Drifting Through The Grift

• Into The Ethical Woods - Griftdrift Edition

  
  I've been bothered all day.
  
  On the personal side, you may have noticed, I've been stepping further away from politics lately. A combination of shifting priorities and the sheer ugliness is driving me away from my favorite past time. It has been a quiet [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 07, 2009, 3:30pm EST
  

• The Casey Cagle Rumors

  
  In the past, I have chastised Erick Erickson for his predilection to rumor monger - particularly on matters involving Lt. Governor Casey Cagle. Today, I will not.
  
  An alleged dalliance by Cagle has rumbled around the state for nine months, but Erick deserved [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 07, 2009, 8:34am EST
  

• Saturday Stupids

  
  Come down to the Carp Circles reading room [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 05, 2009, 2:50pm EST
  

• My Morning Wooten

  
  
  Steaming.
  Barack Obama is a text-message president. His speeches have no particular foundation in anything that precedes or follows. In his West Point address, for example, he accused the former administration of denying or ignoring requests for more troops. “Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 04, 2009, 11:06am EST
  

• Who Benefits?

  We know the ones who are trembling like possums in a room full of cats. But will anyone benefit from the Capitol cluster conflagration?
  
  There's one who might.
  
  From the Barrow Journal reporting on Karen Handel talk with county Republicans:
  In 2003, Handel was elected chairman of [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 03, 2009, 11:32am EST
  

• The Politics Of Rue

  
  To make a proper roux, you need two things - lots of stirring and lots of heat. Much care must be given to this frantic combination lest you get burned by the spatter.
  
  The slow simmer for Georgia Republicans began three weeks ago with [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 03, 2009, 9:52am EST
  

• The Strangest Day Ever?

  12-1-09. Next time you think things can't get any weirder, remember that date.
  
  Atlanta elected a new mayor and it wasn't even close to the top story. Not even locally. Why?
  
  Republicans scurried behind close doors to determine the fate of politically wounded leader Glenn Richardson. Two [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 02, 2009, 10:42am EST
  

• The Day That Had To Come

  
  
  Like all things in life, knew it had to come. Wish it didn't but it did. Watch the clip. That was Doak back in the day before it became about "the run". Open ended with "high school" stands on either end. My seats were in the north end' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 01, 2009, 2:43pm EST
  

• The Speaker And Those Emails

  
  On the most recent episode of the Georgia Politics Podcast, I said, "we'll have a big emotional first day and the Speaker will be re-elected". Politics is fluid and I've never been shy to say I was wrong. The winds are whispering in my [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: December 01, 2009, 9:53am EST
  

• Atlanta Mayor's Race - The Morning Line

  The final morning line!
  
  How weird can it get, bubba? This weird. The candidate who was a delegate to a Republican convention is being called a progressive and the candidate who has the backing of the Democratic Party of Georgia is being called a Republican. Nobody knows what [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 30, 2009, 9:48am EST
  

• Winging On Kyle

  Global warming. Again. Kyle is in a froth over the stolen CRU emails currently causing the "we don't need no stinking global warming" crowd to spasm in orgasmic glee.
  
  Instead of going point by point over Kyle's rehashing of tired arguments (we're cooling, Al Gore exaggerates, blah blah [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 24, 2009, 2:54pm EST
  

• Virtual Mayor's Forum

  The Committee For A Better Atlanta is hosting a virtual forum today with the the mayoral candidates as well as others in next Tuesday's runoff.
  
  The event is from 4:30pm to 7:00pm.
  
  Drop by here for more information.
  
  Originally I had not planned to attend but' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 24, 2009, 11:55am EST
  

• Georgia Politics Podcast Episode 23

  The podcast is back!
  
  Jason, Catherine, Rusty, Joseph and myself revive the Georgia Politics Podcast with an episode ranging from the Atlanta Mayoral race to the saga of Glenn Richardson.
  
  Listen here.
  
