Another day, another white-on-black police murder

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The article at the website of WXIA, an Atlanta NBC affiliate, isn't clear. "A DeKalb County police officer shot and killed a naked, unarmed man at an apartment complex Monday afternoon." The guy was "acting deranged," said the police chief. "When the male saw the officer, he charged, running at the officer. The officer called to him to stop, while stepping backward. He then drew his weapon and fired two shots."

And that was that. No taser, no pepper spray, nothing else. The officer used his gun, shot twice, and killed the naked man running amok.

There will be an investigation. And, more than likely, it will be concluded that the officer did what he had to do, that the shooting, that the killing, was justified.

You know how it works.

But is that the whole story? And will that be the end of it?

Because the WXIA article leaves out a couple of rather essential details, particularly given what has happened across the country, time and again, to much public attention lately. And for those details we need to look elsewhere, for example to the Times:

Naked Black Man Fatally Shot by White Police Officer in Georgia

Ah. Of course.

I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

Behind the Ad: Babies, so many babies

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The David Perdue campaign for the U.S. Senate

Where: Georgia

What's going on: I've written a lot recently about the U.S. Senate election campaign in Georgia here, here, and here, so I won't cover familiar territory. I will just say that a bunch of GOP candidates are vying for the seat that will become vacant when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) retires. Michelle Nunn is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Those in the know are saying this will be a close fight, at least in the general.

Businessman David Perdue is one of those running for the GOP nomination. He is a cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue. Purdue is mostly using his own money to talk about his business experience, while berating his fellow Republicans for having "too much" political experience, which seems to be something we are seeing a lot of from certain Republicans.

In that vein, Perdue has some very unusual ads, in which he points to the "childish behaviour" of politicians, specifically his GOP primary opponents, who, he says,  would already have solved our problems if they understood anything about the free enterprise system - a system Perdue almost claims to have invented.

The most recent ad begins with a bunch of computer generated babies in the foreground of the Capitol building. Perdue then comes on to give us his pitch without ever mentioning the babies.

Presumably, we are all supposed to know that the babies were introduced in earlier ads citing the aforementioned childish behaviour. 

It's all very confusing. 

Grade: Aside from baby fiasco, I find David Perdue very smarmy, though I suspect he finds himself extremely charming. I know, however, that with certain conservatives the lack of political experience is exactly what they want in their politicians. And it is the one thing Perdue has that his rivals lack. On the thought that one must turn weaknesses into strengths, I'll say this is not an awful ad, but it's not great. And that whole thing about running businesses being good training for running government didn't work all that well for Mitt. C

(I will do Mr. Perdue the favour he has not done us, by posting the ads back-to-back so it all makes sense, sort of. For the record, there is a second ad that is almost exactly the same as the first ad. Got it? Keep in mind that a lot of people would have seen the most recent ad with the babies in front of the Capitol with nary a mention by Perdue as to why they are in the ad at all. That must have been a moment.)

Behind the Ad: Kingston, get a new campaign team!

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Jack Kingston U.S. Senate campaign

Where: Georgia

What's going on: Kingston is an 11-term member of the U.S. House. He is running to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). In this absolutely terrible ad, Kingston has hired an Obama impersonator to give him a fake phone call.

“Kingston, this is the president. You’ve got to back off Obamacare,” the fake Obama says as images of the president on the telephone flash on the screen. “Kingston, let me be clear: I do not want you in the Senate. Call me back, Kingston, please.”

After the fake Obama foolishness, Kingston comes on screen to say he would “never answer” a call to stop opposing Obamacare.

It could be a tight race for the GOP nomination in Georgia with businessman David Perdue currently leading Kingston, Reps. Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey and former Georgia secretary of State Karen Handel.

And with the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn Michelle Nunn as the presumptive Democratic nominee, no matter who the GOP picks, this one is likely to be in play.

Grade: This is ad is so stupid. It reminds me of a bunch of frat boys making prank phone calls late at night. You know, "do you have Prince Albert in a can?" Even Kingston's appearance at the end looks like he is oh-so-satisfied at this totally clever joke. And that line from the fake Obama saying "I do not want you in the Senate," is to make me weep. OMG. I'd give it a flat out F but for the fact that at least some Obama haters must have thought it was hilarious. D-

Can't anybody here play this game?

