Deal’s entry fills out GOP field
With the entry of U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) in the governor’s race, the boat is full. On the GOP side, anyway. The boat’s taking water.
Except for the party’s Arlen Specter wing, the addition of Deal and state Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah to a field that included Secretary of State Karen Handel, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, state Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton and Ray McBerry of Atlanta sufficiently serves the factions.
Congress is ordinarily not on the route to the governor’s mansion. Except for a Cynthia McKinney or a Newt Gingrich, they’re not widely known outside their districts. The last real congressional contender was Bo Ginn of Millen, who lost in the 1982 Democratic primary to state Rep. Joe Frank Harris .
Despite that history, Deal’s entry does realistically complete the field. His 9th Congressional District, stretching across the top of northwest Georgia into metro Atlanta’s Forsyth and Hall counties, is one of the state’s most conservative.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee did better there than in any other Georgia congressional district in last February’s presidential preference primary. Sonny Perdue got 76 percent of the vote in 2006 running against Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, his best in the state, and George W. Bush had a best-in-state showing there against John Kerry in 2004.
Deal, in more than 16 years in Congress, has never moved to Washington. In fact, he says, he has never spent more than two to three weekends there. Early on, that was because children were still in middle and high school. Later, both his wife’s parents and then his mother came to live with the Deals.
Deal’s conservative voting record and his ties outside the district make him a strong contender in rural Georgia. Like former state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, he was born in Millen . For Deal, though, the stopover was just a few days. His father was a school principal in Screven County, but the hospital was in Millen.
His parents grew up in Bulloch County (Statesboro) . At the age of 3, his family moved to Washington County (Sandersville), where he remained through college. He served in the Army at Fort Gordon in Augusta and went to undergraduate and law school at Mercer University in Macon.
He served for 12 years in the state Senate as a Democrat, and followed Roy Barnes as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1983. In his final two years there before running for Congress in 1993, he was president pro tem of the Senate. He switched parties in 1995 after the GOP landslide of 1994.
He’s getting into the governor’s race now, he says, because “as long as Casey Cagle was in the race, it was not something that was practical for me .” Both have Gainesville as a political base. After Cagle dropped out, “there were a number of voices saying they needed an additional choice. I thought [3rd District Congressman] Lynn Westmoreland would do it and I encouraged him to do so.
“When he decided not to, he encouraged me to look at it. It occurred to me that if I was ever going to make a race at that level, this would be the only time I was afforded the opportunity.”
Others may get in. But Handel and Johnson are in a dash to lock down the GOP’s heavy hitters like former GOP state chairman Fred Cooper, who’s signed on to head Handel’s campaign team and Virgil Williams of Stone Mountain, Jamie Reynolds of Greensboro and Steve Green of Savannah, who will head Johnson’s finance committee. Johnson’s campaign chairman, John Watson, guided Perdue’s campaigns.
The world turns. A week ago, long-shots and the undecideds had hope. That world has turned.
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75 comments Add your comment
chris broe
May 4th, 2009
8:53 pm
Deal has a good chance. He’ll raise millions. This could turn everything around for the state of Georgia. The governorship is just a short stop for Deal. He’s moving on to the highest office in the land, no doubt. The name recognition alone puts him in the lead in ‘12.
Mark this day. 5/4/09! The day Georgia put the majesty in the purple mountains. The day the piedmont waved it’s amber grains!
Beetlebomb
Just Nasty & Mean
May 4th, 2009
9:21 pm
I am open to hearing more of what Deal has to offer. He’d going to have to dig deep to find the credentials, background and support Karen Handle has. Look, the lady has hit the ball out of the park in every position she has had–with strong organization skills, leadership, foundational knowledgeable….and class.
Bring it on–Deal. The more the merrier.
The DemoCraps don’t have a single candidate that is not a buffoon, old geezer, good-ol-boy (Barnes) or outright laughingstock. It’s going to be GREAT to kick their butts again!
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
May 4th, 2009
10:32 pm
YOU STUPID HICKS CAN HAVE YOUR GOP GOVERNOR KAREN THE WITCH HANDEL,ITS AMAZING THAT YOU REDNECKS LIKE TO GIVE CREDIT FOR A GREAT JOB WHEN PEOPLE LIKE KAREN AND SUXBY HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING POSITIVE FOR THE STATE,LOOK AT HOW KAREN HANDEL HAD PEOPLE IN ALL WHITE DISTRICTS WAITING IN LONG LINES TO VOTE,BUT SHE DID A GREAT JOB.
IM GLAD THE UNION YANKEES CAME AND KILLED OFF YALL GRANDDADDIES AND GREATGRANDADDIES BECAUSE YOU REDNECKS SHOW JUST HOW REALLY EVIL YOU PEOPLE ARE.
YOU ALL ARE NOT ABOUT TRUTH BUT LIES AND DEATH,BUT THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE THE BIBLE BELT YEAH RIGHT,YOU HICKS ARE ON THE SIDE OF SATAN BECAUSE YOUR ACTIONS SHOWS SATAN INSTEAD OF JESUS THAT YOU FAKE DIXIE CHRISTIANS CLAIM.
