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DEL.ICIO.USLeftovers from the Ralph and Rudy luncheon
At a gathering aimed at '06 and '08, George W. Bush was a shadow of his former self
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The main piece on Ralph Reed’s Buckhead fund-raiser with former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani today can be found here. But we’ve saved some good tidbits for you.
The affair was nearly over before our colleague, Tom Crawford of capitolimpact.com, put his finger on something significant. George W. Bush, once an automatic applause line at any Republican gathering, was barely mentioned by name. We checked the recording, and Crawford was right.
Giuliani spoke of Reed’s “helping to elect several presidents.” Left unsaid was the fact that all of them were named Bush. “The president worked very, very hard for the tax cuts,” Giuliani said. His lips formed around the name “Bush” once, in passing.
Reed mentioned his White House connections not at all. When the occupant is hovering around 30 percent in the polls, the advantage is mostly gone.
Much of Giuliani’s speech was devoted to bucking up the Republican disheartened. “There’s a certain sense of unease among Republicans. We’ve got to lift our heads up and take a look around us — and realize that this country is pretty darn good shape,” Giuliani said.
“Of course we have problems. Economies always have problems. The price of gasoline has to be dealt with, in the short term and the long term,” the former mayor and prosecutor said. “We shouldn’t be going to the American people with our heads down. We should be going with our heads up. Our policies work.”
Another dog that didn’t bark was the list of attendees at the Reed event.
A number of notables turned out: Howard “Bo” Callaway, Guy Millner, and Georgia-Pacific Chairman Pete Correll. But most GOP elected officials stayed away. Among those introduced: State Sens. Cecil Staton of Macon, Ralph Hudgens of Comer, Mitch Seabaugh of Sharpsburg; state Rep. Melvin Everson of Snellville; and Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County Commission.
“You’ve got a primary. I think that’s very, very normal for that to happen,” said Millner, the former candidate for both governor and U.S. senator.
We asked Millner what he thought of comments made by Reed’s rival, Casey Cagle — who lays the blame for Millner’s 1998 defeat as governor on the horrid campaign of Republican Mitch Skandalakis for lieutenant governor. In which Reed played a significant role.
Millner said he doesn’t look backwards.
The Reed-Giuliani luncheon was preceded by a $1,000-per-ticket VIP reception. Reed supporter Dot Burns, a longtime GOP activist and confidante of the late Paul Coverdell, was one of the insiders.
“We talked about the war, mainly immigration, which seems to be on everyone’s mind these days,” Burns said. “I believe in making it easier for people to become citizens. Too many people depend on them in their businesses.”
That, we should point out, is probably not the official position of the Reed campaign.
On the key issues where Giuliani and Reed disagree — abortion, gun control, and gay rights — Burns said: “That didn’t come up. I think our issues now are above that. I think our issues now are with world peace, and those [other] issues need to be put on the back burners.”
And one more thing. The following was the Cagle campaign’s official response to the events of the day:
“Although we disagree with Rudy Giuliani on several issues — most notably his support for gay marriage and abortion — he was a great leader for New York, and we welcome him to Georgia. “We are glad to have him here, regardless of who he’s coming to support. We just hope being tied to Ralph Reed works out better for him than it has for Ralph’s other associates.”
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By Sandy Brothers
May 18, 2006 06:47 PM | Link to this
I was there. An excellent event. Obviously Giuliani helps the Republican faithful to know there is no validity to the liberal slandering of Reed in the attempt of guilt by association.
There were many, many people present who have labored for a long time for the Republican majority in this state.
Reed is a hero and we will work to elect him. We will reject Cagle because he has joined this paper and other liberal interests in trying to destroy Reed by guilt by assoication.
This was a very positive event. Next week Sean Hannity will do any event for Reed in ATL. Who comes next? I can hardly wait.
By getalife
May 18, 2006 07:38 PM | Link to this
McCain-Fartwell
Hypocrite Reed-Giuliani
Who comes next? I can hardly wait.
How about Bush-OBL?
By Former Cagle Guy
May 18, 2006 08:10 PM | Link to this
Actually, it is Cagle who is the hypocrite. He gave Mark Taylor a $1,000 campaign contribution and lied about Taylor saying he was intimidated into making it.
He broke Georgia’s campaign finance laws by “puffing” his report by counting contributions he did not have in hand.
He used dirty tricks changing Reed’s entry in Wikipedia, but refused to fire the guilty campaign worker as Cathy Cox did. No integrity here.
He did not vote for an important eminent domain bill (SB 86) thus showing his weakness for protecting private property rights of Georgians.
I could go on and on, but I gave up on Cagle because he is the real hypocrite in this race.
By Tony
May 18, 2006 09:21 PM | Link to this
So-called former Cagle Guy would rather vote for a man who mishandles his own business making millions without even checking where the money comes from or goes, associates with the likes of the several being investigated, lies about not being aware of casino involvement, says he’s moral but supports a casino, and then has gay-rights-abortion rights-gun control-adulterer Giuliani supporting him and raising him some money? If FCG calls this the right choice the GOP is just SOL this year.
I thought it was quite funny how Ralphie got mad at the reporters asking him about Rudy. He couldn’t stand that he wasn’t in the spotlight. Almost lost his temper there.
Hey Ralphie, just stick to your gated community and stop pretending to be a real Georgian. You are NO Georgian.
By Former Reed Gambling Pal
May 18, 2006 09:22 PM | Link to this
“He broke Georgia’s campaign finance laws by “puffing” his report by counting contributions he did not have in hand.”
So, Cagle broke the law. But it is okay for Reed to take contributions for a primary run-off (which he is now forced to return) and taking to much in-kind contributions.