By Richard K. Barry

Last week I wrote about a clip of Rep. Bruce Braley, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Iowa, making disparaging comments about farmers. Just for fun I dug up a statistic provided by Iowa State University finding that "more than 20,000 people make their living each year as full-time employees on Iowa farms." Another fun fact is that farms make up 92 of Iowa's land.

You get the point.

Enter Georgia Republican Senate candidate David Perdue who thought it might be helpful to belittle the education level of his Democratic opponent.

"There's a high school graduate in this race, OK?" he said at one of his campaign headquarters. "I'm sorry, but these issues are so much broader, so complex."

The problem, as Matt Vasilogambos points out, is that he might have checked the state's education profile before he did that.

According to census statistics, only 27.8 percent of Georgians over age 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 84.4 percent have a high school diploma. For the 72.2 percent of Georgians without that college degree, Perdue's boast may tell them they're not smart enough for higher office.

The comment is certainly dickish, as was Braley's, but it's politically moronic.  Like I said (and Jimmy Breslin said first), can't anybody here play this game.

Here's a clip of Perdue's comment, if you haven't yet had a chance to cringe today.

Behind the Ad: Michelle Nunn is the devil, apparently

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The End-Spending-Action-Fund (a GOP-affiliated Super PAC).

Where: Georgia

What's going on: Georgia is a very red state: the governorship; both chambers of the state legislature; both U.S. Senate seats; and 8 of 13 congressional districts are held by Republicans. It seems,  though, that they are not feeling as confident as you might think about holding the U.S. Senate seat Saxby Chambliss (R) will be vacating when he retires this year.

Exhibit A is the first attack ad aimed at the presumptive Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn, which, no great surprise, accuses her of supporting ObamaCare and higher taxes. Ho-hum.

As The Hill writes:

Nunn has been posting huge fundraising totals so far and has been neck-and-neck with her potential GOP rivals in the polls. Republicans are worried a crowded primary field could produce a flawed candidate, giving her a better chance to win in the GOP-leaning state.

Because it's a crowded field for the GOP nomination, the thinking is that a tough primary could damage the ultimate Republican nominee, or that a nominee could emerge for the general election way too conservative for the state.

With that in mind, Charlie Cook is calling it a toss-up and a potential good-news story for Democrats.

Grade: This ad is so boring and the claim that the big bad IRS is going to get you if they don't like what you choose to do with your health care is confusing at best. Maybe the point is just to put the IRS, higher taxes, and Obamacare in the same sentence.  I suppose it's a marker of sorts for later on, but I doubt it will have much of an impact. C-

Georgia Republicans aim to take the lead on the anti-gay front

By Michael J.W. Stickings

A few Arizona Republicans may be having second thoughts about their anti-gay bill, but Georgia Republicans aren't about to cave in to, you know, equal rights and common decency, nor to deny themselves the opportunity to erect their very own barricade of bigotry:

A bill moving swiftly through the Georgia House of Representatives would allow business owners who believe homosexuality is a sin to openly discriminate against gay Americans by denying them employment or banning them from restaurants and hotels.

The proposal, dubbed the Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, would allow any individual or for-profit company to ignore Georgia laws -- including anti-discrimination and civil rights laws -- that "indirectly constrain" exercise of religion. Atlanta, for example, prohibits discrimination against LGBT residents seeking housing, employment, and public accommodations. But the state bill could trump Atlanta's protections.

The Georgia bill, which was introduced last week and was scheduled to be heard in subcommittee Monday afternoon, was sponsored by six state representatives (some of them Democrats). A similar bill has been introduced in the state Senate.

The Georgia House bill's text is largely identical to controversial legislation that passed in Arizona last week.

Yup, those weak-assed Arizona Republicans. In Georgia, they don't have such reservations, it would seem. And note that what these two states are proposing is broader than what has emerged elsewhere:

Unlike similar bills introduced in Kansas, Tennessee, and South Dakota, the Georgia and Arizona bills do not explicitly target same-sex couples. But that difference could make the impact of the Georgia and Arizona bills even broader. Legal experts, including Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel for the ACLU, warn that Georgia and Arizona's religious-freedom bills are so sweeping that they open the door for discrimination against not only gay people, but other groups as well.