  It's a good one. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 23, 2009, 8:16am EST
  

• Saxby's Georgia: Atlanta, The Mountains and Moultrie

  
  Oh jeez. National Geographic asked Senators to submit a hand drawn map of their home state and Saxby Chambliss (R-My Hometown) pulled out a sharpie and a napkin or something for an easel.
  
  I suppose I should be happy our mutual hometown is [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 19, 2009, 2:46pm EST
  

• Behind The Scenes In the APN/ Reed Battle

  As we approach the final lap of the 2009 Atlanta Mayoral Race, tempers travel where they wont and usually arrive in the land of hyperbolic outrage.
  
  It is no secret Atlanta Progressive News has targeted the campaign of the Kasim Reed. In the past week, APN's Matthew Cardinale [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:55pm EST
  

• A Point Of View But Fair

  
  A point of view but fair. It could be the organically evolved creed of this three year exploration of citizen journalism.
  
  Long have I held the view that media as a whole is shackled by the unattainable goal of "objective reporting". (Having said that, [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:42am EST
  

• The Morning Line - Atlanta Mayor's Race

  We're down to the two candidates and this means the Morning Line changes it's methodology. Instead of a Horse Race parimutuel set of odds, we now shift to football game style "line". For those not familiar with the concept, a minus means the team is favored, a plus means the' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:47am EST
  

• Franklin Ready For A Fight

  
  It's been a while since we've ventured into the fetid swamp that is the mind of Rep. Bobby Franklin's (R-The Other Side Of Mars).
  
  Jeff at SWGa Politics captured the above facebook posting where bombastic Bobby appears to advocate armed insurrection right' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 8:59am EST
  

• Crist And Jeb?

  Daniel Larison of the American Conservative asks a reasonable question.
  In policy, Crist is hard to distinguish from the tradition of former Gov. Jeb Bush, who angered a lot of conservatives with his liberalizing views on immigration but who has otherwise been widely respected and admired by many rank-and-file [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 8:45am EST
  

• My Morning Wooten

  Compare and contrast.
  
  A conservative writes a thoughtful essay about not rushing to judgment on the Ft. Hood shootings and its larger implications.
  
  A "so-called" conservative writes an essay filled with leaps of logic and heaps of talk radio screech.
  
  In the deranged world of [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:47am EST
  

• Perspective

  Take five minutes today and read this. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:15am EST
  

• Git The Stimulus Tar And Feathers!

  
  
  Fresh off their "victory" in NY-23 the Club For Growth is venturing down to Florida.
  
  Their problem with centrist Charlie Crist? He was fer the stimulus. Well, you see that just won't do, cuz any good libertarian was agin the stimulus.
  
  Charlie's sin gives these "conservative" [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:27pm EST
  

• The Evolving Blog

  Andrew Sullivan nails it.
  It's a clearing house for views and ideas and videos and art and argument and anecdote and reporting that create a community of discourse. It's as much your blog now as mine. The posts from readers are just as informative and often more enlightening than [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:04pm EST
  

• Lisa Borders Supported Micro-loans?

  Who knew Lisa Borders supported micro-loans? Well, Kasim Reed did and according to the Political Insider, he used it this morning on V-103 as a not-so-subtle come hither attempt at Border's endorsement.
  She talked about making small loans – certainly to women-owned businesses, and small businesses, to really get' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:23am EST
  

• Fearless Predictions Sure To Be Wrong!

  Mary Norwood will not get a majority and will face Kasim Reed in a runoff.
  
  Hoffman will easily win NY-23.
  
  Erick Erickson will be a pompous ass today.
  
