Wednesday, September 14, 2005

McCarter out, someone else in

The ABH says that States McCarter is out of the mayor's race. He's in, he's out, it's all part of the mayoral hokey-pokey. Given the somewhat disorganized nature of his entrance (seriously States, did you forget to tell Flagpole, or did you just blow them off?), and the very mysterious and sudden nature of his departure, this whole running for mayor thing just looks like an ill-conceived idea from a guy who finally came to his senses.

So why did States drop out? Well, barring the possibility that Tom Chasteen hired some thugs to shake him down, we're left with one conclusion.

He couldn't win, and he knew it.

But wait, doesn't States himself say that, "he believes he would have won"? On that, we're calling shenanigans. If he honestly thought he could have won, he'd still be in right now, barring, of course, family or health concerns, both of which he ruled out. Nope, States knew that he was going to get his ass kicked, so he cut and ran. And there's nothing wrong with that.

If States or his fans don't like to hear that as the probable reason for his departure from the race, we apologize. But unfortunately, the Commissioner was less than forthcoming with an actual reason, so we're left to draw what conclusions we may.

Of course it could be that he was scared out of the race when he realized that his anti-Bruno Rubio rhetoric had aroused the ire of the mighty journalistic behemoth that is Athens Politics. (We're obviously just kidding. Hilary was mad at him too)

The ABH also notes that States seems to have already hand-picked his replacement on the Commission. Hmm, we always thought that the correct time to create a political machine was before you became a lame duck.

So, who's going to jump in and fill the gaping void left by States McCarter? Andy Rusk thinks he can. Of course, he also says he wants to use the mayor's office to "publicize his beliefs" [emphasis ours], which, if you'll pardon us, sounds just a leeeeeetle bit self-centered.

Sez Rusk, "The mayor is a PR person, a figurehead."

No argument here, and most of the time, the mayor isn't even a particularly good figurehead. But the thing is, that the mayor doesn't have to just be a figurehead. Rusk's point about the bully pulpit is well-taken, but it should be a bully pulpit for the citizens that aren't being represented in government, not for the mayor's personal beliefs. Now, it could be that the ABH misquoted or distorted what Rusk was trying to say. We hope so, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time the ABH has gotten it wrong.

Still, it's nice to see a candidate who at least gives the appearance of being blunt and plain-spoken, but unfortunately, those candidates tend to lose (even if they do end up getting appointed chair of the DNC). So, even though it's still early, we wonder if Andy Rusk isn't going to end up being the Mike Hamby (ran for mayor in 1994, keep up people!) of this year's mayor's race.

Scoop us up, bitches!

12 comments:

hillary said...

He's definitely going to get some votes, especially from students.

Cufflink Carl said...

It's nice to see someone in the mayor's race who was born after "My Sharona" came out.

hillary said...

Hell yes. If he'd cut back on the anti-government ramblings (no mass grading ordinance? come on, dude), I'd really consider voting for him.

Cufflink Carl said...

I'm a little suspicious of him because of his opposition to the mass grading ordinance, coupled with the fact that he works as a carpenter (making me wonder what, if any, connection he might have with the Athens developer types.

hillary said...

Right. There's clearly a little of that going on. It would be nice to have some sort of candidate who's anti-anti-fun but also not pro-developer.

Cufflink Carl said...

Of course, considering the current makeup of the commission, and how unlikely it is to change substantially, I think it's be pretty interesting to have an anti-anti-fun mayor constantly using the aforementioned "bully pulpit" to call out the definitely anti-fun commission.

Cufflink Carl said...

Of course, after yesterday's hullaballoo, I'm all about Dave Cappi for Mayor.

Jmac said...

Rusk is this year's John Hadden. Says he's a Democrat, but he's only a Democrat because he lives in Clarke County. Ask this guy about a Democrat he likes, and he'll say 'well, Zell Miller makes a lot of sense.'

That's just my thinking though ...

Cufflink Carl said...

On a personal level, I'm still waiting for a candidate I can get excited about.

From the blog's perspective though, rest assured that everyone will have an equal opportunity to be snarked at.

Jmac said...

You mean Charlie Mattox doesn't get you fired up?

Cufflink Carl said...

Don't know much about Charlie Mattox to be honest, although if you do, or if you've got a contact with him, tell him to send me some stuff for a possible future candidate profile.

Jmac said...

Yeah, I got nothing on Mattox. He's the uber-quiet mayoral candidate. He works in the Labor department, or something.