Fresh Loaf

How kooky is today’s GOP? It’s off the deep end — and swimming for open sea.

What other conclusion are we to draw from U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal’s decision last week to solidify his Republican bona fides by casting his lot with the birthers?

Deal has long been the most level-headed of Georgia’s GOP congressmen. But these days, rational behavior and reasonable positions don’t win Republican primaries — just ask Dierdre Scozzafava of New York’s House District 23. If you want to compete with the likes of John Oxendine — Deal’s opponent for governor — you best be prepared to board the crazy train.

As the Tea Parties prove, this is a national phenomenon, but it’s doubly disturbing in a red state like Georgia, where most of the top elected officials are Republicans who now feel pressure to act like loons. (And then there’s Rep. Paul Broun, who really is a loon.)

In other words the GOP’s “big tent” is being reduced to a padded cell.

Lest you think this is more liberal whining, the purpose of this post is to draw your attention to an interesting blog item on the increasingly conservative Peach Pundit:

The real news here is that Deal has done what no other candidate in this race has been able to do thus far: He has taken a position so “out there” that Ox has been able to take a stance that makes him seem sensible and sane.

However, the comments suggest that not everyone on the right sees sanity the same way.

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Over the weekend, Congressman Nathan Deal, R-Gainesville, became the second major GOP candidate for governor to be dinged by an AJC investigative piece.

The first, of course, was John Oxendine, when the paper revealed back in May that our state insurance commissioner had accepted $120,000 in arguably illegal campaign contributions from dummy PACs controlled by an insurance company CEO whom Oxendine had repeatedly appointed to an influential industry board.

That didn’t look too good for Oxendine, a politician who’s long been dogged by whispered allegations of influence-peddling.

Deal, on the other hand, is a former judge who’s enjoyed a pretty clean reputation. But his free ride may have ended Sunday. Here’s the lead from the AJC piece:

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, personally intervened with Georgia leaders to preserve an obscure state program that earns his company nearly $300,000 a year.

The article goes on to describe how Deal seemed to be using his office and that of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — his fellow Gainesvillian — to intimidate state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham from altering a program through which Deal’s auto-salvage business had enjoyed two decades’ worth of no-bid state patronage.

(more…)

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Peach Pundit’s Pete Randall is very angry about the swastika spray-painted on the sign outside Rep. David Scott’s office overnight.

Only there’s a neat twist.

Guess who Randall’s angry at?

He’s angry at the victim, David Scott.

Randall:

Before we all buy into the assumptions of simpletons like Rep. Scott, who never met any sympathy he didn’t take advantage of, let’s consider for a moment that maybe, just maybe, a supporter of Scott committed this vandalism under cover of night in order to create a scenario where the scary and non-existent “racists” could be blamed.

He’s sick and tired of people being sick and tired of racism and, gosh darnit, he’s not gonna take it anymore!

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Sad news for people who like to publicly insult others.

Conservative political blog Peach Pundit says he’s changing Peach Pundit’s comments infrastructure to reduce the number of personal attacks.

Bossman Erick Erickson:

For the past few months things in our comment threads have really gotten out of hand [. . .] They have descending into ad hominem chaos.

You know its bad when “goat fucking child molester” guy thinks a website is too ad hominemy.

Don’t despair.

If you’re hell-bent on calling your fellow citizens Nazis, Communists, racists, reverse racists, child molesters or you’re simply irate about President Obama’s plan to euthanize the elderly and Sarah Palin’s babies, you’re in luck:

Rep. Hank Johnson is hosting a town hall meeting tonight to discuss federal healthcare policy.

Correction: The first version of this post incorrectly stated the comments were shut down.

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Georgia’s top conservative political blog gets funnier with each passing day. Perhaps not intentionally.

Peach Pundit chief Erick Erickson revoked contributor Andre Walker’s front-page posting privileges Saturday. Erickson says Walker violated one of Peach Pundit’s most important rules:

Says Erickson:

[W]e have never tolerated and won’t tolerate the use of expletives like the F word in front page posts. We may say the word, but we try here to keep the posts family friendly. I’d redacted the word from Andre’s post and apologize to those of you who encountered it in your reading.

What did Walker say that so offended Erickson?

