. You may avail yourself of Social Security just like all other Americans.
NO special health insurance or treatment for presidents, senators and congressmen. You must rely on Medicare or that very special insurance that had to be passed before anyone could know what was in the legislation.
NO acceptance of gifts, trips, vacations, property, stock or stock options or money from ANYONE by presidents, senators and congressmen.
ALL expense account information shall be made available monthly on the president, senators and congressmen and shall be published in all major newspapers and made available on the internet.
Have anything you’d like to add to this list?
Buford T Justice
November 22nd, 2012
2:50 pm
Oh Johnny where art thou?
CC
November 22nd, 2012
2:54 pm
Forgot to add that presidents, senators and congressman shall be subject to all laws, rules and regualtions that every American citizen must obey, and no laws shall be made by Congress exempting the federal elected officials from such laws, rules and regulations.
jay
November 22nd, 2012
3:06 pm
Boycott poppa johns, Denny’s, Macy’s and kid rock, screw them all.
Truth-O-Meter
November 22nd, 2012
3:06 pm
I, too, remember the ruthless campaign against Max Cleland. Just think if a Democrat ran a campaign like that against a John McCain. What an outcry there would be. I give the senator no points for stating what is the obvious__we need more revenue due to still needing to pay for two wars that were off budget. He has already revealed his character and I did not like what I saw. l can’t vote for him unless I see years of policy reversals and not just lip service.
AtlgreenwaveMark
November 22nd, 2012
3:25 pm
Hopefully this will be a seminal moment for previously intransigent GOP members and more will follow suit
Michele
November 22nd, 2012
3:44 pm
AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH! Senator Chambliss, you have risen astronomically in my eyes. It is high time that the Republican members of congress stand up for what is right, not just what is Republican. Thank You!
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
November 22nd, 2012
4:00 pm
Forgive me for being skeptical. WHEN did Saxby start caring so much about this country? I guess anyone can have a conversion but……….
Political Mongrel
November 22nd, 2012
4:47 pm
it’s way too early to say that sanity has returned to the GOP. A lot of them have doubled down again on the same tired baloney that brought the nation to this point, the same slander and lies, the same fundamental denials of reality. It’s great that many of them are jumping off the Nordquist Express like rats deserting a sinking ship, but there’s still a long way to go between Republican fantasies and the real world.
Hopper
November 22nd, 2012
4:58 pm
Thank you, Saxby. Never thought I’d witness this moment of fiscal sanity, but I appreciate your candor. Too bad unprincipled lightweights like Price and Graves don’t concur.
double
November 22nd, 2012
5:02 pm
Political Arsonist.Happy you said Saxby retire to South Ga.We got enough hipocrites in N Ga..Israel says mission accomplished.Hope this not a repeat.
fsaewfe
November 22nd, 2012
5:16 pm
‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Republicans.’
Habersham Dawg
November 22nd, 2012
5:26 pm
NO federal retirement for presidents, senators or congressmen. Such terms in office are a service to your country, not a career. You may avail yourself of Social Security just like all other Americans.
NO special health insurance or treatment for presidents, senators and congressmen. You must rely on Medicare or that very special insurance that had to be passed before anyone could know what was in the legislation.
NO acceptance of gifts, trips, vacations, property, stock or stock options or money from ANYONE by presidents, senators and congressmen.
ALL expense account information shall be made available monthly on the president, senators and congressmen and shall be published in all major newspapers and made available on the internet.
Have anything you’d like to add to this list?
________________________________________________________________________________
I would; no representative, senator or president will sign any loyalty oath, unless it is to the people of the United States of America.
rj
November 22nd, 2012
5:31 pm
I agree with professional skeptic. These extremists called tea party would rather see their country, state or local government fail than to use common sense. Monitor your local and state and national officials who use the no tax pledge as their reason to not have to think and use rational analysis. The Republican party has made such an effort to widen the tent they have brought in the extremists like the TP and Ron Paul groupies who love their agenda more than their country. BTW I am republican and I think we need to move more towards the center and away from the edges. If we learned nothing else from November 2012 (Paul Ryan selection) surely we learned that.
l jones
November 22nd, 2012
5:35 pm
Saxby Chambliss is still a piece of garbage. He portrayed Max Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran as unpatriotic because Cleland voted against a Patriot Act bill that punished federal employees. Fine to hate federal employees if you’re that stupid, but Chambliss got his Senate seat based on slander. Still, I hope more Republicans get tired of being Grover Norquist’s little yes men.
Not in the 47%
November 22nd, 2012
5:43 pm
I will not vote for anyone who considers raising taxes on those who already carry more than their fair share. Let sequestration come. At least we get some spending cuts and everyone pays more taxes. I am tired of Washington insiders who think the problem is us, when it is them and their spending habits. Come on Tom Price or Karen Handel. Take out this guy if he really thinks raising taxes is the fix this nation and its achievers need in this economy. That is insanity. The country may have voted for it by a slim margin, but it is not what we elect Republicans to do. I’ve always supported Saxby, but with this attitude–no more!
RAMZAD
November 22nd, 2012
5:46 pm
Chambliss is a realist. There are a few Republicans that are realist. Chris Christie is one of them.
Wasn’t he one of the Gang of Six who went against Republican orthodoxy by coming up
with budget proposal against Paul Ryan budget dogma.
Ralph Christian
November 22nd, 2012
5:56 pm
I pledge allegiance to my country or to ????…
http://www.politicususa.com/norquist-pledge-signers-violate-constitution-removed-office.html
Coastal Dawg
November 22nd, 2012
6:18 pm
Thanks, Saxby. I was not going to vote for you or any other Republican who continued to stick with Norquist who has nothing to do with Georgia voters. I will now vote for you again.
