how do you think your TWW post history is going to work out for you during your campaign next year?

8/30/2005 3:17:04 PM

i'm sure there are plenty of people here who will probably never be able to run for anything




ever

8/30/2005 3:17:54 PM

so true

8/30/2005 3:19:29 PM

so true

8/30/2005 3:19:29 PM

Wow I got a thread about me! I think this is only the second or third time in the 5 years that I have been on TWW!

*revels in the moment*

Anyway, the ideas I have expressed in my posts (except when I'm playing devil's advocate) are what I intend to campaign on. This is Georgia, after all!

Quote :

"i'm sure there are plenty of people here who will probably never be able to run for anything"

You'd be surprised. The liberals here could go to some nutjob state like Massachusetts or New York and would probably clean up.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:21 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:19:42 PM

well, hopefully we can begin to do some research into your old posts and start compiling comments that would hurt your campaign... god knows a legislator with your positions is the last thing our society needs.

8/30/2005 3:30:00 PM

Things that I said early on, when I was still a Democrat and still pro-abortion, would be the most damaging things. However, considering that this is Georgia, I think the great preponderance of posts would be advantageous to me. Hell I might even start compiling my old posts myself!

Hm... I just looked back at my posting history, a lot of my earlier posts have been deleted. I guess they don't stay around forever taking up hard drive space.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:34 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:32:15 PM

FLIP FLOPPER

8/30/2005 3:33:41 PM

they don't have to be soapbox posts. even idle posts and insults in chit-chat will work nicely

maybe showing a pattern of posting while on the job or at school... does georgia really want a representative that piddles away his time on a messageboard?

8/30/2005 3:34:48 PM

flp flop is when you go back and forth. Realizing an error and then correcting it is not really a flip flop. Georgia has a history with such people - the current Republican Governor was a former Democratic Senator. And Zell Miller was pro abortion and then came around to the pro life side. Heck even Georgia itself had a Democratic and pro-abortion House of Representatives until just last year.

^ Again, I stand by the great preponderance of things. And the legislative session is only a month or two in January - I think in most states (including NC) the legislature is part-time and the legislators have real jobs.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:37 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:36:47 PM

wait,

what're you running for?

be sure of this: if it was a position in nc, I'd be one of the primary people going after you. Not because of personal reasons, but because your political and religious views in a seat of power would be extremely damaging.

good luck making georgia scarier, though

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:38 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2005 3:37:19 PM

Quote :

"flp flop is when you go back and forth. Realizing an error and then correcting it is not really a flip flop."

that didnt stop the GOP!

8/30/2005 3:37:51 PM

^^ Georgia Senate 46th District. NC is a politically corrupt state that I wouldn't want anything to do with.

Even so you would be opposed to me because of my religious views - in other words, Catholics cannot hold public office in your opinion. That was amended out of the NC Constitution quite a spell ago, yes?

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:40 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:38:31 PM

How the heck do you go from pro-choice and democratic to the far right wing in 5 years?

8/30/2005 3:39:38 PM

By thinking.

8/30/2005 3:40:34 PM

Oh come on. If you were really smart you wouldn't get into politics.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:42 PM. Reason : ed]

8/30/2005 3:42:42 PM

now, wolfpack, don't think I mean that. I'm just saying that your religious views as they are connected to your politics offend and worry me in a seat of power. Also, no, legally catholics are quite welcome to run for public office. I just wouldn't be very likely to vote for one, that's all. Again, not because I don't like catholicism (which I don't) but because they seem to be really into applying it to their politics.

8/30/2005 3:44:12 PM

Ah so people can be Catholic, but they should just be Catholic behind closed doors and in the privacy of their own homes, right?

8/30/2005 3:45:06 PM

When it comes to the law? Yes.

8/30/2005 3:48:42 PM

I see. Well fortunately the majority of people, or at least the majority of Georgians, do not take such a hateful view toward religion.

DG - is my statement above a fair summary of your position?

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:51 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:49:55 PM

There is nothing hateful about my view.

8/30/2005 3:50:42 PM

I wonder if you think that opposing Shariah law is a "hateful attitude" towards religion

8/30/2005 3:51:30 PM

Quote :

"Ah so people can be Catholic, but they should just be Catholic behind closed doors and in the privacy of their own homes, right?"

im not familiar with Georgia politics at all, but im willing to bet their arent many catholics elected to office from that state.

