Tag: saxby chambliss

Saxby “Sugar” Shameless

[posted late last night on the blog with the half-hour shelf-life]

[apparently Saxby tales are coming out of the woodwork in a steady stream]

Hopefully this tale will help undecided or unmotivated Georgia voters to get out and vote in the run-off election between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin. Just to be up front here, I sent Jim Martin a donation on Nov 5. After the roving that Saxby did to a true American hero, Max Cleland, I had to do something.

Here’s the story of a United States Senator using the power and influence of his office to persuade the families of dead and severely burned victims to not seek restitution. He abused his Senate subcomittee position to tarnish a whistleblower in the case. He may have colluded with the company owner to make this all go away quietly. He is in the process of tainting the jury pool should any trial for actual damages occur.

Chambliss Refusing to Speak in Imperial Sugar Case

Fourteen dead. Scores injured. An “accident” that was bound to happen. Greed and arrogance prevailed. Lives were lost and ruined. Now it’s time for the boys in power to make it all go away. Hush it up and after a while no one will remember. Just a speck of dust blown away. No problem. Call the senator and have him fix it. Move on. Appeal the OSHA fines. Delay and postpone. Business as usual.

Anti-Veteran Chambliss also Energy Dumb …

For the politically aware, on a Veteran’s Day it is hard not to consider Saxby Chambliss’ shameful attacks on Max Cleland six year’s ago. Cleland. Winner of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, Cleland served with great distinction in Vietnam and in our United States Senate. When running for re-election in 2002, Republican Saxby Chambliss attacked Senator Cleland with ads using the picture of Osama Bin Laden to attack the patriotism of a war hero who left three limbs on the battle field.   Even John McCain found this to be too much:

“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”

— Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R) against Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race.

Note that ever-so noble John is planning to campaign for Saxby in the coming weeks even as Saxby has been just as disgraceful this time around.  Again, draft-dodging Saxby is facing a Vietnam veteran in an election. And, this Veterans’ Day, you have the opportunity do it for Max and send Saxby back to Georgia for good.  

While we should remember this disgraceful attack, we should not ignore the implications of that shameful campaign on national policy over the past six years with six years of blind and whole-hearted support for the Bush-Cheney Administration.  While no one would claim Max as the nation’s greatest environmentalist, Saxby Chambliss has consistently turned to the Energy Dumb side of the equation over the past six years, whether we look to environmental votes or embracing of the shameful truthiness of “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay [maybe a Penny] Less [about 20 years from now]”.  

One measure of Saxby when it comes to Energy and the Environment: the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) rates him a zero. Perhaps that is just the hippy radicals and we should look to his fellow Republicans for perspective: Chambliss’ rating from the Republicans for Environmental Protection (an oxymoronic name, isn’t it?).  For 2007, a score of 14 out of 100.  At least that was an improvement, as his 2005-2007 average:  a 6 of 100.  Hmmmm ….

And, Georgia voters face an opportunity to redress the wrongs that Chambliss made against Cleland and has done against them and the nation. On December 6th, there will be a runoff between Chambliss and Jim Martin.  When it comes to sensible energy policies, Jim Martin is unlikely to rate a 0 or, with grading on a curve, a 6.  He sees how moving toward a sensible energy policy is connected to improving our environmental situation and our economic situation.