In other words, if this sort of legislation passes, basically your hatred is all good, legally speaking, as long as you hide behind the protection of "religious freedom." You hate gays? It's just your faith! You hate Muslims? Hey, it's just your religion. And it's not like "religion" has a long history of tolerance. So it's pretty easy to imagine anyone being able to justify discrimination of any kind simply by using the "religious freedom" excuse.

In other words, the very essence of America is under assault from within, by anti-Enlightenment conservatives, almost entirely Republican, who see the country not as a bastion of constitutional liberty but as an expression of religious bigotry. It is deeply and profoundly anti-American, this politico-religious movement, and it is on the march in state after state. It must not be allowed to succeed.

Behind the Ad: Hey Rep. Phil Gingrey, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Rep. Phil Gingrey campaign for the U.S. Senate

Where: Georgia

What's going on: Republican Phil Gingrey is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia in an attempt to succeed Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss who announced on January 25, 2013 that he will not run for re-election.

There are seven announced candidates on the GOP side: U.S. Reps. Paul Broun,  Jack Kingston and Gingrey, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, businessman David Perdue, former president of the Federation of Korean Associations Eugene Chin Yu, and minister Derrick Grayson.

It will be a tough slog for Democrats as Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats, eight of the 13 congressional districts, the governorship, and both chambers of the state legislature, but Democrats are hoping the GOP contenders beat the crap out of each other to the extent that Michelle Nunn, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has a real shot.

As for Gingrey, he has released a new ad saying that he will repeal Obamacare in his first term or he will not run again.

I'll help repeal Obamacare in my first term or go home because you deserve a senator who gets the job done or gets out of the way. Repeal or go home, that's my pledge to you. 

There are two things that I am sure are going to happen: the first is that Obamacare will not be repealed, and the second is that, assuming Gingrey is lucky enough to win the seat, he will not fail to seek reelection.

Nice stethoscope, by the way. Just what we need, a doctor who doesn't give a shit if people can afford healthcare. 

The South, in all its bigoted glory

By Michael J.W. Stickings

A couple of days ago, New York's Daily Intelligencer blog posted a couple of items that together provide a pretty good picture of the South: 

Flying Confederate Flag Along Highway Will 'Tell People That Everyone Is Welcome' in Virginia

"This will tell people that everyone is welcome," says Susan Hathaway, the founder of the pro-Confederate-flag group Virginia Flaggers, who plans to display a giant ten-by-fifteen-foot flag along the I-95 highway in Virginia. "Why do we have to be a place where Southerners who are proud of our heritage are not welcome?" Susan is a real character.

And: 

Georgia Republicans Like Paula Deen Much More Than They Like Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr., a man who played such an integral role in the fight for racial equality that his birthday was declared a national holiday, has a 59 percent approval rating among Georgia Republicans. Paula Deen, a lady who was fired for trying to treat black people like actual nineteenth-century slaves, has a 73 percent approval rating. #thesouth

In related news, Mississippi is still burning.

The Supreme Court's obliteration of the Voting Rights Act spurs the Republican assault on voting rights

By Michael J.W. Stickings

If you care about democracy, and equality, and fairness, and justice, if you're just a good and decent person who cares about your fellow human beings and think that they, like you, should be treated with respect and dignity, that their voice, like yours, matters and should be heard, then this is one of the scariest political headlines you'll ever encounter:

Republicans Across The South Promise Quick Action After SCOTUS Ruling

And what Republicans are planning, along the lines of what they've been doing, is pretty scary shit too:

Across the South, Republicans are working to take advantage of a new political landscape after a divided U.S. Supreme Court freed all or part of 15 states, many of them in the old Confederacy, from having to ask Washington's permission before changing election procedures in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination.

After the high court announced its momentous ruling Tuesday, officials in Texas and Mississippi pledged to immediately implement laws requiring voters to show photo identification before getting a ballot. North Carolina Republicans promised they would quickly try to adopt a similar law. Florida now appears free to set its early voting hours however Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP Legislature please. And Georgia's most populous county likely will use county commission districts that Republican state legislators drew over the objections of local Democrats.

Voting rights, thy days are numbered. Except, of course, for those enjoyed by privileged Republicans.

Michelle Nunn gets ready in Georgia

By Richard K. Barry

The Hill is reporting that businesswomen Michelle Nunn is actively preparing to run for the U.S. Senate from Georgia as a Democrat. They say an
announcement is expected early this summer. 

