Commentary
Texas is really on my mind…but Georgia’s a close second
The horrific events of Tuesday at the Robb Elementary school overtook, rightfully so, another disastrous news event that day: the Republican primaries in Georgia. But before I opine on those primaries, I feel compelled to pass on two more thoughts about the Uvalde, Texas massacre.
No, I’m not going to talk more about Ted Cruz’s inane comments. Or Greg Abbott’s. What I am going to do is to show you one video and one comment.
The video is from an PBS News Hour interview with former Supreme Court Chief Justice, Warren Burger in 1991, the one in which Burger decried the Second Amendment as a fraud. Burger, if you recall, presided over the last rationale Supreme Court. His successor as Chief, William Rehnquist, began the Court’s rush to the bottom.
The quote is from Eric Ruben, a senior fellow from the Brennan Center Center for Justice. The Brennan Center, named for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, a member of both the Warren and Burger courts, honors Justice Brennan’s devotion to core democratic freedoms by attempting to strengthen democracy, end mass incarceration, and protect liberty and security.
Eric Rubin:
“…the first half of the Second Amendment provides for a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a Free State. For decades, the consensus in the federal court was that the first half of the Second Amendment, the militia clause, limited the scope of the Second Amendment to participation of militia activities. But then the reading of the second half was challenged by the NRA and other gun rights advocates beginning in the 1970s and continuing through today in a concerted effort to fund scholarship and push out a broader version of the Second Amendment; a broader understanding of the Second Amendment that focusses not on military service but on private self defense.”
Think about Burger and Rubin while I move on to Georgia.
There were three significant outcomes to the Republican primaries in Georgia, In the governor’s race, Trump’s hand-picked candidate, former Senator David Perdue, was soundly beaten by incumbent Governor Brian Kemp. Except for the idea that Trump might be wielding a little less power, I’d consider that outcome a “from the frying pan into the fire” one. Kemp, you might recall was elected to his current position from his role as Georgia’s secretary of state where he was accused of tilting the playing field in his direction to win the election over his opponent Stacey Abrahams. Kemp is not a hero; but that’s old news.
More importantly, to get a sense of where Georgia is today, you need to look at the results of two other significant primaries.
In the Republican primary to determine the candidate to run against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, former University of Georgia football legend, Herschel Walker, won his race by a huge margin. While there’s no denying that Mr. Walker was an outstanding football player and a hero to football-crazy Georgians, there is a question as to whether he is really qualified to be one of 100 United States senators.
Allow me to use this, from the HuffPost, written two days after the Texas massacre, to make my case
Herschel Walker Gives Incoherent Solution To GunViolence On Fox News
Ex-football hero Herschel Walker offered an incomprehensible solution to gun violence on Fox News Thursday just days after the Donald Trump-endorsed neophyte won the Republican Senate primary in Georgia.
Walker, responding to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that left 19 children dead, noted that “Cain killed Abel” and followed with a head-scratching suggestion.
“What about getting a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that looking at social media,” he said.
Mangling a well-worn page out of the GOP playbook, the former University of Georgia and Dallas Cowboys running back said he wanted to put money in the “mental health field” instead of “departments that want to take away your rights.”
People on social media were baffledby his rambling remarks, which come at a time where Republicans reportedly are already concerned about his political inexperience and domestic abuse allegations.
But, if you can believe it, for Georgia it actually gets worse.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is often, and inconceivably labelled simply as a “Republican firebrand,” won her primary race in Georgia’s 14th Congressional district, garnering over 70% of the vote.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Congresswoman Greene, allow me to fill you in:
- She questioned whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001
- “That’s another one of those Clinton murders,” Ms. Greene said, referring to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death in a 1999 plane crash, suggesting that he had been assassinated because he was a potential rival to Hillary Clinton for a New York Senate seat.
- She suggested in a 2018 Facebook post that a devastating wildfire that ravaged California was started by “a laser” beamed from space and controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family with connections to powerful Democrats.
- She has endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
- She has blogged, “MUST READ — Democratic Party Involved With Child Sex, Satanism, and The Occult.”
- She has claimed in multiple videos and social media posts that several school shooting massacres were “false flag” events perpetrated by government officials in an attempt to drum up support for gun control laws.
I could go on, but, frankly, the more I write, the more ill I feel.