Greg Camp
November 22nd, 2012
6:19 pm
Good for Saxby, getting more like Mark Warner by the day. Grover Norquist needs to be run OUT of DC ASAP. Norquist is a lobbyist, not like an elected official. The Tea Party, and the crazies that run it, were voted down in November. Maybe now, we can get things accomplished and the economy back on track.
ChiliDawg
November 22nd, 2012
6:30 pm
Good Move Saxby! Now let’s stop politicizing abortion and worrying about the time required to create the earth. The goal should be to save our nation, not fighting for lost cause social issues. Wake up America, You are surrending our country to the radical left. One more thing, I am so tired of hearing that a tax increase will impact small business owners who include business revenue and expenses on their personal tax returns. Are we not smart enough to identify these returns and not charge them a higher tax rate? People making over $250,000 should pay a higher tax rate. Damn, why couldn’t the Republican Elite including Romney come with this idea?
marc
November 22nd, 2012
6:33 pm
The GOP has about 2 or 3 national election cycles left…..then they go away for good..so it really doesn’t matter what Saxby says today. Yawn.
Cephas
November 22nd, 2012
6:38 pm
Good for Saxby, more people need to stick it in Norquist’s eye. Oh, BTW, getting blown up by your own grenade while drinking beer does not qualify one as a war hero.
Talk Is Cheap
November 22nd, 2012
6:39 pm
Senator Clarence Saxby Chambliss’s Voting Records
NAY – July 25, 2012 S 3412 Middle Class Tax Cut Act Bill Passed –
Senate (51 – 48)
NAY – July 19, 2012 S 3364 Bring Jobs Home Act Cloture Not Invoked –
Senate (56 – 42)
NAY – June 21, 2012 S Amdt 2310 Requires Labels on Foods with
Genetically Modified Ingredients Amendment Rejected – Senate (26 – 73)
NAY – June 21, 2012 S 3240 Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act
of 2012 Bill Passed – Senate (64 – 35)
YEA – June 19, 2012 S Amdt 2172 Rescinds Bonuses to States for Administering
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Amendment Rejected – Senate
(41 – 58)
YEA – June 19, 2012 S Amdt 2174 Limits Eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) Amendment Rejected – Senate (43 – 56)
NAY – June 5, 2012 S 3220 Paycheck Fairness Act Cloture Not Invoked – Senate
(52 – 47)
NAY – April 26, 2012 S 1925 Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women
Act Bill Passed – Senate (68 – 31)
NAY – April 16, 2012 S 2230 Establishes a Minimum 30 Percent Tax Rate
for High-Income Taxpayers Cloture Not Invoked – Senate (51 – 45)
NAY – Feb. 17, 2012 HR 3630 Extends Payroll Tax Cut Conference Report
Adopted – Senate (60 – 36)
NAY – Dec. 1, 2011 S 1931 Reduces Payroll Tax Rate Motion Rejected –
Senate (20 – 78)
joke on us
November 22nd, 2012
6:55 pm
couple things to think about
with Obamacare congress is exempt from it and now that the SC has ruled it a tax; shouldnt the members of congress be exposed to the same taxes every American has to pay? health spendig accounts have to be able to roll over year to year. if these health care exhanges are so great; congress should be required to get their insurance from them.
thats one of the topics the republicans should push first; obamacare is the law of the land and by god even congress should be responible enough to use it.
Libertylover
November 22nd, 2012
6:55 pm
Our economic crisis is caused by over-spending, not under-taxing. Saxby is one of those corporate politicos who set our house on fire and then demand we pay them more to put it out.
Good job, Saxby
November 22nd, 2012
7:13 pm
Quite a reasonable response from Saxby Chambliss. Senators are generally smarter about this stuff than Congressmen. That’s because they only run once every six years.
Harry Dawg
November 22nd, 2012
7:21 pm
I’ve voted for Saxby every time he has run for US Senate and have voted republican my entire career. For a republican to say he will move closer to the middle with the President and do what it takes, whatever that is, to avoid the fiscal cliff, I’m all in. This isn’t democrat v republican. This is meet in the middle and figure this out before we and our grandchildren all go down in flames.
Liz
November 22nd, 2012
7:24 pm
Finally, we have someone that is brave enough to openly to stop the insanity!!! We have something to be really thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving, Senator Chambliss.
Democrat Man
November 22nd, 2012
7:48 pm
Let’s seize all of the money from the rich!
woodstock mimi
November 22nd, 2012
7:55 pm
joke on us:
Congress is NOT exempt from the ACA.
SEC. 1312 [42 U.S.C. 18032]. CONSUMER CHOICE.
(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.— (i) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this sub- title, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are—
(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or
(II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).
(ii) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(I) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate.
(II) CONGRESSIONAL STAFF.—The term ‘‘congressional staff’’ means all full-time and part-time employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC.
CA
November 22nd, 2012
7:56 pm
Wow, I am someone who typically votes Democrat actually saying that I will very possibly vote for Saxby Chambliss. I always appreciate integrity over party politics.
John Carroll
November 22nd, 2012
8:12 pm
The Senator’s comments are the equivalent of saying “the world is not flat” As as cynical Democrat, I almost wish he would defend the Norquist mantra so the Dems could gain more popularity. Senator Chambliss is coming to realize that the republican party has been lead down a dead end street and MUST pivot to the center if they want to have a chance at regaining power.
RGB
November 22nd, 2012
8:29 pm
Raising tax rates retards economic growth and supresses tax revenues leading to more indebtedness. Even you cannot put a patriotic spin on that Shameless.
Adrianne
November 22nd, 2012
8:55 pm
Thanks, Senator Chambliss for thinking about the people who elected you, who you represent, instead of the plutocrat, Grover Norquist. Let’s remember why we’re in debt: two unfunded wars, spending by Bush administration, and low taxes for the rich.
