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June 05, 2004
Busy Saturday
Started off today at the Gwinnett County GOP meeting at the Golden Corral in Lawrenceville where Johnny Isakson was the featured speaker. He dodged the first question about his recent Sanchez amendment (pro-choice) vote, although Mac Collins had representatives there with a big poster reminding the faithful that even Demcrat Jim Marshall had voted against it. Then he took a softball question about the "Fair Tax."
It was odd to hear Isakson basically bash the Washington establishment that he is part of and wants to deepen his connection to. Runaway spending, the lack of a balanced budget, problems with the tax code, etc? Blame George W. Bush if you ask me but if you ask the Gwinnett GOP blame some mythical Washington establishment that Bush, Isakson, Collins and others are somehow not part of.
After that I went over to a candidates forum for DeKalb CEO and the 4th Congressional District at the New Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Snapfinger. Vernon Jones turned in an impressive performance, not only in turnout of supporters (he's got what seems like an endless supply) but in the depth of his knowledge of the county, especially when compared to the relatively weak field.
He was attacked repeatedly by the other candidates, but the manner he handled the attacks in mostly brushed them off and oftentimes with amusing results. I thought he was too quick to attack back, although his homework was impressive, pointing out that Judy Yates (who attacked him for raising taxes) voted to increase the millage rate in 1992 when she was first elected to the county commission and that Rep. Doug Teper (D - Atlanta) had taken numerous committee of one days that cost the state thousands of dollars when Teper attacked him for having an overpriced security detail.
My advice to Vernon would be not to talk about your opponents but to put a positive spotlight on himself more often, as he does have many achievements including offering domestic benefits to gay and lesbian employees of the county, which he was attacked for as part of an unfair criticism by candidate Calvin Sims. Vernon handled his poorly worded question that linked "domestic partnership" and "the rise of AIDS in DeKalb" well, noting that most of the new AIDS cases come from people who do not consider themselves bisexual.
The 4th district forum was less exciting. Cynthia McKinney did well and so did Cathy Woolard, although Woolard is a bit out of place in this race and you have to wonder if she kind of has realized it. In closing, it's interesting to go to two complete opposite ends of the spectrum and how the priorities of one (the "Fair Tax") and the other (improvements to Candler Road) couldn't be further removed.
I'm not saying one is absolutely more "right" than the other, although I do have a personal preference, but it does reinforce the impression that there are two separate, polarized Americas. And I think it comes down to the fact that neither one really understands the other. They know they exist and they have some idea of what they are up to, but that's about all and there really isn't any interest in learning exactly what's going on in either community or desire to tackle the problems either face. Sigh.
Posted by Chris at June 5, 2004 09:23 PM
Comments
I just wanted to say that I absolutely love reading your blog everyday. I haven't posted comments on here before but wanted to tell you how much all of us silent blog readers love your comments. I would be interested to find out if you are planning to attend any of the upcoming Democratic U.S. Senate debates or any of the candidates functions. I personally have Mary Squires as my favorite dem. in the race but would love to hear your thoughts and always have an open mind. I think many people have written off a dem. in the race but I think it is still going to very important to pick a good democrat in the primary. If you will, can you tell us who your favorite is and why. It seems to me that you may have a little more insight as to the candidates positions and record. Thanks again for the GREAT blog!
Posted by: Brian at June 8, 2004 10:17 AM
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