Senator Johnny Isakson (R. GA) has a bad feeling about next year's U.S. Senate race to fill his asshole of a colleague, Saxby Chambliss' (R. GA), Senate seat:
http://atr.rollcall.com/...
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said the mixture of a trending-purple state and a bloody GOP primary could hinder the party’s ability next year to hold the Georgia Senate seat of his retiring colleague.
“It should be a Republican seat, but there’s a perfect storm that could happen that could make that challenging,” said Isakson when he was asked about the race Wednesday at the annual tax, budget and health care policy seminar hosted by BakerHostetler.
The seat of retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has so far enticed three members of Congress, a wealthy businessman and a former Georgia secretary of state to vie for the GOP nomination. Meanwhile, Democrats are coalescing around Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and head of the nonprofit Points of Light Foundation.
Earlier this month, CQ Roll Call reported that the Senate race is shaping up to host a test case for Democrats intent on one day making Georgia routinely competitive in statewide races. While Republicans remain especially skeptical that can happen as early as 2014, Georgia still presents Senate Democrats with their best opportunity to pick up a seat so far this cycle. - Roll Call, 6/12/13
Isakson should be scared about next year because Democrats are going to fight tooth, nail and claw to win this seat. Plus Georgia voters are starting to sour on the GOP's control of the state:
http://www.usatoday.com/...
Isakson went on to explain that the party's winning margins in legislative and congressional races have grown smaller over time, and Mitt Romney carried Georgia in the 2012 presidential election only by about 8 percentage points. In next-door Alabama and South Carolina, Romney won by double digits.
"So if the Republican Party were to make a mistake in its nominating process, as happened in a couple of states in the last cycle, then you run the risk of the Democrats having an unchallenged quality opponent in their primary and a bloody Republican — beaten up by other Republicans as well as Harry Reid — coming into a race where they are behind in money," Isakson was quoted as saying. - USA Today, 6/12/13
Yes Johnny boy, the day of reckoning is coming for the Georgia GOP. The GOP primary is going to be one of the most expensive and brutal primaries to watch. This primary will be karma for what Chambliss and Republicans did to former Senator Max Cleland (D. GA) in 2002. It's also going to be highly entertaining to watch, especially bat shit candidate like Paul Broun (R. GA) posting ridiculous stuff like this:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
In a recent poll for his Senate campaign, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA.) compares the Internal Revenue Service to a terrorist group, asking voters, “When you go to your mailbox or answer your phone, who do you fear more?” The poll, posted on Broun’s campaign website, lists “IRS” and “Al-Qaeda” as the two possible responses.
The poll suggests Americans should fear the IRS as much or more than they fear Al-Qaeda, presumably because of the recent scandal involving the IRS targeting conservative groups applying for 501 (c)(4) status. The IRS has apologized for what it has called the “inappropriate” and “insensitive” targeting of conservative groups, and has vowed that the targeting has stopped. The government is investigating the case, which affected about 500 organizations with terms such as “Tea Party,” “Patriots” or “9-12 project” in their names. Al-Qaeda, on the other hand, is a terrorist group that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
At a Republican and Tea Party gathering outside the capitol in May, Broun made it clear that he strongly opposes the IRS’s conduct. “It is the strong arm of the government that is trying to affect elections, to try to stop the freedom of speech that we are guaranteed under the First Amendment, and all Americans should just shudder and shiver at the prospects of a government out of control, too big, spending too much money,” Broun said. - Think Progress, 6/7/13
Think Progress points out this isn't the first time Broun's compared people he hates to Al-Queda:
http://politicalcorrection.org/...
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), who delivered the invocation, warned about the future of the U.S.
"We're standing on the precipice, staring down in the deep chasm of socialism and total government control," Broun said. [...]
There are those who wish to destroy the U.S., Broun said, citing radical Islam and "progressives."
"Father, there are many who want to destroy us from outside this nation," Broun said. "Folks like al-Qaeda and the radical Islamists. But there are folks that want to destroy us from inside, the progressives and the socialists, who want to make this nation a nation that's no longer under you, under God, but a nation that's ruled by man." - Political Correction, 7/5/13
And the recent story about the NSA is also going to drive a big divide in the party:
http://www.ajc.com/...
The split between defense and “liberty” Republicans extends down to the grassroots. Take the 11th Congressional District, which extends from Atlanta, through Cobb and into Cherokee and Bartow counties.
The northwest district includes Dobbins Air Reserve Base and the Lockheed-Martin plant in Marietta, and has often been considered Georgia’s national security seat in Congress.
The seat is held by U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, who is now running for the U.S. Senate. Four Republicans are in the contest to replace him: state Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, former Congressman Bob Barr,
Marietta businesswoman Tricia Pridemore, and state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta.
“You’ve got to ask, is he a traitor or is he a patriot?” said Loudermilk, who answered his own question. He compared Snowden to this country’s Founding Fathers.
“They met the definition of both. [Snowden] is kind of in that position. Has he violated the laws of the United States? Has he divulged secrets? Yeah, but the secrets he divulged are activities that the government should not be doing,” said Loudermilk, an Air Force veteran who monitored snooping U.S. satellites over the Soviet Union and China in the 1990s. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/12/13
Congressman Phil Gingrey (R. GA) certainly is taking a big step to win over gun enthusiast crowd:
http://www.peachpundit.com/...
From Gingrey's press release:
Rep. Gingrey today submitted an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would exempt active duty military personnel from the District of Columbia’s punitive firearms rules.
“Our servicemen and women are highly-trained, highly-skilled, and the most professional fighting force in the world,”Gingrey said. “This amendment expresses the sense that D.C.’s 40,000 active duty military have the right to carry their firearms without risk of violating D.C. law, and in some cases, finding themselves in jail.”
About Gingrey’s amendment
Servicemen and women have been prosecuted because of the District’s unconstitutional prohibition, despite their training in the use of firearms, which is a travesty. These 40,000 individuals must request a waiver or be subject to D.C.’s onerous handgun regulations.
Studies have shown that firearms are a crime deterrent. The handgun ban leaves law-abiding citizens unable to protect themselves from violent acts or individuals breaking the law. This amendment recognizes that the D.C. handgun law, especially in regard to trained servicemen and women, punishes individuals well-equipped to protect themselves and others while emboldening perpetrators of violent crime. - Peach Pundit, 6/11/13
So I'll be interested to see how Rep. Jack Kingston (R. GA) and former Komen V.P. Karen Handel (R. GA) try and top Broun and Gingrey in the battle over who is the nuttiest of Republicans. Now hopefully Michelle Nunn (D), the CEO of the charity Points Of Light and daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn (D. GA) will be announcing her candidacy soon. You can read more about her here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Nunn released a piece for the Huffington Post honoring an Oklahoma teacher who helped her students survive the recent tornadoes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sixth grade teacher Janice Brim ushered four Plaza Towers students into a closet, knowing that the safest shelter would be a small room with short walls. "I had them kneel down and cover their heads with their backpacks," she recalls. "I had to keep the door forced shut with my arm."
As the tornado hit the school, Brim and her students could hear screams from adjacent rooms, along with a roaring wind.
"I kept repeating, as loudly as I could, 'We're OK, we're OK,'" says Brim. "Over the roar, I could hear them singing a song I didn't recognize. I encouraged them to keep singing. They asked if they could pray, and I said, 'Of course!' Soon we saw light and knew that the roof was coming off."
The children huddled with Brim, and survived. Throughout Moore, teachers and school staff shielded children against harm in the face of horrible disaster. - Michelle Nunn, 6/12/13
Stay tuned.