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:00 pm
CA- your an idiot and you should continue to vote democratic. You would change your vote because he said he would possibly raise taxes; that’s what you consider integrity? As someone stated earlier we don’t have a tax problem we have a spending problem. It’s always easy to pawn the problem off on someone else; the so called rich. You and these other idiots are just jealous and want to punish someone who has worked hard and been successful. That’s not what this country is about!
Cherokee
November 22nd, 2012
9:08 pm
Sorry, RGB, no.
Raising tax rates in 1993 caused an economic boom. Cutting them in 2003 collapsed the economy.
Once again, reality has a liberal bias.
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:08 pm
Adrianne- what do you mean low taxes on the rich? How is the top 1% paying over 36% of all taxes not fair? How can the top 10% pay 90% of all taxes and the bottom 90% pay just 10% be not fair?
Bush may have spent too much but Obama has kicked the spending into overdrive. What was unemployment under Bush? When will you and the other democratic idiots stop blaming Bush and take responsibility for this moron you voted to run the country.
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:10 pm
Cherokee- actually the tax cuts in 2003 didn’t collapse the economy? Where did you get that from? MSNBC?
Cherokee
November 22nd, 2012
9:10 pm
And JMH, as one of the other idiots you talk about, you’re wrong too. I’m one of those who have worked hard and been successful. But unlike you, I guess, i love my country and I’m willing to pay a little bit more to make sure that we have roads and bridges and a prosperous middle class.
Cherokee
November 22nd, 2012
9:12 pm
Sigh…. Clinton created 22 million jobs. By the end of the Bush years, we had a net loss of jobs.
But I don’t imagine that Boortz or one of the Fox bimbos told you that, did they…
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:13 pm
Cherokee explain to me how taking more of what someone earns is going to incentivize them to spend more? I deal with small business owners and I can tell you that many are scared of all the new taxes coming there way. So what are they doing? Sitting on there hands! Not spending!
If the govt took more of what you made would you spend more? Bigger govt doesn’t equal better economy. Go back and take Econ 101.
seabeau
November 22nd, 2012
9:17 pm
Europe is full of Nanny States on the verge of financial collapse! If the US wants to avoid a similar fate more pols. need the sign the Norquist Tax Pledge not renounce it!
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:18 pm
Cherokee- how many net jobs did Obama create over the last 4 years? Last time I checked Clinton wasn’t the president. Maybe MSNBC did tell you that.
I love my country as well and I don’t see how paying more taxes would change that. We don’t have a tax problem we have a spending problem; that’s something else MSNBC probably didn’t tell you.
JMH
November 22nd, 2012
9:19 pm
Also, how does me paying more taxes make the middle class more prosperous? Explain that please.
Cobb Voter
November 22nd, 2012
9:51 pm
Did some democrat actually say “party before country”, “bozo”, and “rationality”? We don’t have a tax problem we have a spending problem. Raise taxes and kill jobs; and cut nothing. Makes perfect sense to me.
Ned Puddlman
November 22nd, 2012
10:05 pm
This is the same Saxby that voted for the banker bailouts in 2008 and had to get elected in a runoff because of it. Now he wants to raise taxes. Here is a prediction, if taxes are hiked it will do nothing to reduce the national debt because there is zero talk about reducing spending. In my mind before a single tax is raised, there needs to be a 3 to 1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases. And EVERYONE needs to have their taxes raised so they feel the pain.
Paul Deemer
November 22nd, 2012
10:07 pm
If republicans break Grover Norquist’s pledge 2014 won’t matter. If we go off cliff 2014 won’t matter. Why? Because as soon as tax rates go up Norquist becomes useless to the rich who are funding his war chest. He will fall off the grid just like Romney, Rove and Trump already did. He knows his days are numbered and I can’t wait to see his fall from power.
Dum-Bass
November 22nd, 2012
10:29 pm
Saxby C is from the same vein of cloth as Christie of NJ. They are both RINOs and would kiss BO’s butt at the drop of a hat to get something they want. Saxby is also from Moultrie in South Ga, as I recall when he was on the city council there years ago. Problem is he has done absolutely nothing to help with the huge problem they have there in Colquitt Co. with illegal immigrants. It has one of the highest populations of them of any county in GA. In reading the Moultrie Observer almost daily one can see 3-5 instances of “no drivers license, DUI, reckless driving” etc on a weekly basis. He and others who could do something about it, like one of the county commissioners who is on the Immigration Review Board, will end up doing some reactively, rather than proactively, after someone’s loved one or close friend is killed. They may wait too late, it could be one of theirs.
Chuck Allison
November 22nd, 2012
10:55 pm
Taxes should be reduced and entitlements should be eliminated.
Christiane Hartley
November 22nd, 2012
11:17 pm
Senator, you give me hope. Thank you!
RT
November 22nd, 2012
11:49 pm
Saxby has my vote!! I like politicians that put our country first!
The Coming GOP Freak-out - Page 11
November 23rd, 2012
12:25 am
[...] a freak out, but definitely a significant shift…. and for this we can all be thankful. Saxby Chambliss: Reply With [...]