  Actually, I'm pretty damned sure 2 of those 3 will play out. I leave you to figure which ones.[...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:57am EST
  

• I Want The Truth

  
  Flush with victory over the evil DeDe Scozzafava, The Witches Hammer opines in Politico on how NRCC Chair Pete Sessions and RNC Chair Michael Steele have strayed from the one true way.
  Their “level of disingenuousness ... is disgusting,” Erickson said.
  With the NY-23 [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 02, 2009, 12:35pm EST
  

• Atlanta Mayor's Race - The Morning Line

  Is this the final morning line? Will we have a runoff? With Mary Norwood showing solidly in the 40s in every poll, the likelihood of a runoff decreases, lengthening the odds to even. Given this strange last minute shift of the winds, The Morning Line returns to the meta question [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 02, 2009, 8:57am EST
  

• Democrats On The Mayors Race

  
  It started with a spilled box of legos. The audience tittered; some probably thinking they had seen an unfortunate omen, some a symbol of the last year, some both. ~griftdrift, 2007
  
  It took them a while, but they've started acting like Democrats.[...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 30, 2009, 8:48am EDT
  

• Spock Beard Day

  
  
  The episode introduces the alternate reality "Mirror Universe" concept in Star Trek for the first time. The episode has a transporter mishap swapping Captain Kirk and his companions with their evil counterparts [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:02pm EDT
  

• My Morning Wooten

  Reasonable Jim returns and I'm glad for it. Doesn't mean we're going to sip lemonade on the porch and speak only kind words.
  
  Instead of cribbing his essay as usual, I will summarize that Jim argues the so-called "commuter tax" bandied about at the last Mayor debate would' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 27, 2009, 11:20am EDT
  

• The Divining Witches Hammer

  The Witches Hammer has added fortunetelling to his repertoire.
  Just a day after the Augusta Chronicle noted the racial dynamics at play and at stake in the Atlanta Mayoral election,Shirley Franklin comes out to attack the cracker.When I noted Franklin never mentions race and Peach Pundit front pager Icarus [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:04am EDT
  

• The Morning Line - Atlanta Mayor's Race

  Runoff Edition! The Morning Line will hand out odds of the candidates making it to the inevitable runoff. Are we guaranteed a runoff you ask? The Morning Line sets the odds of a runoff occurring at 1 to 4. Wager wisely. Now on to the field!
  
  Mary Norwood - [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:25am EDT
  

• Millelou Speaks!

  Mayor Millielou has been coy about supporting any of the mayoral candidates.
  
  But one thing's for sure - she ain't gonna support Norwood.
  
  Perhaps it's time to update the Morning Line.' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:23am EDT
  

• Lisa Borders Wants Your Property

  I don't have a vote in the City of Atlanta election but if I did, Lisa Borders just lost it.
  Atlanta mayoral candidate Lisa Borders says she'll use eminent domain powers to take land from owners who poorly maintain their property..."We need to take it from them," said Borders, [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 21, 2009, 2:58pm EDT
  

• Pundit Flip

  David Frum answers an interesting thought experiment - what if certain conservative pundits were offered oodles of money, longevity and fame to harp the exact opposite of their current "views".
  
  I think he's pretty spot on.
  
  But it is Andrew Sullivan who provides the closer and' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 19, 2009, 2:35pm EDT
  

• Millar On Marta

  Rep. Fran Millar (R-Land of Reasonable Republicans) has a fantastic AJC opinion piece laying out the reasoning for a state takeover of MARTA.
  This is our one chance to get away from a department of highways and have a meaningful department of transportation. With this new MARTA financial data, [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 19, 2009, 10:37am EDT
  

• Saturday Funny

  
  
  I once asked Spacey how she could call everyone in Atlanta media freaks and bastards and still get invited to all their fancy parties. She muttered something about them all being masochists. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 1:07pm EDT
  

• My Morning Wooten

  Jim is on a mostly fiscal conservative rant this morning and as is usual I find myself not necessarily agreeing but not disagreeing vehemently.
  
