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DEL.ICIO.USHail to the Chief, but not to his coattails
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s no better way to kick off the post-Labor Day campaign season than with a visit from the President.
When the White House last week added a policy speech in Atlanta to President Bush’s scheduled stop at a Max Burns fund-raiser in Pooler, it made this an official rather than a purely political trip to Georgia, an accounting distinction which affects who pays for the jet fuel.
In reality, for the next two months it’s all political in one way or another. Bush’s new theme, using the word “fascism” to link Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors to the nation’s enemies in World War II, is the cornerstone of the Republican effort to hang on to their majority in Congress. We’re likely to hear a new development of that idea when Bush speaks to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Thursday.
Something similar worked for the Republicans two years ago and four years ago. Whether Bush is as effective as a messagizer this year will obviously have a big impact on the 12th District congressional race between Burns, the Republican challenger and former congressman, and Democratic incumbent John Barrow.
But there are things to be noted about Bush’s footprint in other Georgia races. In 2002 and 2004, Republican candidates in state legislative races didn’t hesitate to run Bush’s picture in their flyers.
That was evidence of the growing nationalization of politics, with a more uniform partisan message, centering around a similar set of issues, spreading ever deeper into the grassroots.
Every trend has its limits, and it may be that top-down politics is getting to that point.
The issue which best illustrates the difficulties of nationalized campaigns isn’t the War on Terror. Despite some defections by Republicans in other parts of the country, Bush’s message is likely to be received warmly at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
Instead, it’s immigration, a subject the president is unlikely to touch on this week. Without some basic consensus – which on this issue the GOP doesn’t have – it’s hard to churning out talking points that work for every race from town council on up. The same could be said of stem cell research or the budget deficit, but immigration definitely tops the list.
Just by coincidence, there was Gov. Sonny Perdue late last week on the U.S.-Mexican border, charting his own course on the topic. With nary a President in sight.
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By Grady L. Cornish
September 4, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this
Gov. Perdue grandstands about Illegal Immigration”
One of Gov. Perdue’s re-election campaign ads now running asserts that “Somebody had to do something about illegal immigration and Sonny did… he gave us a tough immigration law that cracks down on illegal immigrants and extends a helping hand to those legally in Georgia and in need of state services…a firm hand and a big heart…that’s Sonny.”
The immigration law being touted in the “Sonny did” re-election campaign ad has done nothing to slow the stream of illegal immigrants pouring into the welcoming arms of employers. As a matter of fact, the problem has become so severe in Georgia that the Washington Post recently referred to Dalton, Georgia, the nation’s carpet-making capital, as a kind of “border town.” In a survey of the immigration problem, the Post noted the population of Dalton now is 40 percent Hispanic. More than 60 percent of its public school students are Hispanic, and so are 50 percent of the Dalton region’s carpet workers. Moreover, a recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports an estimated 470,000 illegal immigrants have moved into Georgia in the past five years. The report also indicates that the number could be twice that amount.
Sonny recently staged a “free” photo op visit (at taxpayers expense) to the Mexican boarder where some Georgia National Guard troups are stationed, along with the Minutemen, a high-profile group of activists who want to seal the Southern border. Perdue says he made the visit because, “I wanted to make sure the Georgia National Guard were out here making a difference and not just doing something to make everybody feel good.” Was that the real or good reason? All of the foregoing in the face of Sonny’s support for some type of guest-worker program. Plainly and simply Sonny didn’t!
By Ed
September 5, 2006 9:51 AM | Link to this
How soon we forget that Democrats, with Al Gore at the head of the line, could not get far enough away from the embarrassment of Bill Clinton during elections. Like Perdue or not he’s made hard decisions to get out of the Barnes/Taylor deficit mess. Taylor accused Perdue of playing politics when he lowered gas prices after Hurricane Katrina. Then he criticized him again recently for not lowering prices when prices were at $3.00 per gallon. Playing both sides of the fence when your not in charge is pretty easy. But that’s what Democrats are good at. I would rather have someone in office that has the foresight and courage to make unpopular decisions that stand up in the long run. I paid $2.49 at the pump yesterday. Let’s ask Mark how he sees that decision today in a state that is near the bottom as it relates to gas prices in the U.S. Having a balanced budget and in our case a surplus attracts business and jobs to the state. With all of Taylor’s promises will we be headed for debt within two years if he is elected.
By Joe T
September 5, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this
Read this morning where Fidel said, the most critical moment has passed. Bless his heart, the most critical moment for him and all of us is when we stand befor God and have to give an account. Pray for him befor it’s to late.
By debbie
September 5, 2006 1:01 PM | Link to this
The President needs to get behind Johnny Isakson’s plan. Security first! No amnesty!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51746
INVASION USA Mexican flag flies at U.S. post office
Old Glory stamped on in protest by backers of illegal immigration
WorldNetDaily.com
Posted: August 29, 2006
Backers of illegal immigration at a rally near Los Angeles took down an American flag at a U.S. post office, stamped on it and replaced it with a Mexican flag as police looked on, according to witnesses and a video of the event.