The AntiBoortz
November 23rd, 2012
12:33 am
Hooray for OUR team!
burntgrassroot
November 23rd, 2012
1:25 am
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/lobbyingdisc.htm#lobbyingdisc=grt
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd/mspd.htm
I think more focus on arithmetic and less on accounting and economics would be helpful and objective. It’s true that 13% of $20M is more money than 35% of $250,000. But the Bush tax cuts have not stimulated the American economy. They have merely enriched the 1% of Americans (individuals and businesses) who have benefitted from the largesse. (Companies like Apple and GE pay no taxes, and American taxpayers subsidize the oil companies who have had record profits throughout the recession!) The real redistribution of wealth is, instead of paying taxes of $7M (35%) on $20M, tax cuts allow paying $2.6M (13%) which gives that 13% taxpayer more disposable income, which has been shown to NOT be used for job creation. The wealth accretion loop allows the heirs of people who started businesses to increase their wealth without the business model contributing to the American gross domestic product. So the public deficit is over $1T, and when tax cuts expire that’ll generate about $853B. $1T=$1000B-853B=$147B
It’s true that the top 1% paying a higher percentage for taxes will not incentivize the middle class workers to spend more. It will decrease the public deficit. The public debt is what we all owe, and the deficit is what we lack to pay the public debt. For example, if your credit card (public debt) is maxed out, you cannot spend more; the balance is what you’ve already spent. You only have two responsible choices: raise the limit (debt ceiling), or increase payments on the balance (reduce deficit by increased revenue such as taxes). Three poor choices are: 1) borrow money to pay on your credit card (e.g. loans from China), 2) use another credit card to pay on your first credit card (e.g. treasury securities backed by the full faith and credit of the US government), or 3) don’t pay your credit card (default).
alice
November 23rd, 2012
2:08 am
Did Saxby reject any printed or borrowed federal money for Georgia? Therefore he is a hypocrite.
Drive off cliff to begin to pay down deficit.
Read these articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opinion/04burry.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-burry-ucla-speech-us-economic-policy-2012-6
Our country must stop printing and borrowing and speinding money period.
Just Saying..
November 23rd, 2012
2:47 am
Saxby shows he’s a grown-up, Kyle runs a column on which Republican should oppose a two term senator in his own Party’s primary.
And there’s doubt why Republicans are the new Whigs?
JohnDB
November 23rd, 2012
3:03 am
Imagine, GA gives the country one of its few GOP budget realists, who’d have thunk it? When Karen Handel runs against him, I hope someone asks her about her record as GA Sec of State. Remember how she was the one who gave us voting machines with NO audit trail? In terms of statesmanship, Chambliss makes Handel look like Thomas Jefferson.
JohnDB
November 23rd, 2012
3:05 am
Handel makes Chambliss look like Thomas Jefferson.
aaa
November 23rd, 2012
3:18 am
Saxby reminds me a lot of Hannity. Hannity was anti immigration until the dems won and SUDDENLY 2 days later, he had an epiphany and realized that perhaps immigration reform wasn’t that bad. Saxby is seeing the writing on the wall and so now he’s suddenly for his country rather than politics. Where was he for the past 4 years when Obama tried to reach out and the repubs would have non of it? Going off topic, I don’t think any politician should be able to make a career of politics. Too many politicians spend their time and money trying to get elected rather than focusing on the issues. It would be great to have term limits on every branch of the government.
Former Vietnam medic
November 23rd, 2012
5:39 am
@ Cephas, 6:38 pm
” getting blown up by your own grenade while drinking beer does not qualify one as a war hero.”
You sniveling dirtbag, you don’t deserve to live in a world with men like Max Cleland, much less comment on him. For the record, here is how Cleland lost three limbs in Vietnam.
On April 8, with a month left in his tour, Cleland was ordered to set up a radio relay station on a nearby hill. A helicopter flew him and two soldiers to the treeless top of Hill 471, east of Khe Sanh. Cleland knew some of the soldiers camped there from Operation Pegasus. He told the pilot he was going to stay a while with friends.
When the helicopter landed, Cleland jumped out, followed by the two soldiers. They ducked beneath the rotors and turned to watch the liftoff. Cleland reached down to pick up a grenade he believed had popped off his flak jacket. It exploded, and the blast slammed him backward, shredding both his legs and one arm.
David Lloyd, a Marine in a nearby mortar bunker, rushed to the scene, took off his web belt and tied it around one of Cleland’s shredded legs. When the medics arrived, Lloyd left to help another injured soldier – one of the two who had gotten off the helicopter with Cleland.
Lloyd claims that the unnamed soldier was crying. ‘It was mine,’ he said, ‘it was my grenade.’
According to Lloyd, the private had failed to take the extra precaution that experienced soldiers did when they grabbed M-26 grenades from the ammo box: bend the pins, or tape them in place, so they couldn’t accidentally dislodge. This soldier had a flak jacket full of grenades with treacherously straight pins, Lloyd says. “He was a walking death trap.”
gregory
November 23rd, 2012
6:14 am
This guy would sell his grandkids out to whoever for a free game of golf, I think he collected somewheres in the area of 300 grand in free golf games from corp crooks and wallstreet. His games at sitting on the laps of corps cost 13 people their lives at the suger company when he relaxed the safety rules and the joint blew up. Pond scum all the way around, thats why the repucks are a lost, and soon to be gone crowd. Show us his net worth before office and now, I bet its a real eye opener, he is horse dung along with the rest of the repucks, to bad for them the internet came along and we have more outlets for the news than corp newspapers via the right wingnut vent guy and soft news ala 7 pm news about long lost pets and relatives and nothing about our bombing kids to steal natural resources in Aphganistin like lithium. .
DeborahinAthens
November 23rd, 2012
6:34 am
I was a Republican back when Saxby ran one of the nastiest campaigns ever against Max Cleland. Saxby, who avoided the draft made Cleleand, a Vietnam War hero, look like pond scum. The sad,sad thing is that it worked. It does seem that he is the only thing this state has that resembles a representative with a brain. I might consider voting for him if he doesn’t suddenly change his stripes again. You go Saxby!
DeborahinAthens
November 23rd, 2012
6:39 am
Former Vietnam Vet, I hate war. I marched against the Vietnam War. I hate the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But any man or woman who was drafted, or (today) who volunteers, is a hero. I don’t care if he was drinking beer when some dummy screwed up with a grnade–the man was in a jungle far, far away that was filled with danger, and Saxby was playing golf.
