Georgia Senate Race Runoff: Fasten your seat belts...

By Charles Jackson | 11/13/08

Georgia's Senate race runoff is on center stage and it's a high stakes contest with huge implications far beyond our state's borders. Last week, I wrote in "Georgia Senate Race Runoff Likely," that "President-elect Bill Clinton [in 1992] came to Georgia to campaign for Fowler - it didn't help. With a Senate runoff looming, Georgia will be in the national spotlight.  Will President-elect Barack Obama head this way to campaign for Jim... read more »

NYT Takes Aim at the South

By Charles Jackson | 11/11/08

Well, it took those sophisticated elites at the New York Times just seven days after the election to conclude that southerners who voted for John McCain, god forbid, "may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say." You think? Today's NYT ("For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics", November 11) goes on to opine that those southern counties in states voting for McCain are "rural and isolated, have been less... read more »

Brian Nichols Verdict and Fulton County Voting SNAFU

By Charles Jackson | 11/10/08

A Fulton County jury last week convicted Brian Nichols on all 54 counts - an outstanding verdict - although it comes three and a half years after his capture. If Nichols is given the death sentence, the appeals process should last no more than 60 days. If no stay is granted, he should be executed.  Justice deserves no less. The last two men executed in Georgia - Jack Alderman and William Earl Lynd - were on death row 34 and 20 years... read more »

Hooray For States' Rights!

By Charles Jackson | 11/07/08

Lost in all the election hoopla this week, has been the little noticed but significant reaffirmation of the inviolate constitutional doctrine of states' rights. On November 4, voters in Arizona, California and Florida said no to same sex marriage.They said no in Arizona by a margin of 56 percent; in California by 52 percent; and by 62 percent in Florida. In 2004, my state of Georgia said no by a margin of 76 percent. As the National Review... read more »

What Now? Depart, I Say

By Charles Jackson | 11/06/08

You will not read here a post election campaign analysis replete with recriminations. Instead, this commentary is a pull no punches, bare knuckles conservative call to arms and definitely not for the weak or faint heart. Truth be told, given the current landscape - especially the economic meltdown - it would have been a stretch for any Republican nominee to retain the White House, least of all charisma- challenged John McCain. And the political... read more »

Georgia Senate Race Runoff Likely

By Charles Jackson | 11/05/08

As I write this, it looks likely that the Georgia senate race may be headed for a runoff. The latest tabulation from the Secretary of State's office shows Senator Saxby Chambliss with 49.9 percent, Jim Martin with 46.7 percent and Allen Buckley with 3.4 percent. In a previous commentary here, "The Georgia Senate Race:  A Perspective," I wrote"If Jim Martin unseats Chambliss, he will owe his victory to (1) Barack Obama - African-American... read more »

The Times They Are A-Changin'

By Charles Jackson | 10/31/08

The End is Near - the last weekend of this never ending presidential campaign. Whatever the outcome, Sarah Palin is an invigorating breath of fresh air and she represents a new wind blowing across the country's political landscape and headed fiercely towards the GOP of old.  That wind is blowing from a proud, old American political tradition - Populism.  Remember the 1976 movie, "Network?"  Peter Finch's memorable performance... read more »

Another Conservative Ponders Barack Obama

By Charles Jackson | 10/29/08

A recent survey last week by the Pew Research Center reports that conservatives - once again, and regardless of what country they live in - are more happy than liberals ("The Happiness Gap").  Duh...you think?  This finding has also been around a long time; Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey began taking its measurements in 1972. Might ideology be the key? The report says "It's true... read more »

The Georgia Senate Race: A Perspective

By Charles Jackson | 10/24/08

The Georgia senate race has attracted increasing and widespread attention throughout the state and now nationally.  An incumbent, once thought unbeatable - with a huge cash advantage - is facing polls showing him anywhere from only six to four points up or perhaps dead even with less than two weeks before Election Day.Given the intense interest in the campaign, I think it might be instructive - before taking a closer look at the senate... read more »

Random Shots Across The Bow

By Charles Jackson | 10/24/08

They Said It "The world's financial system is based on a foundation of sand." (Pope Benedict XVI)"He's not a maverick but a sidekick." (Joe Biden on John McCain)'The Messiah is absolutely speaking." (Louis Farrakhan on Barack Obama)"She's a cancer on the Republican Party." (NYT columnist David Brooks on Sarah Palin)"Barack Obama and Osma bin Laden have something in common:  they both have friends who bombed the Pentagon." (Rush Limbaugh)... read more »