Republitards are a dead party
May 4th, 2009
11:18 pm
Deal is a pubtard wingnut. He has the same chance as Paris Hilton.
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
May 4th, 2009
11:38 pm
IM GLAD YOU HICKS SAY THE GOP STANDS FOR SOMETHING,LIKE NO JOBS FOR AMERICAN PEOPLE,THE BELIEF IN UNDERCOVER GAYS,BOMBING AND KILLING INNOCENT IRAQI ELDERLY AND CHILDREN,CHEAP LABOR FOR HISPANICS,WHILE SHIPPING OTHER JOBS OVERSEAS,NO ABORTION BUT KILL THE CHILDREN ONCE THEY GET HERE,BY WAY DISEASE OR STARVATION,HELP GIVE WELFARE TO THE RICH,BUT NOT THE POOR.
YOUR TEA TAX PARTIES SHOWED THE WORLD IT WAS NOT ABOUT TAXES,BUT A KLAN RALLY PRETENDING TO BE A TAX PARTY,THE FORMER DIXIECRATS ARE NOW NEO-NAZI REPUBLICANS,WHO DONT PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH.
IF YOU GUYS STILL WANT TO SECEDE THEN HOW ABOUT WE SEND YOU GUY TO AFGANISTAN TO LOOK FOR BIN LIDEN,AND ONCE YOU GUYS FIND HIM THEN YOU CAN STAY THERE SINCE YOU DONT LIKE AMERICA ANYMORE.
Jefferson Davis, president
May 5th, 2009
1:07 am
Deal is like most politicians, a man without principle. Isn’t it funny they are like jellyfish and will switch parties as a convenience? At least Zig Zag fought and never switched like all the other traitors, regardless of what party they switched from. Look at Arlen Specter. Pathetic.The Republicans are likely to go down to defeat with such a lacklustre group running in Georgia. Who in the heck is Eric Johnson? The Democrats ought to run Buddy Darden or Wayne Mason’s boy. We need a good, conservative Democrat and not some louse on the lobbyists’ payroll like virtually all those spineless Republicans.
Churchill's MOM
May 5th, 2009
6:44 am
I’ve got the power, I write about our NEXT PRESIDENT and the old boy bunch listen.
Palin will work with Nat’l Council
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin plans to work with a new Republican group, the National Council for a New America, a spokeswoman said.
Palin “looks forward to doing all she can to bring about positive change many desire and deserve, across Alaska and our great nation, through this National Council for a New America and others,” Meghan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for SarahPAC, said in an e-mail.
Stapleton said Palin plans to be involved with the group “as long as everyone knows that Alaska always comes first.”
Palin “is focused on moving Alaska forward and pushing for her goals which include providing energy independence and security for Alaskans and Americans,” she said.
The governor’s absence from the new group produced, alternately, suggestions that she’s “snubbing” it, and attacks on its leaders for leaving her out. Earlier this afternoon, a spokesman for Rep. Eric Cantor, who’s spearheading the Council, said he hadn’t heard from Palin.
“We’ve reached out to Gov. Palin and are awaiting her response,” said Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring, who had said the same thing last week. “We hope that in the days and months ahead, every leader on both the local and national levels will become involved in this effort to engage in a conversation with the American people about finding the solutions to the challenges they face.”
Cantor and Sen. John McCain had both started trying to reach Palin before the Council launched last week, Republicans said, and the lack of communication has been seen as another sign of the gap between the Beltway GOP and one of the party’s best-known figures.
UPDATE: A statement from Eric Cantor:
I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the National Council for a New America’s panel of experts. When NCNA was announced last week, we spoke about a dynamic organization that worked to constantly bring in new people and innovative ideas. The launch of the National Council was just the first step in a growing effort to engage the American people in a candid discussion as we work to overcome our shared challenges with common-sense ideas, building a stronger nation along the way.
I look forward to welcoming additional local and national leaders to the National Council in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
*************Handel 2010********PALIN MCCAIN 2012**********
DeborahinAthens
May 5th, 2009
6:52 am
I used to live in Nathan Deal’s district and he is nothing but a yes-man Republican that has no ideas. I doubt that he knows diddly about the economy. But over and above that, he doesn’t listen to his constituents. And he either doesn’t read his own mail, or is very stupid. Once, I sent him an e-mail voicing my distaste for going to war in a secular country (Iraq) that had nothing to do with 9/11 while Bin Laden was slithering away. After a few weeks, I received a letter from his office apologizing for the slow response because the Anthrax scare had slowed the mail coming into his office. He barely acknowledged my dissent of the Iraq war, basically saying Dubya was our savior and could do everything short of walking on water. I sent him another e-mail, asking him why the anthrax scare affected e-mail…and received the exact letter a couple of weeks later, apologizing for the slow mail because of anthrax. I gave up. As I said, either his interns are stupid, which means they are not carrying the thoughts of his constituents to their boss, or he is stupid. I have always had the feeling that Deal is a man of few ideas, ideologically hog-tied, and only is in the “game” for self-serving reasons. He is a perfect politician whose characteristics are identical to another perfect politician–George W. Bush. And if the GOP is grooming him for the presidency, it just shows how out of touch with reality all the Republicans have become. Good luck to you yahoos in 2010!
catlady
May 5th, 2009
7:08 am
Deal is an opportunist of the first order. Handel is incompetent. I will look forward to examining the others’ records to see if any of them are real contenders who are able to put ALL the people and their concerns first. Let’s hope some of them can pass muster.
