Associated Press
Remember Karen Handel? She was the subject of national interest several months ago when Handel, a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and staunch opponent of abortion rights, directed Komen for the Cure to cut off all grants to Planned Parenthood.
The result was a fiasco. Komen is still trying to undo the damage, and Handel's role as the organization's senior vice-president for public policy quickly ended.
Nearly a year later, Handel has a very different position in mind.
Saxby Chambliss, the two-term senior senator from Georgia, could face a Republican primary challenge in 2014.
Activists and donors alike are expressing dissatisfaction with Chambliss for his perceived move to the left on issues like immigration and taxes. And members of Georgia's House delegation, as reported by Roll Call, like Tom Price, Paul Broun, and Tom Graves, may be considering running against Chambliss in the primary. But GOP and conservative sources say there's another possible candidate: former secretary of state Karen Handel.
"She's considering it," says Rob Sims, a Republican campaign consultant who worked on Handel's unsuccessful run for governor in 2010. Kay Godwin, the co-chairman of Georgia Conservatives in Action, says Handel is among those she's hearing who could successfully challenge Chambliss.
Now, we'll have to wait and see if Handel, or anyone else, actually follows through and launches a primary challenge against Chambliss, but the fact that it's even a possibility speaks to a larger truth about the current state of Republican politics.
By any sane standard, Chambliss is not a moderate. He's not even close to what anyone in the American mainstream would characterize as "the center." According to the most up-to-date information, Chambliss has a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 92.5, putting him well to the right of most of his Republican colleagues. The Georgian's most recent VoteView score puts him at number 80 -- with 0 being the most liberal and 100 the most conservative -- to the right of prominent conservative senators like Mitch McConnell, John Thune, and Orrin Hatch.
In other words, when making a list of conservatives who shouldn't have to worry about their far-right flank, Saxby Chambliss would be on it. And yet, here we are.
Why would the right be unsatisfied with Chambliss? For one thing, he's worked for over a year with Sen. Mark Warner, a moderate Virginia Democrat, on a debt-reduction plan that includes modest tax increases. For another, Chambliss seems inclined to pass comprehensive immigration reform, or at least something resembling it.
That, apparently, buys him a one-way ticket to Primary Town, his overall voting record notwithstanding.
This is important because it helps underscore one of the key reasons so little governing gets done in Washington. In the Obama era, GOP policymakers have been conditioned to believe compromise is itself repulsive, but for those who consider cooperating across the aisle, there's a constant reminder: bipartisan governing will end your career.
Several years ago, a figure like Chambliss would blow off talk like this as mindless chatter, but that's no longer an option -- recent history offers too many examples of Republican incumbents losing GOP primaries to extremist challengers. Just ask Utah's Bob Bennett, Indiana's Dick Lugar, and even Alaska's Lisa Murkowski (though she eventually won after losing her primary). Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter was driven from Republican politics by a primary threat, and even folks like Utah's Orrin Hatch and Arizona's John McCain had to move sharply to the right to stave off intra-party challenges.
Pieces like this one from The Weekly Standard are the practical equivalent of a horse head in Chambliss bed -- if you know what's good for you, don't even consider working in good faith with colleagues who think differently than you do.
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Handel also had an ethics complaint filed against her in 2010.
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/07/27/karen-handel-hit-with-ethics-complaint-alleging-13k-in-illegal-payments-to-staffers/
Regardless of whether or not she could get the nomination, I am beginning to believe that it is all but impossible for a Democrat to win a senate seat in Georgia. Most of the races in my area had Republicans running unopposed. That is how bleak it is for liberals outside of the immediate Atlanta area (OTP).
So... exactly how cold does it get up in Massachusetts in February?
Same here - too MANY races where repubs ran unopposed. It was either vote for the repub or a write in candidate. I almost put my own name as a write in rather than vote for the repub.
This is JUST what we need, more politicians worrying about their own elections and they will forget any idea of compromise. Any idea of working with the President or the other party is somehow a sin and they are thrown out of office. This is why our nation is so divided today.
Happy Thanksgiving Toilet Paper Party
http://chucksmomentoftruth.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/thanksgiving-turkey-mitt-romney/
eruhWHAT, is this the Jim DeMint who, among others, plotted against Obama on the very, the very moment that he was being inaugurated?
Read a book called "Do Not Ask What Good We Do". It’s about a meeting Republicans had at a ritzy restaurant on Obama's inauguration day in which they planned the very obstructionism we have seen these past 3 1/2 years. Since the book came out, not one Republican who attended that meeting has denied what's in the book, and Senator Jim DeMint's office has acknowledged that he attended the meeting. Who else attended? Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Bob MacDonald (Governor Ultrasound), Lyndsey Graham, Jim DeMint, etc.
Out of that meeting came McConnell’s statement that their first “priority was to make Obama a one term president”. First and main priority? Wasn’t it supposed to be JOB, JOBS, JOBS?
This was planned. This was not an accident. This anti-Obama conspiracy started even before he was in the WH, as he was being sworn in as President.
This is Treason.
Pelosi had a perfect opportunity to throw Karl Rove in prison after he outed Valerie Plame, but she decided not to pursue it. Obama decided not to go after Bush, Cheney, et al, for war crimes, etc. Had he done it, the country would have backed him 100%, but no. And yet, now, we see a convicted felon (Darrell Issa) sitting in judgment of Democrats and "investigating" them now for anything they can hang them on. It's disgusting.
There is a word for this:
Lese-majesty (from the Latin laesa maiestas, "injured majesty"; in English, also lese majesty or leze majesty) is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state or, in this case, the person and office of the President.
Filibustering
Obstructionism
Wasting time of frivolous wedge issues rather than the serious business of Job creation
Voting down any and all Jobs Bills presented by the President. What happened to JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, GOP?
The relentless disavowal of their own ideas the moment Obama accepts them.
The determined campaign to repeal not only Obamacare but any and all advances in Rights that Obama may have signed.
The acceptance as Truth of any and all lies, conspiracy theories however farfetched or slanderous. they may be from whatever source.
A willingness and, in fact, stated objective to obstruct and destroy the People of America, the Economy and anything using the power of Congress that may make Obama look good.
The tacit acceptance of any Slanderous, Libelous lie against the President however farfetched it may be.
This is NOT politics. This is personal. This is an organized, deliberate campaign planned behind closed doors, a witch hunt against Obama and the dignity of the Presidency.
Perhaps, the entire Republican Party should be cited in Contempt of Congress, an institution meant to pass Bill that benefits the People and not themselves in their campaign to oust the president. It is Contempt for the President, Contempt for the Presidency BECAUSE of who holds it: Obama.
Lese majesty? Maybe not. After all there is no Majesty in America. But Lese Presidency? Definitely.
I, honestly, can't understand why all these people have not been prosecuted for treason. Never mind just being collectively bat crazy.
TC in LA....you are an absolute nut job. Please keep living in LA. At least that way we all know your vote will continue to count for the nut jobs, like you, in California. Don't move east, and PLEASE, stop commenting on things that you know nothing the **CK about. Certainly, you know absolutely nothing about "Confederates".....guess what?....I've lived here for 30 years and know nothing about Confederates....know why?....never, ever MET them....did you??
Mike - what part of Georgia do You live in? If you've lived here for 30 years and know nothing about "Confederates" then you must live in a cave or you Are one. It's like living out in a cow pasture. You tried to avoid the cow patties but you can't help occasionally stepping in their sh$$.