Good Eats is Creative Loafing's definitive guide to Atlanta Restaurants and Hot Spots
Get event updates and foodie news delivered to your inbox
Beer'lympics! See pictures from this year's event
Find the lowest gas prices in the Atlanta area
A mixed martial arts podcast
Your spot for nightlife, event and concert photos
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn held a conference call yesterday with reporters and spoke about Barack Obama’s selection of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, the Democrats’ chances of winning Georgia, and his own role in a possible Obama administration.
If you want to hear the discussion in its entirety, check it out below.
There are three words, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn said, that describe Joe Biden, his former colleague and the man Barack Obama tapped as his vice presidential running mate.
Experience, integrity and sound judgment. More like four words, but you get the idea.
In a conference call with reporters today, Nunn framed the Delaware senator as a family man who rarely — if ever — spent a night in Washington, opting to take the hour-and-a-half train ride to Delaware every day to be with his wife and sons. He called Biden a leader in public safety issues – “I don’t know who’s been a better friend to policeman and firefighters than Joe,” Nunn said – as well as a champion for women’s rights, veterans, and a crusader in the fight against global warming.
“I think Sen. Obama made an excellent decision,” Nunn said. “The most important thing in selecting a vice presidential candidate is “would he make a good president of the United States?’ The answer is yes.”
When asked if he thought Biden’s reputation as a liberal statesman didn’t balance the ticket, Nunn disagreed with the notion and said that it ultimately doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t know how you make a record on liberal and conservative these days,” Nunn said. “We’ve had a conservative Republican Congress, so to speak, and a conservative president, and we’ve run up one of the most astounding deficits in the history of our nation. What does conservative mean in terms of fiscal? What does conservative mean in terms of energy? Is it conservative now to believe that the market is going to solve all the energy problems, or are we going to have government step up to the plate?”
The repeated claims that a McCain administration would be a repeat of the Bush administration is fair game, Nunn said, adding that the past decisions of Obama’s opponent give a glimpse of what could happen in the future.
“Clearly Sen. McCain has agreed with Pres. Bush on most foreign policy items, including the Iraq War,” he said. “Clearly he’s agreed with Pres. Bush on most economic matters.”
Nunn veered into an analysis of the nation’s financial woes as well, tying the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the United State’s precarious economic state.
“Basically, we’re borrowing money from China to pay for our conflicts in the Middle East,” he said. “The Chinese investments in American dollar keeps our dollar from falling off the table. If they were to make a massive shift now in purchasing American debt, we would have a very abrupt fall of the American dollar and a very serious inflation in the county and devastation of the American financial situation. I don’t think it’s negative campaigning to [highlight those decisions]. I think that’s fair play… I consider it dealing with the facts and dealing with the future.”
Nunn says he hasn’t spoken with the Obama camp about playing a role in the potential administration. He said a return to public service would hinge on what his family wants, who his colleagues would be, and what role he would be expected to play. In the meantime, he’s busy – but he’s supportive.
“I’ve got my hands full. I’m on corporate boards, I’m basically running a foundation,” Nunn said. “The role I will play will be primarily on the sidelines… if I’m asked to give advice on security or foreign policy or other matters, I will do so. But I’m not going to be a surrogate. I’m not going to be out on the campaign trail unless Sen. Obama is in Georgia or it’s something I can do with my schedule.”
On what the Democrats have to do this fall to be competitive, Nunn said, “Young people have to be much more involved. They have to vote. A lot of times young people get registered but then forget about the fact they have to vote.”
He said that he expects young people and minorities to support Obama, but that alone will not turn the tide in Georgia.
“The young people vote and the minority vote will not carry the state,” Nunn said. He stressed that Obama will have to appeal to blue-collar workers and the middle class if he plans to win the notoriously Republican stronghold.
“Georgia’s an uphill fight,” he said. “But it’s in play.”
VICE GRIP: Obama says he’s picked his vice presidential candidate, but instead of finding out who it is, we get a podium. The NYT lists the most-discussed candidates of both parties here; the AP reports that Sam Nunn seems to have dropped out of the running.
HOUSEKEEPING: McCain and his countless homes can’t get out of the news as the Obama campaign capitalizes.
FAY: After overstaying her welcome in Florida, Tropical Storm Fay moseys into South Georgia today, bringing several inches of rain, which could help some drought-stricken crops. Many of this year’s record sea-turtle nests on the Georgia coast have been destroyed by storm surges, though. Metro Atlanta will get high winds but not much rain.
PANHANDLING: Undercover cops have made 40 arrests and 50 “interventions” in aggressive panhandling in the last 20 days.
POP GOES THE MEASLES: Outbreaks of the infectious disease are at a 12-year high, and many health professionals are blaming parents’ fears of MMR vaccines leading to autism.
RED, BLACK AND GREEN: Preseason No. 1 UGA could also be the top revenue-generating college football team this season, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
FREE LUNCH: A masked robber steals a Macon man’s lunchbox at gunpoint.
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn is said to be one of the leading candidates to be named as Barrack Obama’s running mate. But he’s also going to be one of the celebrity barkeeps for a Sept. 7 benefit for the March of Dimes at my fav Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, Nuevo Laredo Cantina.
