The Devil went down to Georgia

("Midnight Train to Georgia"-Gladys Knight & The Pips)

Thankfully, the empty vessel that is Sarah Palin ruined John McCain's last chance for the Presidency. Sadly, though, she seems determined to continue her crusade for fame and power. Let's hope she has the same effect on the Republican Party as she did on McCain's candidacy.

Like a good Party soldier, she's gone gone to Georgia to campaign against a real soldier, by supporting the truly awful Saxby Chambliss, who was never a soldier. The largest newspaper in Alaska says:

Gov. Sarah Palin is putting her conservative Republican fame to work in Georgia, stumping for Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is in a tough runoff for re-election.

I wonder if she knows the true measure of the man she is eagerly helping.

Chambliss was elected to the Senate in 2002 by running one of the most reprehensible campaigns of modern times. He was up against incumbent Democrat Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs and his right arm to a grenade during that conflict.

Chambliss avoided serving in Vietnam. He got four student draft deferments, and when his number finally came up, he was medically disqualified with knee troubles.

In the best Karl Rove fashion, Chambliss the draft-evader attacked Cleland the war hero for being soft on terrorism. Distorting Cleland’s votes about workplace rules for the new Homeland Security Department employees, Chambliss portrayed him as a tool of terrorists like Osama bin Laden.

Here’s how the Almanac of American Politics (2006) described it:

“Chambliss ran an ad, much attacked in the press, showing pictures of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Max Cleland, and saying that Cleland 'voted against the President’s vital homeland security efforts 11 times.’” (Those “vital homeland security efforts” Cleland opposed were intended to strip homeland security employees of union rights and other workplace protections.)

The man who couldn’t bring himself to serve in the military said a man who left three limbs behind in war was a weakling who would turn the country over to terrorists.

Go, Sarah, go.

Slate has a dry but thorough summary of the emptiness of the Palin Mystique. Here are a couple of tid-bits:

What command experience does Palin have as head of the Alaska National Guard?

The Alaska governor has no command role with National Guard troops engaged in combat operations or with the 49^th Missile Defense Battalion, which is stationed in Alaska. She does command the National Guard when it comes to natural disasters and homeland security. These issues are handled by a member of her cabinet, Maj. Gen. Craig, the adjutant general for Alaska, who also handles veterans' affairs. Palin has called up the guard only once, in 2007, to fight wildfires. They were on standby for a 2007 whaling conference during which they expected protesters but were never summoned.

Cindy McCain and others have asserted that Alaska's proximity to Russia has contributed to Palin's foreign-policy knowledge. What dealings has she had with Russia?

The campaign has not come up with any. Palin has never been to Russia.

You betcha. Oh, and people of Georgia, are you stupid, or just dumb?