Fresh Loaf

(closes eyes, grips fists) Please let it not be Perdue. Please let it not be Perdue.

Oh! Hi there. (shuffles papers, sits up straight) Beltway columnist Robert Novak, the Corvette-drivin’, right-leaning pundit who prides himself on his “Prince of Darkness” moniker, says John McCain’s pick for his running mate will be announced sometime this week. Mitt Romney’s been speculated as the most likely candidate.

Barack Obama will pick — you guessed it — Bicycle Shorts Man. Good night!

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MCCAIN/ROMNEY: BFF now.

MALINGER LONGER: State auditor, legislator and citizens’ group disagree with developer’s and island officials’ grim diagnosis of Jekyll Island’s economic condition.

CHORUS OF BOOZE: House committee unanimously votes to attach Sunday alcohol-sales rider to Gwinnett Braves bill; Gov. Perdue has said he’d veto any bill that would endanger Georgia’s world-renowned time-management skills.

WATER WARS: Ga., Ala. and Fla. Dems seize on chance to deride GOP govs for breakdown of water talks.

THE LAKE IS HALF FULL: Allatoona officials optimistic about water level this year.

DELTA: Will start flying daily between Atlanta and Shanghai March 30.

STOMP THE YARD: Fourth annual 212-mile “Peaches to Beaches” yard sale is this weekend.

“INTER-SPECIES REFLOATING TECHNIQUE”: Dolphin saves stranded whales.

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(photo by Joeff Davis)

I was so busy being indignant about Romney’s religious bigotry in my previous post, I forgot to express indignance at his racist hypocrisy.

This morning Romney stood at a podium and said, “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom.”

FACT: The Mormon church did not allow black people into Mormon temples for services until 1978.

Mitt Romney was 31 years old in 1978.

Before he offers voters any more lectures about the relationship between religion and freedom, he needs to explain why he spent 13 years of his adult life as a member of a racist organization.

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a speech this morning begging Republican voters not to hold his Mormonism against him.

It was billed as a pro-tolerance speech. It was the opposite.

Romney didn’t ask voters not to discriminate against candidates based on their religion. He instead asked religious-bigot voters to let Mormons into their gang so, together, they could make common cause against atheists and people who believe government has no business promoting religion.

Romney’s “fuck you” to atheists:

“Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom.”

Romney’s “fuck you” to people who believe government and religion should be separate:

“It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism.”

I find Romney’s words deeply disturbing. As a nonbelieving secularist, I’m quite used to being told by so-called religious and political leaders that my personal beliefs somehow constitute a threat to morality. But I can’t really recall a middle-of-the-road, mainstream Republican political candidate so openly suggesting my personal beliefs somehow constitute a threat to freedom.

Romney’s new math suggests that because I don’t want creationism taught in public-school science classes, I’m opposed to freedom.

It’s tolerance, Republican style.

I’d tell Romney to go to hell, but, well, you know.

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MITT ROMNEY AT THE VARSITY: I’m just like you, only richer and with thicker, more lustrous hair.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Candidates for president are typically wealthy and privileged people, insulated from the demands of everyday life (shopping, bill-paying, dog-walking) by support staff.

Nevertheless, the American voting public (and the profoundly petty political broadcast media) seems to demand of candidates that they affect sympathy with perceived habits, hobbies and lifestyles of Joe and Josephine Sixpack. Millionaire lawyer John Edwards makes a point of telling people he celebrates his wedding anniversary at Wendy’s. Millionaire lawyer/lobbyist/actor Fred Thompson successfully campaigned for Congress in 1994 from the back of a rented Chevy pickup. Aw, shucks, indeed.

Last Wednesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney played faux-folksy (fauxlksy?) in Atlanta with an appearance at the Varsity in Midtown. The 250-million-dollar man delivered a short stump speech and a stiff comedy routine about naked dogs and PCs (plain chocolate milk) before heading to the airport for a no doubt similarly populist event in Florida.

Romney’s Georgia campaign is in desperate need of populist appeal. Though he’s raised more money in Georgia than any other presidential candidate, polls show him at fourth place behind Thompson, Giuliani and McCain. If Romney’s poll numbers improve, expect Barack Obama to be welcoming us to Moe’s any day now.

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IS it Holy Bishops? People Praying? Good Catholic Education? Devotion to the Virgin? All the above?I think this can be duplicated.

