My Morning Wooten: Semi-Aggreance Edition

The planets must be in a weird alignment. Jim and I are agreeing this morning. But not everything.

Georgia’s rushing to execute its murderers, you say. Would the “rush” apply to Jack Alderman, who murdered his wife in Savannah in 1974 —- 34 years ago —- or to Curtis Osborne, who murdered two people in Spalding County in 1990, 18 years ago? Stays were lifted on both.

Bloody Jim is back.

Public Service Commissioner Bobby Baker finally wins all challenges to residency. His wife has a house in DeKalb; he has a condo in Athens, in the PSC district he represents. He spends most of his time in Atlanta. Duh. That’s where his job is. Requiring PSC members to live in districts is one of the dumber laws the Legislature has imposed. It should be repealed promptly.

Have to agree on this one. You could argue residency is important for the legislature, but the PSC? Really?

The state has no business licensing home inspectors. Gov. Sonny Perdue was right to veto that bill. In his view, and mine, the marketplace and voluntary associations are perfectly capable of “regulating” those who inspect the homes for prospective buyers. In fact, the state should be looking for every opportunity to get out of the licensing business. Mostly, licensing is a way to keep out potential competitors. License physicians. Republicans should be deregulating, not piling on.

Yep. A brief anecdote. About two years ago my family needed a real estate appraisal. We hired a family friend who promised one in six weeks. Six months later, still with no appraisal and under the threat of lawsuit, the appraiser returned our deposit. We then found another appraiser who produced the report in four days for 1/4 of the price. Lesson learned? We should have shopped around.

Whatever happened to the Great Speckled Bird newspaper? It died. All the young hippies went into academia or politics and/or into being old hippies.

A surprisingly non-judgmental analysis of the long dead leftist publication. But I'm not going to let you off that easy, Jim. Even when you use the lash lightly. Given many of the hippies who hawked the paper learned a quick harsh lesson in capitalism (sellling papers=money to eat), I'm willing to bet you quite a few entrepeneurs and business owners emerged from that bunch.

I’d probably have to read the book to find out why 78-year-old Barbara Walters wants us to know that she once had an affair with a politician. It never occurred to me to inquire. Or care. People, especially those in sports and entertainment, are all the time telling us more than we want to know about their personal lives. Stop. Quit. Or else I go before the Tribunal of Right Wingers to get a cease-and-desist order.

Step back, Jim. The market works in more ways that one. I wouldn't read that dreck but plenty of people do. Until the market changes, you and I will have to continue the onerous task of simply walking by these tripe buckets. Awful to have to resist that urge but that's the way it goes.

Barack Obama is determined to control not only his campaign but the campaign he will authorize to be waged against him. He tells Tennessee Republicans his wife’s comment that “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country” is off-limits. “If they [Republicans] think that they are going to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful, because I find unacceptable the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family.” Bill’s fair game. So’s Michelle. If they make campaign speeches, they’re fair game. Spouses. Children. Parents. Pets. Sacred cows. All.

A candidate trying to control the message on both sides? Say it ain't so! Oh, and I don't want to pay the archive fee at the AJC, so Jim can you tell me how you handled criticism of Nancy back in the 80s?

No crisis here, at least with the state’s system for testing middle school students. Failure rates ran as high as 80 percent. The levelheaded observation of Herb Garrett, director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association, charts the course: “Anytime you have that level of failure statewide, you’ve got to go back and re-examine the test and re-examine everything associated with the test.” Take a sip of water, a deep breath and go on living. Matching curriculum, instruction, testing and higher standards is a work in progress

Pretty much everybody agrees something is seriously screwed up with this test.

Good news. Somewhat, anyway. Syria and Israel resume direct talks. Syria wants the Golan Heights. Surrendering it invites disaster.

Wait? Someone's talking to the enemy? Yet, no cries of appeasement? Something certainly can't be right here.

Thank you, Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Nathan Deal of Gainesville, Paul Broun of Athens, John Linder of Duluth and Tom Price of Roswell, who cast a fiscal conservative vote to sustain the president’s veto of the $307 billion farm bill. “At a time when net farm income is projected to increase by more than $28 billion in one year, the American taxpayer should not be forced to subsidize a group of farmers who have adjusted gross incomes of up to $1.5 million” per year, said the president. He lost. We did too.

As the owner of a small sliver of farmland in south Georgia, all I can say here is...no comment.

Have a good holiday weekend everyone.

Selah.