Walker wrote a post Saturday quoting Erickson’s notorious April 30 outburst – the one where Erickson called retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter “a goat fucking child molester.”

Peach Pundit chief Erick Erickson

In other words, Erick banned himself.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This is a tip and challenge to every local Republican and/or self-described conservative with a platform from which to pontificate.

For months many of you have said you oppose the Obama/Democrat expansion of government power in part because you think growing government diminishes personal freedom.

If you want me to believe your interest in personal freedom is sincere, you’ll loudly declare your alliance with Henry Louis Gates, as well as declaring your outrage at his arrest.

You’ll also shun the Drudge-y temptation to turn the cop who arrested Gates into another fake conservative folk hero a la  Joe The Plumber.

If you think it’s okay for a cop to arrest someone for being angry or irritable (justifiably, or otherwise), you are not a conservative, you have no interest in curbing government power, and you don’t give a damn about personal freedom.

If principle doesn’t compel you, do it for your own self-interest. If you want black, brown and beige voters to ever consider voting for you, shun the white, bullying government employee and embrace the innocent black victim. Just once.

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Erick Erickson, editor of Peach Pundit and RedState, has gotten all Lawnmower Man up in this and rappelled into the darkest depths of the Internet to do some good-ole fashioned sleuthing.

Erick Erickson

For several days, Erickson’s had a sneaking suspicion that someone close to state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has been vandalizing Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s Wikipedia entry. Handel and Oxendine are considered front runners in the race that’s still more than a year away.

A few readers — some of whom it’s safe to assume are supporters of Das Ox — questioned Erickson’s motives. (It’s worth noting that he’s a fan of Handel.) But now he’s uncovered some more evidence.

So while I realize the Oxendine supporters will use this as a forum to go after me again for daring to speculate based on the circumstantial evidence at the time, as the Oxendine campaign seems intent on doing, the Oxendine campaign is not out of the woods by a long shot.

I now have the IP address from which RomneyGingrich12 made the changes to Karen Handel’s biography.

That IP address is a State of Georgia IP address that, I understand, connects from the Sloppy Floyd building. Unfortunately, it is also my understanding that it is pretty difficult to tell from there which computer, in fact, uses that particular IP address or it may rotate.

Read a list of more clues over at Peach Pundit.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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On Tuesday, Red State/Peach Punditeer Erick Erickson complained the hubbub surrounding Gov. Mark Sanford’s disappearance was a trumped-up phony hit-job non-issue:

First, we need to be clear on the facts — not the media speculation:

• Sanford did tell his staff and family where he was going.
• Because he was traveling without a security detail, it was in his best interests that no one knew he was gone.
• His political enemies — Republicans at that — ginned up the media story.
• When confronted by a pestering media, things went downhill.
• Again though, at all times there was no doubt that Sanford’s staff and family knew where he was.

Now, here is all you need to know about this whole entire story — the reaction from the erstwhile Republicans angry at Sanford for not being a fiscal squish and from the media all go back to their core belief that without Sanford manning the barricades of government at all times, the government will collapse and people will starve, die, and forget how to read and write.

That’s it.

Maybe not quite it.

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Erick Erickson at Peach Pundit (who, on Friday, celebrates his fifth consecutive week of not calling anyone a goat-fucking child molester) has called-out Rep. John Lewis for a bizarre quotation appearing in an AJC story about the U.S. Department of Justice’s rejection of a Georgia voter law.

Lewis describes the rejected election law as:

“an attempt to take us back to another dark period in our history when people were denied access to the ballot box simply because of their race or nationality.”

A slight problem, Rep. Lewis.

We’re supposed to discriminate by nationality at the ballot box.

We don’t vote in foreign elections and foreigners don’t vote in ours. The problem with the state law isn’t that Lithuanians should be allowed to vote in Georgia. The problem, according to the DOJ, is that Georgia’s citizenship filter is inaccurate and unreliable.

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Rev. Brenda Lee of Macon’s Informer newspaper was forcibly removed from the press area adjacent to Air Force One in Los Angeles today.

NBC Los Angeles says the incident took place after Lee said she wanted to hand President Obama a note about same-sex marriage.

