So...tomorrow it finally ends - this crazed & bizarre GOP primary season we've had here in the great state of Georgia. So many storylines & surprises. Secret recordings. Ridiculous T.V. ads. Lie-infested smear campaigns. Total desperation. Being all out of give-a-[expletive deleted]s & so on. For the political junkies out there, it's been nothing short of magnificent; but for many it's further proof that our society is completely devolving & that perhaps the Mad Max days may be closer than anybody would care to think. Come to think of it, I could totally see Geoff Duncan tied up on the front of a marauder's car, but I digress...
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| He'd never make it |
Clay Tippins...man, what a hero! But what an asshole, right? In terms of being out of giving a damn, you'd have to put him up near the top of this election cycle. The dynamics of the whole thing is what really got me. Let's go back to the first of the year. At that time, Kemp was totally on a treadmill. Getting no traction & mired in his Secretary of State gaffes. Internal polling at the time, as I'm told, showed it shaping into a 2-man race between Cagle & Hunter Hill. Then out of nowhere comes Tippins. Ripping off one of Hill's advertisements, he then begins a negative campaign against his fellow military member - the Navy Seal casting shade on the Army Ranger.
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| The only guy that ran for Governor weirder looking than Cagle |
It was during this time, and as written about by this publication, that the word started getting out that while there maybe wasn't an actual coordinated strategy between teams Cagle & Tippins, there was an understanding that both Kemp & Tippins would hammer Hill while Cagle would stay out of the fray because Cagle felt that going up against Kemp would be easier than Hill. My how the times have changed. Regardless, many felt that if Tippins hadn't entered the race, then Hill may well have finished in the run-off. In fact, some blamed Tippins, and felt that if he wasn't actually complicit, then the only alternative was that he was used as a useful idiot. Chances are Tippins didn't appreciate that sentiment one bit.
So we fast forward to after the primary when Cagle sits down with Tippins. The rest, as they say, is history...
So where does that leave Tippins now? While originally hailed as a hero, there seems to have been a bit of a change there. Personally, I think he's somebody that got used & abused and got pissed off about it. And I get it. And part of it too, I believe, is his sincere belief that Cagle represented all that was wrong with politics & wanted to do something about it.
Speaking of Cagle - ole "Weird Eyes" - he, too, seems to be fresh out of give-a-f*cks. Now reduced to social media trolling, you have to give him credit on the tweet to Pence. That was classic! And it does reinforce something that now will be in the back of the minds of anybody & everybody dealing w/ Tippins in the future - "is homeslice recording me?" Hey, it's 2018. Everyone should assume they're being recorded at all times.
So where does that leave us now, today, July 23rd. Presumably, Brian Kemp will be the GOP nominee. The cutting-regulations-with-a-chainsaw (total Rand Paul ripoff), big-truck-driving-and-illegal-alien-nabbing SOS will be the one going against Abrams in the general. And here's the rub, I think. Really the only argument left with Team Cagle was the "electability" angle; however, in light of the last two months, that just doesn't hold anymore. At this point I do believe Kemp would probably have the better shot in November. So with electability out the window, where does that leave Cagle? With Renee Unterman, I guess. Seems fitting...
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| Ms. Personality, she also hates children & dogs as we're told |
However. This is a runoff, and strange things can & do happen. More so than in the primary, it really comes down to money & GOTV (get out the vote), and this is where Cagle does have the advantage. Word on the street is that the Cagle campaign has been dropping some big money to paid canvassers in this final push. And I'd have to imagine that the Kemp campaign team hated to see that Fox-5 poll showing that big lead. The last thing you'd want is complacency, especially in a runoff. It's not unlike how football coaches feel when their team is favored. You want to keep that edge. But with the wave of momentum that Team Kemp has built, particularly in light of the Trump endorsement, I just don't see how Cagle has a pathway to victory. And if it does turn out that way, the old fella will have nobody to blame but himself. Ruling the state senate as a petty tyrant & selling your soul can create problems.
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| He grew up in a trailer, a fact he mentions every 7 seconds on the campaign trail |
My vote for tomorrow? Hell if I know. I'd planned to vote for Cagle, but there's just no way I can do that now. I'm leaning towards just skipping it.
But this does lead to an interesting question. As we've mentioned before, with Georgia at least becoming a shade of the color purple, does a Kemp victory mean that the Governor's Mansion may become home to a Democrat for the first time in 16 years? One would have to think that it's at least in the realm of possibility.
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So on to the Lt. Governor's race. In May this publication endorsed David Shafer for this position & we sure as hell still do. He's a good man who truly values freedom & limited government principles. I'm proud to be a supporter & I'm proud to consider David a friend.
And as I've written about a few times, to hell w/ that techie sh!thead Geoff Duncan. My word, what as ass! For 6 months now he's been running a totally baseless & slanderous smear campaign against Shafer. He's been trying to hitch on to the Trump/Kemp wave but it doesn't seem to be working. Most Kemp supporters I know are behind Shafer, as are most all of the Cagle supporters I know. I believe that Duncan will be finding himself on a lonely island here in about 30 hours. I'm looking forward to casting my vote tomorrow for David Shafer - the right man for the job.
Secretary of State? I really have no idea. Most of the folks that I'm fairly politically compatible with seem to be lining up behind Raffensperger, but I just saw today that The Perspicacious Conservative, the one & only Jessica Szilagyi, is supporting David Belle Isle, so I may cast a vote for him.
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| Jessica - one of the great Ladies of Liberty of Georgia |
Any way you cut it, it'll be nice not having to suffer those damned political ads, at least for maybe a month or so...
As always, thanks for reading. Til next time.
- MBM
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