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DEL.ICIO.USThe case against a Georgia visit from Barack Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It is a near certainty that Barack Obama won’t come to Georgia to campaign for Democrat Jim Martin before next week’s U.S. Senate runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
A few Democrats maintain a sliver of hope that the president-elect could make a surprise, guerilla-style foray into Atlanta within the next eight days. But late last week, the word from Washington was that such a huge personal investment by Obama wasn’t under discussion.
Tea leaves at the bottom of the cup point to the same conclusion:
— Within a matter of days last week, Obama completed a rapprochement with U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent-Democrat who endorsed Republican John McCain, and cemented a partnership with former primary foe Hillary Clinton. A president-elect aiming for a post-partisan administration isn’t likely to pick a heated, red-blue Senate contest as a backdrop for his first Southern appearance.
— Very quietly, the Obama team has let it be known that the new administration will not immediately reassess the U.S. military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which permits gays to serve in the armed forces — as long as they don’t discuss their sexual orientation. Raising the topic of gays in the military was considered by many to be the second of two out-of-the-box decisions that ended badly for a newly elected President Bill Clinton.
The first was a November 1992 trip to Georgia, as president-elect, to campaign for Democratic incumbent Wyche Fowler in this state’s last U.S. Senate runoff. Fowler was defeated by Republican Paul Coverdell.
— As of Sunday afternoon, only one post-November campaign can boast a videotaped endorsement by the president-elect. And that’s the effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Martin is from Atlanta, a city that will have clout enough in the Obama administration. But it can’t compete with the City of the Big Shoulders.
A Martin radio ad, featuring an endorsement from Obama, began airing in Georgia last week. Perhaps there’s an Obama TV ad in the works. If so, then it has been hoarded as a climactic — but digital — appearance by the president-elect. If the ad doesn’t exist, that, too, speaks to Obama’s priorities.
Whether the first African-American elected president should invest himself in Georgia’s Senate race has been a hotly debated topic both here and in Washington.
Behind the scenes, stalwarts say that abandonment of a Democrat still in the field would send the wrong message, especially in the South.
Obama loyalists reply that Martin has hardly been hung out to dry. The Obama campaign in Georgia has been kept intact for the Senate candidate’s use.
Thousands of AFL-CIO volunteers are reportedly headed here for the campaign’s final days. And in case you haven’t noticed, outside groups have pumped millions of dollars into TV ads on Martin’s behalf. Clinton showed up last week. Former vice president Al Gore is to attend an Atlanta fund-raiser tonight.
And lest we forget, Obama is about to inherit two wars and an economic meltdown. “A politician has got to have an upside to coming here. I haven’t found an upside yet,” said Jon Flack, who operates Tondee’s Tavern, one of the state’s most influential Democratic blogs.
Flack has argued since Nov. 4 that the race in Georgia is within reach even without the president-elect’s presence. And Republicans agree, judging from the tea leaves at the bottom of their cups.
Chambliss has just scheduled a barbecue in Gainesville at noon Wednesday, just as the nation begins to shut down for Thanksgiving. Former U.S. senator Zell Miller and Gov. Sonny Perdue will be in attendance. That’s not the sign of a candidate who’s coasting to Dec. 2.
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Comments
By Sissy Saxby
November 23, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this
Sissy Saxby scared him off?
By Taxpayer
November 23, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
Of course Obama won’t show up in person to campaign for his fellow liberal Jim Martin. Both know it would reinforce to voters how very liberal both of them are.
Don’t allow the liberal Democrats to get 60 votes in the Senate which would give free reign for Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to ram liberal legislation and tax increases down our throats. Georgia does NOT need their San Francisco and Chicago values!
VOTE FOR SAXBY CHAMBLISS ON 12/2!!
By Will Jones
November 23, 2008 7:05 PM | Link to this
According to Holy Scripture the best one can be is liberal:
11:23 The desire of the righteous [is] only good: [but] the expectation of the wicked [is] wrath.
