Artur Davis or Earl Hilliard?

[Syrinx]

Poll question: Artur Davis or Earl Hilliard?

Artur Davis is not liberal enough for me. I think I even posted in this forum once, not that long ago, that "I cannot support Artur Davis anymore," after that "bankruptcy reform" bill, or some such thing. And I think it's true that Davis could be much more liberal and still keep his seat in the House until he decides to retire.

But Artur wants higher office. He wants to be governor. And maybe senator after that. And it seems to me that he would have absolutely no hope of achieving that goal if he toed the liberal line on every issue. And who knows, maybe he even believes in the bluish-dog agenda he has followed. I'm not sure.

I saw an article where Congressman Davis says that he has calculated that he needs something like 36% of the white vote (maybe it was 38%; I'm not sure) to win in a general election for governor. Do you think he can get that? Can a black man be elected governor of Alabama?

That's a separate question from my main poll question. If anyone chooses to vote in this poll, who do you think makes a better representative for this particular Alabama district that includes parts of Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Selma, Artur Davis or Earl Hilliard?

Earl Hilliard was more reliably liberal. Unfortunately he was also more reliably racist. Or at least more reliably anti-white and especially anti-Jewish. I didn't say "anti-semitic" because I don't understand that term, really. Aren't Arabs semitic people too? Hilliard wasn't anti-Arab. He was bosom buddies with Muammar Gaddafi.

I think Davis is far and away a better person than Hilliard. But I do wish he would be less inclined to support the corporate overlords.

[Frances]

1. I didn't vote in the poll

but I hope more people will post comments about Artur Davis' quest for governor. As I recall, Obama got about 39% of the total vote in Alabama. I have read (I think it was in my home town paper)that Davis' quest is Quixotic.

Davis has a one in a million chance to be governor, but if he is elected governor, I would think he would want to be Senator after that.

[Syrinx]

2. I wouldn't call his run quixotic

I think that Davis is taking a very hard-headed, practical approach to the thing. If Hilliard were to run for governor, now that would be quixotic. Not to mention hopeless.

Davis, I think, understands that the race is an uphill battle, but he is confident in his abilities. I wouldn't put his odds at one in a million. I would go more with one in a hundred. About the same odds that I would have given Barack Obama to be elected president.

Although he breaks my heart when he sides with corporate America over the people, as sometimes he has done, from my vantage point, he stands head-and-shoulders above Alabama's other eight congressional officers.

Nice to see you check in Frances! :patriot:

[jody]

3. RE "sides with corporate America" Davis like George Wallace knows what it takes to get elected. Once

elected he can work to gradually move a large, lethargic state in a slightly different direction.

That can happen only after Davis is elected.

I want to believe Davis has the "greater good" as his goal and if he uses corporate interests to get elected, I'll accept that while hoping he will help Alabama's poor as governor.

Despite the opinion of most against Wallace as a segregationist, he did much to help African Americans during his tenure as governor.

Could he have done more, perhaps but at least he did something.

Wallace was a product of his time and culture just as we are all affected by such things.

:shrug:

[Frances]

4. I was a senior in high school when

George Wallace was defeated by John Patterson. My classmates told me that Wallace said he'd been "out-segged" by Patterson. I wasn't paying enough attention to the election to know if that statement was true.

I did think that John Patterson had definitely benefitted from the horrible murder of his father, Albert Patterson, who was trying to clean up corruption in Phenix City, AL. (Some people in my hometown claimed that Albert Patterson was also corrupt and that his murder was the result of an argument between corrupt people.)

As an aside, an Auburn High School graduate Ace Atkins has recently published a very readable, highly rated novel based on that murder. It's called Wicked City. In Atkins' novel, Si Garrett, who grew up in my home town, helped set up the murder. As another aside, I seem to recall that a female member of the Garrett family was involved in the prosecution of Don Siegelman. Maybe someone else remembers more about that.

In the last year, I read an article about a black Selma lawyer who said that when George Wallace was a judge, he treated this black lawyer more respectfully than any other judge.

But my memories of George Wallace are very bad. I remember being in a crowd when Wallace claimed that if a pointy headed liberal lay down in front of his car, he'd run over the man. The crowd went so wild that it was scary. I understood then how a mob could be incited to riot or even kill. I understood that being part of a mob can make people do things that they would not do if they were alone. I also understood how the Klan felt it could kill without fear of punishment.

As another aside, I have a friend whose father-in-law was persuaded to defend the FBI informant who identified the killers of Viola Liuzzi (sp?). As I recall, Wallace was going to prosecute this informant for something. The prosecution never took place, but my friend's father-in-law was fired from his family's Birmingham law firm for agreeing to defend the man. Bobby Kennedy has persuaded my friend's father-in-law to prosecute because the justice department needed an Alabama lawyer to do the job. Kennedy knew an Alabama jury would be biased against an out-of-state lawyer.

