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Friday, June 6, 2008
Remembering Bobby Kennedy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. John Lewis called this afternoon, and we wandered onto the topic of Robert Kennedy, who died 40 years ago today, felled by an assassin. Lewis was there — here’s his verbatim recollection:
I was in L.A. I was in his room at the Ambassador Hotel on the fifth floor. Today, I was talking to a friend of mine, and I said, “It is so sad, I’m not so sure I’m going to be able to watch this piece on CNN tonight, at 8 o’clock, that they’re going to do on Bobby Kennedy.”
But I was there, and he spoke to me [for] 15 minutes before he made his speech. He was joking with me. He said, “John, you let me down today. More Mexican-Americans turned out to vote than Negroes.” That’s what he said.
And he asked me to remain there. I was standing a few floors up from his speech with his sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, Charles Evers, the brother of Medgar Evers, Jack Newfield of the Village Voice, Teddy White, who wrote “The Making of a President,” and a few other people.
We watched him make his speech, and a few minutes later the bulletin came on, that Senator Kennedy had been shot. I just wanted to get out of L.A. I came back to Atlanta the next day on a Delta flight from L.A. to Atlanta, and I think I cried all the way back, off and on.
And then he died. He was shot on the 5th, and died on the 6th. And after he passed, his family sent me a telegram inviting me to come to New York and be an honor guard at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I stood with Rev. Ralph Abernathy. We took turns, in twos. Then they invited me to ride the funeral train. And I rode the funeral train from New York City to Washington.
He was a man I loved and cared for, like a brother, really.
Photo credit: Associated Press
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Of earmarks, and the strange concept of lobbyists as victims
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s Huffington Post has this in a piece about the connections between earmarks and campaign contributions:
Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., won a $1.6 million earmark last year for Engineering and Software Systems Solutions Inc. for advanced coating technologies. Kingston has received more than $20,000 in campaign contributions this election cycle from company executives and their wives.
Meanwhile, the American League of Lobbyists is objecting to the decision by the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain to refuse the cash of Washington lobbyists.
“The leadership of the American League of Lobbyists (ALL) vehemently objects to this treatment. ALL reminds the candidates that all U.S. citizens are guaranteed the right to petition the government under the First Amendment to the Constitution,” said Brian Pallasch, president of the lobbyist league, in a press release making the rounds.
Pallasch pointed out what he called the hypocrisy of the ban. “Both candidates have worked with lobbyists, recognize the value of their input, received legal campaign contributions from lobbyists, and yet never hesitate to throw us to the wolves when it behooves them to do so,” he said.
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Think of it as the digital version of slipping flyers under windshield wipers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A shout out to the Saxby Chambliss for U.S. Senate campaign, for its help in driving up the Insider page-view count.
Chambliss political director Justin Tomczak sent out the following note this morning to those who have befriended the campaign’s Facebook page:
Team,
There are two stories up that could use our help in the comments section:
1) A negative post from the DSCC on our budget vote -
http://www.dawsontimes.com/news30534/chambliss-votes-against-budget-that-creates-jobs-i.shtml?33987652#bmc3827
2) A post on our opponents and Barack Obama -
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/06/06/jonesjoinstheobamabandwago.html
Thanks for your help with this, and please be civil in your remarks.
Chambliss spokesman Michelle Grasso eagerly copped to the e-mail, on behalf of Tomczak. “We understand the power of the new media,” Grasso said.
She said Chambliss will have a presence on MySpace in a few days, to give the campaign an even larger Internet footprint.
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In the words of the great Jim Nabors, ‘Fool me once, shame on you….’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Insider is a bit late on this, but Denis O’Hayer at WXIA (11 Alive) was the only reporter in town to openly vent about the “sandbagging” that he and his colleagues received this week at the Republican Governors Association.
The affair was mostly private, restricted to governors and donors, but journalists were allowed to listen in on a Wednesday luncheon speech by Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who’s often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
O’Hayer explains in his blog what happened after Pawlenty finished his address:
When reporters started to move toward him, they were told if they would agree to wait in the back, the RGA press officers would bring him to them. Based on that, the reporters and photographers agreed not to approach Pawlenty during the handshaking.
A few minutes later, the media folk were told to move to an area just beyond the side doors of the ballroom, where Pawlenty would meet them.
