ROGER L. WILLIAMS

Founded

1875

GARY GRIFFIN

Publisher

Managing Editor

*

400 Isabella St.

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JACK WILLIAMS III

Waycross Ga 31501

Editor

DONNIE L. CARTER

Business Manager

JACK WILLIAMS JR., Publisher (1957-1992)

JACK WILLIAMS, Editor & Publisher (1914-1957)

P-5 Waycross Jounal-Herald Friday, February 6, 2004

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Thought

for Today

"A sound heart is life to the body,

but envy is rottenness to the bones." Proverbw 14:30

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Kahn: 'Racist Vote'

Elected Mr. Perdue

Interim Democratic Party

Chairman Bobby Kahn must be

taking his cues from national

Democratic Party Chairman

Terry McAuliffe, who together

with other high-profile

Democrats is now charging

President George Bush with

being AWOL from the Texas Air

National Guard during the

Vietnam War.

Speaking to a gathering of

Georgia Press Association editors

and publishers Thursday in

Atlanta, the irrepressible Mr.

Kahn charged Gov. Sonny Perdue

with waging a "racist campaign

for governor" when he defeated

Roy Barnes in the 2002 election.

More than any other issue, Kahn

said he believed the flag flap had

resulted in the incumbent gover-

nor's.defeat.

Responding to a question

posed by Journal-Herald Editor

Jack Williams III, who asked

what racist themes candidate

Perdue bad used during the cam-

paign, Kabn simply responded

that Perdue had repeatedly used

the flag Controversy to appeal to

what he (Kahn) called the "racist

vote."

Imagine that! The majority of

the 1,041,700 Georgians who

voted for candidate Perdue in the

2002 gubernatorial election are

"racists" in the mind of the inter-

im chairman of the Georgia

Democratic Party.

Kahn stuck to his guns. He

rejects the idea that many

Georgians preferred the post-

1956 flag for "heritage" reasons.

For him -- and presumably Mr.

Barnes -- all those who

embraced this flag are "racists"

in the strictest sense of the term.

Predictably, Kahn had nothing

good to say about Gov. Perdue,

charging that Georgia's first

Republican governor since

Reconstruction is the "least ethi-

cal governor in modem times."

"We have John Rocker as gov-

ernor," he told the Georgia edi-

tors and publishers, in reference

to the former outspoken relief

pitcher for the Atlanta Braves.

That comment brought a few

laughs but it's altogether irre-

sponsible on Kahn's part. He

knows it's not true.

Kahn, too, had Some unkind

words for U.S. Sen. Zell Miller,

who he admitted has done more

than any other Georgian to bring

national recognition to the

Georgia Democratic Party. Zell

is just trying to sell books," he

said of Miller's decision to

endorse President Bush for re-

election and criticitze the

Democrats for losing touch with

the American people.

Imagine that! The highly prin-

cipled senior senator from

Georgia is endorsing the re-elec-

tion of Mr. Bush for purely self-

serving ends. Who believes that

outrageous opinion? Certainly

very few, if any, of the editors

and publishers who heard Kahn's

disparaging remark.

Is this the best the Democrats

can do - malign their opponents

as shirkers, racists and self-serv-

ing booksellers? Can't they enter-

tain the thought that tens of thou-

sands of Georgians resented the

backroom deal that gave them

that tacky "Denny's Placemen"

and that Sen. Miller's observa-

tions, in large part, are right on

the money?