Sharecropper
May 5th, 2009
7:27 am
Who cares who runs for guv as a Republican? Put all of you in a can and shake you up, and it doesn’t matter who falls out. Kind of like salt or pepper. The best we ex-Georgians can hope for is that the next Republican governor takes Georgia out of the Union, as a third of you claim you want, give up your federal dollars coming back in, your military bases, your aircraft factories, and turn everybody into cotton farmers again. Except it is now cheaper in Egypt. You folks truly are pathetic. What was it Cromwell said? Please, just go.
GOP is gone
May 5th, 2009
7:33 am
Curchill’s Mom can not be female. He can only be an obsessed white male in love with a gun toting hillbilly woman.
GOP is gone
May 5th, 2009
7:36 am
I find it ironic that his switching parties after the 1994 elections does not seem to be a problem for the GOP….Ah, Arlen Spectoresque?
Churchill's MOM
May 5th, 2009
7:43 am
GOP is gone 7:33 am
Stupid little boy, read what I wrote about you yesterday.
Churchill's MOM
May 5th, 2009
7:45 am
catlady 7:08 am
Just what is wrong with our next Governor?
andy
May 5th, 2009
7:55 am
Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels is urging Republican leaders in Washington to stop “whining” in order to mount a serious opposition to President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.
“I hear Republicans whining about, you know, the Democrats not being bipartisan. You know, ‘We weren’t included in this, we weren’t at the table in that.’ Well, get over it, that’s the way those folks are,” Daniels said in an interview that ran Saturday in National Journal. “To me there’s not a lot of upside in whining.”
Daniels said Republican leaders have behaved “erratically” since the beginning of the Obama administration, frequently offering “process arguments” rather than competing policy prescriptions.
“What they should say instead is, ‘Well, here’s the way we would spread health insurance and not ration care and not take away your freedom in the process. If they’d let us in the room, this is what we’d suggest,’” Daniels said.
The two-term Indiana governor urged Republicans to come up with a “better idea” in policy fights with the White House because “the public needs to see you care and that you’ve thought about it and you’ve got a constructive suggestion.”
“Go to work on alternative ideas that maybe one day we’ll get the chance to try,” he said.
Jim Jr
May 5th, 2009
7:57 am
*** 60 ** !!!!!!!!!
Thanks W. you made it all possible.
jt
May 5th, 2009
7:58 am
Ms. Churchhill- Are you happy that Ms. Palen is throwing in with the National Council?
Do you really admire Cantor’s record?
GOP is gone
May 5th, 2009
8:33 am
So this must be it then Churchill’s Mom, You are Palin’s BFF because,
let me guess, you identify with Palin? You are a white, middle aged, pageant wanna be, gun owning, carnivore with a pregnant teenage daughter?
Churchill's MOM
May 5th, 2009
8:34 am
jt 7:58 am
I am not happy with Cantor or the rest of the Republican party. When we were in power, we became the party of Big Government and wasteful spending. We know the male leaders are worthless so I simply hope that a woman can clean up the mess. Well I’m off to have my husband’s car serviced, catch you later.
***********Handel 2010*********PALIN MCCAIN 2012************
Churchill's MOM
May 5th, 2009
8:39 am
GOP is gone 8:33 am
I don’t know what a BFF is but I am most of the rest, my 8 year old is going to grow up beautiful so she won’t have to enter any silly contest. I shoot with the Annie Oakleys at Burge so mabe we have meet. Got to run.
***********Handel 2010*********PALIN MCCAIN 2012************
metoo
May 5th, 2009
8:43 am
The mention of Jeb Bush or Sara Palin reinterates how empty the GOP is of new ideas.
John Doe
May 5th, 2009
8:43 am
http://www.mises.org:80/story/3427
sd
May 5th, 2009
8:55 am
Look, its a forgone conclusion that the governor will be a republican. I get it. All I am asking is that you elect one that isn’t corrupt like Oxendine or one that is stuck in the past. Lets try to compete with other states on education and environmental issues. Afterall, thats where the money is.
jt
May 5th, 2009
9:07 am
Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. ~Winston Churchill
jt
May 5th, 2009
9:08 am
Ms Churchhill- I hope you are not offended.
I think it’s about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we’ve been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidate
Don Mc
May 5th, 2009
9:13 am
> The Top Ten Reasons President Barak Obama Delayed the Use of
> Deadly Force on the ‘Somali Pirates’
>
> 10. They are potential campaign donors for 2012.