“He used dirty tricks changing Reed’s entry in Wikipedia,” this from the guy who helped run the Skandalkis campaign that sunk Republicans in 98…and from the guy that took money from gambling interests to attack 10 republican congressman.
Oh, how desperate Reed must be.
By Savannah Thinker
May 18, 2006 09:50 PM | Link to this
I will just not vote before I vote for that hypocrite Ralph Reed. I think he is a disgusting person for his hypocritical actions and his high and mighty fancy talk about Christian values.
His record speaks for itself and he can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
PLEASE GOD GEORGIA don’t put this man on the general election ballot.
By Jane
May 18, 2006 11:36 PM | Link to this
Ralph had his 15 Minutes and sold out too early. It is a shame.
By Tony
May 18, 2006 11:37 PM | Link to this
Does Reed really appreciate having Rudy call for domestic partnerships/civil unions on the same occassion as a Reed fundraiser? Does Reed really like having a public adulterer who was kicked out of the Mayor’s mansion in NYC and moved in with gay friends supporting him and raising his money? I bet the Kool Aid drinkers are really squirming on that one. All of those Puritanical moralists are all wetting their pants and crying “Why Ralph why?” and it’s all so funny.
By Debie
May 19, 2006 06:10 AM | Link to this
Tony, you and other Cagle supporters would have loved to had Rudy endorse Cagle and you know it! You are all seething with envy.
Rudy has high approval ratings in Georgia and is very popular. My Mom is pro life, anti gay marriage, and an Independent Baptist and she likes Rudy. She wants someone that can defeat Hillary and she thinkgs Rudy can do it. She said she does not agree with some of Rudy’s positions but feels he is a lot better than having Hillary as President.
Rudy did not call for domestic partnership, he said he supported them and you know that. But fact makes no difference to a Cagle supporter.
And don’t bother to insult our intelligence by saying you are not a Cagle supporter. That dog won’t hunt. You on constant basis slam Reed and only Reed. You never slam Cagle and he is guilty of lying about the Taylor contribution, breaking the law by puffing up his disclosure form, working in collusion with that group Campaign Money Watch.
Campaign Money Watch is a extreme left wing front group that has ties to Mother Jones and Air America. Both are well known left wing liberal groups with ties to the Democratic Party. How would they get the email list of GOP activists that they have been sending emails to? Which candidate would profit? I spoke to several that received that email. They did not sign up for those emails and they have received previous emails slamming Reed.
As for your comment about Reed mishandling his business, looks like Reed is doing pretty well financial and he could “mishandle” my business like that any day of the week. From your constant comments about his gated community it is clear you have a case of wealth envy.
By Debbie
May 19, 2006 06:18 AM | Link to this
You AJC guys have an obvious preference for Cagle in the GOP Primary and it shows in your writings.
Not one thing has been mentioned about the fact that was a left wing group running radio ads against Ralph and protesting at the Rudy event. Maybe you don’t want voters to know how much left wing groups hate Ralph and the extreme they are willing to go to to defeat him.
Who cares about the absense of those elected officials that support Cagle. Why on earth would they be at the event? I am a Reed supporter and I would not be caught dead at a Cagle event.
It is a no brainer why those elected officials support Cagle. They either served with him in the Senate or he helped those officials with funding. Those State Senators that tried to circumvent the voters by handpicking the nominee of the party will have their day of reckoning.
I would surmise that voters have a higher opinion of Rudy, Zell, Sean than they do of their elected officials.
Remember when Isakson and Milner ran, Isakson had almost every elected official endorse him and he lost the primary to Milner.
By Sam Sludge
May 19, 2006 06:47 AM | Link to this
Got to hand it to ol’ Casey Cagle - in his praise for Rudy Guiliani - he mentions the words abortion, gay marriage and New York - all in the first sentence - I know Ralphie certainly needs help with those issues in Jawja.
By Hunter
May 19, 2006 07:21 AM | Link to this
With all of Guliani’a questionable skeletons in the closet…(like living with a male couple for example)…it seems amazing that he and Ralph Reed would have much of anything in common…am I missing something here?
By Rawena
May 19, 2006 07:50 AM | Link to this
The respect I once had for Guiliani is now completely gone. I am a Democrat and would have supported Rudy for President.
By Tony
May 19, 2006 08:22 AM | Link to this
Debbie, Debbie, Debbie….
Let’s flip this around. Let’s see why these out of state types are supporting Ralph….business? Consulting? Help in running for President? Favors? And let’s take the Isakson/Millner example you gave…you said all of those people supported Isakson but Millner won the Primary. As I recall, how far did Guy get? Why was that? I think Reed’s wonderful “Take all or nothing” strategy worked marvelously. It seems the body bags he was more interested was his own party’s.
And not caught dead at a Cagle event? I guess you lied when you said you’d support the party nominee.
By Reid
May 19, 2006 09:55 AM | Link to this
Are there any poll numbers at all on this race yet? Do we have any indication (aside from the individual campaign polls, those are always skewed) as to how this Lt-Guv race is starting to shape up? All this back and forth is meaningless until we know the numbers…
But Ralph Reed still sucks. I think we could have found a better candidate than Cagle, but if it’s a choice between the lesser of two evils, I’ll take the lesser. At least Cagle isn’t a socialist (although I guess Ralph’s people are already working that angle).
By Barbara Scruggs
May 19, 2006 10:16 AM | Link to this
Ralph, you have to much baggage and the public will hear much before the primary.
Run for Senate first and prove yourself first.
By Chief
May 19, 2006 12:01 PM | Link to this
Barbara: Ralphy’s already proved himself…as a crook. Ranks two steps below the TV evangelist Jimmy Baker, and three below a child molester.
By jason
May 19, 2006 04:15 PM | Link to this
www.ralphsgreatesthits.com