Amid all the trash talk that followed the Atlanta Falcons' heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl, one Twitter comment stood out. It came from Richard Spencer, the white nationalist leader who advocates an "ethno-nation" – and has been given a platform from which to speak by Breitbart.com.
Whose top dog, Steve Bannon, is now President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist. From Spencer:
Five minutes later, the former state senator Jason Carter from Decatur and grandson of a former president, conveyed a terse two-word reply. The sort that we will link to, but not repeat.
Judging from his 483 “likes” – many of which included requests that the Democrat run for governor again, Carter’s response probably won’t hurt him politically.
It even drew some bipartisan support from a former Senate colleague:
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The Super Bowl wasn't just a game. It was an opportunity that many corporations, Coca-Cola among them, used to register their opposition to President Donald Trump's crackdown on refugees and other foreigners coming into the United States.
There was the Anheuser-Busch ad, of course:
And the one from 84 Lumber:
In Coke's case, the Atlanta-base company repurposed a 2014 ad called “America the Beautiful," featuring Americans of different races and backgrounds singing the national hymn in a range of languages:
The Atlanta-based beverage giant condemned Trump's immigration policy last month. Coke chief executive Muhtar Kent said in a statement was the executive order was "contrary to our core values and beliefs."
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We have posted several times on the theory of negative partisanship as researched by Alan Abramowitz, the Emory University political scientist.
The basic premise is that, especially in this past presidential contest, voters weren’t motivated by who they liked as much as who they hated. Certainly, it helps explain why Donald Trump survived that Access Hollywood video.
Now someone is attempting to monetize the theory of negative partisanship. From New York magazine:
Hater, a new dating app that publicly launches on February 8, flips the script of its competitors and matches people based on things that they mutually dislike. CEO Brendan Alper, 29, a former Goldman Sachs employee who quit to become a comedy writer, says that Hater was initially a sketch idea. "The more I thought about it, the more I thought 'Hey even though this was a funny idea, it actually makes a lot of sense,'" Alper [said].
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Both of Georgia's U.S. senators plan to vote tomorrow for Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's divisive nominee to lead the Department of Education, but only one has received campaign money from the charter schools advocate and Michigan mega-donor.
Our Cox Washington colleague Patrick Terpstra did the math and found that GOP Sen. David Perdue was on the receiving end of $18,200 from the DeVos family during the final stretch of his Senate race in 2014.
The freshman senator put out a statement touting the nominee as a champion of school choice last week in which he also cited his own parents' roles as educators:
"Parents, teachers, administrators, and students all know that one-size-fits-all Washington education standards are not working and it is time to return control back to states and communities. Betsy DeVos shares these same beliefs"
Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson also plans to support DeVos, according to a spokesman. Per Terpstra, he did not receive any DeVos family money, despite his position on the Senate’s education committee.
DeVos has become one of the most divisive of Trump's Cabinet picks after a rocky confirmation hearing, and a campaign against her organized by teachers unions and progressive groups is one of the reasons why senators' phone lines have been inundated over the last week.
Support remains steady among conservative charter school advocates, and even though two Senate Republicans have vowed to vote against DeVos, she's expected to be confirmed Tuesday -- with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Mike Pence.
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The Macon Telegraph reports that the process to vet nominees for a trio of judicial and law enforcement positions in Middle Georgia is currently underway.
On the table is a district court judgeship, a U.S. attorney and a U.S. marshal position for a broad swath of the state that stretches from Albany to Athens to the South Carolina border, according to the newspaper.
The Trump administration will ultimately make the nominations with input from members of the state’s congressional delegation.
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It looks like the Falcons' stinging loss against the Patriots also means that Georgia politicians will need to pay up to their New England counterparts.
Congressman John Lewis, D-Atlanta, owes Rep. Seth Moulton a day of community service in his Massachusetts congressional district. For Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Lewis promised to deliver a signed copy of Life magazine about the history of the civil rights movement in Atlanta.
Gov. Nathan Deal is on the hook to send Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker Brunswick stew from Fresh Air BBQ and chocolate-covered blueberries from Byne Blueberry.
We understand that another Super Bowl wager involving Johnny Isakson and Betsy DeVos, the nominee for secretary of education, was never finalized.
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