> 9. One looked like a former neighbor.
> 8. All were carrying DNC cards.
> 7. When BO’s staff identified them as “Pirates”, Barak Obama thought they were from Pittsburgh.
> 6. Two of the four were registered with “ACORN”.
> 5. Didn’t want to support the use of firearms for protection, thus backing the stance of the ‘NRA’.
> 4. Wanted positive confirmation that they were in fact, Not members of the Rainbow Coalition.
> 3. The Tele-prompter was broken and he had nothing to say.
> 2. No Photo-op existed.
1. And the Number # 1 reason- They may be Relatives.
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:18 am
The German government on Monday said it would consider helping the
Italian automaker Fiat grab control of Opel, the German subsidiary of
General Motors, the ailing American giant.
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:20 am
About 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks being stress tested will be
instructed by regulators to raise more capital,
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:21 am
Citigroup may put more employees on commission or offer them larger
base salaries as it tries to retain key staffers without running afoul
of laws limiting executive pay at banks that receive government funds,
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:22 am
MGM Mirage, the hotel and casino company controlled by billionaire
investor Kirk Kerkorian, said its first-quarter profit fell 11 percent
as revenue fell short of expectations.
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:23 am
A Securities and Exchange Commission official said Monday said he
advocated S.E.C. registration for hedge fund advisers,
JLK
May 5th, 2009
9:25 am
The only thing more boring than this Deal guy is reading about him in Wooten’s column. ZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzz…. Wake me when there’s actually a chance the citizens of Georgia will pull their heads out of their azzes and start caring about the practical realities of living here: education, transportation, jobs (see direct connection with education and transportation), and making good use of our resources instead of polluting and squandering them into oblivion. As long as people like Wooten and the good pious constituents of Deal’s district care more about perceived morality (preferring to leave actual morality out of it) than reality, we’ll continue to be at the bottom where we belong. Bring on some more strip malls! Pave over another island! As long as we keep our boot heels on queer necks and buy all our booze before midnight on Saturday, the Lord will smile on us, right? Get that all on a bumper sticker, and it will be so. *snerk*
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:25 am
Seeking to stop Chrysler’s speedy sale in bankruptcy court, a group
holding portions of the automaker’s senior secured debt filed an
objection to the deal Monday, calling it rushed, unconstitutional and
the result of a “tainted” sales process.
Big Bucks GOP
May 5th, 2009
9:26 am
President Obama on Monday called for curbing offshore tax havens and
corporate tax breaks to collect billions of dollars more from
multinational companies and wealthy individuals.
The plan takes away many — but not all — of the sophisticated tax
moves commonly used in corporate America,
Daedalus
May 5th, 2009
9:36 am
And with this slate of Republican candidates we can be sure that nothing will be accomplished when one of them inevitably wins the keys to the Governor’s mansion.
None of them provide any leadership (let alone solutions) to Georgia’s MANY problems like lousy education, no water plan, no transportation strategy or funding. But maybe we can get some more boat ramps to go fishin’.
Enjoy your car. You will be stuck in traffic for the next 20 years.
Lolo
May 5th, 2009
9:41 am
I for one have had enough of the Repubs like Sonny who is not even respected in Washington. At least Deal has a lot of credibility and respect in Washington and in Georgia.
Deal is a very even-tempered and intelligent guy. He makes decisions based on fact and is not one to rush to the party’s bandwagon issues based on a populist political whim from the media (regardless of switching in 1995). I think he would be a fine chief executive of the state based on his steadfast representation of the people of North Georgia for so many years.
However, he is going to have some tough competition from the big-business lobby in Johnson and Handel. It’s going to be interesting.
Jackie
May 5th, 2009
9:51 am
News headlines indicates Sarah Palin is not trusted by the GOP leadership, per Rush Limbaugh.
The incredible shrinking Repubs!
deegee
May 5th, 2009
10:46 am
I live in Nathan No-Deal’s district. He is a mindless tool of the most radical right wing of the republican party. I have received his inflammatory campaign material. There is a link below that takes you to his voting record on every major category of issues. You can see for yourself but here are some of the highlights.
Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 100% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-life stance. (Dec 2006)
Rated 92% by the Christian Coalition: a pro-family voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the AU, indicating opposition to church-state separation. (Dec 2006)
Rated A by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 7% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti-gay-rights stance. (Dec 2006)
Rated 14% by the NAACP, indicating an anti-affirmative-action stance. (Dec 2006)
Rated 0% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by SANE, indicating a pro-military voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 100% by FAIR, indicating a voting record restricting immigration. (Dec 2003)
Rated 100% by USBC, indicating a sealed-border stance. (Dec 2006)
Rated 20% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-union voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 93% by the US COC, indicating a pro-business voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 20% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
Rated 17% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)
Rated 5% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 28% by CATO, indicating a pro-fair trade voting record. (Dec 2002)
Rated 69% by NTU, indicating “Satisfactory” on tax votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the CTJ, indicating opposition to progressive taxation. (Dec 2006)
Rated -25 by NORML, indicating a “hard-on-drugs” stance. (Dec 2006)
http://www.issues2000.org/GA/Nathan_Deal.htm
Leon
May 5th, 2009
10:53 am
Don Mc……That might be the stupidist shyte I have ever read. You people will never be satisfied will you? Is it possible that he simply relied on the competent people on the ground (sea) to do what they needed to do when they needed to do it? Or would you just have our soldiers rush in at the risk of life and limb on a bunch of flimsy, made up “intelligence”? We’ve tried that as a nation and it really doesn’t work. As Bugs Bunny would say “what a maroon”.