DeborahinAthens
November 23rd, 2012
6:41 am
That last post was aimed at Cephus, I am agreeing with you, Vietnam Medic….I need my coffee.
Cherokee
November 23rd, 2012
6:43 am
Former Vietnam medic – thank you for your service – and for correcting Cephas’ . He sounds like a typical Republican – they love the troops, until one has the audacity to disagree with their politics. Then he’s pond scum…
Cherokee
November 23rd, 2012
6:53 am
JMH if you happen to come back, I am one of those small business owners. I’m willing to pay a little more, because I know that balancing the budget and securing the financial health of the middle class, will make my business thrive.
Putting more money into the pocket of Neal Boortz and the Koch Brothers, on the other hand, won’t do me any good at all.
Again, this isn’t rocket science – it worked during the Clinton years – we tried it your way during the Bush years, and it failed. And jobs? Since the depth of the recession, we’ve created about 4 and a half million jobs.
Facts just keep getting in the way of your argument, don’t they?
Former Vietnam medic
November 23rd, 2012
7:10 am
I got that, Deborah, no offense taken. Chickenhawks like Cehphus think war is like the movies, where the only casualties are from deliberate enemy action. In fact, the machinery of combat is an equal opportunity killer and the pressures and fog of war make even the most trivial action potentially lethal. Cehphus, besides being a liar, doesn’t know a hero from a war wimp, those who “supported” wars, but did everything in their power to avoid going. I’m talking to you, Ronald Reagan, GWB, Cheney, Chambliss, Romney, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reily, Glenn Beck, Neal Bortz, John Wayne, etc.
btw, I treated a lot of men who had the kind of “band aid” wounds that the GOP mocked John Kerry for. Most of them took just a little debridement and a bandage. But some of those little pin pricks hit just the wrong spot and took a limb, an organ or a life.
Former Vietnam medic
November 23rd, 2012
7:15 am
Appreciate it, Cherokee. Full disclosure, I’m no hero, I was drafted, didn’t like the Army or the war, glad to get out with no consequence except survivor’s guilt.
Georgiavet
November 23rd, 2012
7:21 am
I’ve been a Georgia Republican longer than anyone else I know of, but it seems to me elected officials should have learned from Bush 41 that you can’t make a long-term pledge to solve short-term problems. I’d like to tell Grover Norquist where he can put his billions and will continue to support Saxby’s efforts to serve the Country, even after he was so surprised at boos he received at a Republican State convention as he was starting his campaign for the term ending soon. GO SAXBY – and Johnny will vote logically too.
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
7:22 am
Cherokee it’s easy to cherry pick numbers to suit your argument. The bottom line is raising taxes will not fix our problems. Giving examples of people making millions are year is far different that someone making 200 or 250k a year; that’s not rich in my book. It’s easy to push off solving problems onto someone else and make it their responsibility which is what this country has always done. Did you not see my stat above that 10% pay 90% of all taxes; how much more do you want to pay?
Why don’t you just send a little extra this year if it makes you feel better????
Chris Weyer
November 23rd, 2012
7:28 am
“Please proceed, Senator…” What part of “act of terror” does Senator Chambliss not understand? The President called the Benghazi attack an ACT OF TERROR. The terms “terrorist attack” and “act of terror” are synonymous. And yet here here we are, rehashing over and over again the wording of the talking points. Senator Chambliss isn’t interested in the truth. He’s interested in scoring political points, as is Senator McCain. Why aren’t they calling for “Watergate-style hearings” on Colin Powell’s and Condi Rice’s testimony leading up to the war in Iraq, e.g. all of the “mushroom cloud” nonsense?
Wide Awake
November 23rd, 2012
7:39 am
Saxby and the rest of our elected D.C. officials have created a monster. They can’t quit spending, so the solution to that is to raise our taxes in order to keep spending. Obviously, his position now points out that his word / oath are not good. He goes in the direction the wind is blowing. With his re-election coming up, he is attempting to get his name and face out in front of the public. How could anyone trust any of our elected politicians. They never keep their promises, their word is not good, and they attempt to make the voters who point these things out look like idiots. We could fiscally responsible officials running this country, and we don’t have many of them as it stands right now. They sell out to special interests at the first opportunity.
Willie1
November 23rd, 2012
7:40 am
Three things I would like to see have less influence.
1.Grover Norquist
2 Goldman Sacs
3.NRA
Flowery Branch
November 23rd, 2012
7:43 am
Chambliss for President. Tom Coburn for V.P.
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
7:48 am
Wide awake your exactly correct and it’s sad. The people we elected to represent us constantly let us down. Spending is our problem and these jokers don’t have the courage to fix it. I say do your damn job or get the hell out.
Jack ®
November 23rd, 2012
8:07 am
If this blog represents a true cross-section of tax payers whose earnings are reported on a W-2 and are less than $250K annually, it appears they are truly irritated at those that do make more than $250K annually on a W-2. Those fortunate enough to earn salaries that exceed $250K annually are going to a 39.6% bracket up from a 35% bracket if the present tax rates expire. And they’ll pay an additional 3.8% surtax to Medicare. I don’t understand the irritation. I don’t understand why small businesses will have to pay employee insurance. I don’t understand why some indicate in blogs that free healthcare is a “right”. But I do understand that raising the tax on the”wealthy” is NOT going to reduce the national debt. And I do understand that expanding the welfare state is NOT going to reduce the national debt.
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
8:15 am
Jack- your exactly correct in your analysis. This raise tax on the rich campaign is designed to stoke the anger and jealousy of those who make less as a way to stick it to these evil rich people. What they don’t realize is that those are the people who sign their paychecks and decide whether they have a job or not. Be careful what you wish for! This will do nothing to help our national debt, deficit, or unemployment situation. The American people as a whole are clueless!