-James H. at Opinionated Catholic on a report that Catholicism is booming in Atlanta while it declines elsewhere in the nation

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I have no idea what happened in there, but I can only imagine a few circumstances. A) There was a fight between the driver and at least one passenger. B) The driver had a seizure. C) It was intentional. All of these are pretty bizarre circumstances in my book.

-Olaf at Gradin.com witnessed a car accident.

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The AJC said there would be free hot dogs. I got there about 12:30, and there was no indication of free food or how to get free food. So I listened to the latter half of the speech, and then had to pay for my own naked dog.

-Loren, commenting about Mitt Romney’s visit to the Varsity on Peach Pundit

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4.5 presidential candidates are coming to Atlanta this week.

Why 4.5?

Newt acts like he’s running, but he hasn’t declared.

Check them out while you can. Georgia is solidly Republican, so the likelihood of seeing them in 2008 outside the doors of a high-dollar fundraiser event is pretty low.

In strictly nonpartisan, alphabetical order:

Hillary Clinton: Sat., May 19, 7 p.m., at the home of Michael Coles ($1,000 to get in)

John Edwards: Thurs., May 17, 5:15 p.m., Georgia World Congress Center (free)

Newt Gingrich: Fri., May 18, Borders bookstore in Buckhead at 4 p.m., GOP Convention at Gwinnett Civic Center at 7 p.m.

Rudy Giuliani: Wed., May 16, noon, Emerson Student Center at Oglethorpe University (free)

Mitt Romney: Fri., May 18, 3-3:30 p.m., Gwinnett Civic Center (free, for those in the convention hall)

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From the website OpenSecrets.org, here are some of the notable Georgians who’ve donated to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s ‘08 presidential campaign. $2,300 is the maximum legal donation.

To clarify, by “notable” I mean people whose names stand out to me when I look at the list.

Clark Dean, $2,300 — Dean is a managing director at the Atlanta office of Studley, a fancy-panted commercial real estate brokerage firm.

W. Thomas Haynes, $2,300 — Haynes is executive director of the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association.

Nancy Coverdell, $2,300, — Nancy Coverdell is the widow of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell, who died in 2000.

Sam Kellett, $2,300, — Kellett is the founder of Kangaroo Bob’s, a commercial recreational facility for kids where children apparently “hop from fun to learning!” Gov. Perdue just appointed Kellett to the Jekyll Island State Park Authority. Kellett’s wife, Jennifer, also donated $2,300.

Julian LeCraw, $2,300 — LeCraw is the founder of developer Julian LeCraw & Co. LeCraw & Co. owns several prominent intown developments, including M Street (at Marietta and Northside) and the Buckhead Grand high-rise. His wife Joanne LeCraw also gave $2,300.

Hartley “Buddy” Blaha, $2,100 — Blaha is Newell Rubbermaid’s president of corporate development. The company is building its new corporate headquarters near Perimeter Center. Rumor has it that the building will be the only air-tight, completely see-through office building in Atlanta.

Jeffrey Fuqua, $2,100 –Fuqua is president of the Sembler Company, whose Edgewood Retail development is where I’m having lunch today!

Sunny Park, $1,000 — I have no idea who Sunny Park is. I just think it’s a delightful name.

Over the next few days, I’ll peruse the other donor lists as well.

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As we wrote a couple of days ago, ‘08 presidential contender Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, already has organization in Georgia.

Today he formally announced his candidacy, and Ric Mayfield, who runs Georgians for Romney, watched the speech on Romney’s website.

“I thought he did a pretty good job,” Mayfield says.

The Georgia Republican committed to Romney based on what he described as the governor’s record of business prowess. Romney is the former CEO of Bain and Company, a management consulting firm. He is also the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm, and he was CEO and organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

(more…)

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It’s early. Way early. We know that.

But so far Georgia’s two most easily accessible and best 2008 presidential-campaign websites are dedicated to two northerners: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., georgiaforobama.org, and Republican Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, www.georgiansforromney.blogspot.com.

These are local sites run by Georgia activists designed to amp up support for their respective champs. It’s interesting to see Obama and Romney partisans making such an obvious bid to compete down here two years before the general election. This is a state, after all, where two other men have staked an early claim: Republican Newt Gingrich and Democrat John Edwards.

(more…)

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