Nunn, who currently runs a charity, is shaping up as the Democrats' best bet to take Sen. Saxby Chambliss's seat. Chambliss announced he would retire at the end of the term. 

The Hill:

“We'd be very excited to have her in the race. We expect a decision in the next few weeks,” said Georgia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Berlon. “Michelle is going to present a brilliant contrast to anybody the Republicans have running in the spring … She's a female, a proven administrator from a good family. We believe she can clearly win. She has all the tools to win this race in the general election.”

The "good family" reference is in regard to the fact that she is daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and she is the CEO of Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. 

The Hill says that Democrats are hopeful that Georgia could be a rare pick-up opportunity in a year when they are mostly going to be playing defence. If, and we've seen this story before, a crowded GOP field produces a flawed candidate, anything is possible. 

Republicans already in the race include Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), and Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R).

Businessman David Perdue (R), the cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), is also expected to run, and businesswoman Kelly Loeffler, who owns the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, is also said to be looking at a bid.

For the record, Mitt Romney took Georgia in 2012 by a margin of 53.3 to 45.5  percent.

My guess is that a lot of things would have to break the right way. 

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

Stupidest Shithole in America: Nelson, Georgia

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Do I smell another series about to start? I mean, America's full of stupid shitholes, right? Well, maybe. Let's just start with this gem in the Peach State, a very small "city" 80 miles north of Atlanta:

Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law. It's a controversial new plan for the city of Nelson.

Leaders told Channel 2's John Bachman the reason they need the law is because the city straddles Cherokee county to the south and Pickens County to the north.

That, they said, can lead to slower response times.

One police officer patrols Nelson, Georgia for eight hours during the day. That leaves 16 hours overnight when the city is basically unguarded.

"When he's not here we rely on county sheriffs -- however it takes a while for them to get here," said Nelson City Councilman Duane Cronic.

That's why Cronic proposed the ordinance.

"Every head of household will own and maintain a firearm," he said. 

Yes! Armed rednecks "policing" themselves! What could possibly go wrong?

More right-wing terrorism: Four men arrested in Georgia plotting to kill government officials

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From the Times:

Four Georgia men who were part of a fringe militia group were arrested on Tuesday in what the Justice Department described as a plot to use guns, bombs and the toxin ricin to kill federal and state officials and spread terror.

The men, all aged 65 and over, were recorded telling an F.B.I. informant that they wanted to kill federal judges, Internal Revenue Service employees and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to court documents.

We hear all the time, from conservatives and their various mouthpieces in the media, that it's not the right but the left that is the source of terrorism, including of the domestic variety. And yet the evidence points to the right and not to the left, whether it's the KKK or right-wing militias or renegade loners, whether it's killing civil rights workers, the attack in Oklahoma City, or any number of other incidents, large and small, that make up America's history of domestic, homegrown terrorism. As Blue Girl writes:

Remember how Ann Coulter proclaimed, with a straight face, that all political violence in this country "comes from the left"?

Yeah, I spit seltzer all over my screen when I saw that, too.

That's total bullshit. Violence in this country has always come from the right wing and 'twas ever thus. Well, except for that Revolution we had back in the late eighteenth century. That was a left-wing production. Something that a lot of people forget about that time -- even back then the south was a problem, and it was prone to employing terrorism to further it's aims. Read up on the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia. They had a treasonous history before they fired on Ft. Sumter, and those strains of Confederate treason still run deep. 

The evidence just keeps piling up.

(For more, see David Neiwert at C&L, who earlier this year also posted this map showing the various instances of terrorism directed at "liberal" and "government" targets since 2008.)

Georgia kills Troy Davis

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Abhorrent on so many levels.

An innocent man executed. With racism, classism, and blatant incompetence, much of it willful, deeply ingrained in a horrendously corrupt system, with those running the system, and benefitting from it, refusing to acknowledge its and their failings, if they can acknowledge anything at all through the fog of profiteering and delusional self-righteousness, truth and justice were not just denied but utterly repudiated.

Yet another reason why the death penalty must be abolished for good.

(Yes, over and against the bloodthirsty cheers of Rick Perry supporters.)

