In an email this afternoon, the 9th District campaign of Doug Collins directed voters to a video compilation featuring a 15-second snippet from rival Martha Zoller’s career as a radio talk show host and occasional TV talking head.
The topic was marijuana. Here’s the clip from the Collins camp:
Collins has a longer segment from CNN here, taped in March 2009. CNN’s Don Lemon references a previous conversation in which Zoller supposedly said she might reconsider her opposition to the legalization of marijuana. Says Zoller:
“I think a lot of people are looking at it, thinking about it. I mean, heck, we can’t keep taxing cigarettes and liquor.”
Collins, of course, says he would never consider such a thing.
The Zoller camp declares her comments have been taken out of context, although it couldn’t provide extended audio/video that might back that up. Instead, her campaign issued this statement:
Doug Collins is a professional politician and trial lawyer who continues to prove that he will literally do or say anything to get elected. These out of context half quotes are a pathetic attempt to distract voters from the simple truth ….
And then the statement pivots and points to Collins’ support for the TSPLOST legislation that voters trashed last week.
A point or two, acknowledging that a political campaign may be the worst arena in which to hold a substantive conversation. First of all, yes, the Legislature voted this spring to prohibit synthetic marijuana – a measure supported by Collins.
But the Legislature also passed judicial reforms this spring, backed by Gov. Nathan Deal and his floor leader, aimed at emptying state prisons of inmates whose sole crime is individual drug possession. That’s not legalization, but one could argue that the institution of drug courts is a step toward decriminalization. And a good thing, by the way. Nothing to apologize for.
Secondly, consider this set of quotes that appeared in the New York Times last March 7:
“I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol …. I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”
“I believe in working with the hearts of people, and not locking them up.”
Those words were uttered the Rev. Pat Robertson, who still falls on the conservative side of the spectrum.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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