Yes, we may have news that House Republicans in Washington are closer to resolving their leadership issue. From the Washington Post:
And yet the purists are still pursuing Ryan's scalp: This morning, Breitbart.com has more video of Ryan pushing U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's aborted immigration reform plan in 2013.
And here's a slice of Cherokee County's Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots, in today's Politico.com:
[A]nyone who believes Ryan is the right man for Speaker simply has no idea why we in the Tea Party movement feel like the Republican Party has betrayed us, no understanding of what's motivating the GOP primary electorate's embrace of outsider candidates and no clue how to fashion a strategy that re-unites all the factions necessary to build a winning Republican coalition for the crucial 2016 elections.
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The New York Times took a trip to Monticello, Ga., as part of a story examining the districts of members of the House Freedom Caucus, the rabble-rousers who helped evict Speaker John Boehner and block Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's ascension to the post.
There's some good color from folks meeting with their congressman, but also an important marker laid down by U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe:
In an interview later, he also said he would not vote to raise the debt ceiling, no matter the economic consequences. "Where does the insanity stop?" he asked. "We have got to cut spending and live within our means."
This view is notably different from Hice's fellow House Freedom Caucus member Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville. Here's what Loudermilk told reporters about the debt ceiling Oct. 9:
"But what are we going to get? How are we going to prevent this from happening in the future? Those discussions need to happen sooner so when we do these things, we begin to shift the momentum. I think that is what's going to happen to make it easier, is that we address these issues sooner because we won't be quite as afraid to come into a room and hash out the ideas."
Loudermilk probably will not end up voting for a debt ceiling hike, because it probably will not include his desired long-term spending cuts, but he's not completely opposed to it on principle. In another baby step away from the Freedom Caucus line, Loudermilk said that he had "declared my independence" from the group on the speaker vote and was not supporting U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla. Hice said he was backing Webster.
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State Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, is backing Sen. Ted Cruz for president. From an email blast picked up by GAPundit Todd Rehm:
"He is unquestionably the candidate who is most feared and hated by the Washington establishment, and the one who inspires genuine hope within the demoralized conservative base of the GOP – that overlooked constituency without which a Republican victory is impossible."
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Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, on the declining clout of conservative evangelicals, as quoted in the Dallas Morning News:
"It's easy to be discouraged and say, Have we lost the country? Is it over?" he said. "No. ... We're not a majority, but it's the biggest constituency in the electorate. They will crawl across broken glass to see the nation restored to its moral and spiritual greatness."
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Andy Miller of Georgia Health News says state authorities are taking another look at reports of a cancer cluster in south Georgia:
O'Neal said Wednesday that based on new information, Public Health has confirmed three childhood cases of rhabdomyosarcoma and one case of Ewing sarcoma in and near Ware County, in the southeast corner of Georgia.
Relatives and community members say the four cases were diagnosed within two months of one another this summer.
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Former state lawmaker Edward Lindsey of Atlanta has come down on the side of a Freedom Bell on top of Stone Mountain, marking Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. From his post at PeachPundit.com:
Dr. King chose to call out Stone Mountain specifically in his speech because the mountain top has its own dark history in the struggle for civil rights in our country. It was on this mountain top in 1915 that a fiery cross was burned to mark the revival of the Ku Klux Klan. It is, therefore, all the more appropriate that we erect this proposed monument honoring our march toward a more just society "where one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood."
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Over at the Saporta Report, David Pendered reports that the topic of corruption within DeKalb County government hasn't yet hurt its bond rating:
It simply means that analysts gave more weight to what they described as DeKalb's, "substantial and diverse economic and employment base, anchored by a stabilizing institutional presence, and a manageable debt profile."
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There will be no trumpeting the grim milestone that was reached this month: The number of people who died in roadway crashes topped 1,000. That's about four a day - one almost every 6.5 hours.
Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said the state is on pace to surpass 1,200 road fatalities by the year's end - the first increase in Georgia in a decade.
One of the culprits appears to be distracted driving. Single vehicle crashes account for 49 percent of these fatalities, he said, and talking on the phone, texting and using the GPS while driving are blamed for some of the uptick.
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Georgia Republican U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue have been catching heat from reduced-immigration activists over the pending nomination of DeKalb County state court Judge Dax Lopez for a federal judgeship. Lopez served on the board of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, a group that has advocated for more relaxed immigration policies.
Lopez, who by custom is not speaking up during the confirmation process, is getting crucial backup from prominent Republican lawyers in Georgia, who wrote a letter to Isakson and Perdue backing Lopez. The Daily Report has the scoop:
Other co-signers of the letter include Frank Strickland, Lewis' senior partner and the state Republican Party's former GC; GOP state treasurer R. Mansell McCord Jr.; and state Rep. BJay Pak, R-Lilburn, of Atlanta's Chalmers, Pak & Burch; and state House Judiciary Committee Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs. Former state Rep. Edward Lindsey, of Goodman, McGuffey, Lindsey & Johnson, also signed the letter. ...
"As conservatives, we recognize that the constitutional obligation of a judge is to decide cases based on the text of the law and not policy preferences," the letter says. "We know that Judge Lopez views the law the same way."
Belinfante also was David Perdue's chief counsel during his Senate bid last year. By Senate custom, Isakson and Perdue must sign off on Lopez before his nomination can proceed to the Judiciary Committee. But the larger question may be whether Senate Republicans let any of President Barack Obama's nominations progress over the next 15 months.
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Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is once again sparring with South Africa over poultry exports, and is urging the Obama administration to step in.
South Africa agreed to end tariffs on U.S.-produced poultry in June, but Isakson and the senators from poultry-heavy Delaware said Monday that South Africa had missed an Oct. 15 deadline to implement the plan, and there should be trade consequences.
Said Isakson and Delaware Democrats Tom Carper and Chris Coons:
South Africa must take the necessary steps to resolve outstanding barriers to U.S. poultry immediately if its AGOA benefits are to be preserved. Hardworking poultry farmers in our home states and across the country should not have to wait any longer to participate in the South African market."
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