But once the journalists were all gathered outside the doors on one side of the room, Pawlenty slipped out the doors on the other side, and disappeared. My photographer and I found him again at his car. He ignored us.
It was the kind of “gotcha” maneuver one doesn’t expect from an organization at this level of politics. “No interviews” is an honest answer that reporters are accustomed to hearing—even if they don’t like it. They live with it; because they know no one is obliged to talk to them.
That answer was never given here. In this case, the journalists had given their word as professionals, to refrain from approaching Pawlenty in the ballroom, even though he was within easy reach — only to be sandbagged by someone.
Faced with very angry media folk, RGA staffers swore they never intended this to happen. Their claims were met with open skepticism, to put it mildly. Personally, I’m willing to give the staffers the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the media relations folks didn’t make that call. But someone in the RGA — anyone from Governor Pawlenty on down — did.
Believe it or not, most journalists hate to use the “cavalry charge” approach to a newsmaker as much as the public hates it when they see reporters do it. It’s rude, for starters. That’s why this group agreed to wait on Pawlenty. But I expect that won’t happen the next time the RGA is in town. It’s not revenge. It’s simply that journalists will likely feel they can’t afford to trust the RGA again.
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Jones joins the Obama bandwagon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Andre Walker of Georgia Politics Unfiltered says that DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones has jumped on the Barack Obama bandwagon, with this e-mail sent out to supporters on Wednesday:
“Now that Senator Obama has met the criteria to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, we have an incredible opportunity to sweep the state of Georgia with Barack Obama as President, and me - Vernon Jones - as your next United States Senator.
“Every vote counts and every vote is important. Vote Tuesday, July 15th! And, vote Vernon Jones for United States Senate!
”Send me to Washington to help our next President - Barack Obama - make this world a better place.”
Unless Jones made an earlier statement of support that escaped notice, this e-mail would make the DeKalb CEO a late-comer to the Obama cause. Other Democrats in the race, including former TV journalist Dale Cardwell and Atlanta attorney Jim Martin, has expressed support for Obama weeks, even months ago.
In late April, after he’d qualified for the Senate race, reporters asked Jones who he supported in the presidential race.
Jones declined to say whether he supports Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the race for president, but said he had friends on both sides of the fight. “And I support my friends,” he added.
In politics, pledging support before an outcome is decided is deadly serious stuff.
Richard Ray, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO and a superdelegate to the convention, waited until Thursday — after Clinton had scheduled her concession speech — before siding with Obama.
The Obama campaign will make note of that.
Likewise, state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond of Georgia was one of the last superdelegates in the nation to slip across the invisible line — switching his support late Tuesday from Clinton to Obama, after polls had closed but before Obama laid claim to the nomination.
That will be noted, too.
Now, some people don’t believe in bandwagons, whether early or late. U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, the state’s only remaining uncommitted superdelegate, has been beseiged daily about how he’ll cast his vote at the August convention. Yesterday, a Marshall aide erupted in frustration.
“My answer from here on out is not going to change,” said press secretary Doug Moore. “Jim doesn’t get involved in other people’s races.”
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Mark DeMoss: ‘McCain made a mistake by disavowing pastors’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
God-o-Meter blogger Dan Gilgoff with Beliefnet has posted a well-worth-reading interview with Mark DeMoss, a conservative Christian public affairs specialist who served as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s liaison to evangelicals.
DeMoss, who operates out of Gwinnett County, makes three points:
— He’s now an unenthusiastic McCain supporter. “I told [the McCain campaign] I’m a conservative a first and a Republican second. I was inclined to vote for Senator McCain but not to get involved beyond that,” he said.
— McCain made a mistake when he recently disavowed two pastors with large television followings.
“The senator hurt himself by rejecting the endorsements of John Hagee and Rod Parsley in Texas and Ohio, and it was mistake to do that. Here were two conservative religious pastors who were probably out on a limb supporting him.… That was a slap in the face to evangelicals who are already somewhat suspect of Senator McCain,” DeMoss said.
— As many as 40 percent of evangelical voters may take a chance with Obama.
“You’re seeing some movement among evangelicals as the term [evangelical] has become more pejorative. There’s a reaction among some evangelicals to swing out to the left in an effort to prove that evangelicals are really not that right wing,” DeMoss said. “There’s some concern that maybe Republicans haven’t done that well. And there’s this fascination with Barack Obama.”
Photo credit: Nick Arroyo/AJC
