Saxby Chambliss Is Creepier Than Previously Thought
By Bob Cesca Monday Dec 01, 2008 3:30pmWatch the end of this Saxby Chambliss commercial, and keep a close eye on Sexby's -- I mean Saxby's -- right hand at the end:
He totally goes all second-base on that pre-pubescent girl. And at the very end he looks down at, errrm, something. I don't want to speculate as to what the hell he's doing, but I challenge you not to be weirded out by the creepiness of it.
(Cross posted at BobCesca.com)
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He didn't do anything wrong. But it still is funny. But wrong.
Right, if I were to grope an underaged girls breasts I would be thrown in the slammer before you could say pedophile. Where do you live where this is not considered anything but wrong?
I started reading and loving this site in 2004. But lately it's this kind of journalism. Meaningless bullshit.
And read MOST of the comments from today's posts and MANY of the past two years posts. It's all about name calling and "funny" phrases like re-pig-li-thug and assorted mindless crap.
Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark Snark
It's getting old!
It's the only thing that gets us through the days.
I'm as thrilled that we won in November as everyone else here, but really, this is just a ridiculous post. These kinds of posts really lower the quality of this site, in my opinion. Let's move past this childishness.
This is a sophomoric post. We have more important things to discuss and tackle than to imitate the mean-spiritedness of the right wing. Just because we won the election doesn't mean that we should stoop to the low standards of public discourse that they set over the last 8 years.
100% agree - Ridiculous post and it's not even close to being the first.
Start your own blog.
And, really, there's nothing that says you can't make a meaningful comment without using snarky terms. But if you feel it's that detrimental, just move along.
He's not groping her.(Deleted,Offensive. SiteMonitor)
but it definitely doesn't look like he groped her intentionally - which is why he looked down after he finished talking.
Suggesting to us this was sexual abuse is creepy. I'm disappointed in you, C&L.
nuff said
I despise Saxby, but you're not helping. Go work for Drudge or some other brain-dead sh*t-smearing site. You are tarnishing the good name of Crooks and Liars. Mr. Amato please ban this individual from further posts!
are a whack job.
... as far as body language goes, we'd need a larger sample of Chambliss' behavior. It could very well just be a case of being so focused on his script that he wasn't fully aware of where his hand was, or he routinely hugs family members in that manner. (Yeah, it sounds weak, but disproving it needs that larger sample.)
Still, having worked events in costume, the basic rule is you just don't touch or hug kids.
He really is that clueless.
And so are the folks who edited this ad.
In commercials, nothing is left to chance and multiple takes are routine. I can just imagine someone snickering as they picked this one out of all of the takes available. Or maybe they got back to the editing suite and discovered that the other takes were creepier?
Or the other takes didn't convey the right tone, due to a flub of his lines, or someone else fidgeting in the picture.
I can't get the video - but if it's that weird - why did they use it? Is it possible they didn't notice?
*
... he's after Arnold's title in case he loses - the "grope-nator"
*
N/T
Bwahahhahahaha. Only if they're all blind...
and said nothing - kinda like the cameraman who saw the Turkey butcher in the frame and didn't move the camera....
Groping little girls since before I was born.
Just. . . eewwww.
ya'll are pathetic.
...GOP's all about family values: political pornography, perverts and pedophiles.
This would have only been a big deal in another year or three!
You could technically plead a case that she has no boobs so he didn't think anything of it!
I think it was innocent - but, yes, creepy!
The 30 second fire-side chat logs were just great !
I watched it before reading the comment under the video. I did not notice it until it was pointed out. It is the intent that is important and i can't read what that might be so i will suspend judgement.
of Fred Thompson letting that little kid suck on a diaphragm on TV one time during the primaries
Heeeres Freddy!!!
No... I don't see anything. This is just fearmongering and I expected more of this site :(
I don't think it's fearmongering exactly, but I believe Bob the Blogger is trying too hard to read something into this.
And hey! I hate Republicans worse then Tooth Aches and Watered Wiskey combined, but I don't see what Bob is saying we should be seeing.
You...don't....see...anything. A creepy old man grabs a young girl around her breasts and squeezes them right in front of you. And you....don't....see....ANYTHING. Jesus Christ.
Nothing. Anyone that thinks he is 'groping' her is desperate and just as deranged as the Republicans. This is an old man hugging his prepubescent grand daughter. She doesn't have any boobs - she doesn't blink - its just a hug from Grandpa.