[trof]

5. Looks like our paths have crossed a few times.

I was also a Senior in high school when Patterson was elected. My mother and I worked on his campaign in Birmingham and around the state. She was a mutual funds saleswoman and he later appointed her to the state board of pensions and securities.

As I remember, Patterson ran a very racist campaign, but that was par for the course back then and I didn't think much of anything about it.

I have read that Wallace originally said that Patterson had "out-niggered" him and that he would never let that happen again in politics. The story was cleaned up to 'out-segged' for public consumption.

I do believe Wallace was more of a populist than anything else.

I read Atkins' book a few months ago and it brought back a lot of memories of the time.

[Frances]

6. So glad to share these memories

The best thing that Wallace did, IMO, is set up the community (originally called junior) college system. I taught at Acey-Jacey (Alexander City Junior College) for one year (the second year of the Alabama community college system as I recall) before leaving Alabama.

Since then, I have taught in community colleges in Massachusetts, Maryland, and California. The community colleges help working and middle class people tremendously. They really are democratic.

By the way, I heard Bill Clinton speak outdoors at Montgomery Community College in Maryland when he made his first run for President.

So glad you read Wicked City. I've mentioned the book to several people, including a Grove Hill native who's a history professor and very knowledgeable about the Grove Hill Garrett family. But no one has read Wicked City. I think that Atkins caught the desperation of the people. There was so much poverty and so little hope for so many people in that area and that time. But what a mess so many made of their lives and the lives of others! The wife of the law officer who had a beauty shop in the back and cooked a pot roast once a week was heroic in that she created a decent life for herself. Of course, she had a lot more going for her than so many of the other people in the book.

I just finished reading Atkins' White Shadows set in Tampa, Florida. Atkins is a talented story teller, but I've had enough noir to last me for a year.

[trof]

8. Where yat now?

I left Alabama for about 25 years to pursue my career in aviation.
Lived in small towns near Chicago and Boston and enjoyed the small town lifestyle and the proximity to the 'big city'.

We came back in '93 in a pre-retirement move.
Love the place and our life.
Hate the politics.

[Frances]

9. My daughter in Scotts Valley CA

asked my husband and me to move near her, so we made the move out here from Maryland in early 2003.

I loved growing up in a very small town in south Alabama, but my brothers and sister and I all left for jobs elsewhere after graduating from Auburn. Not one of our children is in Alabama; they are scattered everywhere.

If I remember right, you live on a beautiful bay not too far from Mobile. I could live very happily there--if either of my daughters was nearby! Of course, I would not like the politics either.

[trof]

12. That's a good reason to move. Our daughter is in MA.

1500 miles away.
I'd love to be closer to her, but I'm NOT moving back up north in the snow/ice/cold.

[Frances]

13. I understand your attitude about snow and ice!

My other daughter and her family live in Cambridge, MA, and they've had lots of snow this year.

I loved Medford, MA, when I lived there in the early 70s, but I will never forget the day that the high was 2 degrees. Fortunately, my Cambridge daughter has been to CA 3 times this year on business, so I haven't had to brave the cold to go and see her.

[jody]

7. Thanks for sharing, you young people have much better memories than us oldsters.

:hi:

[msmelly]

14. Si Garrett

Leura Cannary is not a member of the Garrett family from Grove
Hill.  She announced that Si was her uncle in the Montgomery
Advertiser.  That is just simply incorrect.  

[Cell Whitman]

10. I have a line I try my best not to cross

Like supporting people who shill for Sun Myung Moon and promote his "messianic" mission.

"Hyun Jin Moon" is Moon's son, one of four of his kids he has placed in key leadership roles in the organization. Anyone who thinks the Moon org dies with him are very, very mistaken.

http://tinyurl.com/def7qy

Former US Congressman Earl F. Hilliard from Alabama introduced Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, the keynote speaker. “The dream to build ‘One Family under God’ is not the dream of just one man, woman, or family but belongs to all humanity, and most of all, to God,” Dr. Moon said.

If you are not familiar with the Global Peace Festivals and the cry "One Family Under God", read this:
http://www.moontribune.com/cult/2008/11/24/christian-church-leaders-call-sun-myung-moon-the-devil-and-anti-christ/

Hilliard has made several appearances promoting Moon's world plot.

[jody]

11. Agree and don't forget True Parents Day

"On Friday in Mobile, Alabama state Sen. George Callahan, R-Theodore, spoke at the American Leadership Conference, a Unification-sponsored event. 'I've attended several of their sessions and events. They seem to want to diversify and become part of the larger religious community of Mobile,' Callahan said. 'They aren't pushing their religion, it's more family values. That's why they invite me. My platform falls in line with theirs. I'm a pro-life, family values politician.'"

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif79.html