Thank you Jeff Emanuel at Peach Pundit for finding the story, and also for directing me to the Informer’s web site where, among other similarly alluring anecdotes, Rev. Lee claims she is “one of the first women to have my feet washed on Maundy Thursday in Rome by Father Paul Maloney.” Okie-doke then.

And just so there’s no confusion, the Brenda “dragged away by Secret Service” Lee is NOT the same person as Brenda “born in Atlanta and moved away to become of the most popular singers of the 1960s” Lee.

Here’s that Brenda Lee:

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ERICK ERICKSON: The conservative pundit for people who think Ann Coulter is too demure. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

On Friday, Peach Pundit Poobah and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson twice called retiring U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter a “goat fucking child molester.”

Believe it or not, it wasn’t even the most insane thing Erickson has written in the past three days.

If I’m going to keep demanding Time retract its absurd claim that Shirley Franklin is one the best big-city mayors in America, its only fair I retract my 2007 claim that Erick Erickson is a bright light in the local blogosphere.

My bad.

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From Peach Pundit’s post about the 20th Annual Golden Sleaze Awards:

Note to lawmakers: It is a crime in 143 Georgia counties to portray a Golden Sleaze Award as a sign of accomplishment. Govern yourselves accordingly.

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In Washington State, there are good Cascades, and bad Cascades.

Peach Pundit/Red State maestro Erick Erickson is angry because Washington State just banned dish detergents containing phosphates.

“Angry” doesn’t quite capture it.

At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?

At what point? Probably not this point.

(Hat-tip to Andrew Sullivan)

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Jason at Peach Pundit hammers House Bill 614, legislation that he says would violate your privacy.

Maria Saporta says the state needs to stop plotting takeovers of MARTA and Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport.

Ben at Terminal Station has a rundown of Saporta’s report on an Urban Land Institute mayoral candidate forum.

Doug at Live Apartment Fire spotlights veteran reporter Don McClellan. The still-at-it newsman reported on — and ran in — this weekend’s ING Marathon.

Speaking of the ING Marathon, Dave at inDecatur has video and photos from the race.

Good news for Georgia’s reputation and any hope of having a biotech industry here. Jim Galloway reports that a House committee chairman says the controversial stem-cell bill won’t move out of the lower chamber.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Urvaksh Karkaria reports on a top-secret meeting of tomorrow’s media overlords at Kennesaw State University professor Leonard Witt’s home. There are photos!

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post this. Christa, the mysterious scribe behind Pecanne Log, found a 1967 issue of GQ that’s all about Atlanta. She has photos and pullquotes.

And just because, a helping of Griftdrift’s My Morning Wooten from Friday.

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Jim Galloway, proving yet again that he knows the true secrets of Georgia politics, reveals the identities of the mysterious “8 to 10 industry and government officials” who handpicked a Gold Dome transportation bill’s laundry list of people-moving projects. Damn road elves.

Decatur Metro reports on community gardens in his hamlet and annexation concerns. Also, is Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd thinking about a run for governor?

If you’re a card-carrying Young Republican, Shep at Peach Pundit recommends you not vote for Rachel Hoff to lead your organization. Also, Erick the Editor is jousting via email with one of his fellow Macon City Councilmembers.

Griftdrift gives us the rundown on the most recent episode of GPB’s “Lawmakers.” He reports that Sen. John Wiles, R-Marietta, wants to crack down on novelty ID suppliers who alter the completely innocent and never-used-for-illicit-purposes cards. (Those guys can alter the ID? I had to use nail polish remover.)

Veteran journalist Jim Walls, a 28-year veteran of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — and the editor behind some of the paper’s finest investigative work — rolls out his new investigative journalism website. Today he’s got more details about a sealed court case involving unfortunately named Gwinnett County businessman Richard Tucker. There’s also some questions about campaign contributions to state Rep. Pam Stephenson, D-Decatur.

There’s much more on the Internetz, buckos. If you came across something local that’s worth scoping out, post it below in the comments.

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Christa at Pecanne Log says I say someone else says Bill Murray is loose in Atlanta. One night he’s at Loca Luna buying drinks for strangers. Another night he’s watching the Hawks play the Cleveland Cavaliers. Supposedly, he’s filming this flick. I’m still waiting for him to get a pedicure with me.