Edmund Ruffin
November 23rd, 2012
8:16 am
Likewise, I care more about our country than to vote for Chambliss again. Chambliss is becoming more and more RINO and should consider retiring. Tom Price, Tom Graves or Paul Broun would be good material for replacement.
roughrider
November 23rd, 2012
8:45 am
Saxby knows where his bread is buttered. Grover Norquist does not give Saxby money like the corporations of Georgia.
JONES
November 23rd, 2012
8:48 am
Enter your comments hereMakes sense; however, the country’s debt is shared by everyone, not just the rich. We all will need to be part of fixing it. All tax payer will need to pay more… All tax receivers should be prepared to receive less….. Obama needs to actually submit a budget that decreases the debt and stick to it….
Jim Tavegia
November 23rd, 2012
8:51 am
Libertylover, what are you drinking. The Dems have spent us into this mess we’re in and your boys, Dodd and Frank are the ones who headed the Senate Banking Committee while the Banks gave away crazy mortgage money and let Wall -Street run a muck, but you’ll never own up to your mistakes. Now Ohioans voted for O because he saved GM? Really. Last I looked GM is rated as “Junk Bond” status on Wall Street and is worth just over $26, when we taxpayers paid $57 a share for it. I know who is foolish. GM doesn’t have enough money to pay us back and they still make cars no one wants. You Dems have ruined this country with your leftist life-styles. Make what ever you want to do legal and then you feel better about yourselves. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
9:00 am
Jones, correct but it’s not popular to ask anyone other than the “rich” to pay more. This country is moving towards a majority who want more stuff but aren’t willing to contribute. To me if you don’t pay taxes you shouldn’t be able to vote. We can’t afford anymore handouts. Either everyone pays more or all the rates stay the same and spending gets cut; drastically! Govt’s idea of cutting spending is reducing the rate of growth from 8% to 6%; that would be considered a draconian reduction is spending that’s going to devastate some poor group of people.
rightwing troll
November 23rd, 2012
9:14 am
This blog is representative of two dozen or so loud mouthed idiots who have been wrong on most every prediction, prognostication and assertion they’ve made over the last 4 years, save two.
They were right on these points:
The presidential election WAS indeed a landslide.
And, there WAS indeed a silent majority out there waiting to make thier voices heard on election day.
The selfish, loud mouthed, and perpetually wrong idiots are as much moochers and takers as the “47%” and for some reason they feel they had some sort of credibility to continually come on anonymous blogs and pontificate about things they know nothing about. Their obvious beliefs are dictated to them by lying “entertainers” who feel that be repeating the lie, it becomes true.
The 1%ers have been raking it in hand over foot over the last decade, where are the “jobs”???
rightwing troll
November 23rd, 2012
9:19 am
” I don’t understand why some indicate in blogs that free healthcare is a “right”.”
Exactly… either embrace the ACA or cut off the free medical care via the ER… At least with the ACA I won’t be alone in my perpetually rising insurance costs…
Nativebird
November 23rd, 2012
9:19 am
Ah yes, the old “everything would be great around here if we would just raise the taxes of those evil rich people” mantra from the tried and true liberal AJC base. Problem is those pesky little facts keep getting in the way. We can take every dime, (that means 100 percent for those Libs having skipped economics 101), from every “rich” person in the U.S., and it won’t even make a dent, a small dent, in the massive federal debt that our collective compassion has racked up. So once again, taxes, will never ever actually solve the problem. It only soothes the massive wound with about a days worth of ointment….and that obviously the collective goal here.
rightwing troll
November 23rd, 2012
9:26 am
To clarify my position… I would be just fine with an across the board cut to every program out there. I guarantee we could achieve substantial cuts simply by improving efficiency and eliminating duplicity.
And I would happily accept a 3.9% increase to my taxes in return for such.
Repugnut
November 23rd, 2012
9:30 am
Watch out folks – the carpetbagger, mean spirited, embarrassment Tom Price is waiting in the wings to take Saxby’s place. I hope the voters of Georgia have more sense than that.
CA
November 23rd, 2012
9:34 am
JMH,
you call me an idiot, yet you are the one who can not spell basic English words. Yes, I do consider the issues, and the person advocating for (or taking a stand) on positions in which I believe. Please answer me. Why must you call me an idiot for believing in something in which you don’t?
Skeeters
November 23rd, 2012
9:57 am
If more of our politicians were more worried about what is right, rather than what gets them elected, our country would operate more like our founding fathers intended. Did not vote for Saxby but will now.
Buckhead Boy
November 23rd, 2012
9:59 am
How inconvenient it must be for those of you who regurgitate the “makers and takers” and “redistribution of wealth” animus to reside in a “taker” state that has benefited from “redistribution of wealth” through the federal government consistently since 1935. When you’re talking about paying one’s fair share, you’re certainly not talking about any Georgian or resident of most of the other right-wing states. Your talk is just sound and fury, signifying nothing but ignorance.
WhiteRabbit2
November 23rd, 2012
10:01 am
How wonderful the way they feign decency.
Chuck Garland
November 23rd, 2012
10:18 am
Thank you Senator! You’ve earned my vote in the primary!
Jeffrey
November 23rd, 2012
10:28 am
Way to go saxby!!! Men today need to be, well, more man like. Stick with yourself. Don’t follow sheep Go USA!!!!
Jeffrey
November 23rd, 2012
10:32 am
Don’t let two wars and an economic crisis change our country. We will payoff the debt and take care of grandma too. We’ve done it before we will do it again Saxby is just making me feel so good I got to witness. Go USA.
double
November 23rd, 2012
10:34 am
And just possibly Saxby and Christie could put the country/people above politics.That being what we need most at present.