I agree with above posters. This site was awesome because there was very little of this name calling style baloney. There were just videos, and very little personal interpretation. It might have posted the above video and simply said "Saxby Chamblis' Holiday Commercial". Interpretation is up to the reader/viewer. This is just as bad as Fox News showing Obama in a turban that local elders gave him when he visited Kenya and simply running the photo with a caption that says "Is Obama a Muslim? This picture seems to indicate he is." That is exactly what was done here. Its pathetic.
Flag as Republipuke.
What exactly would he be groping? You can't seriously believe he's groping her. I'm sure glad you weren't my parent, lest you never touch me for fear of it being groping. He was hugging her!!!
Ahhh, could it be that he was groping her breasts, which
are pretty clearly evident in the video, right in front of your stupid, fat, moon-shaped face? Now, go away, you silly little republican concern troll.
Really... are you completely nuts? Do you just call everyone who disagrees with you republican? Wow -
He's just an elder, watching the last 36 months of that girls childhood grow out of his hands while he hugs her.
especially on a prepubescent one like that. He needs to keep his hands to himself. His first grab of her chest was explainable, but not the second. Couldn't he have grabbed her around the waist? That's a neutral site.
If Obama had done this to his oldest girl child onstage when he won the election, would it have seemed OK? No. Good male parents are scrupulous in where they place their hands on girl children.
Would Mr. Chambliss approve of the girl's boyfriend touching her chest like that?
And yes, BTW, I was sexually abused as a child. Perverts count on people saying, "Did I really see what I apparently saw? Nah!"
Chambliss's chest grab raises a big red flag. If he's clueless, and that would be very clueless, somebody should pull him aside and tell him about young ladies' "private areas."
And I, too, was sexually abused as a child. Of course the girl doesn't blink...she's been groomed to think this is totally normal-as has her family, apparently. They, and some of you, are inclined to deny the obvious precisely because it's SO obvious. "Oh, no, it can't BE! They wouldn't let him USE that vid if it wasn't totally innocent!" Please. What is the videographer and crew supposed to do...stop the take and insist that Chambliss redo without the grope? The entire entourage was probably dumbfounded and confused by the sheer audacity of it all, just as all of you are. The man is grabbing her boobs. Grow up and see what's in front of your faces.
Well said.
For Chambliss, obviously, there are no holds barred, as demonstrated by his treatment of Max Cleland, and now, in his treatment of his granddaughter's person.
It's worth adding that in the good ol'boy world of the likes of Chambliss, women are still seen as men's possessions, to be treated any way they see fit. The example in their "holiday greetings" is a none-too-subtle marker of it.
don't you think prosecutors or newspapers or someone else would bring him to justice if they really thought it was molestation?
"Don't you think"
No, they clearly don't. They are reacting in a highly emotional irrational manner, seeing abuse where there is none.
She doesn't have boobs!
The pre-pubescent state is precisely what attracts many such victimizers.
That makes it okay?
It's pretty clear in the video that she does. And it wouldn't matter if she didn't!
Notice how he punches the word THIS as he gropes her
"and I sure do approve THIS message"
Yes. It's a damn good thing he didn't say "and I sure do approve THESE"
nada. nothing there.
even SHE doesn't know she's getting boobs yet... or she wouldn't be sitting on grampa's lap.
i promise.
jeez... there's so much REAL creepiness out there...
...you need to have a conversation with a social worker or healthcare professional who works with the "boobless" victims of sexual assault who have had their vaginas and/or rectums opened by their daddies, granddaddies, big-daddies, uncles, etc, etc, & etc.
he is creepy for so many other reasons that this one seems innocent
we don't need to get mean spirited. I think the negative accusations are stupid. Let's not use Rove's playbook. We have the issues on our side.
except the blog poster seeing anything sexual in this.
what's happened to this site?
that Saxby ISN'T feeling the girl up - I can see that, a bumbling grandfatherly hug clumsily ending in a grope and heft (and peek) which is totally innocent. What I CAN'T see is how this ever made it out of the editing room with this scene still in. Was this the BEST take he had? How bad were the ones that DIDN'T make it out the door? Did he end up face planting in her lap? Did he tug salaciously at his zipper while grinning dreamily? Did he shart loudly then wet himself?
Seriously, I agree that there most likely was no attempt at sexual gratification by the morally bankrupt Chamblis but in what universe is it that this was released for public viewing? He DID grope her intentionally or not. There is NO QUESTION that there was cupping and a slight squeezing and as other posters have already mentioned - if it were one of us would there even be a question before a rush to judgement was made?
Unlikely.