Police officers in Maywood, Calif., Saturday eventually came to the pole to remove the flag but had bottles and rocks thrown at them, a radio listener named Sandra reported to the Terry Anderson show, heard on KRLA in Los Angeles.
A video can be viewed here, and photographs can be seen here on the website of Save our State, a border-security group represented there along with the Minutemen to protest Maywood declaring itself a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens.
The radio listener, volunteering for Save our State, said that when she arrived at the rally she was rushed by counter-protesters who called out, “Death to the Minutemen.”
Sign at protest in Maywood, Calif. (courtesy: Bridget Johnson)
“They pushed me around and told me if I was to take one step further, they would beat the s* out of me,” Sandra said. “I looked to the back of me and there were about four police officers leaning on their vehicle just watching, doing nothing!”
As she stepped forward, Sandra said, the counter-protesters stole her sign and ripped it up as another threw water on her.
A police officer eventually escorted her to her group.
The opposition, she said, began to get louder, and then “we watched as they took the American flag off of the flag pole and stepped on it on the ground at the United States post office and mounted a Mexican flag, and up it went.”
At this point , she said, “the police did nothing.”
“Finally, they went over to take it down, and they had bottles and rocks thrown at them,” she said. “They did not attempt to arrest anyone. They were unable to take it down because they cut the wrong line so the flag remained there for the rest of the day.”
“They pushed me around and told me if I was to take one step further, they would beat the s* out of me,” Sandra said. “I looked to the back of me and there were about four police officers leaning on their vehicle just watching, doing nothing!”
As she stepped forward, Sandra said, the counter-protesters stole her sign and ripped it up as another threw water on her.
A police officer eventually escorted her to her group.
The opposition, she said, began to get louder, and then “we watched as they took the American flag off of the flag pole and stepped on it on the ground at the United States post office and mounted a Mexican flag, and up it went.”
At this point , she said, “the police did nothing.”
“Finally, they went over to take it down, and they had bottles and rocks thrown at them,” she said. “They did not attempt to arrest anyone. They were unable to take it down because they cut the wrong line so the flag remained there for the rest of the day.”
Sandra said that as police officers watched, another woman was beaten, as well as an elderly man, noting the counter-protesters “tend to pick on the weaker targets.”
“I believe that all Americans need to know about this and need to see that Mexican flag hanging at an American post office,” she wrote to Anderson. “We are being invaded and the American people need to wake up!”
Blogger Bridget Johnson, who also was at the event, said that along with Maywood’s flouting of immigration law, as a “sanctuary city,” it has disbanded its police department’s traffic unit so illegals without driver’s licenses won’t be fearful of getting their cars towed.
Referring to the supporters of open borders, she called it an “afternoon chock full of racism, ‘reconquista’ and riot cops, which included a sign claiming North America is a ‘stolen continent.’”
Johnson said that “after the local post office took down the American flag at closing time, pro-immigration demonstrators promptly ran the Mexican flag up the flagpole. Eventually, police officers surrounded the flagpole and tried to get the Mexican flag down, but the cords got twisted and they could only lower it to half-staff.”
In March, a high school in Southern California punished a student for involvement in a protest in which a Mexican flag was flown above an upside-down U.S. flag.
The incident took place at Montebello High School in Montebello, Calif., when students walked out of classes at area schools in protest of a proposed federal immigration bill.
In April, a Tucson, Ariz., man was arrested after he burned a Mexican flag while demonstrating against the flow of illegal aliens into the United States over the southern border.
Thousands of supporters of illegal aliens gathered in April to protest events in over 60 cities nationwide, but most left home the Mexican flag, because of the controversy it had stirred in previous events.
In what was being called a “campaign for immigrants’ dignity,” demonstrators instead carried the U.S. flag, a noticeable change from previous rallies in opposition to immigration-reform legislation pending in Congress.
By Hunter
September 6, 2006 5:40 AM | Link to this
Americans for LEGAL Immigration
www.alipac.us
This group needs your support and is making headway into the ILLEGAL INVASION problem that plagues us all!…
Isnt it funny, though, that democrackkks are trying to register ILLEGALS to vote but the ILLEGALS are fearful of being caught if they register!…ILLEGALS GO HOME!
By GC
September 6, 2006 8:20 AM | Link to this
This is in response to comments by Ed and Hunter. Sir, there was no deficit when Sonny took office. There was a roughly 5 or 6 million budget shortfall and Sonny used part of the 7 million Barnes left in reserves to address that short fall.
Hunter, please don’t be suckered in by all of the Republican v. Democrat propaganda. Go beyond the media campaigns and get the facts so you can make an informed decision. Be broad minded enough to look at the individual candidate, not his or her party affiliation. Why would any reasonable person try to register an “illegal,” knowing full well they cannot produce a valid ID