Mulligan's Bar Owner Interviewed

That bar owner looks awfully familiar

A Pruning We Will Go

While some are sadly hanging it up, I've decided to give it one more whirl.

I think I've still got things to say and by god I'm going to say them.

To begin the renewal process, I'm pruning the Georgia blogroll and the Georgia Voices. If you haven't written anything since March 1st, I'm taking you off. If you fall into that category but plan to restart soon, drop me an email and I will keep you on.

Selah.

Rules

Live Apartment Fire has a list of old rules vs. new rules for local newscasts, but I think this one applies (or should apply) to old media vs. new media.

Old rule: Be good storytellers / New rule: more stories, less telling

The rest are pretty good too. Check 'em out.

Hamilton Jordan

Hamilton Jordan
1944-2008

Matt Towery:

"I understand that in the past few decades we have become such a polarized nation that it is impossible to extol the virtues of someone associated with a former Democratic president, particularly an active and often colorful former president such as Jimmy Carter, without immediately upsetting the most partisan of readers. Well, get over it. Hamilton Jordan taught a lot of lessons."

Obama In The Crosshairs

Another example of the left making the race all about race?

Apparently not.

The above provocative cover of the, to this point relatively unknown, weekly "The Roswell Beacon" has furfulled a few feathers.

But since they own/lease a printing press, they must be part of the liberal media conspiracy, no? Well, given their editorial page seems be nothing but Michelle Malkin retreads, I'm guessng not.

As to the cover itself, it is certainly provocative but I find myself having a hard time getting too lathered up about it. Frankly, the blaring head of "White Fright" is much more questionable than the picture of Obama framed by a high-powered scope.

It would be an interesting to hold a discussion about the process of creation here and to their credit some from Kos made that attempt. But with Beacon editor John Fredricks already stating his paper will not be influenced by "liberal blogger thuggery", I guess that's just a bit too much to ask these days.

The Little Blogger Fruforal

About the little local blogger fruforal. I'm gonna let Travis speak for me on this one.

But these things aside, let me drop a little knowledge on the blogosphere: Professionalism means not whining like a little baby when you don't get the big gig. Someone has to stay at the office and make the cop calls. Someone has to read the local county budget. Someone has to sit through that 3 hour appropriations meeting.Welcome to journalism...It ain't always fun.

Yep. That's about right.

More On The Impending Race War

Rush Limbaugh today:

"To you superdelegates, I feel your pain. You're afraid of the riots if you deny a black man the nomination"

Yep. Definitely the left making it all about race.

He also took time to mention McGovern.

The betting window is now open for wagers on McGovern mentions on Sean Hannity. The over/under is set at 8.

My Morning Wooten

A sure cure for the lost mojo is Jim Wooten.

Barack Obama’s now within a hundred delegates of securing the Democratic Party nomination to fulfill the legacy of George McGovern, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry and Al Gore.

Is there any Democrat outside of Joe Lieberman that Jim and his ilk wouldn't compare to George McGovern. Save your brain cycles. The answer is no.

John McCain’s spokesman Tucker Bounds set it up: “This election is fundamentally about who Americans can trust to secure peace and prosperity for the next generation of Americans. Without a doubt, Barack Obama is a talented political orator, but his naive plans for unconditional summits with rogue leaders and support for big tax hikes on hardworking families expose his bad judgment that Americans can ill-afford in our next president.

First of all, I don't remember any mention of meeting foreign leaders of questionable reputation with no conditions. I do remember him being asked if he would meet with certain foreign leaders and responding, yes.

More importantly, given the unbridled success of the foreign policy success of the last eight years, Jim, before you continue caterwauls of appeasement, please explain why we should trust your way as better.

What he neglected to say is that four members of the U.S. Supreme Court are likely to retire over the next eight years. And since Democrats control both the House and the Senate, a left-lock on the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court should be enough to complete the march to the welfare state.

Based on decisions such as the recent Indiana voter id ruling, the court is as balanced as it ever is. So the only common sense conclusion is Jim's real desire is a right wing super-majority creating a star chamber to rubber stamp his myopic vision of "original intent".

As far as the court's affect on the welfare state? For those playing Wooten Non-Sequiter Bingo, O-42!

“White voters played a decisive role in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lopsided victory Tuesday in Kentucky’s Democratic presidential primary. Barack Obama got the victory in more liberal Oregon, where race and the hard-edged rivalry between the two embattled candidates was muted...[followed by three paragraphs about how race played out in various primaries]...The left is determined to make this election a referendum on white racism. But the fact is that a majority of this country has not and will not now elect a president who runs as far to the left as Barack Obama.

