Eric Johnson Speech at Tifton Forum

Johnson starts out with a rather smart move – acknowledging that he is in Austin Scott’s backyard and quite possibly a lot of the vote there will be going for Scott, but that he hopes to be the crowd’s #2 choice.

Next, he says he thinks this election is about trust – “Who do you trust with conservative values? Who do you trust to deal with the tough issues this state faces? Who do you trust to do the right thing when nobody is looking?”. By and large, I agree with him – but even though I haven’t delved deep into his history, I know there are some mistakes in there that may call people’s trust in him in question.

Next, Johnson goes into his history. He started out in politics 31 years ago in Savannah where he “wanted to fight for a two Party system”. In that regard, he and I are very similar in belief, as I also now fight for a two party system.

“Citizens always benefit when there is a competition for their vote, no matter what Party you’re in.” Quite possibly one of the best lines from the entire debate. Indeed, that is the primary reason I ran for Leesburg City Council – to give the citizens a choice.

He continues with his history, noting that he cut his teeth in the Reagan Revolution (quite possibly the only candidate to mention that particular “R” word in his speech), then went back to Savannah and worked in the grassroots before being elected to the State House of Representatives in 1992 followed by the State Senate in 1994. Four years later, he was elected to be the Minority Leader and he notes here that he went toe-to-toe with Roy Barnes, as this was the same time as Barnes’ term as Governor. When the GOP took control of the State Senate, he became the Senate Pro-Tem. He notes here that he went toe-to-toe with Roy Barnes, as this was the same time as Barnes’ term as Governor. At that time, the Senate took much of the Lt Governor’s power away from him because he was a Democrat (Albany’s Mark Taylor), making Johnson the de facto Lt Governor. When the Republicans gained the Lt Gov position in 2006 with the rise of Casey Cagle, they gave the power back to that office. In other words, Johnson is partisan to the core.

Johnson claims that he never forgot his conservative roots and that while he was the de facto Lt Governor, the Republican leadership cut spending and cut taxes. I’m sure Jason knows more about that than I, but I am pretty sure that even in this budget crunch, State spending is STILL higher now than what it was when Roy Barnes left office in January 2003.

Johnson then brags about cracking down on illegal immigrants and sexual predators – though he forgets to mention that he defines “sexual predator” as a 17 yo girl that gives her 15 yo boyfriend a blowjob, at least under laws passed in that era. He continues bragging about other GOP talking points, such as passing pro-life legislation, photo ID to vote, and combating violently chronic public schools – yet teachers are still assaulted on a near-daily basis across this state and NOTHING is done about it.

Then Johnson gives his enemies pretty much all the ammunition they need, saying that Republicans have done everything they said they would do when they were in the minority. Admittedly, my political knowledge doesn’t go back that far – I only started paying some attention to State politics in 2006, and only this year turned a genuine focus to it – but I’m pretty sure that statement isn’t as accurate as Eric Johnson would like you to believe.

Johnson also states that Georgia has “good infrastructure”, when almost all of his opponents of all parties are talking about the need to improve it and/or fix it.

The he states that both Parties in Washington have forgotten where they came from, and that Republicans got fired over it. I agree, though I believe many in the Georgia GOP are JUST as out of touch with the people as the National GOP they are trying to distance themselves from. He blames Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid on National GOPers.

Johnson then acknowledges his past, saying “I can be blunt, and I can be politically incorrect. If you want to know where I stand on an issue, ask me.”. Honestly, this is one of the things I like best about him, even though we disagree quite a bit. I’d rather have an honest guy I disagree with than a guy that tells me one thing to my face and another behind my back.

“Pro Business, Pro Family, Pro Life, and Pro Gun. Period. Next question.” is how Johnson describes his platform and says “Small government, strong families, and freedom. That’s the heart of what we believe, and if you stick to those three principles you can solve just about anything.”

“Taxpayers cannot afford and should not be promised a Department of Happiness.” He then talks about the tax code – as he did when I spoke to him in June – and says it is time for a comprehensive revision of it to make it broader, simpler, fairer, and lower.

I’ll end this post with quite possibly the most memorable line from Johnson’s speech, about a minute before the end of it – and also a very dangerous line:

“A lot of candidates will stand up here and tell you what they’re gonna do. You can look at my record and see what I’ve done.”