Jackie
May 5th, 2009
10:54 am
@Don MC
Your intelligence level is not reach the hem of your sheet!
Republitards are a dead party
May 5th, 2009
11:01 am
The TV crawl this morning said “Eliz Edwards recounts the affair withA Oprah.” Who woulda thunk? And poor Stedman Grahaham.
Addington didn’t destry the Zieklow dissent memo, and we’ll have it soon. Looks like “the lawyers said torture was fine” is as true as the rumor that Cox Newspapers is buying NYT instead of leaning on it like a crutch.
deegee
May 5th, 2009
11:10 am
I got the email from my 92 year old uncle concerning the outrage over the president hindering the rescue of captain Phillips. It gets the wingnuts all worked up into a lather. Ever since the military debunked the email message there is nothing left but a sick, hideous attempt to find humor in someone’s suffering.
“There’s an email whipping around the internet, supposedly written by a Navy SEAL who complains that President Obama delayed decisions to deploy the Navy SEALs because he wanted to resolve the hostage standoff with Captain Richard Phillips “peacefully.”
There’s enough background detail in the email to suggest it was in fact written by a SEAL, but several senior military officials who were involved in the direct planning and execution of the mission — including in consultations with the White House and President Obama — tell NBC News the claims are bogus.”
Lolo
May 5th, 2009
11:13 am
Hey deegee, you are the partisan hack. You are indicating your own meaning of the ratings based on whether you like an organization or not. You do realize that almost every one of those organizations you list have agendas to push on their own. NEA, SANE, NRA. Of course they are going to give 100’s or 0’s based on which way they lean. And you consider all of that inflammatory towrds Deal’s record? How about actually reading into the policies. Also, many of the yes or no votes in Congress are often based on other circumstantial add-on or rider legislation that may diminsh the original legislative intent. Give some real examples not just the same ol’ tired rhetoric about someone being an extremist becasue they vote in favor of gun ownership and are not favorable to the AFL-CIO or Code Pink or whatever other cooky organization you can find.
Alison
May 5th, 2009
11:19 am
This is the first time I’ve ever given the issue of state sovereignty much thought. After some research, I believe it is critical to stopping the intrusion of this federal government. I’m leaning towards Ray McBerry because he seems to be the expert on this topic.
deegee
May 5th, 2009
11:37 am
LOLOLOLO, go to the link and see his voting record for yourself. I did. Why don’t you?
REPUBLICANS EVIL TIME IS UP
May 5th, 2009
11:38 am
DON MC HOW ABOUT YALL TRY TO SECEDE SO THE UNION CAN BOMB ALL YALL REDNECKS SINCE YOU COWARDS DONT LIKE AMERICA NOMORE,IM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU RACIST HICKS,AND HOW BOUT THE JEWS USE MOSSAD TO COME AND KILL OFF YOU TRAITOR REDNECKS,BUT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER YOU HICKS ARE GOING TO GET WHATS COMING REAL SOON IF THE SECEDE CONTINUES TO COME OUT YOUR MOUTH,JEWS BLACKS INDIANS ARABS HISPANICS ASIANS AND GOD IS TIRED OF YOUR EVIL.
Peter
May 5th, 2009
11:44 am
Republican’s in action……………
Off-duty cops charged with shooting up Lake Allatoona
By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, May 04, 2009
Two off-duty Atlanta Police Department officers were arrested early Monday morning in Cherokee County, charged with reckless conduct for shooting dozens of bullets into Lake Allatoona.
At around 1 a.m. Cherokee 911 received several calls complaining about the gunfire. Deputies were dispatched to the Allatoona shoreline, and one reported a bullet landed just 15 feet away from where he stood, said Cherokee Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jay Baker.
“There were people fishing in the area at the time,” he said.
The shots were traced to the Cedar Drive home of Atlanta police officer Dan Rasmussen, 43. Fellow cop Chad Armstrong, 31, was also charged, as was Rasmussen’s wife, Toni Rasmussen, 43. Baker said she was charged with obstruction after failing to comply with Cherokee deputies. A fourth man, Robert Terza, 22, was also charged with reckless conduct.
Deputies seized 10 firearms from the Rasmussen home.
Rasmussen and Armstrong have been suspended with pay by the Atlanta Police Department. Internal affairs officers were dispatched to the scene Monday afternoon, Baker said.
