The following post is from a mudflats.wordpress blog entry:
“Tomorrow, Sarah Palin will fly to Georgia to use her influence on behalf of Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss….. [who is the incumbent Senator in a run-off election that may decide if the Democrats end up with 60 seats in the Senate. (Wikipedia: On November 4, 2008, Chambliss received 49.8% of the vote, while Democratic challenger Jim Martin received 46.8% and Libertarian Allen Buckley received 3.4% of the vote. Since no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote, a run-off election between Chambliss and Martin is scheduled for December 2, 2008.]
And while America prepares to witness the most historic Presidential inauguration of our lifetime, and children of every color look at their TV screen at our new first family and think, “Yes, I can” maybe for the first time, we hear again from Senator Chambliss. Here’s what he said about the neck-and-neck race that brought about this run-off election.
“There was a high percentage of minority vote,” Chambliss told Alan Colmes on Fox a couple weeks ago, “but we weren’t able to get enough of our folks out on election day.”
“WE weren’t able to get enough of OUR folks out on election day.” Who is “we”? Who are “our folks”?
During the fall Senate campaign, Chambliss cautioned his followers that “the other folks” are voting. The senator added that the “rush to the polls by African-Americans” has “got our side energized early, they see what is happening.”
In Chambliss’ world it is “our side” vs. the African-Americans. Our folks vs. the minority vote. I am tired of Chambliss’ world. I am tired of racially divisive politics and the words that keep it alive. It was Gandhi who said, “Words become our deeds.” This country has had enough of those words, and those deeds. And this country has had enough of those who support them.”
This is from an entry in Wikipedia and is a quote often printed in other places:
Chambliss was criticized for remarks he made during a November 19, 2001 meeting with first responders in Valdosta, Georgia, where he said that homeland security would be improved by turning the sheriff loose to “arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line.” Chambliss apologized for the remarks.
Chambliss ran for the Senate in 2002, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Max Cleland, a decorated Vietnam veteran and triple amputee.
Chambliss focused on the issue of national defense and homeland security during his campaign, and released an ad that included Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, highlighted Cleland’s record on the issues of war and terrorism.[7] Cleland was one of the senators who had blocked the passage of the homeland security bill by voting against the bill.[8][9]
Chambliss received criticism from Democrats and Republicans for this ad, pointing out that he, who hadn’t served in the Vietnam War due to receiving military deferments, had attacked a Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs during his service for not being tough enough on issues of war and homeland security. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said of one ad, “[I]t’s worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible;” Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the ads were “beyond offensive to me.”
It is just hard for me to believe that such open racial bigotry still exists in this country. That may seem like the statement of someone who has been living in a social hole for years, but some things are just hard to really grasp as part of the reality of the world I live in. The fact that there is a politician anywhere in this country who thinks in terms of “our people”, and “the other people” in reference to the color of one’s skin is just amazing, but far more incomprehensible is the idea that someone like that could be elected as the voice of the people??? How is that possible? Or is the country filled with far more race issues than I thought still existed? And Chambliss is from the deep South-a land of Christian conservatives. I almost cannot type the word Christian in the same sentence with people who would support such blatantly un-Christian ideologies. Wake up, Georgians and Sarah Palin supporters, and stop supporting such candidates. Speak out and condemn such thinking. Use your position and power to help rid the world of such hatred. Do the right thing. If the Republican party condones such philosophy in its members, then I hope their numbers dwindle. Being a responsible conservative who supposedly believes in smaller government is not a bad thing; being a party of racism is not, especially when it is done in the name of “Jesus Christ, our Lord”. I don’t think Christ would approve of such thinking.
