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Thursday, September 20, 2007
They’ll be talking about Obama in the morning.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama told his crowd of supporters in Atlanta that he walked away from the Senate condemnation of MoveOn.org’s newspaper ad about General David Petraeus.
“I happen to believe that General Petraeus has served this country honorably. And I think it probably was a distraction to try to attack him as opposed to [President] George Bush’s policies,” Obama said.
But the Illinois senator said he couldn’t tolerate “the notion that at a time when we know young men and women are dying, and veterans are not being served right here at home…. We’re wasting time debating about a newspaper ad.”
“I did not vote on that bill. This is the kind of game plan that the American people are tired of,” Obama said.
And yes, he mentioned the Jena 6. Twice.
Waiting for Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re here in the Tom Murphy ballroom of the Georgia World Congress Center, waiting for Barack Obama. Organizers just let the crowd in three minutes ago, and already have several hundred around the main stage.
It looks like a large crowd count, multi-racial, skewing young — but with a good many geezers, too. At least 10 TV cameras. Make that 11. The Democratic presidential candidate will be here about 5:30 p.m., we’re told — although it could be much later. Getting some mixed reports about whether he’s even left Washington yet.
One thing he’s dead certain to address, in one fashion or another, is the Tuesday report out of South Carolina, in which Jesse Jackson said Obama was behaving too “white” — i.e., Jackson thought Obama’s reaction to the Jena 6 situation has been too tepid.
On Wednesday, Jackson said he didn’t remember making the statement.
Justice asked to investigate Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Washington watchdog group on Thursday asked the Justice Department to investigate Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) for possible tax violations and improper use of his House office and staff.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed the complaint here just two days after declaring Scott among the 25 “most corrupt” congressmen here for mingling personal and campaign interests, failing repeatedly to pay personal and business taxes and, as one of his former aides claimed, using his House staff to work on his campaign.
“We urge the Justice Department to commence an investigation immediately,” Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said in a statement.
Scott’s office rejected CREW’s claims as “inaccuracies” and unproven accusations, adding, “a review of the record will clear up these allegations.”
Scott’s office said he’s paid all back property taxes on his home in historic Inman Park and “significantly reduced” the taxes still owed by his family’s advertising business, Dayn-Mark.
“CREW basically recycled a 5-month-old news story and added no new insight or additional review of Congressman Scott’s record,” Scott’s office said.
The campaign ad that will not die
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) was dragged into the middle of a highly partisan argument on the Senate floor Thursday without uttering a word of his own.
Senate Republicans, still chaffing over a newspaper ad run more than a week ago by the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org that referred to the U.S. leader in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, as “Gen. Betray Us,” offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill that tied all Democrats to the now-notorious peace group.
But Democrats were ready with an amendment of their own, one that listed instances in which a Republican questioned the integrity of a Democratic war veteran.
Can you guess whose campaign ad got first mention in the Dems’ amendment? Here’s a hint:
“In 2002, a senator from Georgia who is a Vietnam veteran, triple amputee and the recipient of a Silver Star and Bronze Star had his courage and patriotism attacked in an advertisement in which he was visually linked to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein,” the amendment reads, taking care not to violate Senate rules by naming individuals.
It is, of course, the most famous Georgia political ad that no one in Georgia remembers and no Democrat outside the state can forget - Chambliss’ 11th hour TV spot attacking incumbent Democrat Max Cleland.
In a roll call vote, here’s the amendment mentioning Chambliss got 51 votes, nine shy of the 60 needed to pass it.
Cardwell on YouTube: A plea to ‘everyday people’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former television journalist Dale Cardwell, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is out with his first YouTube video, following similar — and similarly underfunded — efforts by rivals Vernon Jones and Rand Knight to take their cases to the Internet.
As might be expected, the production values in Cardwell’s ad are strong. And the spot looks like it’s intended specifically for fund-raising.
Says Cardwell:
“I’m not taking money from Washington lobbyists or the big-money PACs that special interests use to buy influence in Congress. That means I need to count on help from everyday people like you and me. Whatever you can give will help.”