Georgia on my mind

By Capt. Fogg

Florida, the state I live in, does not allow "open carry" of firearms. To get a permit to carry concealed weapons, one has to attend a safety class, have a clean police record, clearance from the county sheriff or police chief, and submit a set of fingerprints. Like Mack the Knife, the weapon must be kept out of sight and may not be used to intimidate or threaten anyone. You can't, if armed, sit at a bar or other "place of public nuisance," and you may not bring it onto private property or into a court house or police station without permission.

Apparently, it's different in Georgia. Although it's hard to get a clear explanation of the state code, it seems you, as a permit holder, can walk around with an AK over the shoulder and a pair of .50 caliber Desert Eagle automatics in your belt -- and more if you can carry it all. You can dress in camo, festoon yourself with weapons and ammo belts like Pancho Villa, and attend a political rally or event or demonstration -- and according to Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), you definitely should! It's been happening of late -- people showing up at public meetings where "Kill Obama" signs and signs comparing him with Hitler are displayed. Never mind the obvious danger to the country and to any president who tends to make delusional, stupid, and ignorant people very angry.

They have the right to do that,

Gingery told Chris Matthews yesterday. An interesting assertion in a state that has had so much to say about who you could marry, what you could do after you did, where you could buy a house, and what kind of provocation legitimized a lynching.

Of course, if you had tried that during the recent Republican era, you'd most likely have been bussed outside of town to a "free speech" area, if you somehow avoided any altercations with the police and secret service. But that was then, this is high noon in Dodge City. What better way for a determined terrorist than to come unarmed into a public arena, grab Bubba's old Colt Gummint model, and blaze away at the president, governor, senator, etc.? What better way to show them city boys just what we think about the way they do things up North?

Whether Gingery thinks the way to preserve one's rights is to abuse them in the most extreme way possible or whether he secretly hopes to intimidate the opposing party into submission -- whether he'd just love to see Joe Biden in the Oval Office this year -- it's impossible to tell. Perhaps he's only hoping that being surrounded by a hostile ad hoc militia will force Democrats to listen to their ravings about death panels, re-education camps, rationing of medical care, free medical care to illegal aliens, galloping Marxism, slippery slopes, the president's citizenship, and the loss of precious bodily fluids, but really -- don't we already have Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for that?

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Asses of Evil

By Capt. Fogg

They understand I'm not like no politician they have looked at, ever.

I'm not so sure, but I am sure that if Neal Horsley were running as a Democrat, the blowhards would be in ecstasy and the blogs would be brimming over with hilarity enough to last for years and years of giggling.

Horsley, after all, admits to having had sex with a mule:

You experiment with anything that moves when you are growing up sexually,

says the Georgia Creator's Rights Party gubernatorial candidate. That's the TCRP, or T-Crap for short. Of course, Neal is all grown up now, and that's why his family hates him and he's almost killed his son and he publishes the names of doctors who perform abortions and crosses them off as they are murdered and is willing to start another civil war so that Georgia can secede and overturn Roe v. Wade even if it costs the life of his child -- or yours.

Is this what's left at the bottom of the barrel the GOP has drunk from all these years, or is this just a Georgia thang?

I contend this is really about people's ability to believe in God. When it comes to that place, when you're talking about God's plan to protect himself, then the lives of people become, really, almost irrelevant... in the degree that they result in Him being glorified. That's the nature of the truth,

says the very Christian Horsley. That's the nature of a scared, vulnerable and weak God who needs to protect himself no matter who gets killed in the process. Glory is important, people are irrelevant, and if you don't believe in Horsley's God, then you're irrelevant.

I suspect Neal isn't the sole bat in the Religious Right's belfry. I suspect Sarah Palin is just as bonkers but more reluctant to open her personal can of batshit gumbo to a public viewing.

To be sure, Horsely is a long-shot candidate even in the Bible Belt, but with careful handling and sufficient rabble-rousing, there is no reason he can't go far. Just how far he does go will be interesting to observe as a measure of the post-Obama fundamentalist world that continues to lower the bar in its desperate game of limbo.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

The New Secessionists; or, conservative teabagging gone wild

By Michael J.W. Stickings

It isn't just Texas Gov. Rick Perry hinting at possible secession. No, as the AJC's Jay Bookman reports, it's a far more substantial, and far more nefarious, right-wing movement than most realize:

[O]n April 1, your Georgia Senate did threaten by a vote of 43-1 to secede from and even disband the United States.