  But there's one item which tickles my commentary bone.
  It will be an outrage if National Football League owners reject a group’s bid to' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 16, 2009, 11:15am EDT
  

• An Odd Silence

  Screams of "PRIMARY" ring across the land when poor Saxby Chambliss votes for a single farm subsidy. Yet, when a fellow Georgia Republican congressman does this:
  They called on the sergeant at arms to investigate whether, as Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) put it, a group that "is" [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 15, 2009, 1:08pm EDT
  

• The Witches Hammer's New Job

  Erick "The Witches Hammer" Erickson has a new moniker - salt salesman.
  I’m going to ship this 5 pound bag of rock salt to her office in Maine. It’s only $3.00. You should join me.
  As Outside The Beltway points out, there's more than just a few problems with' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 14, 2009, 2:08pm EDT
  

• A Question For Chairman Ehrhart

  Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Land of Nodding Know-nothingness) is piping up on Peach Pundit again, proudly bragging about the latest twist of the screws to MARTA.
  
  I have a question for you Chair Ehrhart.
  
  How do you justify spending my tax money laying down an infinite number of [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 14, 2009, 2:01pm EDT
  

• How Things Work

  Want to know how shoe leather journalism works in TV land?
  
  Live Apartment Fire is always a good resource, but this week Doug Richards hits it out of the park with his behind the scenes description of how he got the Judge Oxendine story. Read the whole thing. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 13, 2009, 4:10pm EDT
  

• Winging On Kyle

  Finally, Wingfield gives me something to work with!
  
  Of course, it would be a denial of global warming.
  The latest sign that the “consensus” about global warming is falling apart: The BBC is finally reporting that global temperatures have leveled off since 1998, and that there maybe, [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 13, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
  

• Over The Line

  We've had a previous discussion about Tom Crawford. One of my regular readers quite correctly chastised me for not calling him out on his latest wild ravings.
  
  Well that stops now.
  I am confident that Congressman Lynn Westmoreland (R-Dachau), who considers Obama to be too "uppity" for his' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 13, 2009, 2:12pm EDT
  

• The Right Question

  I really want to lay into Galloway for continuing to ignore hard working, honest voices in the Georgia political blogosphere while continuing to link, thereby passing along legitimacy, to the voice that called a sitting Supreme Court Justice a goat f*cking child molester and the voice who is [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 09, 2009, 1:52pm EDT
  

• My Morning Wooten

  I know everyone is currently distracted by the story that makes me wonder if I've stumbled into some Fringe-like alternate universe, but tear your eyes away from Sweden for a moment to ponder this jewel.
  One wonders how it is possible at this late date for anybody' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 09, 2009, 9:02am EDT
  

• DecaurMetro Hosting City Commission Debate

  DecaturMetro is hosting a forum for Decatur City Commission candidates. Visit the site for full details.
  In what is surely a first in Decatur, if not metro Atlanta, Decatur Metro will host an online debate/forum on this site between the four city commission candidates on wednesday, October 21st from [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 07, 2009, 12:41pm EDT
  

• The Favorites

  They march down the tiled halls of power, boldly into the very heart of Democracy and drag their shockingly docile victims into side rooms for the figurative beat down. ~griftdrift
  
  My ten favorites from over the years.
  
  Thugs
  
  The In Between
  
  The Response
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 07, 2009, 10:35am EDT
  

• Wren's Nest In Atlanta Magazine

  Yeah. I'm still around. Not much to inspire lately. I've even thought about converting from politics to some sort of southern life theme. Maybe I'll get Grayson to contribute opinings about sweet tea or something.
  
  Anyway, not converting yet, but here is a good ol' fashioned southern story, layered [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 01, 2009, 11:59am EDT
  

• Congrats Local Blogs

  The Loafies are out and as Dave at inDecatur points out, Decatur in general won big.
  
  Dave's competitor/cohort in covering the Decatur happenings DecaturMetro won the coveted Local Blog of the Year. To my brother in semi-anonymity, I say, well done, sir, but now with great power [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 23, 2009, 2:15pm EDT