Her Democratic opponent in the election in November will be Marcus Flowers. Flowers served in the United States Army from 1994 to 2003. His career experience includes working as a contractor and official with the State Department and Department of Defense. He seems to be a really good guy. I get an email from him almost every day asking for a contribution to his campaign. Some of those emails suggest that, with my help, Mr. Flowers can flip Georgia 14 “blue.” I checked. Nearly 70% of voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional district are identified as Republicans. So, sorry Mr. Flowers, I really feel your pain but…
Let me leave Georgia with this last thought. The other day, Stacey Abrams, running once again against Brian Kemp, said, “Georgia is the worst state in the country to live.” Based on the fact that the citizens of Georgia are intent on voting for politicians like Brian Kemp, Herschel Walker, David Perdue and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Abrams might be correct. Abrams, no fool, recognized that her statement would be “politicized” so further explained that her state has lots of room for improvement on issues like mental health and incarceration.
Further explained? My God, what was she thinking? “Georgia is the worst state in the country to live” will be in every Brian Kemp ad. Even Democrats, her base, who are Georgians and who live in, and love their home state, will be repelled by that statement. An incredible unforced error that, in my opinion, will result in another defeat for this bright and supremely qualified candidate.
When will Democrats learn?????
Around the Block 
“When will Democrats learn?????”
Will Roger’s put it best:
“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat”
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You’re good. Very, very, very good!
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Sad to read about Stacy’s blooper. What would possess someone as smart as she to say something like that!!!! Too awful
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Actually, if they people of Georgia knew how to listen, and knew how to interpret Abrams’ words, they would hear what she is really saying, “Under Republican government, the people of Geoegia are being treated as children who have to be led around by the nose. They are not really living. They are being told how to live.” And that is the sad fact in her commentary. What she meant to say I have no trouble with. How she said it, well, she could have chosen better words. But still, she spoke truth. And many people hate hearing the truth!
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Having said all that, the fact that Republicans voted overwhelmingly for Walker and Greene does not mean they will be (re-)elected. Greene is a menace to society, and Walker does not have the intelligence to think for himself–when he tries he stumbles over his own tongue. Walker has star power, granted, but he is too stupid to realize he is being used by CPAC to attract Black voters. Being Black, he cannot even see he is in a den of racists who know they cannot appeal to Black voters on their policies and past political strategies, so they are telling him whatever he wants to hear in order to have his cooperation, and make them seem non-racist. And that is what his Democratic opponent should be making a huge deal of! Using a Black man to attract Black voters is RACISM at its worst. Shove that down Republucan throats. Make their choice backfire on them.
Meanwhile, where Greene is concerned, have the Democrat opponent question her publicly on policies and issues that are of concern to Georgians. And keep asking questions. She will try to refuse to answer them, because she has no idea of what her ideas they even are. The more she refuses, the more questions should be adked. Eventually she will try to make some kind of statenent about something, it does not matter whst, because she too will not know how to use conspiracy throries to answer simple questions intelligently. The Republican party members who voted for her to be their candidate must be made to regret that decision. She is counting on them believing evetything she says. She will make a fool of herself in her need to appear to not be a fool.
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No crystal ball here. Only time will tell if Republican voters can overcome their lack of intelligence and their lemming-like behavior. You might have more confidence than I. Let’s see what November brings.
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And further to all that, the Democrats need to fire up their base to get them to come out to the polls in November. (This is coming from a dedicated non-voter who refuses to play politics with his vote, so saying this is not easy!) Nationally, play up the issues. Taking away Wonen’s Right to Choose must be used to bring out women voters. They are in a person or non-person battle and they must be made to realize this. The more women you get out to vote, the stronger Democratic sentiments will be heard. Then add gun-violence into the picture. Women are more intelligent than men, collectively speaking, on protecting their children from harm, and more men must be embarrassed into choosing to end gun-violence than to support it. Add racism to the mix, and genderism, and sexual orientation, and every other liberal policy that the Republicans are using as talking points (CRT, wealth inequity, etc.), and keep on attacking Republucan anti-human stances. Wake up Middle America!0 This may be a mid-tetm election, but Americans must be made to realize how UTTERLY IMPORTANT this particular election, 2022, is to the well-being of the USA as a nation, as a democracy, as a way of life. This election has the distinct possibility of changing America forever. Make sure the oeople who need to vote get out and vote.
If Roe vs Wade is allowed to be repealed without Federal government representation, if gun violence is allowed to continue at its present pace, if Racism is not fought here and now, if voters’ right are allowed to be taken away, there is no hope for America to stand as a beacon of the free wotld! In MY EYES, this is possibly the “most important election ever held in the history of the United States of America!” If concerned people do not speak their wishes this year, they might never get another chance to speak! “Vote Democrat, because the Right is wrong. The Left is your Only Resl Hope!” (And cross your fingers the Democrats are who they say they are, the Party of We the People!)
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“If” is a small but powerful word!
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So make it work for you, for humanity!
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