George
November 23rd, 2012
10:44 am
Maybe this is the crack in the republican stance. You can’t pay down the deficit on cuts alone. Eliminating NPR won’t do it. We have to begin getting more revenue. Raise taxes in those who have benefited most from low taxes.
Sax by looks like a statesman on this one. Better than Tom price.
Libertine
November 23rd, 2012
10:59 am
Saxby’s doing what I thought we’d never see, put common sense above partisanship. Beware the House members from Georgia. They are partisans to the core, and in the case of Tom Graves, a career politician looking for out for his own comfort and agrandizement.
Libertine
November 23rd, 2012
11:05 am
I will happily accept a $10-to-$1 spending cuts to increased revenue fiscal plan. Anyone who wouldn’t is not thinking rationally … so the entire Republican presidential field was irrational, as was their rabid base. It’s time to slice all programs, defense, entitlements, etc., along with modest revenue increases to slice the debt.
yuzeyurbrane
November 23rd, 2012
11:13 am
Did any of you see Ken Burns’ recent documentary, “The Dust Bowl”? Interesting how outlook of society in general has changed. FDR received overwhelming acclaim for putting 8 million Americans back to work on WPA projects rebuilding nation’s infrastructure. In the film, we heard live testamonials from the then children of the Dust Bowl as to how these programs not only saved their families from physical starvation but restored self-respect to their Daddies by giving them a job. Even back then, they said, the bankers and other rich folks in town decried these programs as Socialist make-work. Sound familiar? Only now, there bought and paid for Congressmen have defeated the President’s attempts to deal with similar problems on this pure ideological ground. And back then there were also descriptions of makers and takers. Only then the makers were the working and middle classes and the takers were the exploiters who made their wealth off the sweat of the working and middle classes. The takers were able to ride out the Depression in relatively fine style and were seemingly mostly callous to the dire straits of their fellow less fortunate Americans. Sound familiar? What a difference 75 years makes. Overall, I would give the extreme right credit for a successful massive long-term propaganda campaign.
Not PC
November 23rd, 2012
11:49 am
The only jobs Clinton created was for dry cleaning. The market economy created every job that any politician ever took credit for in their careers.
MIsplaced spending and taxing costs jobs.
Rafe Hollister
November 23rd, 2012
11:49 am
Yuzey
That is one way of looking at it, but isn’t it funny that the two presidents, that used socialistic policies, to correct a major downturn in the economy, had the unfortunate honor of presiding over the longest economic downturns in the nations history. Obama and FDR treated symptoms by redistributing government confiscated money, and using Government programs as the solution.
Treating the symptoms brings some relief to the sufferers, but prolongs the illness. Presidents who advocated for improving the business climate and stimulated the consumers tend to have had much better turn around times, e.g. Kennedy and Reagan. Prior to 1900, Presidents did nothing when faced with recessions, as they considered them normal cycles, that usually lasted 2-3 years.
Obama failed to learn from FDR and our recovery continues to lag endlessly and Americans continue to suffer longer than necessary. He has said that the old economy was not good enough, as all did not flourish, so he is not going back. So, what was good for 85-90% of us, is unacceptable now. So, to fulfill his impossible utopian dream, we all wait for things to get better.
joke on us
November 23rd, 2012
11:57 am
mimi:
i have researched your topic and yes, it seems congress has to participate; which is good news BUT we know they will just vote themselves the same coverage they have now and the taxpayer will pickup the difference. NOW, on to the more important stuff— how to pay for it? one thing i have written to my congressmen was for HSA to roll-over year to year. Where I know a tax increase will help others get insurance, it puts the rest of use into an insurance program that will have higher deductiables. With higher deductables most Americans do not have that cash on hand and I believe we need to start figureing that out now before the “adequate” coverage is defined. Everytime I think the same ppl that brought us “cash for clunkers” is in control of healthcare makes me very nervous.
Okay, now we have the law of the land– I get it— but how are we “really” gonna pay for it?
legalize weed? raise tax rates on the middle class? place hidden taxes? VAT?
Also, we get news about the Republican Acheivement Act: I wrote my members of Congress over 2 years ago with just such an idea: I got video tape to prove it and emails
WHAT TOOK SO LONG?
gsueagle
November 23rd, 2012
12:13 pm
i am a conservative, looking forward to voting against saxby!
Chip 'The Dixie Dove' Shirley
November 23rd, 2012
12:32 pm
Thank God that Chambliss is standing up to that hateful nutcase Norquist.
Debbie Dooley
November 23rd, 2012
12:35 pm
Now if only Johnny would find a pair of cojones……..ne had his hand slapped during the Immigration debate and is afraid to be a bit moderate. too bad
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
12:38 pm
CA- wasn’t saying your an idiot for not believing the same as me. I said that because I don’t believe you and your ” I may change the way I’ve always voted argument”. I heard this too many times this last election cycle with the so call undecided voter crap. If you can’t figure out what you believe in than just stay home and don’t vote.
PS- Not sure what I spelled wrong but I sure am impressed with your spell check abilities!
woody
November 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
You mean – an actual Republican who doesn’t want to dismantle the government piece by piece? Who doesn’t want to preside over the systematic demise of functional and orderly governmental processes? Who isn’t flat TREASONOUS? My God.
Timus
November 23rd, 2012
12:53 pm
Tychus Findlay
November 22nd, 2012
2:02 pm
Here’s a thought- if you voluntarily accept benefits from the State/Fed, you voluntarily give up your right to vote until the aforementioned status is reversed. If you don’t have skin in the game, you don’t get to play.
——————————
This single most ignorant post i’ve read today!!! Seniors who’ve worked all their lives and veterans should not have the right to vote? Nice!!! “No skin in the game?” Some vets have lost limbs and lives in the game!!!
JMH
November 23rd, 2012
12:56 pm
Woody, which functional and orderly government are you speaking about?