11:24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and [there is] that withholdeth more than is meet, but [it tendeth] to poverty.
11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing [shall be] upon the head of him that selleth [it].
11:27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
11:28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
11:29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart.
11:30 The fruit of the righteous [is] a tree of life; and he that winneth souls [is] wise.
11:31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
Obama has been allowed to be made elect by the People because he is so conservative and unthreatening to the ruling false elite…whose minions shout “liberal” as if it weren’t proof of their affiliation with the Roman Anti-Christ’s pedophile priesthood and the fascist plutocracy whose interests they serve.
A leader in the creation of this Greatest of All Nations in 1776, Georgia will step back into the first rank of American states when we expel Bush’s “good buddy” and fellow draft-dodger Chambliss from the Senate.
Jim Martin answered the call and offered his life at sacrifice while Saxby claimed a knee injury which has never troubled him since.
Chambliss’ tenure has been marked by his gross support for Bush/Cheney’s treason and his covering his baldness is but further proof of his personal fraud and lack of good character. He is marked and must be rejected…that Georgia signal the Nation we are One with the new front against the fascism and treason which has beset us since before Bush’s father and Nixon killed John Kennedy to send us to die for the pope in Vietnam.
Jeffersonian Exegesis
By Mountain Dawg
November 23, 2008 7:58 PM | Link to this
Hey Will-quit drinking the cool-aid OK? In case you haven’t figured it out, most Christians in our nation are Republican. The values that the Democrats hold are more in line with the Agnostic or any faith is as good as the other as long as you believe in something.
Christians voting for Democrats is about like chickens voting for Col. Sanders!
By Mountain Morono'
November 23, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this
jesus luvs me this i know cus da bible tells me so!
By Will Jones
November 23, 2008 8:34 PM | Link to this
The Gay Old Perverts are the party of Christians? “Christians” like homosexual draft-dodger and 9/11 traitor George W. Bush? Or “Christians” like frequent White House guest homosexual false Christian Ted Haggard?
Prophecy holds that the visible church will fall into apostasy…and Bush proves it’s true.
Our Founding Fathers must have known the Truth when they established the New Secular Order to replace the king and pope the fascist closet queens and draft-dodgers in the Republican Party wish to restore to power over the People.
Only G-d is righteous. Those who support the perverts and traitors in the GOP are far from it…no matter what they call themselves.
By Joe
November 23, 2008 9:00 PM | Link to this
Will Jones is back and crazier than ever. Hey Will, Pope, Bush, Rockefeller, Rome booga booga booga……. oh and 911 was an inside job, right. I have seen proof that it was not. What do you have to say…….. (everybody watch. will jones will go even crazier than ever of this)
By Will Jones
November 23, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this
“Joe” has seen proof?
…and any patriot who has a complete and identifiable name can read “The New Pearl Harbor,” by PhD David Ray Griffin…to know with absolute moral certainty that Bush and Cheney committed 9/11.
“Joe,” if you can’t be bothered to read a book, just Google “Mineta testimony,” or admit you’re a fascist traitor or a willing dupe.
By jacksmith
November 24, 2008 2:05 AM | 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 Jay
November 24, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this
IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALIZE JUST HOW…AND WHY…GEORGIA CITIZENS CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE CONDITIONS THAT FAR OUTWEIGH OTHER PROGRESSIVE-THINKING CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BUT NOW I KNOW. A FLORIDA NATIVE WHO TRAVELS TO ATLANTA FREQUENTLY ON BUSINESS, IT SADDENS ME TO SEE HOW SO MANY GEORGIANS CONTINUALLY POUR ALL OF THEIR SUPPORT INTO HELPING AN OUT-OF-TOUCH SENATORIAL RACE LIKE THAT OF JIM MARTIN & SAXBY CHAMBLISS, INSTEAD OF GETTING BEHIND A FIGURE LIKE JIM POWELL FOR THE STATEWIDE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION THAT IS MORE IN DIRECT TOUCH WITH THEIR POCKETBOOKS & HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES. THANK GOD I DON’T LIVE IN GEORGIA…A STATE THAT “DEFINITELY” REMAINS OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD!