*****

[Among other things,] the resolution states that if Congress, the president or federal courts take any action that exceeds their constitutional powers, the Constitution is rendered null and void and the United States of America is officially disbanded. As an example, the resolution specifically states that if the federal government enacts “prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition,” the country is disbanded.

In other words, if Congress votes to restore the ban on sale of assault rifles, the United States is deemed to no longer exist.

This, your Georgia state Senate voted 43-1 to endorse.

And it's not just Georgia:

The resolution they sponsored is part of a radical right-wing national movement -- a similar resolution was introduced in the Georgia House but not voted on. It has been introduced in legislatures all over the nation, and has passed in both chambers in Oklahoma and one in South Dakota.

And while the Georgia resolution is legally meaningless and was passed without debate or even knowledge of most senators, it has had an impact. It has been hailed by, among others, those fighting the conspiracy to create a single North American country, by the Confederate States Militia, by the John Birch Society, and the League of the South, which still pines for the cause of an "independent South" and believes that "Southern society is radically different from the society impressed upon it by an alien occupier."

That's fine, fine company these secessionist Republicans are keeping. And it doesn't end there. As TPMDC's Brian Beutler notes, the Texas House of Representatives, with Gov. Perry's support, recently passed a "resolution affirming the state's claim of sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. 'I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,' Gov. Perry said." More:

This isn't your garden-variety conservative rhetoric. It's actually considerably more radical than that. The Civil War (and, if that's not enough, a subsequent Supreme Court decision) makes clear that secession is illegal.

Beyond that, the Texas resolution (though silent on secession per se) appears to buy into the similarly discredited theory of 'nullification' -- the idea that states are sovereign and can pick and choose which federal laws apply to them.

More and more, conservatives -- a lot of them, those who adhere to this radical strain -- are proving to be not a loyal opposition with the Republicans out of power in Washington but the proponents of a sort of anti-democratic anti-Americanism. Unhappy with the results of recent elections, unhappy not to be in control, they are pushing for the dismantling of the United States, or at least threatening it.

They may hide behind some warped interpretation of federalism, but their rhetoric smacks of treason.

Symbols of delusion: Chambliss, Cao, Boehner, and the future of the Republican Party

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yesterday at WaPo's The Fix, Chris Cillizza asked if Republicans are "on the march" and concluded that the recent Republican victories in Georgia (Senate) and Louisiana (House) "give Republicans something to rally around" and "lay the foundation for at least the possibility of a comeback in 2010 and beyond."

Oh... really.

While I do not deny that things can change quickly in politics, and that the GOP could make a comeback within the next few years, I'm not sure that any sort of pre-comeback should be read into what happened in two of the reddest states in the country:

Georgia: Saxby Chambliss held on to his Senate seat in last week's run-off election. No surprise there. He was ahead in the polls leading up to the (first) election and he almost reached the 50% threshold the first time around. The fact that a libertarian was on the ballot, and won about 3%, cost him the outright win. True, he expanded his lead in the run-off, but the Republicans poured far more money and resources into the run-off campaign than the Democrats did, with the likes of Sarah Palin stumping for him. In the end, the incumbent won. So what?

Louisiana: Disgustingly corrupt Democratic incumbent William Jefferson lost his bid for re-election in the state's 2nd District to Republican challenger Anh Cao on Saturday. In response, House Minority Leader John Boehner wrote that "[t]he Cao victory is a symbol of our future." True, Cao is untraditionally Republican (he will be only the fourth visible minority in the GOP House caucus, joining three Cuban-Americans), and, true, the 2nd District (which includes New Orleans), where Jefferson (the first black to represent Louisiana in Congress since Reconstruction) has been firmly and comfortably ensconced since he first won the seat way back in 1990, is overwhelmingly Democratic, but was it a win for Cao or a loss for Jefferson? Surely the latter much more than the former. Indeed, according to an analysis of the vote reported by the Times-Picayune, "Jefferson's downfall was largely a product of apathy and confusion among black voters." Had black voters turned out as they did on November 4, Jefferson would have won. Some voters may simply have had enough of Jefferson, at long last, but it was the turnout, or lack thereof, that gave the vote to Cao.

So... that's the "symbol" of the GOP's future? Capitalizing on low turnout against a corrupt incumbent? That's not much of a future.