All of the suspects were released on bond.
GOP is gone
May 5th, 2009
11:50 am
Silly contests are correct Churchill’s MOM, as is Silly Palin
William
May 5th, 2009
11:56 am
I’m with Alison…Ray McBerry!!!
William Casey
May 5th, 2009
12:11 pm
Sarah Palin will be the Alf Landon of the new century.
Lolo
May 5th, 2009
12:16 pm
DEEEEEEGEEEEEE, I did. Like I said , yeas and nays are often not indicitive of the legislative intent. Yes, he’s clearly more conservative than you or me but he’s a Republican from Georgia who represents the overall constituency. So that qualifies him as a mindless tool? What were you hoping for, another Arlen Spector who does nothing but blame others?
Diogenes
May 5th, 2009
12:31 pm
Good afternoon, Jim,
Mow that you have carefully inspected all of the Republican candidates for governor, I think you can see, as we can, that this batch will merely perpetuate Sonny’s dithering incompetence and will lack the courage to stand up to the megalomania of the Georgia General Assembly and veto their vanity legislation.
deegee
May 5th, 2009
12:34 pm
LOLOLOLOL, I wasn’t hoping for anything. The mindless people that overwhelmingly re-elect Nathan Deal live in my neighborhood. Are the yeas and nays of John Lewis indicative of his legislative intent or do you think that maybe he might be unfairly characterized by groups monitoring his voting record? What sort of blame game did Arlen Spector play? He moved on.
Hillbilly Deluxe
May 5th, 2009
12:42 pm
Nathan Deal is my Congressman. Last fall I called his office several times seeking a meeting with somebody about a personal, constituent services type problem. I have yet to receive so much as even a courtesy return phone call. I won’t be voting for Mr. Deal for anything.
Jefferson
May 5th, 2009
1:09 pm
BFD
Phil W
May 5th, 2009
1:19 pm
We all need to really remember how the dems came to be in power in DC. The warmonger, debt financed neocons were sent home. The sooner the GA GOP wakes to the fact that the party has strayed from it’s foundations, the sooner we can begin to take our nation back from the collectivists. DC is a cesspool with no hope of any real change. We are seeing the results of that false hope now. The best we can do is to elect a governor who will stand on the principles elucidated by Thomas Jefferson in his Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. There are over 30 states now that have either passed or are working on legislation reasserting state sovereignty according to the 10ty Amendment. We need a strong governor who will stand up to the federal leviathan much as Montana has done recently. Do your research and you will learn that Ray McBerry is such a candidate and is not a recycled politician like Deal, or a non-performer like Handel who still has not instated a paper ballot trail. McBerry understands the principles upon which out nation was founded and is without question the best man for the job. Anyone else and we just have more of the same. We are losing our nation and our liberties daily. Can anyone not see that there is not a dimes worth of difference between the politicians on the left and right? We need a businessman with morals and principles in the gold dome.
Peter
May 5th, 2009
1:19 pm
Will this years GPO candidates be “Bought” by the Southern Company like Sonny ?
I Report, You Bedwet
May 5th, 2009
1:34 pm
“The sooner the GA GOP wakes to the fact that the party has strayed from it’s foundations, the sooner we can begin to take our nation back from the collectivists. DC is a cesspool with no hope of any real change.”
Phil, good points, but there are a lot more obstacles nowadays, so it will be an even steeper mountain to climb than in the past:
1) The media is fully in bed with Democrats and this administration. Note the lack of any mention of Michelle’s $600 shoes at an event for the poor. You think Laura Bush would have gotten away with that? Have you noticed most of the media has been silent on all of the Obama broken promises, the latest being this one about interrogation at Gitmo?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30531510
2) You have a lot of politically active ignorant youths out there and single moms now who feel that government should be in full control of their lives. Lots of voters there, including the illegal aliens who libtards say anyone is against being here ILLEGALLY are “racists.”
3) Democrats, most of the power hitters anyways, are ex-lawyers and will not go down without a knock down-drag out fight. Republicans don’t have that fire in themselves.
Peter
May 5th, 2009
1:54 pm
Republican’s doing what they do BEST………..
TENAHA, Texas (CNN) — Roderick Daniels was traveling through eastern Texas in October 2007 when, he says, he was the victim of a highway robbery.
Roderick Daniels of Tennessee says a Texas police officer tried on his jewelry in front of him.
The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.
But Daniels couldn’t go to the police to report the incident.
The men who stopped him were the police.
Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges — but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.
“I actually thought this was a joke,” Daniels told CNN.
But he signed.
“To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home,” he said. “I was petrified.”
Now Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff’s lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000.
“I believe it is a shakedown. I believe it’s a piracy operation,” Guillory said.
Highway Robbery
Out of the blue, drivers are pulled over. Their valuables taken … hundreds of thousands of dollars worth. And you won’t believe who’s behind it all. “Highway Robbery,” an AC360 investigation, tonight at 10 ET.
