Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > May > 28
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Mark Taylor speaks up for Dale Cardwell: ‘He’ll never sell us out’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You already know that former lieutenant governor Mark Taylor has written checks to Dale Cardwell, the former TV reporter who is now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
This evening, a written endorsement by Taylor has appeared on Cardwell’s campaign web site. Keep in mind that Jim Martin, a Cardwell rival in the current contest, was Taylor’s running mate in ’06.
Cardwell’s experience as an investigative journalist for WSB-TV “makes him the right candidate,” Taylor writes.
He continues:
“Remember the majority of voters who voted GOP in 2004 and who voted Democratic in 2006 switched because of corruption, scandal issues. (Per Karl Rove ABC This Week 5/25/08) To win this November we’ve got to give voters a real reason to switch and the data shows that the reason is honesty and ethics.
“Dale will get things done for us in DC and will never sell us out for a campaign donation. The lies, the broken promises, the hypocrisy of politics [have] got to stop.”
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment |
Gingrich: Barr will make Obama’s job ‘marginally easier’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bob Barr will be up in New York next week, making his Libertarian case on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and “The Glenn Beck Program” on Headline News.
(Note to campaign manager: Make sure candidate has laminated copy of Ten Commandments in shirt pocket.)
So far, Republicans are aware of Barr and his presidential bid — but aren’t hyperventilating.
“Bob Barr will make it marginally easier for Barack Obama to become president,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich, quoted on a Newsweek blog.
The “one big reason” that Republicans aren’t terribly worried, according to author Andrew Romano:
”Ron Paul. With his cult-hero bid for the White House, Paul has done more this year than any of his predecessors to popularize Libertarian ideas—no foreign interventions, minimal government, a return to the gold standard.
“But the trouble is, he ran (and is still running) as a Republican, and shows no signs of abandoning his party. If Paul continues his campaign through the GOP convention, as he’s already promised, he’ll monopolize much of the newly-unleashed Libertarian energy — the record-breaking donations, the clever online organizing, the passionate activism — at least through September.”
So, according to this theory, these GOP activists who want Paul to concede to Republican presumptive John McCain are actually working against McCain’s best interests. Keep Paulistas busy trying to crack the doors to the GOP convention, and you keep them out of Barr’s campaign.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment |
Isakson on staying in Washington
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Johnny Isakson talked a little more this morning about his decision to stay in the U.S. Senate rather than run for governor in 2010.
Click here to hear what he told host Tim Bryant on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens.
In essence, Isakson said the next eight years “probably are going to be the most challenging years in the modern history of our country.” Solutions will have to be found for the unrest in the Middle East, the war on terror and the availability of petroleum.
“I want to be a part of that,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment |
On Bob Barr: Reining in the disappointed left, renouncing the Defense of Marriage Act, and the YouTube video
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr — how strange it feels to write that — continues to churn on the Internet, as leaders try to rein in the disappointed Libertarian left.
Last night, on Third Party Watch, a web site now owned by former GOP direct mail titan Richard Viguerie, one of the candidates that Barr beat on Sunday urged his people to stay on board.
Wrote Steve Kubby, whose platform was largely based on easing marijuana laws:
“After their victory, the Barr campaign could have told their opponents not to let the door hit them in the ass on their way out and saved themselves a lot of future grief. Instead, we have seen a concerted effort by Barr and [Wayne] Root to unify the party.
Jim Ostrowski of Buffalo, N.Y., is already handing out strategy tips on Political Class Dismissed:
“First, Barr needs to get the endorsement of Ron Paul and try to get the Revolution behind him. Can he do this? I don’t know, but if they are anything like me, they’d like to continue the movement and this year, not four years from now….
“Step two is to convince conservatives and Republicans of the obvious fact that McCain is a dead man walking…
“Consider that if Barr can pass McCain in just one state — Georgia — McCain’s chances of winning an electoral college majority virtually disintegrate. He would then need to hold every one of about ten swing states. That’s highly unlikely because Barr would be chipping away at his support there too. Clearly, Barr needs to focus on Georgia first and aggressively. Georgia is the lever that can move the world.”
Outright Libertarian, a gay group, is focused on a video clip of Barr’s post-election disavowal of the Defense of Marriage Act — legislation the former Georgia congressman once pointed to with pride, when in front of Republican audiences.
Said Barr:
”Let me tell you — I have made mistakes. But the only way you make mistakes, the only way you get things done, is by getting out there, in the arena….
“As I mentioned to you all last night, and I reiterate here today — standing before you, looking you in the eye —the Defense of Marriage Act, insofar as it provided the federal government a club to club down the rights of law-abiding, American citizens, has been abused, misused and should be repealed. And I will work to repeal that.”
In the mainstream media, Tim Lee on The Atlantic magazine blog assesses Barr’s platform:
“It’s incredibly thin—a dozen or so bullet points in total—and one of the four categories is “secure our borders,” which suggests Barr may harbor the same kind of borderline xenophobia that has infected both the [Ron] Paul campaign and much of the modern conservative movement. That’s not the impression I want voters to get of libertarianism.
“Ultimately, I wish the LP would just go away. The structure of American elections dooms third parties to perpetual failure and obscurity, and that, in turn, creates a vicious cycle where the most talented activists and potential candidates go elsewhere, causing the party to be even more out of touch and politically tone-deaf in the next election. But given that the party is going to nominate somebody, Barr was probably the best choice.”
Free Liberal comes to the candidate’s defense:
“In 2001, Barr was the lead figure in the GOP-controlled House in pushing back against the PATRIOT Act, and ultimately suceeded in deleteing some text and forcing sunset clauses on the bill’s worst provisions.”
And, of course, every presidential candidate needs his own YouTube song. This one is more than a tad strange and not terribly flattering, but it’s still early — the Obama Girl could still come to Barr’s rescue:
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
The GOP right suggests some gumbo to spice up McCain’s ticket
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a youthful 36, is earning plaudits from the GOP’s rightward side as a running mate for Republican presidential presumptive John McCain.
Cybercast News Service, a creation of the conservative Media Research Council chairman Brent Bozell, gives Jindal a plug today, with endorsements from Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed.
According to CNS:
“Bobby Jindal is a great American,” Grover Norquist, president of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), told Cybercast News Service. “He is great on guns, great on taxes, a Roman Catholic, a Southerner and an Indian-American. Bobby Jindal would be great for the GOP and perfect for McCain.”
“Bobby Jindal is one of the more outstanding shining lights of the Republican Party,” said Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League. “Everything we have learned about him so far is very positive.”
“Bobby Jindal is a rising star in the Republican Party — he is an outstanding governor,” stated Ralph Reed, a political strategist and former president of the conservative Christian Coalition. “He has moved swiftly to recover from [Hurricane] Katrina and also usher in a new era of ethics and standards in Louisiana.”
Jindal was sworn in only this January.
The article argues that Jindal’s youth would offset questions about McCain’s age. Jindal would be the second youngest vice president if he’s selected and if the ticket wins.
Apparently, Jindal-mania has been brewing since Febuary, since radio guru Rush Limbaugh compared the new Louisiana governor to Ronald Reagan.
Photo credit: Associated Press
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
