Anchorage Daily News editorial - Palin's Georgia Pal

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/605452.html

Gov. Sarah Palin is putting her conservative Republican fame to work in Georgia, stumping for Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is in a tough runoff for re-election.

I wonder if she knows the true measure of the man she is eagerly helping.

Chambliss was elected to the Senate in 2002 by running one of the most reprehensible campaigns of modern times. He was up against incumbent Democrat Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs and his right arm to a grenade during that conflict.

Chambliss avoided serving in Vietnam. He got four student draft deferments, and when his number finally came up, he was medically disqualified with knee troubles.

In the best Karl Rove fashion, Chambliss the draft-evader attacked Cleland the war hero for being soft on terrorism. Distorting Cleland's votes about workplace rules for the new Homeland Security Department employees, Chambliss portrayed him as a tool of terrorists like Osama bin Laden.

Here's how the Almanac of American Politics (2006) described it:

"Chambliss ran an ad, much attacked in the press, showing pictures of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Max Cleland, and saying that Cleland 'voted against the President's vital homeland security efforts 11 times.' " (Those "vital homeland security efforts" Cleland opposed were intended to strip homeland security employees of union rights and other workplace protections.)

The man who couldn't bring himself to serve in the military said a man who left three limbs behind in war was a weakling who would turn the country over to terrorists.

Chambliss was a congressman during the 9/11 attacks. Congressional Quarterly's "Politics in America 2006" noted that Congressman Chambliss "quipped that one route to security would be for local sheriffs to 'arrest every Muslim that comes across the state line.' "

So there you have the fine American that Palin is trying to re-elect to the U.S. Senate.

Gov. Palin's eldest joined the Army and has been deployed to Iraq. As a justifiably proud military mom, she might ask herself why she is using her conservative star power to support such a reprehensible Republican chicken hawk.

-- Matt Zencey

[janedum]

1. I remember that ... Max Clelland ..

Usually, hateful right-wingers will vote for a veteran.
But the rednecks in GA won't, if the candidate is a Democrat. Even if the candidate has lost three limbs!
The same thing happened to Tammy Duckworth when she ran for Congress in Illinois in 2006.
She lost both legs in a grenade attack in 2004, but the rednecks didn't give a damn.
She was a Dem, so she lost.
These right-wingers ARE A HATEFUL bunch.
Their politics is all about HATE. Nothing but PURE HATE.
I don't post much, but I'm starting to because of all the HATE I hear.
It's shocking to me that people I see everyday, are now so full of HATE since Obama won the election.

[Jane Austin]

11. I thought Tammy Duckworth lost her legs when

the helicopter she was piloting went down - not from a grenade attack.

It almost seems impossible that she didn't win that seat.

[Hekate]

15. Something hit the copter she was piloting--iirc rocket grenades.

Max Cleland was on the ground -- she was in the air -- but it seems to have been some form of grenade in both cases.

They're both fine citizen-soldiers who deserve better than the Repub chicken-hawks have given them.

Hekate

[Jane Austin]

12. Everyone I see every day is overjoyed at Obama's election.

I don't know where you live or work, but here in Texas all my friends and most of my acquaintances are happy and hopeful.

I "hate" it that there is so much "HATE" in your post. :)

[AndyTiedye]

16. The VOTING MACHINEZ in Geogia Won't Vote for a Democrat, Even if You Do!

EVERY VOTE IN GEORGIA IS COUNTED IN DIEBOLD REPUBLICAN ELECTING MACHINEZ!

[AndyTiedye]

17. The VOTING MACHINEZ in Geogia Won't Vote for a Democrat, Even if You Do!

EVERY VOTE IN GEORGIA IS COUNTED IN DIEBOLD REPUBLICAN ELECTING MACHINEZ!