That’s after the Democratic convention, which leads inquiring minds (like colleague Andisheh Nouraee, who’s off for a few weeks to finish a book but passed this tidbit along anyway) to ask:
Reading the tea leaves, is this a sign that he’s not going to be the vice-presidential nominee? After all, he likely wouldn’t be able to take time away from a presidential campaign to be a celebrity bartender at Nuevo Laredo.
Or could this be a head fake to make us think he’s not going to be the Democratic vice-presidential candidate?
Of course, there’s always the possibility he booked the gig in April.
— Matt Towery at Insider Advantage reports that Gov. Sonny “Go Fish” Perdue is one of the top four on John McCain’s list of potential running mates. That means two Georgians are top vice-presidential candidates – Perdue for McCain and Sam Nunn for Barack Obama. Towery says Perdue’s rise is because of McCain’s shaky hold on the South, and the fact that Georgia appears up for grabs. The latest Insider Advantage poll shows McCain with 44 percent and Obama with 43 percent.
— Meanwhile Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider reports that another Insider Advantage poll shows that Jim Martin has leapt into the front in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Martin leads with 31 percent, Vernon Jones is second with 20 percent and Dale Cardwell is third with 11 percent. Still, 33 percent of those polled remain undecided.
— But that doesn’t stop Flackattack over at Tondee’s Tavern from making his own predictions in the race. He thinks Jones will come in first, with Cardwell squeezing into the runoff.
— Over at Peach Pundit, there’s another shining example of why Clayton County’s government is more entertaining than the Keystone Cops … if you don’t live there. In this episode, District Attorney Jewell Scott can’t indict a juvenile suspect in a murder case because she was unaware of a state law that mandates juvenile murder cases must be taken before a grand jury within 180 days of their arrest.
— There appears to be a spate of restaurants up for sale in Decatur, including the Chocolate Bar. However, according to inDecatur, most of them are being offered anonymously.
Sam Nunn’s name is certainly out there as a potential running mate for Barack Obama. On the other hand, his name has been bandied about by almost every Democratic nominee since Dukakis. And, typically, Nunn has either withdrawn from consideration altogether, or put a chill on the vice-presidential talk.
This time around, however, there are indications he wants to be on the Obama ticket.
One of Nunn’s biggest perceived drawbacks is that he championed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in 1993, as chronicled in last week’s cover story, “Pride and Patriotism.” He recently suggested the law should be reviewed.
Yesterday, the AJC’s Jim Galloway reports, Nunn went even further. He told a group in Aspen that open service for gays and lesbians is inevitable; it’s just a matter of when. View it here.
For the guy who pushed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into place, that’s a major shift in position.
Political commentators are divided over whether former U.S. Senator from Georgia Sam Nunn would make a good running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
“Some might doubt whether Obama is ready for that 3 a.m. phone call, but Nunn – who is already an Obama policy adviser – certainly would be, especially in an era when that phone call is ever more likely to involve a loose nuke.”
– Michael Crowley, June 25, The New Republic. Nunn is CEO of the anti-proliferation non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative.
“[Nunn] was not above channeling base, “yuck factor”-based objections to homosexuality in service of his retrograde policy views. Even today, he only says he’d “reconsider” Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and insists he was right in 1993.”
– An excerpt from “Having Nunn of It,” an online petition against selecting Nunn as Obama’s running mate.
“Putting a 70-year old, white, southern, corporate dude on the ticket would almost entirely wipe away any notion that Obama is a “change” candidate.”
– Chris Bowers, June 16, on the blog OpenLeft
“Few things are certain in presidential politics, but here are three: it will be expensive; it will get negative; and, at some point, former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia will be mentioned as a possible Democratic running mate.”
– Mark Leibovich, June 22, New York Times
The Washington Post has an op-ed today advocating against the selection of former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn as Barack Obama’s choice for Veep.
For awhile, I’d wondered if there really was a groundswell of support outside Georgia for Nunn. Despite being a well-regarded Senate Armed Services Committee chairman who has stayed involved in world affairs through his work with Ted Turner’s Nuclear Threat Initiative, Nunn’s been out of the political limelight for a long time. The Post piece, however, seems to confirm that the former senator is widely considered to be on Obama’s short list.
Anyway, so why the hatin’ on Nunn? The Post reminds us that he was one of the chief architects of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has led to many gays and lesbians being thrown out of military service. In fact, the piece suggests, it was mainly because of Nunn’s opposition to President Clinton’s initial proposal to allow gays to serve that led to the much-maligned compromise
Critics noted that Nunn held more hearings about and spent more time on gays in the military than he had on the defense budget or even the Navy’s Tailhook sexual harassment scandal.
The piece also notes that Nunn recently said he believes “don’t ask, don’t tell” should be “revisited,” but says that likely won’t be good enough to win support for Nunn in the gay community. If Obama picks Nunn as his running mate, the op-ed argues, he risks alienating a good chunk of the Democratic base.
That’s possible, but the piece also notes that Obama has already indicated he plans, if elected, to get rid of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” John McCain, on the other hand, has said he’d keep it.
