On our hands

I didn't vote for Rep. Paul Broun.

Now, given my frequent criticisms of his comments, positions and general crazy rantings, that's not terribly surprising, I know. But, then again, I'm not referring to me pulling the level this past election cycle when he was running against Bobby Saxon. I'm speaking of the special election runoff two years ago that propelled Broun into Congress.

Broun, after just squeezing into a runoff with Jim Whitehead, proceeded to upset the frontrunner thanks to heavy turnout in the rural areas of Northeast Georgia and, most crucially, an unprecedented level of support in Athens-Clarke County. His margin of victory over the well-funded and well-known Whitehead was 400 votes, meaning every ballot counted.

Since then, as we know, Broun has emerged the guy who compares the president to Hitler, thinks the president is turning AmeriCorps into a national military police, believes a public insurance option will literally kill you and blames illegal immigration for the swine flu outbreak.

Back then, though, Broun was an upstart conservative who rode a backlash against Augusta-based establishment candidates to victory.

In the first special election, 7,247 Athens voters went to the polls and awarded more than 3,900 of those ballots for Democrat James Marlowe. The other nine candidates battled for the remaining ones with Broun garnering 1,474. Broun, as we know, went on to edge Marlowe for the other spot in the runoff to square off against Norwood.

In the runoff, however, 5,723 returned to the polls, and 5,122 cast their ballot for Broun compared to 601 for Whitehead. The former captures a razor-thin victory over the latter, and the conspiracy theories that rolled around in Broun's head were unleashed on an unwitting public.

And folks, rightfully, roll their eyes.

Yet, there's something unsatisfying about this response and perhaps it's because we all knew exactly how unhinged Broun was long before he began spouting off his typical nonsense ... and progressives in Athens-Clarke County still voted for him solely because Whitehead said some mean things about the community.

So, while I don't disagree that someone needs to speak out against Broun - whether they're a fire-breathing, in-town progressive in Athens-Clarke County or a moderate Republican city councilman from Watkinsville - I think it's clear the tacit approval initially came from the very folks who are rolling their eyes now because it was Athens progressives who put this man in Congress.

He earned the endorsement from the Athens Banner-Herald, and Pete encouraged liberals to go to the polls and back him over Whitehead.

Self-professed Democrats were writing in to support him, and, after his stunning victory, local progressive activists talked about the influence Democrats played in the final outcome ...

And even though Broun is a stalwart conservative, many Democrats appear to have turned out to vote for him because Whitehead made little effort to court voters outside his home base.

"Broun is just as far-right as Whitehead. He's staunchly pro-life, pro-gun, very different than Athens -- a progressive town where Democrats do very well," said Justin Mann, a Democrat who has run campaigns in Athens. "But there was a perception in this part of the district ... that Whitehead was just going to blow us off."

Broun won because he wasn't Whitehead, and that's fair enough. Whitehead deserved every ounce of criticism he received for his lackadaisical campaigning, callous comments about Athens-Clarke County and general smugness regarding the entire process. Yet, justifiable criticism for one candidate does not equate support for another.

The Broun who earned 5,122 votes in Athens-Clarke County on July 17, 2007 is the same one who believes Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional, that global warming is a man-made myth, that illegal immigration is permitting terrorists to slip past our borders and that the federal government has the power to 'reinforce national unity.'

These aren't new views at all.

Does anyone think that Whitehead would repeatedly claim that President Obama is on the verge of establishing an authoritarian government? Or, more than that, does anyone credibly believe that Whitehead wouldn't go to bat for the federal funds and local projects that Broun swears off in his purist desire to avoid earmarks?

I had a good, progressive friend of mine, just a day or so before the runoff, ask if I was voting. I replied that I wasn't planning on it given my ideological disagreements with both men, and he devoted 15 minutes to urging me to reconsider so we could 'stop Whitehead.' Broun, he argued, was at least from Athens and that had to count for something.

I told that it really didn't, and, truth be told, Whitehead would probably be a more palpatable legislator than Broun given the record, experience and stated views of both. I reiterated my frustrations with Whitehead, but said I hoped he'd win out since he could, potentially, work the system in a more efficient and more favorable way than Broun could. Plus, Whitehead favored the popular and bipartisan Patient's Bill of Rights, which Rep. Charlie Norwood had worked so hard for during his time in Congress.

My friend, safe to say, disagreed with me, and he went and joined more than 5,100 others in voting for a man who just, 20 minutes ago, declared at a town hall that health care was a privilege, not a right and proclaimed the Republican Party as the 'Party of K-N-O-W.'