Rep. Jim Marshall will not be at the historic Obama acceptance speech in Denver. I want to give Marshall the benefit of the doubt because he just returned from his 15th trip to visit our troops—including middle Georgia soldiers. But, I wondered if he asked to take the trip during this time so he could avoid being with those “liberal” Democrats in Denver.
The party welcomes the Blue Dogs and other conservatives but Marshall needs to get on the next thing smoking toward Denver or get that “Branded” treatment like Chuck Connors’ character got back in the day.
Remember, the Democrats are looking to pickup 12 to 20 seats in the House—they could make an example of Marshall; and President Obama could use a respectful McCain-type maverick Republican in the House.
But, I learned today that Marshall is back with enough time to fly to Denver for this historic event in African-American history. So if you put the party stuff to the side, if African Americans overwhelmingly vote for Jim Marshall shouldn’t he at least attend the Invesco Field Obama speech for the historic significance.
My friends and I have been debating the top three events in African-American history. For me, the list goes:
1. The Emancipation Proclamation
2. Dr. King’s I Have A Dream Speech
3. Obama’s Invesco Acceptance Speech
If Senator Obama were sworn in as President, that event would jump to number 2 on my list.
When I read that Marshall was skipping, my mouth dropped open and I had a two seconds blink. After Senator Clinton brought that fire last night and with Biden and Bill Clinton on deck, how could anyone who loves policy debate blow-off a Super delegate pass to all of this.
It wasn’t easy for Rep. Bishop and Rep. Barrow to endorse Obama from their districts. Neither for the Georgia GOP congressional delegation to get behind moderate McCain as their second or third choice. So, why can’t Marshall decide?
I am moderate Democrat who supported Herman Cain for Senate a few years ago because his conservative voice should be heard around the African American table and his African American voice should be heard around the republican table. Cain wrote a book titled “They Think You’re Stupid.” Well, Marshall must think Ds in his district are stupid if they will let him skip these historic speeches without a detailed explanation.
I could be wrong, so let’s have this discussion.
Project Logic Ga 
[…] Logic GA has more. I’ll also add them to the […]
Thanks for the comment and connection…
Oh my goodness, the Obama campaign is backing off in the peach state. Is Georgia off the table? Not so fast; ad buys and commercials are just part of the process. “Playing possum” might be the best move—in which case, I should not write about it here.
We need one more piece to the puzzle: say a tall, intelligent White male Democrat who is a war veteran and has an earned reputation with urban, rural, White and African American people. Like someone whose sphere of influence touches the heart of the state- Covington, Macon, Warner Robins, Perry, Dublin, Tifton, and Moultrie. A fellow who “owes the bros” for putting him in office time and time again.
Let me stop beating around the bush: the Obama/Biden campaign really need Rep. Jim Marshall….NOW.
He should not worry about missing a few GOP voters because the Palin factor has the McCain team locked and loaded and those people will be behind Goddard.
Come home, Rep. Marshall and avoid a blacklash this year.
So, Project Logic Ga aims to put information in front of our community so we can make informed decisions.
In 2006, Rep. Marshall’s Democrat seat was very important to hold to give the Ds enough votes to elect Mrs. Pelosi Speaker of the House and to give several African American congressman committee chairmanships. Mission accomplished and Rep. Marshall did right by the Dem Team by voting Pelosi for speaker rather than voting for Republican Boehner. Pelosi won over Boehner 233 to 202.
That was cool and as an inclusive party we did not beat Marshall up for voting with President Bush and the Republicans when he felt they were right. (You can’t beat up Marshall anyway; he is a Ranger and can kill you with his baby finger)
But wait, Pelosi won by 30 votes and analysis indicates that the Democrats will add more seats in the House this year. We know the Dem team wants to get to that magic number where they can override a presidential veto but more important to many African Americans is seeing Obama in the oval office—and not just because of obvious reasons.
My point is that the AA community should compel Marshall to get with the Obama/Biden effort by playing LBJ style hardball and if he does not, we could spare that seat anyway.
If Obama is president, we would have a Georgia Republican from the 8th District who was put in the House in part by moderate and conservative African Americans.
If McCain is president –did I just type that– one of the only freshmen in his party was served up by our community—like hedging our bets.
Wait a minute, I finally get it: maybe conservative Marshall deep down would be repulsed by being in a Democrat Congress with a Democrat president. Maybe he actually wants to be defeated.
