A two-pronged suburban strategy seemed to be unfolding during the video stream that was the Republican National Convention on Monday.
First, there were reassurances that one can support President Donald Trump’s re-election without being labeled a racist. That was the message from U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Nikki Haley, the former governor of that state – and from former UGA football great Herschel Walker.
His relationship with Trump dates to his USFL days in the mid-1980s. Said Walker:
“Growing up in the deep South, I've seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn't Donald Trump. Just because someone loves and respects the flag, our national anthem, and our country doesn't mean they don't care about social justice.
“I care about all of those things. So does Donald Trump. He shows how much he cares about social justice and the Black community through his actions. And his actions speak louder than any stickers or slogans on a jersey."
Walker currently resides in suburban Dallas. The only speaker with a valid Georgia driver’s license on Monday night was state Rep. Vernon Jones, D-Lithonia. From the night’s AJC piece:
“We are free people with free minds. I am part of a large and growing segment of the Black community who are independent thinkers," he said. “And we believe that Donald Trump is the president that America needs to lead us forward."
Jones is a former CEO of DeKalb County. To rebut Jones’ contention that Black voters are racing toward Trump, Democrats summoned Michael Thurmond, the current DeKalb CEO – who labeled the notion as “preposterous.”
Then came the second half of the suburban strategy, a burden carried by Mark and Patricia McCloskey. They are the St. Louis couple photographed outside their home with their firearms – he with an AR-15, she with a pistol – as a Black Lives Matter protest marched through their gated community.
The couple has been cited by local authorities for pointing their weapons “at those participating in nonviolent protest.” From their living room, the McCloskeys told suburban America that it has every right to be afraid. Said she:
“What you saw happened to us could just have easily happened to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country."
From him:
“Whether it's the defunding of police, ending cash bail so criminals can be released back out on the streets the same day to riot again, or encouraging chaos and anarchy on our streets -- it seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government's job as protecting honest citizens from criminals, but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens."
More from her:
“They're not satisfied with spreading the chaos and the violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning. This forced rezoning would bring crime, lawlessness and low-quality apartments Into now-thriving suburban neighborhoods. President Trump smartly ended this government overreach."
You can expect to see variations of this theme from now until November -- and not just in the presidential contest. This morning, it comes from Karen Handel, the GOP congresswoman who lost to U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, in 2018.
In her first TV ad of the fall campaign, Handel delivers a strident, law-and-order message using footage from protests in Atlanta that turned violent. Says Handel, to camera:
“It's hit too close to home. Standing up for law enforcement used to be a bipartisan issue. Sadly, today, it's not. My opponent – she's supporting those who attack police, playing partisan politics and making things worse."
The ad makes no mention of George Floyd or Rayshard Brooks, whose deaths at the hands of police sparked the unrest. But the video pointedly shows McBath marching beside a sign that reads, “Some KKK wear hoods but most wear uniform and badge.”
The McBath campaign notes that the event depicted by the Handel campaign was a “unity march” that also featured the mayor of Roswell and that city’s police chief. In fact, in the Handel ad, that’s Roswell Police Chief James Conroy walking beside McBath, noted campaign spokesman Jake Orvis. The “KKK” sign was the work of a bystander -- as this AJC photo below makes clear.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
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As we begin Day 2 of the Republican National Convention, there is still much we don’t know about the schedule for the rest of the week. Convention organizers have made it clear there could be surprises and additions along the way.
One big question: Will there be a tribute to Herman Cain? The former GOP presidential candidate and ex-WSB radio host died last month of complications from COVID-19. Given Monday’s spotlight on African-American supporters of President Trump -- U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, football great Herschel Walker, and state Rep. Vernon Jones -- the lack of any mention of Cain was particularly notable.
