Posted on 08/23/2007 4:06:03 PM PDT by moonman
That sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Folks, this story opens an enormous can of worms which is going to be very bad for conservatives in the Southeast
I am no special Web genius, if I can see the possible connections in a few minutes, the leftist attack dogs will get around to it. I was giving folks a headsup so they couldn't be sandbagged.
Ralph Reed is not really all that powerful in Ga anymore. He’s been tarnished by Abramoff.
Besides, the establishment R’s in Georgia was knocked down a few notches when their boy, Jim Whitehead, the assumed winner-to-be, lost in the run-off for Norwood’s seat.
I think it has something to do with the Abramoff crap.
Welcome to FR,
Thanks for the info- Sorry to hear this guy’s rep is being trashed. It’s good you stopped by to correct the record.
Please pass on my sympathies to friends and family.
Have you any idea what the real story is?
His name is Jason Robert Drake and he was a marine, he came with the gun and a "backpack full of ammunition."
Deputies: Former Marine was shooter among 3 dead in Orlando
The Associated Press - ORLANDO, Fla.
A 30-year-old former Marine featured in a 1999 news photo from a refugee camp in Macedonia that circulated worldwide was responsible for killing himself and two others in a double murder-suicide, authorities said Monday.
Jason Robert Drake, 30, had several potential motives, witnesses reportedly told the Orange County Sheriff's Office. He allegedly killed Ralph Gonzalez, a well-known 39-year-old GOP political consultant, and David Abrami, a 36-year-old attorney also active for the Republican Party.
Drake's image was seen everywhere in a photo distributed by The Associated Press featuring him with two Albanian children in a NATO refugee camp, one tousling his short hair.
The shootings happened in Gonzalez's house, where Abrami had been living since moving within the past year from Atlanta, a friend said.
Drake was allegedly carrying a firearm and backpack full of ammunition.
In a lengthy interview with the Orlando Sentinel after returning from Eastern Europe in June of 1999, Drake related sadly how the Albanians lived _ cold and poor, terrorized and hungry.
"It's given me a different perspective," he told the newspaper. "But people are still people. We're all basically the same. But it's kind of disappointing in the human race."
Drake was in charge of 12 men as a Marine squad leader, but said he spent most of the time at sea with plenty of freedom.
He hadn't seen the ubiquitous picture for nearly a month _ his unit's e-mail was turned off for security purposes. But he heard the air war, and once even wished he'd be sent on foot to fight.
"At one point, I got really angry. I said to myself, 'let's go fight.' But I'm glad it didn't come to that," Drake said. "You see all the people suffering and it just weighs on you," he added.
Drake returned after his hitch to cheerful relatives and grandparents with his picture framed on the wall.
In a short interview from his North Carolina home on Monday, Drake's grandfather Robert Dalton declined to talk.
"We don't know a lot about it because we're way up here," he said.
Gonzalez was buried Monday. A former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party, he managed U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney's 2002 campaign and was president of Strategum Group, an Orlando-based political consulting firm.
Abrami, an attorney, was also active in Republican politics.
Lew Oliver, head of the Orange County Republican Party and a friend of Gonzalez and Abrami, said the two were close friends who met some 20 years ago doing campaign work.
Oliver said he had never heard of Drake.
Oliver said Gonzalez was a born strategist who always became emotionally invested in clients.
"He was as good a political consultant as there was within 50 or 100 miles, and he was probably the busiest locally," Oliver said. "He was known at times for being too strident in some campaigns, but he came by it honestly. He just really badly wanted his candidates to win, and it's that kind of loyalty that earned him repeat business. He was really loyal, almost to a fault."
Tax records show Gonzalez bought the east Orange County home where the three were found dead in 2004 for $150,000. Deputies responding to the scene also helped tend to two hungry, dehydrated dogs.
ping!
ping too
thanks for the update
Thanks for the ping!
ping
Strange that I saw nothing on this in my paper or news though I am sure it must have been covered. Being a Republican, one would have expected wider coverage.
Thanks for the welcome and for the condolences. This GAL is definitely excited about this web site. I am glad that I am not the only Republican that has chosen to leave the party for Libertarian pastures. Chuck Muth is one of my favorite writers for the “leave your federal fingers out of my money pot” that I read.
I look forward to joining in the conversation as this election season is getting hotter and hotter! That is one way to honor the memory of David and his room mate.
What was that all about? Post
Hey Rest. No idea.
bttt - may be needing this thread soon
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