And if McCain won, House Agriculture Committee member Marshall could be McCain’s Agriculture Secretary—wild speculation but interesting.
How many seats will Democrats add in the House? | Salon News
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/21/house_roundtable/index.html
At the high school football game last night, an official with the county democratic party sat with me. Of course, I wished him well in the voter registration efforts and ask why the Dem Team is letting Rep. Marshall snub Obama/Biden.
He assume that Marshall endorsed Obama or Hillary at some point; then he realized that all these young people they are registered will be voting for Marshall because he has “Democrat” next to his name without knowing that he did not lift a finger to help with voter registration or to help us make history.
Ok,
Palin=lipstick
Policies= Pig
This metaphoric/code speak election year is fun and even I recently was accused of coding a post on this blog. A friend who was a chief of staff in the Georgia congressional delegate called to say that I was slick to use the video of Chuck Connors from “Branded” for coded reasons.
My metaphor was Rep. Marshall (an honorable military man) equals Chuck Connors’ character Jason McCord, an honorable military man who needs to prove he is not a coward and support Obama. The objective was to nudge Marshall into backing the Democrat ticket or else.
I search the net for details about “Branded” and found this summary:
In this Western series, Jason McCord, the only survivor of the Battle of Bitter Creek, is court-martialed and kicked out of the Army because of his alleged cowardice. Rather than demean the good name of the Army commander who was actually to blame for the massacre, McCord travels the Old West trying to restore his good name and reputation.
I like the code “the Battle of Bitter Creek” because many African Americans are bitter that Marshall is not helping Obama as we helped him for years. He could have been beneficial in adding conservative views to the Dem strategy.
So, the video from the opening of “Branded” is what the Dem Team should do to Marshall; take his Democrat hat and Democrat stripes and break his Democrat sword (power) and put him out of the Fort Democrat. We should not allow thousands of people to support him thinking he is part of the D team.
But, my old friend read more into the Chuck Connors parallel: she equates subconsciously Connors with his character Tom Moore from the T.V. mini-series Roots.
Another found summary:
The adult Kunta Kinte/Toby (John Amos) learns then what it means to be a chattel slave, but is still haunted by his Mandinkan roots and what it was to once be free. He is sold to John Reynolds’ brother William (Robert Reed), eventually marrying another slave named Bell (Madge Sinclair) and having a daughter named Kizzy (Leslie Uggams) When Kizzy is in her late teens, she is sold away to Tom Moore (Chuck Connors) in North Carolina when it was discovered that she had written a fake traveling pass for a young slave boy she was in love with (she had been taught to read and write secretly by Missy Anne (Sandy Duncan), niece to the plantation owner Reynolds). Kizzy is then raped by Moore and bears a son named Chicken George (Ben Vereen).
Whoa….Whoa….Whoa…to much code speak. They made Roots so well that African Americans were upset at the White actors in the film for years—that’s good acting. But, I am in no way trying to put Marshall and slavemaster in anyone’s mind.
If I was a voter in the District that Marshall serves, I would make it a point to ask him, in a public forum, why he has not given the Democratic nominee the time of day. it would be done with respect. I think he needs to be asked. As a voter, one needs to be informed and not just assume that he is in support just because he’s a Democrat. Whatever his decision, is his decision. And that decision should help you, as a voter, make a decision when you go to the polls for the November election.
But of course if the question is never asked and the assumptions continue as obviously they are, then you’re going to get what you deserve.
hba1,
Marshall has declined any debates in the district with any of his rivals. I guess he’s planning another trip to Iraq. I personally think he is running for ViceRoy of Iraq and not Congress.
I am starting to think the Macon press and establishment are concerned with losing their clout in D.C. Newsflash: the day after the election or the day after the speaker vote, the Dem Team is going seek punishment for Marshall being ghost during the battle.
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear” Jim Marshall is really smart and would be a valuable asset on the trail in Georgia for Obama/Biden. I could see him standing on a stage in middle Georgia, telling voters that the Blue Dogs will ensure that keep the agenda is moderate—tall guy, Army Ranger, Princeton grad.
Since Marshall is an Ivy League product, he could debunk that elitist junk about the Obamas—Princeton Michelle and Princeton Jim could campaign together in the heart of Georgia.
Again, Georgia could be pivotal and the creditability of Marshall could be crucial for Obama/Biden. I am simply saying that Rep. Jim Marshall is the most important southern House member in this presidential election.
