Now Roy Barnes won’t have to compete with Clint Murphy over the “Bull Moose” title, now that the Whigs have formed in Cobb County!
As was covered here and on other blogs, last week Roy Barnes told the Gwinnett Rotary, “I’m fed up with both the Democrats and the Republicans. I’d be a Bull Moose or a Whig if they still had a party.”
Well, with the formation of the Georgia chapter of the Modern Whig Party, Roy Barnes can finally leave the Democrat Party for his new home as a Whig!
According to the Marietta Daily Journal,
There’s a new political party in town. The Georgia Modern Whig Party was established six months ago, and its state party leader, a Cobb resident, is recruiting members among disaffected voters in the county.
Robert Madayag III of Marietta, an intellectual property lawyer in Atlanta, is the party’s state chairman. The party has fewer than 100 members statewide, but he is organizing seminars to attract new members. The first will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at Mountain View library at 3320 Sandy Plains Road in northeast Cobb.
While 100 members…does Barnes now make it 101?…isn’t exactly what it will take to win statewide in Georgia, the Modern Whig Party’s nomination will certainly be easier and cheaper to get than the Democrat nomination and Barnes will have the extra funds for the general election.
The idea was not lost on the MDJ either which reminded its readers of the former governor’s statement;
After speaking at a recent Gwinnett Rotary Club meeting, former Gov. Roy Barnes – a Democratic candidate for governor – reportedly lamented about politics at the state capitol, saying, “I’m fed up with both the Democrats and the Republicans. I’d be a Bull Moose or a Whig if they still had a party.”
More information about the Georgia Modern Whig Party can be found online at www.gawhigs.org.
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I don’t think King Roy was all that serious with the Whig reference. If I recall my history correctly, the Whigs’ big deal was believing that the legislature should have far more power than the executive. That’s about 180-degrees from his last term.
Besides, “Modern Whig” sounds kinda like “Trendy Square-Dance”. Unless it’s primarily a social club for history buffs, I’d pick a newer or more intuitive name like “Moderate Party” or something.
Actually, the Modern version looks decently close to Barnes’ ideas, what little of them I remember (cut me some slack, I was 15 when he was first elected, not politically active at the time).
The National tenets and detailed vision can be seen here – socially tolerant but still supports massive federal intervention in at LEAST Afghanistan, NASA, NOAA, and some others.
Although this issues is decidedly un-Barneslike:
Political Re-districting- It is morally and ethically reprehensible that the ones re writing voting districts are the very people affected by them. This should be done in the state by a by-partisan committee and ratified by a judge without any partisan involvement.
The rest of their state issues could not be more mamby pamby and less innovative:
Education – some say it’s bad some say it’s not, let’s work together.
Transportation – let’s build some smart infrastructure.
Budget- we need more of a surplus for a rainy day fund and it needs flexibility.
Healthcare – don’t come up with a quick decision. Pick the low hanging fruit and consolidate the bad stuff.
Georgia Economy – follow the previous advice and we’ll do just fine.
Crime- We need to comprehensively reduce it by focusing on the bad variables. (Actually they didn’t have crime, but they are free to add my response.)
So as you can see, their issue statements basically say nothing at all, other than redistricting, which could not be more contrary to Barnes’ attitude about political districts.
So you basically saying that Roy Barnes is a Whigger? I’m amazed that neither Erick or nor Pete have run with that yet!
Too “Liberatarian-Lite” to be taken seriously by the fringes that would be interested in jumping their partisan ship.
That’s actually exactly what I’m thinking. They are basically on that line between RLC/forgot the name of the equivalent Dem group and LP – which is really a very thin line to begin with.
As a closet Tory bent on world domination, I welcome the challenge.
Maybe Roy will wear his wig inside out..sort of like a rally cap.
Roy’s a lawyer, but I think he secretly wants to be a barrister:
http://elvis-pelt.com/Images/ImagesK/ImagesK1/BarristerPoint.jpg
What’s the point when the deck is stacked making it pretty well impossible for 3rd party or independent candidates to even get on the ballot? I agree with many that 3rd parties will likely have little if any impact. But to essentially ban them from the process is anti-democratic. Unfortunately neither Dems nor Repubs. have any incentive to do the right thing and open up ballot access.
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