George Bowers, Tenaha’s longtime mayor, says his police follow the law. And through her lawyers, Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Russell denied any impropriety.
Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they believe are used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned. But Guillory’s lawsuit states that Tenaha and surrounding Shelby County don’t bother to return much of what they confiscate.
Jennifer Boatright and Ron Henderson said they agreed to forfeit their property after Russell threatened to have their children taken away.
Like Daniels, the couple says they were carrying a large amount of cash — about $6,000 — to buy a car. When they were stopped in Tenaha in 2007, Boatright said, Russell came to the Tenaha police station to berate her and threaten to separate the family.
“I said, ‘If it’s the money you want, you can take it, if that’s what it takes to keep my children with me and not separate them from us. Take the money,’ ” she said.
The document Henderson signed, which bears Russell’s signature, states that in exchange for forfeiting the cash, “no criminal charges shall be filed … and our children shall not be turned over” to the state’s child protective services agency.
Maryland resident Amanee Busbee said she also was threatened with losing custody of her child after being stopped in Tenaha with her fiancé and his business partner. They were headed to Houston with $50,000 to complete the purchase of a restaurant, she said.
“The police officer would say things to me like, ‘Your son is going to child protective services because you are not saying what we need to hear,’ ” Busbee said.
Guillory, who practices in nearby Nacogdoches, Texas, estimates authorities in Tenaha seized $3 million between 2006 and 2008, and in about 150 cases — virtually all of which involved African-American or Latino motorists — the seizures were improper.
“They are disproportionately going after racial minorities,” he said. “My take on the matter is that the police in Tenaha, Texas, were picking on and preying on people that were least likely to fight back.”
Daniels told CNN that one of the officers who stopped him tried on some of his jewelry in front of him.
“They asked me, ‘What you are doing with this ring on?’ I said I had bought that ring. I paid good money for that ring,” Daniels said. “He took the ring off my finger and put it on his finger and told me how did it look. He put on my jewelry.”
Texas law states that the proceeds of any seizures can be used only for “official purposes” of district attorney offices and “for law-enforcement purposes” by police departments. According to public records obtained by CNN using open-records laws, an account funded by property forfeitures in Russell’s office included $524 for a popcorn machine, $195 for candy for a poultry festival, and $400 for catering.
In addition, Russell donated money to the local chamber of commerce and a youth baseball league. A local Baptist church received two checks totaling $6,000.
And one check for $10,000 went to Barry Washington, a Tenaha police officer whose name has come up in several complaints by stopped motorists. The money was paid for “investigative costs,” the records state.
Washington would not comment for this report but has denied all allegations in his answer to Guillory’s lawsuit.
“This is under litigation. This is a lawsuit,” he told CNN.
Russell refused requests for interviews at her office and at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department in a nearby town, where she also sang. But in a written statement, her lawyers said she “has denied and continues to deny all substantive allegations set forth.”
Russell “has used and continues to use prosecutorial discretion … and is in compliance with Texas law, the Texas constitution, and the United States Constitution,” the statement said.
Bowers, who has been Tenaha’s mayor for 54 years, is also named in the lawsuit. But he said his employees “will follow the law.”
“We try to hire the very best, best-trained, and we keep them up to date on the training,” he said.
The attention paid to Tenaha has led to an effort by Texas lawmakers to tighten the state’s forfeiture laws. A bill sponsored by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, would bar authorities from using the kind of waivers Daniels, Henderson and Busbee were told to sign.
“To have law enforcement and the district attorney essentially be crooks, in my judgment, should infuriate and does infuriate everyone,” Whitmire said. His bill has passed the Senate, where he is the longest-serving member, and is currently before the House of Representatives.
Busbee, Boatright and Henderson were able to reclaim their property after hiring lawyers. But Daniels is still out his $8,500.
“To this day, I don’t understand why they took my belongings off me,” he said.
Curious Observer
May 5th, 2009
1:56 pm
Ah, yes. Ray McBerry–the guy who considers the federal income tax “Marxist.” You 20 percenters are really serious about retreating to the extreme margins of the political landscape, aren’t you?
Hillbilly Deluxe
May 5th, 2009
2:10 pm
Peter @1:19
All politicians at the state level belong to the Southern Company. Always have in my lifetime.
GayGrayGeek
May 5th, 2009
3:01 pm
Curious @ 1:56 – The 20 Percenters are bound and determined to turn themselves into 10 Percenters, then 5 Perdenters, then 1 Percenters, then they can all meet in a small motel room with their teabags…
Poultry
May 5th, 2009
3:47 pm
It’s interesting that Rep. Deal would throw his hat in. I’m inclined to give him a chance, to see what he has to say and to gauge how well and how earnestly he says it. This is an old saw, especially since Watergate, but Americans are so burnt by politics that we can’t help but fear that too few of our finest ever will step up and enter the ring. I remember how Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern’s abortive VP running mate, was taken out by revelations of Eagleton’s treatments for Manic-Depression. I thought, “Jeez, I hope I never get that.” And mine was not a fear of a fearsome mental illness, but rather a fear of such a public ruination and humiliation.
