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GA-Sen: Saxby Chambliss Doesn't Care About You

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[Originally posted at my blog Senate Guru.]

Dear Georgia voters,

You deserve a United States Senator who cares deeply about the challenges you face on a daily basis: paying the mortgage or the rent, receiving quality health care, educating your children, making sure you have clean water to drink and clean air to breathe, protecting our neighborhood and our nation. You deserve a United States Senator who understands the difficulties you face as you work to achieve the American Dream.

Unfortunately, Saxby Chambliss does not care about the challenges you face. Saxby Chambliss does not understand or, frankly, give a damn about the difficulties you face. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

I recognize that that's a pretty tall claim to present, but it is the truth. What does Saxby Chambliss care about? Saxby Chambliss cares about Saxby Chambliss. He cares about keeping his job rather than doing his job. He cares about whatever is politically expedient to keep him in power.

Because Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you, you should not vote for Saxby Chambliss. You shouldn't reward with your vote a man who lacks compassion, integrity, or basic decency.

Saxby Chambliss, regarded as one of the best golfers in Washington D.C. (you probably have to have pretty good knees to be one of the best golfers in D.C.), sought deferment after deferment to avoid military service, claiming "bad knees" amongst other things. Chambliss then went on to compare a war hero who lost three limbs on the battlefield to a terrorist, and further went on to rack up terrible ratings from veterans groups as Chambliss opposed benefits for veterans. Saxby Chambliss cowardly ducked service and then, in a most disgusting fashion, attacked those who did serve and did sacrifice. When he votes on veterans issues, he opposes benefits for veterans. And when it was time for the Senate to discuss intelligence regarding the Iraq War, Saxby literally skipped work to go out golfing. Chambliss isn't willing to sacrifice himself for our national security - he isn't even willing to skip a round of golf for our national security. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

After an explosion at an Imperial Sugar refinery, an executive came forward to testify about the dangers at the refinery and how he had tried to get the powers that be at Imperial to make the plant safer before the explosion. This man wanted to make the workplace safer for Georgian workers. However, when he came to testify, Saxby Chambliss used it as an opportunity to attack the man who was only trying to make Georgian workplaces safer. You see, Imperial Sugar and the sugar industry in general are big donors to Saxby Chambliss. And Saxby Chambliss cares about Saxby Chambliss, so Chambliss sided with his political benefactors instead of Georgia's workers. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

Subsequently, Saxby Chambliss was recently subpoenaed to testify in the Imperial Sugar trial. But Saxby's lawyers are trying to convince us that the rules don't apply to Saxby because he's currently a U.S. Senator. Saxby is trying to weasel out of testifying in a case against his donors. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about the rule of law, and he doesn't care about you.

When PeachCare (Georgia's version of the federal SCHIP program that provides health care for poor children) ran out of money and the Senate voted on whether or not to fund and expand the program so that sick children could have health care, Saxby Chambliss voted against health care for sick children. Saxby then spent quite some time generating cockamamie stories about how voting against health care for Georgia's sick children was somehow good for Georgia's families. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

Georgia's senior citizens should be very concerned about their retirement income. They should be very concerned because Saxby Chambliss isn't concerned. Saxby wanted to privatize social security and put seniors' retirement funds into the stock market. If Saxby had gotten his way, Georgia's seniors would have seen their social security disappear amid the current financial crisis. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

Saxby Chambliss has a history of, at best, "racially insensitive" comments and actions. He calls non-minority voters (i.e. white voters) "our folks," and he refers to voters outside of his white base (i.e. minority voters) "the other folks." It doesn't help Chambliss' credibility that he has hosted golf outings for lobbyists at a whites-only country club. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

A recent column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution summarizes Saxby Chambliss quite succinctly:

Saxby Chambliss has spent the last six years as a loyal servant of Big Business. He has worked to deliver whatever corporate executives wanted, no matter how greedy, selfish or dangerous their wish list. He has bent the rules to accommodate the captains of commerce.

Now that the Republican senator finds himself facing an unexpected challenge from Democrat Jim Martin, he's trying to persuade Georgians that he's spent his tenure working hard for the little guy. Don't be fooled. Chambliss is the lap dog of corporate interests.

Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you. He should, but he doesn't. However, you should care about you, your family, your community and your country; and, when you vote, you should vote with your interest in mind. Which is precisely why you shouldn't vote for Saxby Chambliss - he won't be able to do anything for you, even if he wanted to (which he doesn't):

When you look at Saxby and Johnny, you have to wonder how Georgia could have ended up with these two guys in Washington to represent them in these dire times. They'll be lucky to get appointments to the window-washing and elevator-maintenance committees.

Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about the challenges you face. Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you.

Fortunately, Jim Martin does care about you. Jim Martin wants to fight for tax cuts for Georgia's working families. Jim Martin wants to make sure that Georgia's families have access to health care. Jim Martin wants to make sure that our senior citizens retire with dignity, that our soldiers receive the equipment they need, and that our veterans receive the benefits they deserve.

In Tuesday's run-off election, the bottom line - the only thing that truly matters - is this: Saxby Chambliss doesn't care about you, your family, or your well-being. Jim Martin does care about you. Jim Martin does understand the challenges you face. And Jim Martin would be a far superior Senator to look out for the interests of Georgia's families rather than the special interests of Big Business.

Please vote for the candidate who actually cares about you. Vote for Jim Martin on Tuesday.