[LynneSin]

2. I hope someone is running against that idiot in 2010 when she's up for re-election

You folks in Alaska deserves better. Why the hell is she campaigning in Georgia? Doesn't she have anything to do with her job? And who is paying for her to fly to Georgia? Those flights can't be cheap. And what about Trig - does she know anything about the care of a child with Down's Syndrome? Clearly she doesn't because a mom who knew something would be at home (and not necessary at home all the time, but a job where she can spend quality time at home) working with her child so that Trig can be mainstreamed when he gets older.

[janedum]

3. What goes around comes around ....

Re:
"Gov. Palin's eldest joined the Army and has been deployed to Iraq. "

Fate works in mysterious ways.

[LaPera]

4. You think she cares, Palin is an opportunist, who will say & do ANYTHING to move up the ladder, she

is a self-serving egotist, who will stop at nothing for self gain and recognition....

Palin doesn't care about the truth, as long as she can get headlines....she is not a very bright person, bordering on stupid, she is also very competitive, conniving and a cutthroat - a complete liar & phony...but that's who republicans are...lying, hateful & greedy...very cold, selfish people who will NEVER accept blame no matter how obviously at fault they are....

Money & power is what they crave & all that they live for, how deceitful they go about it never ever crosses their sick disgusting minds for a moment, nothing else matters to them, it's hard to believe these people are of the same species.

If a republican reads this they will of course never understand it, because to them what else is there but hate, greed, identification, money & power - Republicans, like Palin, truly are incapable of having feelings for others pain, they know nothing about true caring, helping just to help, compassion, doing the right thing, trying to make things better in the world and for others, they really can't feel any of this, they think it's all bullshit, they don't have a clue...It is ALL about them, me, me, me, for them it's about grabbing all they can as if they deserve it.

These republicans are truly sick people.

It's why they refer to progressives and liberals as "bleeding hearts" because they are such cold-blooded selfish animals! They could never understand.

Just look at republicans, Bush, Cheney, Rove & the rest of these ugly, greedy lying bastards they are all exactly the same way....I'd even include the words evil & wicked to describe them!

[janedum]

5. I'm telling you people ... I'm sort of in a state of shock ...

It wasn't until this election was over that I fully realized what the republican party is truly about ...
... PURE, UNADULTERATED HATE ...
That's it.

[Fla Dem]

6. Exactly what I was thinking when I read the article....and the point is what?

If the writer was trying to infer Gov Palin might have some scruples, I'll have whatever he's drinking.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I think the writer is trying to shame her,

probably a futile endeavor, or at the very least educate uninformed readers about who exactly Saxby Chambliss is. Sometimes I think Sarah is spending all this time out of state now to avoid having to face her own constituents, the residents of Alaska, who are increasingly turning against her.

I'm just praying that somehow Chambliss loses, because if he wins, the Republican party will be more than happy to give Sarah "the closer" some of the credit.

[bobthedrummer]

13. I agree that Sister Sarah is more than likely incapable of feeling shame-she is also a vicious

RW reactionary and I hope you Alaskan citizens call her to account on all of her "unethical"/criminal behavior in your State and elsewhere.

K&R.

[GreenTea]

8. My feelings exactly. n/t

[Janice325]

7. I'm hoping that Palin's appearance in support of Chambliss

here in Georgia backfires and causes all the Democrats and Independents to come out and vote for Jim Martin.

God, that woman is dumber than dirt (no insult to dirt intended) and just a hateful, incendiary woman. :argh::puke:

[tpsbmam]

9. A woman who worked crowds into racist

frenzies, who had no reaction when people in the crowd shouted quite audibly "kill him" & "n***er," who ran against Obama on a he's "pallin around with terrorists" platform....they expect this piece of shit to care about what a despicable piece of shit Chambliss is? They're 2 peas in a pod.

[AlinPA]

14. Lieberman will probably join Palin in her campaign for Chambliss, as he"progresses"

the republican platform that he spoke for at their convention.

[DeepModem Mom]

18. K&R!

[gratuitous]

19. The race will come down to turnout

I'm hoping that the Obama coalition will turn out for the special, but there's no guarantee of that. The good news is that Democrats have been winning these run-offs in the last couple of years. The bad news is that it's Georgia and Diebold running this election.