Fire Saxby Chambliss

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Well, this is interesting.  Reader Chris just forwarded an email from Bob Barr (apparently mine didn’t get delivered).  Bob Barr is encouraging his supporters to vote for Saxby in the runoff election tomorrow.

Quoting the email from Barr:

In Tuesday December 2nd’s runoff election we have a choice between incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin.

I urge you to vote for Saxby Chambliss.

Sen. Chambliss is closer to the Libertarian position on a number of key issues including: shrinking the size of government, less government spending, abolishing the IRS, replacing the income tax with a consumption tax and ending the government bailouts.

And there is one other major consideration: the Legislative branch of our government should not be a rubber stamp for the Executive branch.

There should be a check and balance between the two. The Democrats are close to obtaining a majority of 60 members of the Senate which means the opposition party, the Republicans in this case, will have very few opportunities to have meaningful input on legislative actions.

To me, one party rule in both the Legislative and Executive branches is a prescription for bad public policy decisions.

Please join me in voting for Saxby Chambliss in the US Senate runoff election.

Well, tomorrow brings Sarah Palin to Georgia.  That should be interesting.

I’ll be at home though.  I went to see McCain when he was in town, and though he did say a few things that sounded nice, it appeared to me that it was more of the same old stuff from the liberal Republican Party we’ve come to know.

So I’ll be at home, trying to figure out what to do on Tuesday.  The options just aren’t good, folks.  Our options, as I see them:

• Vote for the liberal who claims to be a conservative.
• Vote for the liberal who can’t wait to sign up for all Obama has planned for us.
• Stay at home and don’t vote.

I’m leaning away from not voting, but I’m still really very torn with the other two options.  On one hand, Jim Martin scares me.  His problem with the bailout rescue was that it didn’t do enough!  Yikes!  And on the other hand, Saxby Chambliss is a big government RINO who has proved he’s got the best interests of the special interest groups at heart.

So while I don’t want to vote for the open liberal, I don’t want to vote for the guy who is lying about not being a liberal.  Certainly I can’t be in this position alone.

Am I?

Fresh from the Buckley camp:

LIBERTARIAN PARTY’S  U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE BUCKLEY ISSUES ENDORSEMENT COMMITMENT LIST TO CHAMBLISS AND MARTIN

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, November 14, 2008 Allen Buckley, the Libertarian Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in the 2008 Georgia U.S. Senate race, has issued a commitment statement to both the Chambliss and Martin campaigns. If one of the two men but not both sign the statement, Buckley will endorse the one who signs. If both men sign or neither man signs, Buckley will reanalyze the situation.The statement emphasizes financial responsibility. The statement is attached, along with related materials.

On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, the Buckley Campaign provided a draft of the commitment statement to both the Chambliss campaign and the Martin campaign, along with an invitation for comment. Although communications have existed, no comments have been received.

Buckley said: “With one exception relating to ballot access, all of the items in the commitment list were covered by my campaign. I believe that all of the items are reasonable. I’ll wait until the end of the day on Tuesday, November 18th, for replies. I will not tell one side whether the other has or has not signed.”

Mr. Buckley can be reached for comment at (404) 962-1042.

Commitment PDF is here.

I got an email from the Saxby guy in Paulding County that I met over the weekend.  The Republicans are bringing in the big guns on Thursday.  Scheduled to be in attendance with Senator Chambliss:

• Johnny Isakson
• Sonny Perdue
• Case Cagle
• Karen Handel
• John Oxendine
• Kathy Cox
• Paul Broun
• Nathan Deal
• Phil Gingrey
• John Linder
• Jack Kingston
• Tom Price
• Lynn Westmoreland

I’m planning on being in attendance.  I’d like to hear what they have to say.  Plus, I’d like the opportunity to shake Phil Gingrey’s hand and thank him for voting against that wretched bailout rescue bill.

The hour-long event is at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center this Thursday from 4:30-5:30.

This morning at the Paulding Republicans meeting I attended, Micah Gravley (Chairman for Saxby in Paulding County) challenged those in attendance who voted for Allen Buckley to vote for Saxby in the runoff.  He said he understands that voters are frustrated with Saxby.  He insists that Chambliss has gotten the message sent by voters on November 4, and is confident that Saxby will be more fiscally conservative moving forward.

After the meeting, I introduced myself to Micah and spoke with him as I was heading out.  I told him that if Saxby is recognizing he needs to be fiscally conservative, I want to hear it from him.  I told him that when Allen Buckley finishes his pledge to fiscal conservatism, that I’d like to see Saxby sign it.

Micah told me that there are some new commercials coming that will focus on Saxby’s intended commitment to fiscal conservatism.  He also said something about Saxby going door-to-door…?  I’m not totally sure about what he meant - if Saxby would actually be knocking on my door or if some of his supporters would.  He did tell me to come to rallies and try to get Saxby to answer my questions.

Honestly, I’m not ready to vote for him.  I need to hear a pretty convincing repentance for the past 6 years and a clear plan for the future before I’m willing to consider casting my vote in his direction.

This week should be interesting though.  The Republicans are bringing in the big names to campaign for Saxby, Buckley should have his fiscal conservatism pledge finished, and the mud-slinging TV commercials will bombarding our living rooms 24/7.

Allen Buckley is in a win/win situation.  No, he won’t be our next Senator, but he’s in a unique position as we enter this (probable) runoff election.

Buckley is preparing a commitment of reasonable fiscal responsibility.  The candidate that agrees to it gets Buckley’s support and (most likely) a hefty percentage of the votes that were cast for Buckley on Election Day.

Neither Chambliss or Martin have a reputation for being fiscally responsible, and I suspect that neither will rush to agree to Buckley’s terms.  We’ll have an alleged “for the people” Republican dodging an commitment to fiscal responsibility - while the nation watches.

With the Senate runoff race being a critical race for both parties, this is going to be a perfect opportunity to address some serious issues while we have everybody’s attention.  It’s a win/win situation, and we voters need to make sure we capitalize on it.

I saw this post from Brett Bittner that gave a really good, concise list of some of Saxby’s recent votes in the Senate.  Much thanks to Brett for letting me post it verbatim here.

1. Voted FOR the bailout.
2. Voted FOR the farm bill.
3. Was among the Gang of 10 energy boondoggle, raising taxes after taking the “no tax pledge”.
4. Voted FOR the FISA bill.
5. Voted FOR subsidies for “clean” energy.
6. Not present to vote to honor fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan (but was able to vote on other bills the same day).
7. Voted TO allow telecoms to keep immunity for spying.
8. Only Senator NOT TO VOTE on habeas corpus for those held at Guantanamo Bay.
9. Voted FOR mixed-gender only marriage.
10. Voted TO re-authorize the Patriot Act.

Yes, some of these issues are preference. You may agree with the way Saxby voted on some of these, but some of these non-preference points are pretty big deals.  Support for the bailout rescue bill is enough for me, but these other 9 points are worth considering if you need a little more convincing that Saxby is bad news for Georgia.