This week, we’re doing a countdown to last week’s most widely read post. So … let’s start with No. 5, shall we? Fun!
5. Zell Miller: Obama should be restrained with ‘Gorilla Glue’ (Hey Zell, I think there’s a booth with your name on it at a certain bar referenced in post No. 1.)
From the AJC:
Obama, “our globe-trotting president,” Miller said, “needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting all around. I think (chief of staff) Rahm Emanuel ought to get some Gorilla Glue and put it in that chair in the Oval Office and say ‘Sit here awhile.’”
Ugh.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein was unanimously elected today to become the new Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. She succeeds Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is retiring and entering private practice.
Prior to her appointment in 1992 by then-Gov. Zell Miller, Hunstein served as a DeKalb County Superior Court judge and a private-practice attorney. She was the second woman to serve on the Georgia Supreme Court and the first to serve as president of the Council of Superior Court Judges.
Hunstein, a Florida native, served on a variety of commissions, including the Georgia Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System and the state’s commission on child support guidelines. She’s also served on the advisory board of several organizations, including the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and the Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness.
Justice George Carley, a former state lawmaker state Court of Appeals Chief Judge, was elected Presiding Justice. Former Gov. Zell Miller will swear in both to their new positions on July 1.
Interesting tidbit about Hunstein: This will be her second stint as Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice. Kind of.
Wayne Garcia at our sister rag in Tampa has an interesting post about PolitiFact, an online fact-checking project by the St. Petersburg Times that earlier today was bestowed with a Pulitzer Prize. Turns out Zell Miller, the former Georgia governor and senator who once told Chris Matthews he wouldn’t mind engaging the pundit in a friendly gentleman’s contest, inspired the keep-’em-honest news hub.
Garcia spoke with Bill Adair, the Times‘ D.C. bureau chief who launched the site in 2007, about Politifact. And Miller, of course.
“It was at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, and it was the speech by Sen. Zell Miller making claims about John Kerry,” recalled Bill Adair, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the Times who came up with the idea for PolitiFact. “I was thinking, that’s not true. [But] I didn’t do anthing about it.”
Zell Miller at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.
Adair had other stories to write that night, not covering a minor speaker at a speaker-laden national convention, and documenting lies in politics must have seemed like trying to count water molecules in the Atlantic Ocean for reporters seeking a traditional news story on deadline. But the problem of letting politicians get away with lying stuck with Adair.
“A lot of things that Zell Miller said went unchecked,” Adair said late Monday afternoon from the Times‘ newsroom, where a celebration was winding down. In spring 2007, Adair and Times editors were planning coverage of the 2008 elections, and he suggested they do a website that looked at truth in politics. “It was based on my own and others’ sort of shortcomings, that we didn’t do a lot of fact checking in the past and we let a lot of candidates get away with misstatments,” Adair said. “This is penitence for those shortcomings.”
Check out the rest of Garcia’s post on PolitiFact’s roots and mission.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
After the AP’s recent revelation that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was on the short list for a cabinet post she didn’t get, the Politico adds insult to injury by pointing out that Pres.-elect Obama hasn’t chosen any Southerners for prominent administration appointments. Unless, that is, you count the most thankless of White House gigs.
To be fair, the official voice of the White House will come with a Southern drawl: Robert Gibbs, Obama’s soon-to-be press secretary, is an Alabama native.
Why have no Southerners been selected? UGA’s Charles Bullock hazards a guess:
“Who comes to mind immediately?” asked Bullock. “No one, really.”
“The leading politicians in the South at least for the last generation have been active as Republicans,” Bullock added. “You just don’t have Democrats that come to mind as the go-to person or the expert. It highlights the thinness of the Democratic bench in the South… The skill set is so depleted.”
Sad, yet true. Who are his choices: former U.S. Rep. Ben “Cooter” Jones? Zell Miller?
It’s finally on Youtube, but hurry quick before it gets pulled. On last weekend’s Saturday Night Live, Zell Miller — the former Georgia governor and U.S. Senator who’s all about the gunplay — was played by Will Forte.
In the clip, Miller gave the real reason he endorsed incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss in his U.S. Senate race against Democratic candidate Jim Martin — names.
Elect Goolsby Scroggins!
If political fever has you in its grip, you can take the edge off tonight at an appearance by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. At 7 p.m., the second-tier (third-tier?) Democratic candidate will barnstorm the, um, auditorium at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. What, you were expecting maybe the Georgia Dome? The event is $25 and goes to 8:30. You can find more info here.
Next: She’s not running for anything, but first daughter and “author” Jenna Bush will appear at the Alpharetta Barnes & Noble on Tuesday, Oct. 9, to sign copies of “her” new book, Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope, supposedly based on her UNICEF experiences working with poor women in Third World countries. The signing starts at 7 p.m. at 7660 Northpoint Parkway.
However, if you go to to meet Jenna, that means you’ll miss “An Evening with Zell Miller,” a fundraising event for the Georgia Right to Life at the Norcross Hilton, 5993 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. (Ever notice how these things are always out in the ‘burbs?) The $50 ticket price is almost worth the chance to hear our former governor say something truly nutty.
Speaking of nutty pronouncements, later this month you can rub elbows with unashamedly partisan Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who’ll be in Atlanta Oct. 18 for an event hosted by, you guessed it, two right-wing groups, the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. He’ll appear at the Buckhead Westin, 3391 Peachtree Road. Tickets are $30. Register here if you dare.