And... Republicans can "rally around" these two wins? Well, they can rally around whatever they want, including their own delusions, but the two wins don't really "lay the foundation" for anything. Will the new Boehner-inspired strategy be for GOP incumbents like Chambliss to hold on to their seats in tight races and run-offs and for upstart no-names like Cao to topple disgustingly corrupt Democratic incumbents in low-turnout run-offs?

That's not much of a strategy, and certainly not much of a winning one. Then again, maybe it's all the Republicans have.

Chambliss wins in Georgia, Coleman maintains lead in Minnesota

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I've been busy this evening writing an article that I hope will soon be published -- more on that if and when -- but I just thought I'd post quickly on the Senate races in Georgia and Minnesota.

Georgia: The run-off was held on Tuesday (today until about 45 minutes ago), and Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss defeated Democratic challenger Jim Martin. And it wasn't close. With 99 percent reporting, Chambliss is up 57 to 43. (He won the initial vote last month 50 to 47 -- or, rather, just under 50 to 47. Why the expanded win? Republicans came out en masse for Chambliss, with the likes of Sarah Palin stumping for him, and it may be that they just wanted it more than the Democrats did. Of course, it could also be that incumbents tend to do well in run-offs. And, of course, Georgia is still a solidly Republican state.)

Minnesota: The recount continues... Democratic challenger Al Franken picked up 37 votes in Ramsey County today, when 171 votes were found to have been uncounted "due to a combined machine malfunction and human error," according to the Star Tribune. Still, with 93 percent of votes recounted (and with more than 6,000 ballots challenged), Republican incumbent Norm Coleman leads by 303. (The Franken camp claims Coleman's lead is just 50.) According to Eric Kleefeld at TPM Election Central, the momentum may be swinging back to Coleman. However, Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight says that his "statistical models," which recently projected Franken the eventual winner, "now show Norm Coleman as the favorite to retain his senate seat, although with a high degree of uncertainty and without accounting the effects of potential rejected absentee ballots."

For my previous updates on the Minnesota recount, see here, here, and here. For all our posts on Minnesota, see here.

With the Republican win in Georgia, the Democrats won't make it to 60 seats in the Senate. But as I and many others have pointed out, though, 60 is something of an artificial threshold (given the obsession with the filibuster). Very few votes in the Senate are strict party-line, and the Democrats should be able to pull over one or two, or more, Republicans on any given vote. But, then, the Democrats will also lose votes. Even with 60 senators, they would hardly be guaranteed of having a filibuster-proof majority on any given vote. The point is, whether it's 58 or 59, the Democrats will have a huge majority in the Senate. If they, and Obama, are able to reach out across the aisle to the few moderate Republicans left, they should be able to get stuff done (not least because there's a huge Democratic majority in the House as well).

Hypocrisy, thy name is McCain

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Actually, hypocrisy is a nice name for it. Jon Chait explains:

In another life, John McCain said this about Saxby Chambliss:

I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible.

McCain is now going to Georgia to campaign for Chambliss.

There's your "maverick" for you.

(For more on the Georgia run-off between Chambliss and Jim Martin, see here.)

Bum knee; or, why the time is now to rid the Senate of Saxby Chambliss

By Michael J.W. Stickings

According to HuffPo's James Boyce, Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, as despicable as ever, "has requested that he actually be excused from the December 2nd runoff against Jim Martin and just be declared the winner."

It's the bum knee, you see, the one that got him out of Vietnam.

Chambliss slimed Vietnam vet Max Cleland in '02, and he's up against another Vietnam vet, Jim Martin, this year. He beat Martin last Tuesday, but he didn't quite get to 50 percent, hence the upcoming run-off.

MyDD's Todd Beeton: "I know we've all spent a lot of time and money helping our Senate candidates win this year but we still have more to do. We need to elect Jim Martin to the Senate not only to avenge Max Cleland's defeat 6 years ago, but we need to do it for all Veterans, to make sure they have a real champion in the Senate."

As TNR's Jason Zengerle reported the other day, it looks like Republican "superstars" Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Giuliani will be campaigning for Chambliss ahead of the run-off vote. HuffPo's Sam Stein is reporting that Obama is "sending aides" to Georgia to work for Martin, "one of the earliest tests of the influence he can wield on the political landscape."

I suspect that Chambliss will win, but this is certainly a fight worth having.