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DEL.ICIO.USIt wasn’t the passions, but the lack of them, at GOP confab
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia wasn’t the only place where a Republican senator drew boos from a hometown crowd over the past weekend.
Like U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss at the Georgia Republican Party’s state convention, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham was booed at the South Carolina GOP convention when he defended the Senate immigration proposal. Immigration is a vexing issue for Republicans, and we can expect this won’t be the last time the base voices its displeasure over the subject.
But the smattering of boos from the back of the room as Chambliss spoke Saturday didn’t capture the atmosphere of this year’s convention as much as the silence which was the more common response.
Most of those in the audience of some 1,200 GOP faithful were willing to give Chambliss and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson a fair hearing when they talked about the immigration compromise, but they seemed far from sold. A similar, non-committal mood greeted much of the speechifying at this, the first gathering of the Republican grassroots since the triumphant 2006 election.
State GOP conventions used to be boisterous affairs where Republicans came to argue with each other, while their leaders vainly appealed to the quarrelsome throng to put up a united front against the Democrats.
Success has changed that. Nowadays as often as not it’s the elected officials who argue with each other from the podium, leaving many in the audience feeling uncomfortably more like referees than combatants.
The Republicans listened politely to Gov. Sonny Perdue as he compared the rift between Republicans over the state budget to a good Republican family which has been successful in an insurance business with 159 agents, symbolic of the counties that would be doling out money under the House property tax refund plan.
“You may know of some marriages, frankly, that have had problems over finances,” Perdue said.
Perdue got applauded for upholding fiscal responsibility a few times, and a few minutes later House Speaker Glenn Richardson got applauded - whether by the same hands or not, we don’t know - for what he called his GREAT Plan for Georgia - “Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax.” Forget about the V.
“We’re not supposed to get along. We’re trying to get a job done, and disagreement is going to occur when you’re trying to affect change,” Richardson said.
But in both cases, the response seemed pretty tame by comparison with years past, when the Republicans looked at themselves as the insurgents milling around the castle, and not a family trying to run an insurance business. Nobody was standing up on their chairs and hollering about what anybody said.
Georgia’s Republicans “don’t need to pay our penance in the political wilderness” like the Washington Republicans, U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland warned, but they had better remember their promise to protect “the wallets of our state’s taxpayers.”
It was a stauch Calvinist message, for a congregation not very prone to do much shouting about anything.
We won’t give any scientific standing to the presidential straw poll which was announced at the close of the convention Saturday, but it says volumes about the spirit of this affair that the two top voter-getters, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, were the two Republicans on the list who aren’t actually in the race.
Comments
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By Sam
May 20, 2007 8:23 PM | Link to this
I’ve read HR 900 - Speakuh Richardson’s income tax plan that he now calls G.R.E.A.T. (forget the V)…..I think two other acronyms would better describe it…..Comprehensive Republican Assessment Plan or C.R.A.P. or the State House Income Tax Plan or S.H.I.T. Plan….yep, either way, that fairly and accurately describes!!!!
By Glenn
May 20, 2007 8:53 PM | Link to this
Sam, you’re being very unfair plus you’re showing your backside again. I worked very hard on my plan and many in my party think my plan is GRRREATTT!
By Sam
May 20, 2007 8:58 PM | Link to this
Mr. Speakuh, don’t look now but I do believe a majority in the House, plus the LtGov and the Senate plus the Governor are about to p** in your frosted flakes. Enjoy them while you can.
By Harry
May 20, 2007 11:54 PM | Link to this
When Perdue starts talking about reforming the state pension system by moving to a defined contribution plan and away from a defined benefit plan, then I’ll believe he’s serious about running the state like a business.
By Rick in Lawrenceville
May 21, 2007 8:24 AM | Link to this
rwamail wrote: This bill as BAD AS IT IS…does nothing to STOP FURTHER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!
Make all further ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION A FELONY!!!
Do not allow more than 5% visas based on family relations!! If we are to have immigration, it must be immigration that is targeted at the NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY…not family reunification at taxpayers expense!
The US government never enforced the 1986 immigration law and they WILL NOT ENFORCE THE NEW PROPOSED BILL!!!
I am for a DECREASE IN ALL IMMIGRATION TO THE USA!!!
We are running out of room for development and recreation, water and electricity, our roads and highways are overcrowded, our hospitals are overcrowded and filled with uninsured patients!
By Rick in Lawrenceville
May 21, 2007 8:30 AM | Link to this
Here are the phone numbers of two Senators that worked on this sell-out of America to illegal immigrants bill:
Please call these numbers to inform these Senators that they should pay more attention to their US citizen constituents than illegal immigrants and their advocacy groups such as LA RAZA! These Senators did not support/encourage the enforcement of the 1986 immigration legislation and they will not support the enforcement of the current legislation!
Thank You,
Chambliss, Saxby GA (R) 912-232-3657 2 East Bryan Street Savannah, GA 31401 202-224-3521 SR - 416 Washington, DC 20515 770-763-9090 100 Galleria Parkway Atlanta, GA 30339 229-985-2112 419-A South Main Street Moultrie, GA 31776 706-738-0302 1058 Claussen Road Augusta, GA 30907 478-741-1417 300 Mulberry Street Macon, GA 31201
Isakson, Johnny GA (R) 770-661-0999 One Overton Park Atlanta, 30339 202-224-3643 U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510
By MrLiberty
May 21, 2007 5:14 PM | Link to this
How excited should republicans be about their stand on the issues or their position in the hearts and minds of americans?
Thanks to them we are mired in a war we cannot win, lied there by a president they do not have the guts to impeach. They have helped this president spend more money and rack up more debt than any democrat would ever have dreamed of, while creating a bureaucracy that is both inept and flat-out disrespectful of the american citizenry.
The only decent person they can point at as having the right economic stance as well as the right stand on Foreign Affairs is Ron Paul. But to point out the truths in his argument is to clearly show why the entire field of contenders is both worthless and unworthy of the presidential office. One can only wonder just how far the party really has wandered from their platform of even just 2 years ago.
Certainly this is no great time to be a republican, but at least there is finally a great candidate for the rest of us to vote for. Give ‘em hell Ron Paul
By Yankingeorgia
May 26, 2007 7:05 PM | Link to this
Ron Paul is a nut. To hell with anyone who intimates that we’ve brought this Islamofascist terrorism upon ourselves.
Paul and Michael Moore are two sides of the same moonbat coin.