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DEL.ICIO.USOf Vernon Jones and his opinion of former opponent Jim Martin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know that the transition of CEOs in DeKalb County has become a rather noisy thing.
But Vernon Jones, the outgoing head of DeKalb government, is also pulling a Dylan Thomas when it comes to the U.S. Senate race.
Jones, defeated by Jim Martin in the Democratic runoff in August, has declined to endorse his former opponent in a close contest against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Jones has labeled Martin a hypocrite for inviting President-elect Barack Obama to come to Georgia to boost his Senate campaign — because Martin didn’t vote for Obama in the presidential primary. Martin opted instead for Democrat John Edwards, who had already dropped out of the race.
“Jim Martin did not want Obama to be president, but now wants he wants Obama to come down and help him get into the U.S. Senate,” Jones told my AJC colleague Jim Tharpe in an interview on Monday. “He wouldn’t vote for the man, and now he wants the man to come down and get him out of trouble.
“He [Martin] could not come to grips with voting for an African-American for president,” Jones said. “And he couldn’t come to grips with voting for a woman [Hillary Clinton]. So he voted for a man who was not even running for president.
“He voted for a man who had an affair and not an African-American who is married with two beautiful children,” Jones said.
The DeKalb County CEO himself got into hot water with the Obama campaign during the Democratic primary, with a campaign mailer bearing an altered image of himself standing next to Obama in front of a campaign crowd. Jones said no deception was intended.
But Obama called Jones out on the flyer during a visit to Atlanta, and declared that he only knew the DeKalb CEO as someone who voted twice for George W. Bush.
The Martin campaign refused to be drawn into any post-primary debate with Jones — not 14 days before a general election runoff.
“We wish Mr. Jones well,” Martin spokesman Matt Canter said Monday. “If he wants six more years of Georgia jobs getting shipped overseas, higher health care costs, and higher taxes for working families, that’s his prerogative. Jim Martin will work with President Obama to fix the economy for middle-class Georgia families, Saxby Chambliss has pledged to obstruct Obama’s economic recovery efforts.”
Jones said he has not endorsed anyone in the race and was evasive when asked who would get his vote.
“My vote will be cast when I get to the ballot box,” Jones said.
Martin’s other Democratic primary opponents have endorsed Martin’s candidacy with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Josh Lanier of Statesboro has hosted two campaign events for Martin. Rand Knight and Dale Cardwell have endorsed Martin, but have not been actively involved in his campaign.
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Comments
By Laughingly Similar 2U
November 18, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this
A non-endorsement endorsement from Vernon Jones is worth 10 thousand votes for Martin, who is unelectable.
Chambliss should easily win this runoff. Democrats: just stay home. You’re too stupid to understand the importance of this Georgia Senatorial Race. Besides, Georgia Dumbelles dont deserve good government. Chambliss is fine. I mean, how much damage can one Republican Senator do? Let it go. Chambliss rocks, man.
Stay home, democrats, you sorry saps.
bwa haw
Paid for by the committee to ensure morons stay stupid, moronic, and mealy-mouthed.
By Cakey
November 18, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this
Hate to say this but Jones makes some sense here regarding Obama although it’s definitely a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. Ummm..Martin needs the Black vote to come out for this recount and obviously Jones is trying to squash that..this might do it..
By Laughingly Similar 2U
November 18, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
Chambliss is a shoe-in. DOnt even show up, democrats, you will lose like the pathetic losers you truly R, bwa haw.
morons.
By Robert
November 18, 2008 3:31 PM | Link to this
Im not voting for Martin for one main reason. He thinks Georgians are stupid and hes not afraid to show it. The man just outright lies and we have enough liers in office. To bad the general population didnt see through the crap and remove some of them. This country will never EVER change until you remove the problem which is the government that we now have. The first thing they want to do is remove the first amendment and the second is to remove the oil drilling and put the ban back on. One can only see by the stock market continuing to lose that the economics is not happy about a Obama/Democratic house and senate. This is going to be a bad next four years folks. Just hold on tight to our rights and dont be afraid to fight. There will plenty need for it.
By againdumbness
November 18, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this
Jones is smarting over his lost and he will get over himself. I believe in the final analysis Jones will be voting for Martin. In any case, it is up to the African Americans to come out and vote and it is certainly up to the Martin campaign to reach out to all the Georgians who want change. TV media will not get him elected. He needs to stop listening to the consultants. Most African Americans are not interested in Saxby or Martin duking it out on TV. You have to touch them physically either door to door or personal phone calls not robotic. Martin can win. I am voting against Saxby.
By E-Roll
November 18, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
I agree that Vernon is just a mad, mean spirited person who can not let things go but I will still vote for Jim Martin and it is not because of anything that he stands for. Saxby Chambliss ran the most despicable campaign I have ever seen 6 years ago when he openly questioned the patroitism of Max Cleland, who lost 3 limbs in Vietnam. Saxby Chambliss showed me what type of person he was during that campaign and I vowed that I would never vote for that man ever.