By Jay
November 24, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this
IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALIZE JUST HOW…AND WHY…GEORGIA CITIZENS CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE CONDITIONS THAT FAR OUTWEIGH OTHER PROGRESSIVE-THINKING CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BUT NOW I KNOW. A FLORIDA NATIVE WHO TRAVELS TO ATLANTA FREQUENTLY ON BUSINESS, IT SADDENS ME TO SEE HOW SO MANY GEORGIANS CONTINUALLY POUR ALL OF THEIR SUPPORT INTO HELPING AN OUT-OF-TOUCH SENATORIAL RACE LIKE THAT OF JIM MARTIN & SAXBY CHAMBLISS, INSTEAD OF GETTING BEHIND A FIGURE LIKE JIM POWELL FOR THE STATEWIDE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION THAT IS MORE IN DIRECT TOUCH WITH THEIR POCKETBOOKS & HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES. THANK GOD I DON’T LIVE IN GEORGIA…A STATE THAT “DEFINITELY” REMAINS OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD!
By San
November 24, 2008 8:20 AM | Link to this
Regretfully, I’d have to say I totally agree with the comments of the previous blogger Jay. Despite being a Georgia citizen, I, too, am still trying to figure out how someone like Jim Powell can recently be endorsed by a legendary figure like former President Jimmy Carter, yet the surprise major endorsement didn’t even make news in the AJC? Go figure!
By San
November 24, 2008 8:25 AM | Link to this
Regretfully, I’d have to say I totally agree with the comments of the previous blogger Jay. Despite being a Georgia citizen, I, too, am still trying to figure out how someone like Jim Powell can recently be endorsed by a legendary figure like former President Jimmy Carter, yet the surprise major endorsement didn’t even make news in the AJC? Go figure!
By Churchill
November 24, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
Of course Saxby is going to go back. Remember, the same issue of National Journal that rated Barack Obama the most liberal member of the Senate also rated Saxby the third least-influential senator, ranking him 98/100 in terms of Senate influence. National Journal’s comment: “Chambliss is considered a real intellectual lightweight, even by his colleagues on the Republican right.”
Way to go, Saxby! Keep doin’ Georgia proud!
By FREEDOM WATCH FOR GEORGIA
November 24, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
GEORGIA REPUBLICANS FOR MARTIN - U.S. SENATE
By Sissy Saxby
November 24, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
Sissy Saxby will have no ability to do anything for middle class families in Georgia, but he can still help his lobbyist cronies!
By Join Zell,-Sonny,-Saxby and the gang for some good $5,000 a plate barbecue the day before Thanksgivi
November 24, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
The last $5,000 a plate Barbecue Dinner to raise more money for $axby during the Bush Depression will be Wednesday.If you attend please sign the petition for the proposed 23% retail tax, which is only FAIR in this wonderful economy.It may shock you somewhat paying 23% sales tax on groceries at first, but it is for your benefit.-Senator $axby has protected our borders,improved our economy and kept our military forces out of harms way.-We know deep down we are much better off than we were six years ago,-which is a testament to the wonderful representation $axby has given the people of Georgia.-We all regret the Ted Kennedy/Saxby Chambliss Immigration bill failed to pass, but the generous Bail-Out did pass and we should feel proud that we saved AIG and the other Wall Street CEO’s.-Also remember the Billions of dollars we spend in Iraq every week has protected Georgia’s 159 counties from weapons of mass destruction.-It just makes you feel good all over to have such a great Senator serving the greatest President since the Honorable Herbert Hoover.The barbecue dinner is our last chance to stand up to the middle class and let them know who is in control.
By Sir Winston
November 24, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this
The Obama, peace be upon him, will not come to GA because he knows that Martin is going to lose. The Obama, peace be upon him, does not want to tarnish his “can do no wrong” image by publicly working for a candidate that is going to tank on runoff day. Plus there are still too many Clinton hacks left out there to give jobs to. Peace.
