I'll learn to work the saxophone, I'll play just what I feel

(Steely Dan "Deacon Blues" video strictly for the 'sax' reference. Mostly I find them unlistenable. But that's just me.)

tap tap, is this thing on? Ahem...

People of Georgia,

What in the bloody hell is wrong with you? Granted, Jim Martin wasn't a dream candidate, but Saxby fuckin' Chambliss? The man is a disgrace to your state.

He used racist campaign tactics:

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Hillsborough County, Florida Republican party forwarded an e-mail to several hundred party members that warned of “‘the threat’ of ‘carloads of black Obama supporters coming from the inner city to cast their votes.’” While the McCain campaign condemned the email, the sentiment does not appear to be isolated. As Tapped notes, earlier this week, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) proclaimed that the the “rush” of African-Americans to the polls has “got our side energized“:

“There has always been a rush to the polls by African-Americans early,” he said at the square in Covington, a quick stop on a bus tour as the campaign entered its final week. He predicted the crowds of early voters would motivate Republicans to turn out. “It has also got our side energized, they see what is happening,” he said.

Similarly, Chambliss has been warning his “predominantly white base” in North Georgia, “The other folks are voting.”

In 2002 he ran one of the ugliest Swift-Boat campaigns against Max Cleland:

Six years ago, Saxby Chambliss was able to win a seat in the United States Senate by deploying a series of highly personalized swipes at incumbent Democrat Max Cleland.

The attacks on Cleland's patriotism -- including running an ad that pictured the triple-amputee Vietnam veteran alongside Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden -- left a particularly bad taste in the mouths of observers, including Sen. John McCain, who called it "worse than disgraceful... reprehensible." Chambliss, after all, had never served in Vietnam. And the excuses he offered were so lame, he changed them on several occasions.

The most widely ridiculed yarn was that Chambliss' "bad knee" had kept him from serving.

"I was determined not to be physically fit," he explained during a debate in August 2002. "I had a bum knee. I had an old football knee that unfortunately they wouldn't take me."

It seemed all too unbelievable. And, generally, it was. Chambliss had sought and received five student deferments from service in Vietnam. That he would, nevertheless, criticize Cleland's patriotism was a sharp dose of political chutzpah --- but one that ultimately worked.

He's mind-numbingly stupid, and yearns for Dixie:

At a closed door meeting of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said that with better intelligence the South would have won the Civil War, today's Roll Call is reporting.

Conflicting reports have emerged about what was said, one from a source to Roll Call's “Heard on the Hill” column, the other from a spokesperson for Chambliss.

According to Roll Call's source, Chambliss said, “We need better intelligence. If we had better intelligence in the Civil War we’d be quoting Jefferson Davis, not Lincoln.”

A spokesperson for Chambliss said the story wasn't correct and that what the Senator actually said said was, “If Gen. JEB Stuart had had better intelligence, we’d all be meeting in Richmond right now.”

He interfered with a hearing into an explosion at one of his contributors' sugar plants:

An Imperial Sugar Co. executive's lawyer says the company put U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss up to harassing his client at a subcommittee hearing.

Near the end of the Tuesday session in Washington, the Georgia Republican lit into Graham H. Graham, Imperial's vice president of operations.

"I believe Chambliss was espousing the company line in an effort to discredit and blunt Mr. Graham's testimony," the attorney, Philip Hilder, said Wednesday.

Chambliss denied that, saying he spoke on behalf of the families of the 13 people killed as a result of the Feb. 7 explosions and fire at the Port Wentworth refinery.

He voted against expanding PeachCare, GA's version of SCHIP:

A Democrat seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss blasted the Republican's vote against expanding PeachCare, the state's health insurance program for poor children.

Former television journalist Dale Cardwell on Thursday accused Chambliss of being bought off by special interest contributions from the tobacco and health insurance industries. The children's health expansion would be funded by a boost in the cigarette tax.

"There has been no better example this year of the power special interests have over Saxby Chambliss than his vote against children's healthcare,'' Cardwell said at state Capitol news conference.

Chambliss has received $145,000 from tobacco interests and $123,299 from health insurance political action committees since 1994, according to data from Congressional Quarterly.

A phone call to Chambliss' Washington office was not immediately returned on Thursday.

Earlier this week President Bush vetoed what would have been a $35 billion, five-year expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Plan that had been approved in the Democratic-led Congress. The measure called for adding an estimated 4 million mostly lower-income children to a program that currently covers 6.6 million.

Chambliss and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, also of Georgia, are among the Republicans who voted against the plan. They said while they support expanding the program, the bill is too generous. It lets some states continue getting waivers to enroll families in higher income brackets and adults.

Heck, just go read Senate Guru's post on Chambliss, it covers about every venal, mendacious, stupid episode in his wretched career.

So Georgia, you got your man.

Note: No disrespect meant to right-thinking Georgians such as Valley Girl, TRex, PatRex, Pam's God-daughter Kimmie and her husband Pascal, and several other unnamed good folks.

Otherwise, Georgia, revel in the glory that is Saxby. You've earned it.

Bastards.

Update: I forgot to include friend & co-blogger FallenMonk in the list of Georgia good guys. My bad, as teh kidz say.