8/30/2005 3:52:56 PM

^^^ I disagree. I think that trying to shove religion into a dark closet someplace to only be practiced behind closed doors like some kind of perversion is hatred in its most essential form.

^^ And we are not talking about imposing Catholic practices on anyone. I am not going to propose a bill to ban the eating of meat on Fridays.

^ True. But I would not run "as a Catholic" in terms of denomination, I would run as a person with strong moral values that stem from my faith in God. More universal than denominational.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 3:54 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:53:22 PM

Quote :

"True. But I would not run "as a Catholic" in terms of denomination, I would run as a person with strong moral values that stem from my faith in God. More universal than denominational. "

maybe so, but being in the south, there is already a bias against catholics. i wish that wasnt true, but unfortunately it is. its sad that people wont vote for someone based soley on their religion, but they certainly exist, and they run rampet in states like georgia.

8/30/2005 3:56:29 PM

Quote :

"I disagree. I think that trying to shove religion into a dark closet someplace to only be practiced behind closed doors like some kind of perversion is hatred in its most essential form."

My view is simply that personal religious positions should not be advocated in a democratic society because it goes against the very fundamentals of the institution. Granted, if everybody in your district thinks the exact same way that you do, it would be a little different, but thats impossible.

I have never said it should be practiced behind closed doors, not once. I simply feel it should be kept OUT of politics. If you equate that to "shoving religion into a dark closet someplace to only be practiced behind closed doors" thats your problem. I don't hate religion, I just highly disagree with people like you.

Quote :

"its sad that people WILL vote for someone based soley on their religion"

Reverse is also true.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 4:00 PM. Reason : ed]

8/30/2005 3:59:00 PM

^^ The enemy of my enemy is my friend. It is true that there are some who do not like the Catholic Church, 99% of the time because they do not understand the Catholic Church, but of those people, the vast majority dislike liberalism even more. The rural conservatives in Oglethorpe County, even though they might not really like the Catholic Church, would vote for a Catholic who is going to go to Atlanta with strong Christian values, pro-family, pro-life, rather than a liberal who will vote in favor of abortion, the homosexual agenda, etc.

^ I don't see how you can divorce your religion from your values. In political decision making, we of course bring our values to the table in making our decisions. And why should we have to leave such an important part of ourselves behind when we approach the table?

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 4:00 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 3:59:10 PM

Quote :

"The rural conservatives in Oglethorpe County would vote for a Catholic who is going to go to Atlanta with strong Christian values, pro-family, pro-life, rather than a liberal who will vote in favor of abortion, the homosexual agenda, etc. "

..and they would vote a baptist/methodist over said catholic and day.

8/30/2005 4:00:15 PM

Assuming that the baptist/methodist held the same beliefs as far as pro-family, pro-life, etc., then maybe. However, my opposition would be Rep. Jane Kidd, a flaming liberal. I don't know what religion she identifies with, but she certainly votes solidly with the pro-gay, pro-abortion camp in Atlanta.

8/30/2005 4:02:11 PM

Quote :

"Ah so people can be Catholic, but they should just be Catholic behind closed doors and in the privacy of their own homes, right? DG - is my statement above a fair summary of your position? "

no, and you know it isn't, but good job twisting my words.

people can scream from the rooftops that they're catholic. they can run around naked saying they're catholic. they can, yes, run for public office as catholics. I JUST WON'T VOTE FOR THEM. I would assume you wouldn't vote for many atheists or satanists or wiccans, either, right? Whether or not they CAN do something is simply not part of this discussion. To even insinuate, after all this time we've spent on TWW, that I would want to restrict a person's religious freedoms (hell, or any of their other freedoms), is laughable at best and insulting at worst.

You know better. Just because you're offended doesn't mean you need to try to make me look like a bigot. Besides, I said good luck. I meant it.



[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 4:05 PM. Reason : l]

8/30/2005 4:04:09 PM

We have an imperfect democracy as it stands. Personally I'd rather have people advocating decisions based on their religious values over the value of money, but in a perfect world they would be advocating decisions soley derived from the will of the people. Maybe with more advances in communication.

Still, I say 5 years is a very short time for such a drastic change.

8/30/2005 4:05:38 PM

No offense was intended. The point I am trying to get across is that one cannot divorce their religion from all of the other values they bring to the table when they make political decisions, and even if they could, they should not. Nothing against you, I'm sorry if it came across that way.