Saxby for Senate
By Lee
November 24, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this
All Republicans should be Democrats this year.
Please vote for Jim Martin unless you want a 23% sales tax. If you like to see workers die Saxby is your man. Saxby is not good for Georgia. He is good for Mexico, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He has helped bring on the depression, the immigration crises and death to many brave miliatary men and women. Thanks Saxby!
By ....NO GREED LEFT BEHIND
November 24, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
If Sir Saxby loses the run-off, I’m sure his son Bo will hire him to be a lobbyist in his sinister group taking payoffs from all the Fat Cats.-Congratulations to Saxby for being nominated to the Vietnam Veterans Draft-Dodger Hall of Shame.
By DaninMacon
November 24, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this
A vote for Martin is a vote for Reid and Pelosi. Martin is more in line with San Francisco values than he is GA Values. Saxby may not be perfect but he is far better than the liberal Martin. All Republicans should vote for Republicans. All democrat hacks should vote for the democrat hack.
Hey GA, do you want gay marriage and gun control? If you do Martin is your man. I you want to keep marriage between men and women and you want to keep your firearms then Saxby is the only choice.
By AJC Management
November 24, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this
Will Jones (resident AJC lunatic), Sissy Saxby, and NO GREED LEFT BEHIND are all the same mentally unstable person. This person is under the care of a doc for his mental problems. Thought you may want to know.
By GodHatesTrash
November 24, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
A vote for Chickenhawk Chambliss is a vote for corruption and cowardice.
He’s spineless yellow snaky trash.
By U.S. ARMY VETERANS for JIM MARTIN
November 24, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this
Bring honor and dignity back to the Senate.— Vote for a U.S. ARMY Veteran who left the University of Georgia to serve his country in Vietnam, while Saxby was hiding out in the Agnes Scott Library with a Band-Aid on his self-inflicted hurt knee.
By DaninMacon
November 24, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
Godless swine like “GodHates Trash” is just the kind of person that would support Martin. See what I mean about San Fransisco values? Libs may have had a good year, but it doesn’t mean that most of the hard core left isn’t completely insane. Just look at some the craziness and hate that comes form the left.
SAXBY ALL THE WAY!!!!
By Milledgeville Republican Caucus
November 24, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this
The BUSH DEPRESSION is mentally unstable.
By Sissy Saxby
November 24, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
SISSY SAXBY may be an “intellectual lightweight,” but he is a heavy hitter for the DC lobbyists.
By TONY BENNETT ..for.. Jim Martin
November 24, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
I much prefer San Francisco values to no values at all from senor $axby and his illegal immigration propaganda.- Macon and San Francisco are both wonderful cities.-*”Saxby left his heart in Mexico City.”
By Sissy Saxby aka Will Jones aka GodHates Trash
November 24, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this
I know that Saxby is going to win. I am just scared of completely losing my sh!t and having to go back to the looney bin.
By GA VALUES
November 24, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this
I am a grown man, and I love SISSY SAXBY.
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
November 24, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this
You know, some people might be crazy Morph, but at least they have their own identities.
You don’t.
By Will Jones
November 24, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this
The truth is Chambliss dodged Vietnam and didn’t protest it…then, after Bush/Cheney committed 9/11, he smeared Max Cleland and was playing golf in Boca Raton instead of standing as a “watchman on the wall” in the Senate while Bush lied us into false war for heroin and oil…breaking the bank so he could send $700 billion to shore up the Fed’s house of cards with the Wall Street fatcats.
Chambliss is a tool of fascist plutocracy and all the vermin can do who support him and his covering his baldness is lie anonymously.
Birds of Feather: Bush’s “Good Buddies” of the G.ay O.ld P.erverts.
By WTF?
November 24, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
Our President Elect knows Georgia is a lost cause, so why waste time here? He’s got bigger fish to fry, sorry Jim Martin.