By kreedham
November 18, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
If everyone that voted on November 4th would vote on December 2 then Saxby would win. But not everyone is going to vote again. Projections are that 50% or less will vote again. Therefore Martin has just as good a chance as Saxby.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama came to Georgia just after Thanksgiving to energize the vote for Martin.
By GodHatesTrash
November 18, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
What a sorry excuse for a human being Vernon Jones is.
By Patrick
November 18, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this
saxby is a bailout voting, college deferment-receiving chickenhawk who has nothing to blame but himself for the position he’s in. The state is lucky to have a moderate like Isakson to counteract him. I’m not nuts about Martin but at least he’s actually served in Vietnam. Id vote for anyone running against saxby.
By Sir Winston
November 18, 2008 5:11 PM | Link to this
The Obama, peace be upon him, has chosen another Clinton hack to be in his Whitehouse. First, Rahm Emmanuel and now Eric Holder (Reno’s hit man). Hillary, Her Thighness, will be next. Wow this change is great. New boss same as the old boss?
I wish Galloway would let us discuss this on its own thread. Peace.
By HILLARY 2012
November 18, 2008 7:02 PM | Link to this
Change, thy name is Clinton.
By ccyr
November 18, 2008 7:14 PM | Link to this
E-Roll, I’m sorry but just because you repeat something to yourself doesn’t mean it is true. The Saxby ad said that it was more important to Max Cleland to protect union jobs than to pass the Homeland Security bill, which is FACT. Cleland WAS holding up a vote on the Homeland Security bill because he wanted to unionize certain TSA workers. Cleland lost because there was no difference between his voting record and Chuck Schumer’s. Period. End of story. A majority of people (who had Max Cleland’s book on their coffee tables) decided that Max Cleland’s voting record was WAY too liberal for Georgia. Fact. End of Story. Now, you can delude yourself all you want to, but you are not entitled to make up facts for the rest of us.
By Houckster
November 18, 2008 7:18 PM | Link to this
Ah yes, the Republican trashmouths are in fine voice today. There are some real sick puppies out there.
And Vernon Jones is not worth discussing. The sooner he’s gone the better. I wish his replacement all the luck in the world.
By S. Dekalb Voter
November 18, 2008 7:38 PM | Link to this
Jones is a closet Republican…Always has been always will be. We can’t wait to get rid of him in Dekalb. I bet he gets indicted and spends time in jail like Bill Campbell.
By ccyr
November 18, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this
I just watched the actual ad again, E-Roll, and there’s nothing in it that remotely is close to what you describe. Cleland is not juxtaposed with Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden’s picture is simply one of many relating to terrorism. There’s nothing about Cleland’s patriotism. I don’t believe that you actually saw the ad. You are basing whatever you are saying on what other people have told you. I hate to tell you this, but those people lied to you. Most people in Georgia love Max Cleland but didn’t want him in the Senate casting liberal votes. If he had been a moderate instead of an over-the-top liberal, then he would have been re-elected. But he didn’t. And he wasn’t.
By fed up in gwinnett
November 18, 2008 8:32 PM | Link to this
I am not crazy about Saxby but the posts about him questioning Cleland’s patriotism are BS. Martin hasn’t been in the limelight since 03 (prior to this seat in Congress)….more people need to check into Martin while he was the Head of Human Resources in GA and they probably want be so ready to jump on the Martin bandwagon….it makes Saxby look pretty good or at least not so bad.
By ccyr
November 18, 2008 8:45 PM | Link to this
Fed Up - You are right. I don’t know so much as the people believe the BS that they are saying or whether they hope their audience is stupid and uninformed enough to believe them. Either way, I’ve looked at the ad (again tonight) and what they are saying about the ad is not supported by the ad itself.
By jacksmith
November 18, 2008 10:14 PM | Link to this
WE HAVE MORE TO DO:
Democrat Jim Martin is in a runoff against Bush Republican Saxby Chambliss for the Senate seat from Georgia. Bush’s Saxby Chambliss voted against spending a few measly dollars to provide health care coverage for Georgia, and Americas needy children. But he supported wasting hundreds of billions of your dollars, and the life BLOOD of Americas finest on an unnecessary war in Iraq.
At a time when 47 million of you have no health insurance coverage, and over 100 million of you with insurance are just one major illness away from complete financial destruction. Bush and Saxby Chambliss voted to make the heart break of bankruptcy relief even harder for all of you to use.
You see, Bush and Saxby Chambliss, and his family don’t have to worry about their health care coverage. They have the finest health care coverage your tax money can buy for them. Courtesy of you. The American Tax payer. In fact, no one but the super rich can afford the health care coverage you the tax payer provide for Saxby Chambliss, and his family for FREE! with your tax dollars.