Moon Mullins
November 23rd, 2012
1:06 pm
Damned if it doesn’t look like after years of voting on the wrong side of virtually every issue ol Saxby has had an epiphany — that he’s come to himself. Could it be the turning tide of politics has wrought this marvelous change. Whatever. It’s good that he’s standing up to Grover after voting in lock step with him for twenty years.
Don Abernethy
November 23rd, 2012
1:31 pm
I have voted Republican for over 50 years but after two very disappointing presidential elections it is time for a new party that can win some elections. Looks like the liberal voters are increasing and conservatives are decreasing so it is unlikely we will ever win another presidential election. Socialism is becoming more popular especially among minorities. Saxby to me represents the Republican establishment that is partly responsible for our loss on November 6th. Meanwhile where was Tea Party these last 12 months??? Most of my friends are so depressed about our loss. They all can not believe what happened. America has changed and we would all move to another country but there are not any better than this one. We have taken down our American flags. We will re-focus our attention on God. I do not think I will vote for Saxby.
mambo
November 23rd, 2012
1:33 pm
I never liked saxby and he has proven me correct. We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. saxby is Georgia’s king of the pork barrel. Goodbye saxby!
Just Saying..
November 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
Vietnam Medic@ 5:39-
Thanks for telling Cephas to go to hell.
3rd Bde, 82nd Abn
‘68-’69
Ron Murray
November 23rd, 2012
2:05 pm
He was elected to represent the people from the beginning, not just now.
He must be up for re-election.
vietnamvet
November 23rd, 2012
2:14 pm
I AM SICK OF TIRED OF BEING SICK OF TIRED OF DAMM POLITICANS LIKE OLE SAX.
Wallis T. Coper
November 23rd, 2012
2:18 pm
the blacks or winning agenst us. we must steck togather us wites. peopel need to no there place like they use to.
Wallis T. Coper
November 23rd, 2012
2:22 pm
an i no saxby an he is a fine man. you have to remember he is like us older ones who remember how he was keeping blacks and allegals in there place before the minerities take over. we must take are county back and fite. i will vote for saxby long as i live.
Wallis T. Coper
November 23rd, 2012
2:35 pm
i am seck an tired to of obamo an his black frends steeling the economics for his alection. we must vote obamo out next time an stop letting blacks going to vote just sense obamo gives them welfare.
MrLiberty
November 23rd, 2012
2:35 pm
Being the economically ignorant Keynesian statist that he is, this idiot would think that somehow taking more money from the productive sector of society would somehow benefit america more than not. This is exactly why the republican party is such a worthless piece of garbage and doing such a disservice to all those who blindly vote for them. A complete lack of small government principles is exactly what you can get from democrats. You don’t need a second party extolling the same worhtless virtues. Saxby only cares about Saxby, and whomever is filling a Caymen Islands bank account on his behalf. It is so far past time for him to get thrown out of his senate seat. One can only hope that the spineless republican party in this state will come to their senses, abandone this albatross and support a candidate that actually cares about small government and liberty. If that means backing the Libertarian Party candidate than so be it. One way or the other, Saxby has to go. America cna no longer afford people without principles in Washington. It is bad enough that we can’t just throw Isackson out this next election cycle too.
Wallis T. Coper
November 23rd, 2012
2:43 pm
an we need to throw out the blacks and demicrats to mrliberty sense they or soshalist.
front row pew
November 23rd, 2012
2:49 pm
Any Dem who would have signed a “no spending decrease” pledge would have been impeached.
GTRob
November 23rd, 2012
2:52 pm
Unbelievable! I never thought I would see this happen. Sanity and rationality may be creeping back into the GOP. And thank God in heaven for that.
Wallis T. Coper
November 23rd, 2012
2:53 pm
we mus rase are flag back up and fite back for are rites before they done took over the south to
Brosephus™
November 23rd, 2012
3:12 pm
NO federal retirement for presidents, senators or congressmen. Such terms in office are a service to your country, not a career. You may avail yourself of Social Security just like all other Americans.
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Have anything you’d like to add to this list?
Yep,I have two acronyms to add to that list. CSRS and FERS. Look them up and help educate yourself.
Elected officials are government employees and their retirement is no different than regular government employees. As such, if they were first elected prior to 1987, then they are covered under CSRS. They have a defined pension, and they do not get Social Security since they don’t contribute to it.
Those elected after 1987 are covered by FERS. They have a small defined pension, SS, and the TSP (401k) as their retirement plan. They have to have 5 years of service in order to be fully vested. Also, as part of the debt negotiations last year, any newly elected officials will contribute more to the defined pension part unless they already have more than 5 years of service.
If you don’t want elected officials to have sizeable retirement packages, then quit re-electing them at a historical rate of 80% – 90%. The only people who can become vested with only one term is a senator.
Junebug116
November 23rd, 2012
3:18 pm
“I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” Chambliss says. Saxby do you take the same approach concerning pledges in regards to your marriage? A pledge is a promise made. Breaking promises to the voters removes any trust you may have had. Also, tax increases only work if behavior does not change. Remember the 1990 budget deal to tax luxury yachts? How much “revenue” did it raise? NONE. As a matter of fact, this tax killed the yacht building industry. Saxby, you proved that you are a sell out and it will not be forgotten. It is the taxpayers hard earned dollars not the governments revenue!
red herring
November 23rd, 2012
3:18 pm
it will be no loss to see saxby the democrat get defeated. he has been a tax and spend politician from way back in time. he is definitely not a republican nor a libertarian. he wasn’t elected to represent grover norquist—but he WAS elected to represent republicans and to keep taxes low and try to balance the budget. he has milked the system long enough— we need someone who will represent a balanced budget/fair tax rates/smaller government. bye bye saxby—i’ll simply not vet at all before i cast another vote for you.