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That special session that Gov. Brian Kemp that announced earlier this month? It will probably be a matter for a lame-duck Legislature. That was the tidbit of news at the tail end of a Tuesday morning interview with Tim Bryant of WGAU (1340AM). “It’s going to be really hard to do that before the election. I don’t think anyone wants to see that happen,” Kemp said. Which would put a special session only weeks away from the January 2021 start of the regular convening of the General Assembly.
Both House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan have been critical of the idea -- in large part because they had feared a special session would rob GOP lawmakers of crucial pre-Nov. 3 campaigning time, and prohibit campaign fundraising while lawmakers were meeting.
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It was bound to happen, but that doesn’t make it any better.
Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock was Zoom-bombed on Monday while addressing the Hall County Democratic party online.
Candice Dyer, a writer and party volunteer, said things went “as haywire as possible,” starting with trolls who jumped on the line and started repeatedly hurling the N-word at the Black pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Others spouted nonsense from the QAnon conspiracy theory. Then came the graphic porn -- “various hirsute people masturbated for us,” in Dyer’s words.
“It was a cacophony of the worst of human awfulness, in response to a dignified public servant and person of faith,” she said. “I feel broken-hearted.”
In a Tweet late Monday, Warnock wrote that a “hateful few won’t stop us from going everywhere and speaking to everyone.”
“It is more important than ever to hear each other out - that’s what I’ll do in the Senate,” added the pastor, who is among 20 candidates challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
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Over at the Saporta Report, David Pendered has come across some eye-popping stats. As of July, metro Atlanta ranked sixth “in the number of hotels that are delinquent in paying their mortgages,” he writes.
One more: “Nearly 1,700 hotel workers were to be laid off on just one day, March 14.”
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U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins are crisscrossing Georgia this week on dueling campaign tours.
Loeffler embarked on a two-week tour that will feature U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Tim Scott South Carolina, plus Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.
Collins, her top Republican rival, is in Dublin today with state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, on Wednesday in Americus with state Rep. Mike Cheokas and on Friday in Alpharetta and Gainesville with former congresswoman Karen Handel and Sidney Powell, a well-known former federal prosecutor and author.
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We’re offering get well wishes to U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who is recovering from knee surgery and plans to return to the campaign trail soon.
Perdue underwent a “routine knee procedure that his doctors advised needed to be done now. The senator had surgery earlier this week, he is doing fine and is working virtually,” was the word from his office.
The first-term Republican is in a tight race against Democrat Jon Ossoff and Libertarian Shane Hazel in November.
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Georgia’s secretary of state on Monday acknowledged there may be more election problems in November due to large turnout, but he told a panel of Republican congressmen that mail-in voting fraud is not a big concern. From our AJC colleague Mark Niesse:
Several Republican Georgia congressmen said Monday that they're concerned about the potential for election fraud, criticizing states elsewhere in the country that automatically mail absentee ballots to voters.
The congressmen, during a Zoom meeting with Georgia election officials, asked Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to keep the presidential election secure amid a sharp increase in absentee voting. Almost half of voters cast absentee ballots in the state's primary.
Raffensperger responded that absentee ballots in Georgia will only be sent to voters who have requested them, and they must be verified by matching voters' signatures and registration records.
“The integrity of the election is just as important as access to the election, and we've got to find that balance," U.S. Rep. Austin Scott said as he objected to mass-mailing ballots to all voters.
Niesse didn’t include it in his piece, but he passed along this worry voiced by U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Augusta:
“For the life of me, I do not understand why a system in this country is not concerned about, you know, illegal aliens or foreign governments, coming in and stuffing ballot boxes in this country."
“It looks like to me that based on what some of these states are adopting, I mean, Russia, China, anybody could come in and vote if they can find an address and postmark it, and their vote would count. And that to me is absurd."
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Already posted: The nonprofit started by Stacey Abrams to ensure that hard-to-count populations are tallied during the 2020 U.S. Census launched a statewide TV ad buy today, urging Georgians to participate to secure a better “road to recovery” after the pandemic subsides.
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Happy birthday to former Gov. Nathan Deal, who turns 80 today.