He supposedly works for you. But he doesn’t think you and your family should have access to the type of taxpayer supported FREE health care that you provide for him, and his loved ones for FREE!. Doesn’t that just make you BURRING MAD!
Vote for JIM MARTIN for US senator from Georgia. Vote for JIM Martin who will be on your side. Vote for JIM MARTIN who will work with President Obama and a majority congress for you. Vote for JIM MARTIN most of all for your-self, your family’s, friends, and loved ones. Vote for JIM MARTIN for a better America, and a better World.
Don’t let Saxby Chambliss make a chump out of you by tricking you into voting against your own best interest. Saxby chambliss is NOT! on your side. He’s not one of you. He is on George Bush’s side. And we all know what a catastrophe the Bush Chambliss administration has been the past 8 years.
Contact all your family and friends and do every thing you can to see to it that JIM MARTIN and GEORGIANS! take that senate seat back for Georgia, and America. No matter where you live in America. This is important to you. President Obama will need all the help, and power you can give him to try and fix this catastrophic mess that the Corrupt Bush Chambliss administration has created.
As I said before you will have to vote in overwhelming numbers to overcome the Bush Chambliss “Let Them Eat Cake” vote fraud machine. Vote early if you can. Then help everyone you can get to the polls and vote for JIM MARTIN. You and your loved ones don’t have to be Saxby Chambliss’s victims anymore.
I know you will get it done. Just like you did for President Obama.
God bless all of you
jacksmith - WORKING CLASS… :-)
By Fred
November 18, 2008 10:39 PM | Link to this
WOW. Like Vernon Jones thinks anyone cares what he thinks? I am a poll manager in Dekalb County and I can’t even begin to count the number of black voters who came in for the primary run off to vote AGAINST Vernon Jones. Anyone who thinks that Vernon Jones holds the Black community in his hands thinks the same about Jesse Jackson. Thank God for Brothers like Senator (President Elect) Barak Obama, someone who EVERYONE, can get behind and plays character, not race, as a card.
Vernon? Take your race card and shuffle it back into the loser deck along with Jesse Jackson in a game of “poor pitiful Black me.” Obama has a message of change and that pitiful race card is one of the changes. YES WE CAN.
By Mike
November 19, 2008 1:39 AM | Link to this
Vernon Jones is a disgusting man and no one should care what he thinks. He’s a male Cynthia Mckinney, using the race card to gain power.
Jim Martin is a very uninteresting person, but he’s not a Republican and could help Democrats get to 60 in the senate so that’s enough to support him.
I’m so tired of conservatives claiming the stock market is down because of Obama’s election. A very unintelligent thing to say. The stock market isn’t one entity that thinks for itself, it is a collection of hundreds of companies, some doing better than others at different times. It is down now overall because of overriding macroeconomic forces, results of conservative economic philosophy. Besides the stock market is finishing lower now than when Bush took office! Think about that for a second, and then try and argue Bush economics are a good idea.
By amosley
November 19, 2008 2:55 AM | Link to this
I am with Vernon on this one I am not a Martin Lover or Saxby hater and i will make my decision at the poll on the 2nd. I am just tired of the Vernon bashing that the ajc and other news media give Mr. CEO Jones. He has stated on many ocasion that he is a independent thinker and not a party thinker. He feels like all votes cast by members in congress should be for the good of the people not the party. When asked this same endorsement question before the run off election he stated that he would not endorse any canidate because he feel that endorsements dont win or loose elections. AMOSLEY
By Billy McKinney
November 19, 2008 3:18 AM | Link to this
Vernon Jones is Cynthia McKinney in drag.
By E-Roll
November 19, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
Guys I have seen the ad and if you do not see the subtle inference then I am not here to educate or convince you of it. The one thing that I do know is that John McCain, who had been “swift boated” in the same manner had some stong words about our current junior senator in 2002
Chambliss’ 2002 ad featured images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and asserted that Cleland — a decorated Vietnam War veteran and triple amputee — “says he has the courage to lead. But the record proves… Max Cleland is just misleading.” In a July 3, 2003, article (accessed from the Nexis database), The Washington Post reported that McCain “denounced” the ad “[i]mmediately,” and quoted his assertion: “I’ve never seen anything like that ad. … Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible.”
But now that the Republicians need to hold onto this seat, McCain can forgive. Vote for who you want to but I can not vote for a man like that.
By Emily
November 21, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
Vernon Jones is a sore loser. I never trusted him to begin with. In the debates, he was less than impressive. And he’s done a crappy job running DeKalb county. His opinion of Jim Martin means nothing to anyone. Jim Martin is the best choice for Senate. Saxby is the worst Senator ever, even his Republican colleagues call him that.