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Monday, February 25, 2008
Hey, did you hear the one about Obama and his wife…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Jack Kingston, a conservative Savannah Republican, made his eighth appearance on the ultra-liberal HBO talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” last Friday and wondered aloud whether Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, even like America.
Michelle Obama last week sparked conservative charges that she’s unpatriotic when she said she her husband’s progress as the first viable African-American presidential candidate made her proud of America for the first time in her adult life.
The rules of copyright prevent us from linking to the HBO clips posted on YouTube, but a simple search will put the video in your lap. Kingston starts in Part II, and really gets rolling in Part III.
“The thing she did not do and still has not done for three days is to explain what she meant,” Kingston said on the show. “It would have been that simple just to say, ‘You know, this is a great country and I’m just proud that people are getting involved in this election.’ That would have been the end of it.”
What made it worse, Kingston added, was the fact that Barack Obama himself also may not love the nation he wants to lead.
“When you combine [Michelle’s comment] with the fact that the guy would not say the Pledge of Allegiance and won’t put a American [flag] lapel pin on his coat, that’s things voters are watching,” Kingston said.
Maher interrupted and asked Kingston for proof that Obama won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. Kingston said it’s contained in “the famous picture of him standing while Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton have their hands over their hearts while saying the Pledge and Obama has his hands deliberately down.
“The concern is this guy is applying for the job on the No. 1 cheerleading squad for the United States of America. Where do they stand on America?” Kingston asked.
Now, about that “famous picture,” courtesy of Time magazine, the first media outlet to run it. The political trio wasn’t saying the Pledge. They were singing the national anthem.
But the photo provoked a new, Internet-style whisper campaign alleging that Obama is an unknown who may be, as the harshest of the rumors put it, a Muslim trained in the Middle East as a “domestic insurgent.”
Lighten up, Kingston said in an interview with us later.
Maher’s show is about entertainment — though it also includes substantive debates, he said. And besides, “If you run for president you’re going to be under a microscope.”
The reason people are questioning who Obama is, Kingston said, is because the country knows so little about the man who wants to lead it.
“It hit a very tender, sensitive nerve of the Democratic left,” Kingston said. “If we know that bringing it up is a problem for them, we’re going to bring it up over and over.”
To vouch or not to vouch: Clayton County forces the question
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The threatened collapse of the 53,000-student Clayton County school system has shed light on some philosophical differences among the state’s leading Republicans when it comes to public education.
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) is pitching his current school voucher bill as “a lifeline for the parents of these children.”
“S.B. 458 would require that the state funding for each child be offered to the parents as a scholarship that can be used to transfer the child to any public or private school that will accept the student.
“We estimate that the scholarship will be worth about $4,150 in Clayton County. That will cover a significant portion of private school tuition,” Johnson writes in an op-ed piece snared by Jason Pye and Peach Pundit.
But Gov. Sonny Perdue made it clear last week that he wants a sharp line drawn between his package to rescue the school system and any broad call for vouchers.
“I think they’re two entirely different things. I think…any kind of bill like [S.B. 458] requires a robust and healthy educational competitive environment. I don’t really think that a wounded type of environment would be the best way to see that bill,” the governor said.
Perdue said vouchers are fine for niche markets — like special needs students who were the topic of voucher legislation sponsored by Johnson last year.
But it’s no replacement for an entire public school operation. “Our goal is to restore the Clayton County school system to health and to being a school system that serves its students well,” the governor said.
Both men agree on one thing: Nowhere in the Georgia Code or state Constitution is there currently a mechanism that allows for the state to take over a failing local school system.
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Heads up: Dick Cheney to headline Georgia GOP bash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re hearing that Vice President Dick Cheney will make his way to Atlanta next March 10 as the keynote speaker at the state GOP’s annual Presidents Day fund-raiser. Look for the vice president to serve as John McCain’s attack dog until the presumptive Republican nominee settles on a running mate of his own.
We don’t have a locale for you yet. So far, we’ve heard of no plans to close Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
Keep it down. Water machinations at work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look for word to spread very quickly that Georgia needs to cool its rhetoric on a border fight with Tennessee, lest it let a bird in hand escape.
Since December, three new Bush appointees to the nine-member governing board of the Tennessee Valley Authority have been waiting confirmation by the full U.S. Senate.
One of them is the first Georgian ever to be nominated — Tom Gilliland of Blairsville, a vice president of United Community Banks.
The TVA is the agency that has jurisdiction over interbasin transfers of water — of the sort that Georgia would like to see.
Here’s the thing: In 2006, when the last batch of nominees to the TVA was advanced, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson — noticing a lack of Georgia representation — put a hold on a floor vote until the nominees promised, in writing, to pay attention to his state’s need for water.
But if the border volume gets too loud, either one of Tennessee’s two senators could return the favor and put a hold on Georgia’s only representation on the TVA board.
Perdue: ‘I haven’t asked to be considered for veep’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New York Times has this today about vice-presidential talk at a National Governors Association:
Republican governors said that Mr. [Tim] Pawlenty [of Minnesota] and Mr. [Mark] Sanford [of South Carolina] were in the top tier of potential running mates, but that Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida and Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia were also contenders.
Mr. Crist’s endorsement helped Mr. McCain win the Florida primary.
Mr. Perdue said he had not asked anyone to include his name on a list of potential running mates. But he said, “People include my name because we’re the capital of the South, a fast-growing region, and we’ve had wonderful success with a conservative fiscal policy.”
Stop by a welcome center and see what the fuss is about
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The next time you drive into Georgia, stop at the welcome center and pick up a free 2008 road map of the state.
Unfold it, and look closely at the top. You’ll see the northern border with Tennessee as a strong, bold line.
But just above it runs another, barely visible line — the disputed 35th parallel, where many state lawmakers say Georgia’s border ought to be, intersecting with the Tennessee River.
The latitudinal line was added just last year. Not as a political statement, say the friendly people at the state Department of Transportation.
Just a cartographic “enhancement.” Other measurements of latitude were added as well. They’re just not as interesting.
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The male-female fight for platform committee delegates was particularly tight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late last week, the state Democratic party finally released the delegate counts from the Super Tuesday presidential primary.
Barack Obama, naturally, won the lion’s share of delegates — 60 to 27 for Hillary Clinton.
If you want to see the breakdown in all it’s complicated, gender-specific glory, click here. Bring a calculator.
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