You could say that those aiming to enter public life have nothing to fear provided they do no wrong, but which of us does no wrong? And of what wrongdoing was Mr. Eagleton guilty?
So these considerations make me a bit gentle toward people entering politics or entering new phases of their political lives. However, in general I’m inclined to consider retiring politicians guilty until proven innocent. I still can’t shake the shock of watching Nixon work not to throw up when he said his final farewell as President. He was an able and an astoundingly accomplished man, but he poisoned our well.
So I have to fight my instincts to root for the entrants into this gubernatorial race, but root for them I do. I root for all of them, but, like the old Brookly Dodgers, I can’t help but hope, “Well, maybe next time.” Maybe next time we’ll get a bench deep enough to win it all.
When it comes to Georgians selecting their next Governor, both benches are our benches. For the time being.
May the best woman win!
deegee
May 5th, 2009
4:00 pm
The problem with police recruiting efforts is a sign of things to come. The baby boomers are retiring. There aren’t enough young men and women in the 25 – 40 year old age bracket to sufficiently fill the gap that exists in jobs that require a measure of physical strength. Law enforcement has also been negatively impacted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Police departments have lowered their eligibility requirements to the point that they will consider just about anyone that isn’t a felon. Misdemeanors are okay now, hence there are some people wearing badges that have a history of making some pretty bad decisions in life.
Poultry
May 5th, 2009
4:20 pm
@deegee
Your post about police officers is oddly consonant with my immediately previous one, concerning political recruiting.
I remember the days when Florida was a cop’s last option, a field of last resort, a sort of American Foreign Legion for cops who needed to rebadge their old bad selves. Florida’s not like that now, but still it seems to me that what you’re describing is the Floridization of the entire frontline force of law enforcement.
That’s too bad.
I Report, You Bedwet
May 5th, 2009
7:21 pm
“Republican’s in action…” —Peter
Why don’t you learn proper grammatical syntax before bichin’ about Kennesaw cops shooting up a lake, okay Peter? Moron.
“You 20 percenters are really serious about retreating to the extreme margins of the political landscape, aren’t you?”–Curious Observer
Hey CO, are you referring to that 45% that voted AGAINST Obama? If not, then what “20 percenters” are you referring to then? I’m curiously observant now.
Poultry
May 5th, 2009
7:40 pm
They go on and on and on about what tough guys they are and about how we’re the bedwetters, but yet they bedwet every time when I try to post something detrimental to their dying Paper. They may publish me this time, on a dare, but if so this will stand for 10 times they’ve censured me outright, the shameless ones. Let’s just see, this one time…
Poultry
May 5th, 2009
7:43 pm
deegee,
Are you a coward?
I Report, You Bedwet
May 5th, 2009
9:30 pm
“The problem with police recruiting efforts is a sign of things to come.”
Hey Deeg got something right for once! All the more reason to start stocking up on weapons and ammunition and get the concealed weapons permit. Looking at the data, Americans have been doing that for some time now. But naturally, the pantywastes on the left are all upset over it and wetting beds over anarchists and revolutionaries and whatnot. Funny how these same libtards never complain when left wing radical eco-nazis torch SUV dealerships and McMansion developments, huh?
Leon
May 5th, 2009
11:11 pm
Bedsore……. “All the more reason to start stocking up on weapons and ammunition and get the concealed weapons permit.” Right. That way you can chase your 13 year old around the garage shooting at him after you’ve killed your wife & two sons, like that dude in FLA. But I’m sure that gun was purchased all nice and legal like at Big Jim’s Gun-O-Rama. And the last time I checked arson was a crime and your “eco-nazis” are doing the time. You need to get out of the 60’s bro, the world’s changed quite a bit.
Willis
May 6th, 2009
7:38 am
Why is it that the Republican Party in Georgia, with George W. Bush and Dear Leader Perdue at the head of the pack, refuse to allow the people of Georgia to vote on Sunday beverage sales? They talk about family values – traditional principles – less governement, etc. but don’t trust the people to vote. How is that leadership?
No Chance for Tom
May 6th, 2009
8:06 am
Anyone is better than Thurbert Baker. Hopefully, black leaders will join together to make sure this Tom doesn’t win the primary. Just because he’s black doesn’t mean he cares for his own. Look at his stances on all the issues concerning the African-American community. Baker takes either “Anti-Black” stances or he is blatantly MIA when you need him. I’ll vote for anyone but Baker!
No Chance for Tom
May 6th, 2009
8:10 am
Oh, and Whites certainly can’t trust Baker. He is a flip-flopper and you never know from what bag he’s coming out of…he’s unpredictable and that scares rural Whites.
@@
May 6th, 2009
11:36 am
Jim, is there any chance that Nathan could change his last name?
Political Deal-ING gives me pause.
NORML Guy
May 7th, 2009
11:56 am
I’d think Wooten would be leaning toward that Neil Horsley guy, what with his conservative ‘values’ and all.