We really should have a big function in Macon.–.party, reception, tailgate, fish fry, whatever—get the real people out and asking them if it is okay that all these leaders and citizens are standing by their teams, Obama/Biden or McCain/Palin, and Jim Marshall is just moseying back into to office with a smile on his face.
Let’s do it…..run some radio ads that invite everyone to come discuss these issues in person. The other contributors on this blog are so nice and reserved that they won’t let me call it what I want to call it: The Bitter Creek Symposium.
The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution; it was a forum for people to debate, plot, boast, or simply to party with others. A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among Georgian concerned with our strategy and political capital.
With Macon being centrally located, that city is the ideal place and ‘Bitter Creek’ reference alludes to the “Branded” theme song, the place of the massacre. The metaphor with massacre is the political battle this year that will leave all Georgians bruised and blood except Jim Marshall who smoothly sidestep the action.
Branded Lyrics
All but one man died.
There at Bitter Creek.
And they say he ran away.
Branded, scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you’re branded, and you know you’re a man.
Wherever you go, for the rest of your life
You must prove, you’re a man.
Full song
All but one man died,
There at Bitter Creek,
And they say he ran away …
Branded!
Marked with a coward’s shame.
What do you do when you’re branded,
Will you fight for your name?
He was innocent,
Not a charge was true,
But the world will never know …
Branded!
Scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you’re branded,
And you know you’re a man?
And wherever you go
for the rest of your life
You must prove …
You’re a man!
Wow….people are voting in Georgia. The same people for voting for Obama and voting for Jim Marshall, who is dissing my brother. Not cool.
To take a page from those Hilliary supporters,
PUMBA figure it out
(Watch the conservative contributors on this blog make me remove this comment)
That is too funny.
Marshall truly bothers me, I mean he really gets deep down under my skin and bothers me. I remember in 2006 Mac Collins firing off distorted ads about immigrations, and I stood up for Jim. Jim cried foul. Rightfully so.
Now he’s doing the same thing, trying to paint Goddard as weak on immigration – he conveniently disregards that he told the Jones County Farm Bureau essentially the same thing he attacks Goddard for.
If there is one thing I can not tolerate, is these dirty politics. I don’t care which party you belong too, it’s just wrong and I hope that the Goddard campaign refrains from joining the Marshall campaign.
On immigration, I remember last year when Georgia’s two senators got the GOP cold-shoulder for attempting to seek comprehensive solution to the problem. The ag community knows that farmers and ranchers use wrong use illegals for low wage farm jobs and that the producers should stop.
In the mid-90s, the ag staffers in the Georgia delegations were on a Farm Bureau sponsored ag tour in Georgia and we were supposes to visit a produce shipping operation in Moultrie. The farmer was upset that INS was investigating in the area and told us that he could go by the day labor pickup location and no one was their but there was a line at the welfare office; so, he went over to the office and said he had plenty job openings.
What a hard weekend since all of my teams were losing; Albany State, UGA, and UF (I finished grad school at UF, did not graduate, just decided I was finish.) The Democrat Team also looked pretty awful this weekend because Jim Marshall had ads during every commercial break with no mention of Obama, Biden or Democrats.
In Congressman Marshall’s defense, candidates rarely put party references on political ads but two years ago his ads were all “I break with my party to work with President Bush.” While he was dissing the Dems he should have been employing congressional oversight of the administration according to Senator McCain and Governor Palin—one billion dollars a week in Iraq, bridges falling down in Minnesota, Katrina, we will be greeted as liberators.
Jim Marshall must have a zillion dollars for commercials and if he said, “I will work with my fellow Blue Dog Democrats to ensure that our party does not get to far from southern conservative beliefs when we take the White House; ” that would be a game-changer.
Marshall is running ads to cover his district but those media markets radiate over most of south Georgia, some of north Florida and parts of east Alabama. That is very, very important because a White older male Army veteran congressman supporting Obama/Biden running ads non-stop could sway the presidential election results in Georgia or better Florida.
Every Democrat in the nation should be calling Howard Dean demanding that Marshall get with the Dem program or else. Again, we are talking ads from suburban Atlanta to most of North Florida. I hope the readers of this blog get my point: Marshall slighting the Dem ticket could possibly lost us the White House.
Was this my first blog post….timely.