^ I believe that the will of the people is founded in solid moral values informed by their faith in God. But you're right, as I got to reading more and more and thinking more and more, my change was very pronounced. In Virginia I was elected to the Democratic Party Committee in my county, and in a few short years I was a registered Republican and now running for political office as a Republican. Of course, Sonny Purdue, the Governor of Georgia, changed his party affiliation overnight - he wanted to run for Gov. as a Democrat, and the Democrats told him that his pro-life position was unacceptable, so he had to change. He did, he changed parties and got elected with the GOP sweep.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 4:09 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 4:06:05 PM

so wait are you saying that if one doesn't have faith in god, that he is not included in "will of the people"????

8/30/2005 4:10:45 PM

That was not meant in terms of individuals, but rather the collective.

8/30/2005 4:12:08 PM

collective is made up of individuals

and it sounds as though you're pretending that some individuals don't even exist as a part of the "collective"

8/30/2005 4:13:37 PM

Applying your logic, when the Declaration of Independence declares that "all men...are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights", that if some men do not believe in the Creator they are not endowed with those rights. But such a proposition is absurd - exactly as absurd as the position you try to falsely attribute to me.

8/30/2005 4:16:26 PM

Well like DG said, good luck in your campaign efforts.

8/30/2005 4:17:58 PM

I appreciate it, it should be a tight race. The seat is held by a Republican now, but it is a weird district. It has Clarke County (UGA's county, extremely liberal), Oconee County, and Oglethorpe County. Oconee and Oglethorpe, being suburban and rural counties, respectively, are quite conservative, but they are smaller than Clarke. A Republican has got to pull votes out of Clarke County to get elected. There are a good number of Republicans in Clarke, just not a majority. If I were to be able to pull student votes out by campaigning on an issue that is important to students, it would be in the bag. Unfortunately most of the student issues are local, such as noise ordinances and stuff like that.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 4:21 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 4:20:54 PM

For the record Chuck, I think it's admirable how you stand by your convictions. That being said, I disagree with them completely and hope you go down hard.

Anyways... won't your young age and brief residency in Georgia hurt your campaign?

8/30/2005 5:17:45 PM

I don't think so, actually my age would probably work to my benefit in terms of pulling those needed votes from Clarke County. I just graduated law school, and students might be more willing to vote with someone with whom they can identify. A UGA sophomore ran for County Commission last year and, while he did not win, he came extremely close in a very heavily Democrat dominated district - in fact I think he got more votes than any Republican has ever got in District 4. I don't think my age will hurt me in Oconee and Oglethorpe as long as I keep in the forefront that I share their values and will aggressively represent those values in Atlanta. Being young does not disqualify you from office, just consider Patrick McHenry.

As far as brief residency in Georgia, that might be somewhat of a negative. However, I probably do intend to remain here all my life. Georgia was the only state where I took the Bar, I have family down here now, buildnig connections here. But as I said the conservative voters probably won't care about that as much as they care that I'm going to aggressively represent their conservative moral values. And the Clarke voters, while more liberal, wouldn't consider it too much of a negative because many of them are from out of state too.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 5:26 PM. Reason : add]

8/30/2005 5:25:22 PM

Don't count on students too much. Remember what happened to Zack Medford.

8/30/2005 5:50:19 PM

I'M SO PERSECUTED.

8/30/2005 5:54:02 PM

someone search all of his posts and paste the ones that might hurt him

8/30/2005 5:56:08 PM

I've kept myself safe to run for public office by creating a completely false persona on here. I even paid someone to go to the Soap Box Summit last year in my stead. I'm actually black as the night itself.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 6:39 PM. Reason : ]

8/30/2005 6:38:57 PM

Students are more politically active here; there is the largest chapter of the College Republicans in the nation at UGA. They are not the ones you count on - I would be counting on my Oconee/Oglethorpe base (and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce base) and trying to peel off enough student votes to win.

My posts on here would generally help as I've said before - I do not plan to present a false version of myself in campaigning, I do not believe that is ethical. Most of the posts that would "hurt me" have been deleted because of age. Being too conservative would not be a problem - the biggest problem is money. The state GOP is probably not going to contribute a lot - their main concern is going to be getting Governor Purdue re-elected in the face of a strong challenge by the Lieutenant Governor.

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 7:20 PM. Reason : $$$$$ ka ching ]

8/30/2005 7:17:04 PM