Buzz Brockway at Peach Pundit says the site’s bloggers won’t retaliate against state lawmakers who voted for Senate Bill 31, a controversial piece of legislation they adamantly opposed. The complex bill would allow Georgia Power to recover financing costs in advance for two proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. The Punditeers got into a tiff with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think tank, about the issue. No hard feelings, the bloggers say, but they’d still like a clear explanation of the foundation’s stance on the issue. (Just one more: Jason Shepard at the site finds Georgia’s facebook page shows an unexpected “friend.”

Remember #atlgas? Grift links to a Nightline report in which the Twitter hashtag that saved Atlanta’s ass is mentioned.

Decatur’s wi-fi cloud is “complete,” Decatur Metro reports.

Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider sneaks a peek at preliminary numbers which show Georgia’s rush of newcomers — aka the growth industry, the state’s bread and butter — might be slowing. He writes a powerful post about the subject.

Want solid political commentary recorded here in Atlanta? The new Kudzu Vine podcast is posted and available for download.

Doug at Live Apartment Fire points us to a recent piece by Tom Jones, the WSB-TV reporter who won’t work for nobody but you. Jones covered the search for a man who’s allegedly been flashing children in the Grant Park area. The suspect’s ripped a page from afterschool specials and is offering candy to the tykes.

Travis Fain wants the old Speaker Glenn Richardson back. I second that.

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Opponents of a controversial piece of legislation have a powerful voice on their side.

Erick Erickson, editor of Peach Pundit, sent a message to readers today asking them to tell their lawmakers to vote “no” on Senate Bill 31. That bill, which sailed through the state Senate last week, would allow Georgia Power to charge customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. He explains the decision here.

That position is sure to catch the attention of many state lawmakers — particularly House members who are now mulling over the legislation.

You can rest assured they won’t miss the post. Seated in the House’s press box, a journalist gets a clear view of lawmakers’ laptops. Throughout the day, you’re bound to see Peach Pundit on several screens.

Erickson’s letter is posted after the jump.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

(more…)

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I wondered for a moment if Peach Pundit’s Erick Erickson was orchestrating a prank when I just now saw what he’d ranked as the top news story in Georgia for 2008:

1. Creative Loafing’s financial issues

Astonishing! But who am I to question the judgment of a guy who was recently profiled by Newsweek?

Then I read further and realized Erickson was basing his call on the volume of page views that various topics had received on his site throughout the year. Which either means that CL is dear to the hearts of many Georgians or that Peach Pundit readers have a warped sense of what’s interesting. I prefer to think both.

Still, I have to say — and I believe I speak for my co-workers (if not, that’s what the comment section is for) — I take this apparent interest as evidence of CL’s relevance to people who value thoughtful news coverage and in-depth analysis of complex issues.

On the other hand, the year’s Number One story for PP readers was “Bigfoot found in Georgia.” So perhaps I shouldn’t be so encouraged …

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There’s a rumor going around (mostly peddled by Peach Pundit’s Erick Erickson) that Rusty Paul, a former state Republican Party head, has been trying to build support for a potential bid to unseat Sue Everhart, the current GOP chairwoman.

Paul says it ain’t so.

“I have not made a single call to a single person seeking support for a run for party chair,” says Paul, who already serves on the Sandy Springs City Council and runs his own political consulting business.

But, as is often the case, the rumor may have the details wrong, but it’s on target with regard to the underlying issue. Fact is, there’s a rift in the party right now over what went wrong during the lackluster election season.

Sure, the state GOP eventually managed to hang on to the U.S. Senate and PSC seats, and didn’t lose any ground in Congress, despite facing a top-o-the-ticket threat from the Obaminator. But Georgia is still a really red state and a sitting Republican senator who hadn’t been caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy (more…)

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In September, Gov. Perdue asked state agencies to give him three prospective budget plans for their departments — reflecting a 6-percent, 8-percent and 10-percent decrease in appropriations — so that he’d be prepared to deliver a state budget early next year that best reflects the current economic conditions.

Well, according to InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys, Sonny has already dashed the hopes of optimists who had hoped Georgia could skate through the recession with minimal belt-tightening.

Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that upcoming state budget cuts may be nearer the 8 percent mark next year than the 6 percent he’s been holding back from state agencies.

