Everything is secondary to party loyalty

A 2,400-vote win, it seems, turned Deal, who resigned from Congress rather than face an ethics probe, into an honest, ethical non-relic deserving of the governorship of Georgia.

Either Handel was lying about Deal during the campaign, or she is lying now. Period. Either way, Handel has demonstrated that she is a liar.

This is hardly a new political tactic, nor one used exclusively by Handel or Republicans. You see variations of it in every political race in which there are multiple candidates. Former opponents endorse some of the very people they’ve so willingly disparaged in order to defeat the other party’s candidate.

It’s all about team politics. No matter how compromised your candidate is, he (or she) is a member of your team. If a serial rapist winds up with the nomination, the party will unite around him with enthusiasm and cash.

I submit that this is exactly why so many people are turned off by Democrats and Republicans alike. We know neither party possesses all the answers or represents us on every single position. We expect the people we elect to represent us first and their party second. We want our elected officials to look after the business of Georgia (or America) before they tend to the needs or desire of their political party.

It’s one thing for Handel to pull out the big guns and hammer Deal on the well-documented ethics issues. Those are fair game. It’s quite another, however, after losing in a very close race, to act as if the critical issues she raised in her campaign are now irrelevant. That she suddenly finds Deal well qualified to be governor makes her just another party-first politician. She is, in effect, endorsing an unethical, crooked relic to borrow her own terms.

Voters are partisan, but there are still staunch Republicans who will vote for the occasional Democrat and solid Democrats who will pull an R lever in November. We’re capable of voting on the merits of the candidates above those of the party.

Handel should have walked away from this one or limited her comments to blasting the Democratic nominee, Roy Barnes. By lining up with a man she painted as despicable, she sullies her own reputation more than she ever damaged his.

Right is right and wrong is wrong, regardless of party affiliation.

Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce News. He lives in Commerce.