For those folks who have not heard, Georgia will hold a special election in the 10th district to fill the vacancy caused by the passing of Rep. Charlie Norwood on June 10th. 10 candidates have filed to run in this special election.
Over at the Georgia community blog Tondee's Tavern it has been "all 10th District, all the time" lately, and I thought I would recap all the fun we have had learning about the "front runner" State Sen. Jim Whitehead (R-Evans). I started looking into Whitehead's remarks some months ago (Feb. 20th to be exact), long before others just recently started getting a whiff of the odiousness of his past work.
Jane Kidd, in the DPG press release yesterday, questioned whether Jim Whitehead had the maturity to serve in Congress given his most recent remarks. I have thought about that some, and after pulling together everything he has said in just the last 6 months or so, I think that question of Jim Whiteheads fitness to serve goes much deeper than a simple question of maturity.
Indeed, when viewed all together, Jim Whitehead's remarks reveals a bigoted, afraid, and reactionary world view and approach in how to keep our country safe.
Sen. Whitehead starts with a fundamental fear that Georgians are neither free nor secure today.
12/7/06
"What I'm seeing is frightening. We think we are so secure, we are so free, and we are so protected in the state of Georgia - but don't believe it."
Sen. Whitehead clearly knows something that we don't. Also, given the urgency of that remark, you would expect others to share the same dangerous tone, and since the legislative session has just ended (and those remarks were prior to the last session), to have passed sweeping changes to ensure our safety. Those changes did not happen.
So we are left wondering what is weighing so heavily on Jim Whiteheads mind. In March, we begin to catch a glimpse of it.
3/22/07
He said Venezuelan President Cesar Chavez is "teaching al-Qaeda and people like that, terrorists, how to come across the border, look like Mexicans, act like Mexicans and understand how to talk in this country. They're coming across just as fast as the Mexicans cross."
...
Terrorists receive training in Venezuela before crossing the border, Sen. Whitehead said. But it's more of an educational system than training camps, which would be targets for military action, he said. He said he would support a pre-emptive strike on Venezuela if facts justify it.
As the mexican-venezuelian threat builds, Sen. Whitehead is ready to invade Central and South America to save us. Of course Whitehead offers no proof or corroboration, and we are left wondering how everyone can just ignore this obvious security risk.
Finally, we look at exactly what he said, in the context of his earlier remarks, to Tom Crawford last week:
"Iraq Has Not Been A Big Thing In Our District"
""Iraq has not been a big thing in our district," said Whitehead, a former University of Georgia offensive lineman. "Immigration is the number one issue, pure and simple." Whitehead contends that "left-wing political activists [are] intentionally registering illegal aliens to vote, including known Al Qaeda terrorists.... This is a pivotal issue for the future of America. We have to have the intestinal fortitude to protect all Americans.""
All this time Jim Whitehead knows something we (and I mean "we" as in any other sane person on the planet) had no idea existed:
1) An effort to register illegal immigrant terrorists to vote.
2) That this effort by terrorist, to undermine our democracy by voting in our elections, is more important than Iraq. I personally thought they preferred airplanes and IED's to voting.
3) And that this is the "pivotal issue for the future of America".
And let us not forget an oldie but goodie. A remark from Jim Whitehead when he was less crazy, but still "funny":
"Blow Up" UGA "Funny"
Here are Whitehead's comments about his response. "We were cutting up about some of the professors, liberal as they are. Many of them don't support our conservative views, and I said something, probably not the best words, but to the effect that other than the football team, they probably ought to bomb it."
...
"Certainly I said it as a joke, and they pounced all over it," said Whitehead, who played football at UGA. "I don't think they need to question my loyalty and my giving and my love (for UGA) and everything else. If I get to where I can't joke about something, that bothers me."
And lastly, yesterday's shoot to kill for yard equipment goodness.
"I'm 84 years old," he said. "I can't be putting up with this carrying on."
Sams says things like antifreeze, Clorox, and yard equipment have been disappearing. So he waited for five hours and watched as the intruder headed down this path toward his tool shed.
"That's when I shot her," he said.
Investigators say Sams was allowed to shoot thanks to a Georgia law passed in 2006.
"You have a right to protect yourself, and if that includes firearms, so be it," Jim Whitehead, the bill's cosponsor, told News 12.
Does Georgia or the 10th district want this kind of person representing them in Washington?
Sen. Jim Whitehead deserves to be sent back to his tire business.
There is someone in this race to rally behind. James Marlow is the consensus Democratic candidate in the 10th. We recently did a Blogtalk Radio interview with Marlow, and we have added him to our ActBlue page.
Cross posted with edits from Tondee's Tavern