(more…)

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As results came in election night, some conservatives were warning that Barack Obama’s presidency would prove a disaster for America. The morning after, talk-radio hosts and bloggers echoed those concerns.

“To me, it feels like the devastation of 9/11 again. And I feel like I just want to say to everybody, ‘Welcome to the end of America as we know it.’”

— Republican Zoe Walker, interviewed by GPB News at Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ campaign party

“Some of you people really drank the Kool-Aid. This guy is just a shyster who was born in Kenya. I’m not going to partake in this affront to my sensibilities. I refuse. Kumbaya my ass.

— Election-night comment left by “gamefan” on PeachPundit.com

“If you look at Nazi Germany, how many Jews said, ‘Oh, c’mon he won’t do that?’”

— Radio host Glenn Beck, warning listeners about Obama’s agenda

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ERICK ERICKSON: Hitching his sled to Palin's snowmobile

Peach Pundit and Red State poobah Erick Erickson has caused an e-hubbub with a post on Red State titled Operation Leper.

In it, Erickson declares war on McCain campaign staffers who criticize McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin:

We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you’ll see us go to war against those candidates.

It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.

Since Tuesday’s loss to Obama, several McCain staffers have been doing their darnedest to toss Palin under the wheels of the Straight Talk Express.

The most damning revelation (assuming its true) came yesterday, when Fox reported that Palin thought Africa was a country.

The New Republic’s Christopher Orr suggests Erickson’s militant defense of Palin will drive conservatives away from the G.O.P.:

The tent grows smaller by the day.

Andrew Sullivan, a conservative critic of Palin and her wing of the Republican Party, mocks Erickson:

Let’s have a beer soon, Erick, shall we?

I know Erick and am, frankly, surprised by the carelessness of his attack.

If you turn wayward McCain staffers into lepers, Erick, you’re only gonna make them more popular with the party’s evangelical, WWJD-types.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Bryan Terry, Sr. filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court, demanding Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel investigate claims that Sen. Barack Obama was neither born in the U.S., nor is he U.S. citizen, therefore he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as President.

“Failing to officially and publically [sic] vet the status of the citizenship claims of Mr. Obama will cast a pall of doubt on the election process and taint the election results themselves.”

-Atlanta resident Bryan T. Terry, Sr., in a memorandum to Fulton County Superior Court.

“. . . there is no basis for this court to issue an injunction or a mandamus or other relief against the Secretary of State. Plaintiffs’ claims are, there, HEREBY DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

-An October 24, 2008 order by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter in response to Terry’s claim.

“Way to waste your freaking time and my email storage space.”

-Conservative Georgia blogger Erick Erickson, in an October 27 post on Peach Pundit mocking Terry and others who are trying to get him to publicly support their claims.

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Jesus, a guy goes to City Hall for two hours and a shitstorm erupts. Well, here’s our take on what happened.

So there’s this internal memo of very questionable origin floating around that’s purported to be from a top political consulting firm. And it’s addressed to a PAC that’s allegedly pushing for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. On Monday morning, the scandalous document puttered out of our fax machine with no name attached. (You can read all about the memo — hell, even read the memo itself — here.)

In it, tales of doom are told. The most frightening of which is that post-debate poll numbers showed Libertarian Party nominee Allen Buckley eating into Chambliss’ support. Lest something is done to ruin Buckley’s standing with undecided voters, the document says, the incumbent Republican could surely face a runoff or even lose his seat to Democratic nominee Jim Martin.

Dear God, please — say it ain’t so.

(more…)

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Jason Pye of Peach Pundit reports the residency of Public Service Commissioner Doug Everett has been questioned by Libertarian Party nominee John Monds, the lone challenger in his re-election bid.

Pye writes:

The complaint alleges that Everett lives in Clarkesville and Atlanta, but not at any of the addresses provided in official filings to the State Ethics Commission.

The Atlanta residence is rented, though paid for with campaign funds since 2006. The home in Albany that Everett has used in filings is actually owned by his son, Michael C. Everett. A homestead exemption has been filed to this effect as well.

Monds writes, “It is very reasonable to ask Mr. Everett to come forward and provide evidence of his residency. I ask that you use all means within your power to expeditiously resolve any questions that exist concerning this matter.”

As Pye notes, it may be too late to file a residency challenge.

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