The Nut Vote

Southern Political Report's Tom Baxter rattles his political ouija board and summons forth the ghost of Sen. Herman Talmadge.

Eulogizing the late US Sen. Herman Talmadge at his funeral in 2002, former US Sen. Sam Nunn recalled a meeting with his state’s senator not long after he came to Washington. Nunn recalled that when he mentioned casually that he answered most of his mail, but ignored “nuts” like those who believed in flying saucers, Talmadge spit vigorously into the spittoon by his desk and gave him a solemn warning: “If you don’t get the nut vote, you can’t carry a county in Georgia,” the state’s senior senator said.

Tom carries the lesson to the modern strangeness of current Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson's uncomfortable position of opposing the Obama administration on healthcare reform but also decrying flame breathing rhetoric from members of his own party.

Wise words from Ol' Hummon. However, there comes a times when even though in your heart you know you are right, your brain may be telling you to look around and take note that there's nothing left but nuts.

(Editor's note: I was going to use this opportunity to opine my own position on the healthcare debate but I've decided to continue keep you guessing. Maybe later.)