This should be no surprise to Fred-heads: Dobson says he’s not for Thompson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Associated Press has just put this out:
James Dobson, one of the nation’s most politically influential evangelical Christians, made it clear in a message to friends this week he will not support Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.
In a private e-mail obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Dobson accuses the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives.
“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes, and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote.
“He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”
The founder and chairman of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, Dobson draws a radio audience in the millions, many of whom who first came to trust the child psychologist for his conservative Christian advice on child-rearing.
Here’s a bit of background from last week. Dobson has also ruled out support for Rudy Giuliani.
Thompson will make his first Georgia appearance as a candidate in October.
Notes from a Grady meeting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Those watching carefully in the state Capitol on Wednesday could see some shifting of ground on the issue of saving Grady Memorial Hospital.
A pair of committee hearings were held, one in the House and one in the Senate, one controlled by Republicans and one by Democrats.
The gathering of the Senate Urban Affairs Committee, chaired by David Adelman (D-Atlanta) and peopled with nine Democrats, may have been the most telling.
Tom Bell, the chairman and CEO of Cousins Properties, laid out the rationale behind the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce report calling for a shift in management for Grady to a non-profit corporation.
Not present was state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), who has been pressing the point that the charity hospital’s contract with the Emory University School of Medicine is one-sided, in Emory’s favor, and needs to be reviewed.
Emory and Morehouse College provide physicians and doctors-in-training to the hospital.
Despite his absence, Shafer scored a victory — but a limited one.
“First of all, every major contract needs to be reviewed and renegotiated, starting with medical school contracts. They’re out-dated. That needs to be changed,” Bell told senators.
On the other hand, the business executive made it clear that Grady needed Emory more than Emory needed Grady. It would be hard for the hospital to find another source for so many doctors, Bell said — while Emory already has two hospitals that could become classrooms for its medical students.
Bell also outlined how the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority would be responsible for selecting the members of a board of directors for any 501(c)3 corporation created — although, he said, board membership would probably need the approval of financial entities involved in the bail-out.
After its creation, the new Grady board would be self-perpetuating.
That seemed to mollify state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), who expressed his worry that state government — i.e., Republicans — would dictate board membership in return for increased state assistance.
State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), who also sits on the committee, remains unconvinced that a change in Grady’s management structure is necessary. He expressed objections to what he called “a coerced approach” to reforming Grady.
And he promised that the Grady issue would be most “volatile issue” in next year’s legislative session. Remember that Grady and the Capitol are separated only by a few blocks in downtown Atlanta.
Sam Williams, president of the metro chamber, was in the audience. After the session, he said a deal on Grady is something that needs to be struck before lawmakers gather this January. Without it, he said, Grady’s not likely to make it those four months.
Peace groups at war with Johnson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Hank Johnson, a DeKalb County Democrat, has been feeling the love on Capitol Hill ever since he replaced the bombastic Cynthia McKinney in 2006. At home, former McKinney supporters are lining up behind Johnson.
Yet, now there’s talk among anti-war groups of another Democrat challenging Johnson in 2008 -someone other than McKinney, who is flirting with the idea of running again.
No names have surfaced, but Congressional Quarterly is reporting here that anti-war groups like Code Pink are angry over the Democratic Congress’ failure to pull U.S. troops from Iraq and are targeting six Dems, including Johnson, to make their point.
“There’s a lot of anger, especially in districts where people won in 2006 on an anti-war platform,” Medea Benjamin, the leader of Code Pink, is quoted as saying. “They deserve to be challenged.”
Johnson has spoken out against the war and said he supports withdrawing troops. But he voted against Democratic legislation that set a strict timetable or target date for a speedy withdrawal, saying it ties the hands of military leaders and announces our intentions to the enemy.
Johnson has said he expects to have opposition in next year’s race in one Georgia’s most liberal districts. But he didn’t mention any names either.
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