I don't really have to say anything do I?

It is essentially over. Obama will be the Democratic nominee. The party has what it has, a candidate who in Kentucky failed to win the votes in a Democratic primary of all age groups and incomes, the college-educated and those who aren’t, and those who described themselves as liberal,moderate and conservative.

Have you ever been to Kentucky? Before you fall prey to the conflation it represents the entire country, I suggest gentle reader you research the demographic breakdown in other primaries - even good ol' Georgia.

In the meantime, prepare yourself to hear the name McGovern a lot over the next six months. Its only just begun.

Pretty Cool

Looks like Amani is becoming an NPR regular.

Take a listen to him, Shawn Williams and Shaun King discuss the NAACP new President, gay marriage and immigration policy in the city of L.A.

Pretty cool.

Of course you have to listen to it online because here in Atlanta, instead of the show News & Notes, we receive audio morphine over the airways.

Pretty uncool.

The Set Up

Why is District 80 so compelling?

To those outside the perimeter and outside the inner circles. the answer probably is, "it ain't".

But for those in the know, the upcoming battle for the 80th is not so much Hatfield/McCoys as it is the DiMeras and the Bradys.

Take a sitting aisle jumper, a scorned party seething from betrayal, a stranger riding into town with thoughts of righteous revenge, put them in a district which is a demographer's wet dream and you boil a cauldron of trouble to the frothing point.

Only four years ago Rep. Mike Jacobs was the darling of the Democratic Party. Fresh out of law school and with strong backing from the state party, he won the 80th with 51% of the vote. In a district trending Democrat, two years later he won re-election by an astounding 66%.

Then, in 2007, Jacobs began doing strange things. He voted for Democratic scourge Glenn Richardson for Speaker of the House. He voted for payday lending and against the children of Peachcare.

The cinch was finally firmly clasped to the barrel in June of that year when he officially announced his switch to the Republican party. A mere three years after his first victory, he left his party, his youtful supporters and arguably a piece of his reputation in a choking cloud of dust.

The battle cry of vengeance sprang from the lips of practically every person who previously pounded the pavement from Toco Hills to Dunwoody.

Despite this passion and a full year to prepare, still no experienced Democrat living in the 80th stepped forward to challenge the betrayer.

Enter Keith Gross.

Georgia law requires those qualifying for the House of Representatives to be 21 years of age, have lived in Georgia for two years and in the district for one year. First glance at Gross' picture might call into question his ability to pass the first threshold, but it is the second and third which have caused consternation in the Democratic camp.

Residency challenges are not rare but also rarely worth a mention. They are hardly ever successful and usually only a subtle poke at the inexperienced and the unknown. However, in the case of Gross there exists enough flotsam and jetsam (a restaurant in Maryland, a car registered in Florida) in the water to spark curiousity.

Gross responded in detail to the criticism but will it matter?

As with all things politic the most important question is sometimes the most overlooked. Why? Why would a two-term incumbent, even one who recently switched parties, even on who is in a "competitive" district, even acknowledge the existence of a challenger who conventional wisdom purports doesn't have a hoot in hell chance of victory?

Two possibilities.

Jacobs' camp thinks the charge can stick. Gross' recent travels are certainly odd and though you would think the most basic vetting of where a candidate actually lays his head at night would be a fait accompli, we are talking Democrats.

More likely however is a carpetbagger strategy - make the charge now so you can stick him later. Even if Gross fights off the residency protests, this fall he will face attacks of being a mercenary, a Democratic party shill who rode into town not for the 80th but for revenge and pure political expediency.

Although rarely observed in the wild, the already wooly 80th may witness the gestation of a political meme.

How these horses finish is not known but the degenerate gamblers are placing the smart money on the second scenario.

In these weird early machinations one kernal of truth is discovered - at times the strangest move is actually the most clever. It is a maxim best not forgotten.

Georgia Politics Podcast Episode 17

Enjoy some good conversation on your Sunday afternoon.

Listen to the Georgia Politics Podcast.

The usual gang was there: our gracious host JosephG, Catherine, JenB, Kimberly and moi.

And children. We were only kidding about smoking pot and not wearing your seatbelt. We always wear our seatbelts.

Leaving New Orleans

New Orleans is still a great town and it is almost impossible to have a bad time, but the business did not fare so well this week. So I'm headed to the farm to contemplate next moves. Look for changes around these parts next week.