I expected more from this site too. I understand wanting to win the race, but character assassination is a low class act. That is the tactics of fear mongers, not responsible citizens. If the ad would have been a democrat in there, and if conservoblogs were saying the same things ya'll did, everyone here would be up in arms. Its ridiculous. We progressives are far better than these lowly Rovian attack tactics.
If you "expect more" than go to some "high-minded" website that doesn't show videos or have colorful stories. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that what Chambliss did can be categorized as child molestation. Don't come here on your high horse and start accusing people of "Rovian attack tactics." That line is SO fucking overused and misapplied, it's not even funny!!! What's more, it's extremely boring. So, run along now and find something else that pisses you off that you can waste your energy and overused lines on.
lorib you need to settle down. You're wrong. He wasn't groping her. Zilam is right, it's a baseless attack. That's what Rove did, baseless attacks. That's why it's "Rovian."
The problem with this being posted is that a whole lot of people, including yourself, actually believe he's groping her for some sexual gain. If everyone just saw it as a joke, it would be ok, but a lot of people don't.
You can tell very easily if you're acting a little 'out there' or not... This was a public ad, if there was any legitimacy to your claim in the least, newspapers and prosecutors would be talking about it. There's not. Sensible people don't see anything wrong with this.
stay credible. we need sites like this that let saxby have it when he deserves it. don't give up your credibility on cheap shots. and unless, god forbid, there does happen to be something bad going on there, this post is creepy for that girl. i don't know. i think it's innocent. seemed like a clumsy tummy grab to me. and yeah, the editors should have caught that. but cluelessness and dorkiness shouldn't be supersized to incestuous child molestation.
C'mon, this site is better than this. It's something the right would grasp at.
Take it down and find something diff. to dis him on. Geezus
Hey Saxby; it's not "Kaynte"; its "Can't".
Really; yotta lern to speak boy.
What is it with Republicans and underage kids?
Why does she refer to him as her "big daddy?"
Double ick!
people call their fathers daddy (pronounced deddy) until death do them part here. i'm not a native so i'm not positive, but maybe grandpas are called "big daddies." really don't know that one. i know grandmas are called "meemaw." whatevs.
and leave that girl alone, sicko. screw you with your double ick. they're either a regular (for southern republicans) family or if she's being abused, don't call her out as icky.
act like you been somewhere.
She'd only call him that if someone told her to, maroon. It's not on her, it's on him.
...in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It's a fairly standard child's name for her grandfather. Just as names like meemaw, maymay, mawmaw, et al. are used in the South. I grew up there.
Having said that, there's a lot of sick shit hiding in households just like Saxby's. And god knows he has shown himself capable of sick shit in other ways. If he will touch her like that in front of a camera, how does he touch behind closed doors? You critics of this story can say what you will, but it's NOT A STRETCH. I'm a nurse 21 years and have seen lots and lots that would surprise you. This is NOT a stretch.
It might not be a stretch in the realm of possibilities, but ALL you are doing is assuming. More often than not, when you assume something based on so very little evidence, you either completely wrong or you don't understand extenuating circumstances.
I don't know about the 'groping' - it's his granddaughter and he probably didn't mean anything. The 'Big Daddy' comment creeps me out.
Who are all these new people posting at C&L these days? [I don't know. You, perhaps? Sitemonitor] Is anybody in charge of content? Bob Cesca, huh? Ok then.
You know, when a preacher sees Satan everywhere, it doesn't mean that Satan is actually everywhere; it just means that the preacher is obsessed with Satan.
Anybody who sees this and *actually believes* that this guy is GROPING A MINOR for his TV spot... well that says way more about YOU than it does about even the morons who let this ad go through like that.
The least i'd say about them letting that ad run is that it's unfortunate. [Deleted-Sitemonitor]
Just for the record, so i'm not misunderstanding: Bob Cesca, are you saying that you think that Saxby Chamblis is a child molester? [Deleted. Shut up. Not very nice, is it? Sitemonitor]
[Bob was civil enough to answer your rude post, had he not, I'dve deleted this screed. BTW, speaking of n00bs, while you may have been signed up for 6 weeks, I don't recognize you, and I've been here a few years. Post like this again, and you may find it's your last-Sitemonitor]
You must chill. Sheesh.
>>Just for the record, so i'm not misunderstanding: Bob Cesca, are you saying that you think that Saxby Chamblis is a child molester?
NO! Just creepy. And there's no way any adviser should've let that ad out the door.
Sitemonitor,
If it was the cursing that has offended you then i offer my apology. Sometimes i post like that and i know it can offend the sensibilities of many. I was unaware that C&L would threaten to ban for cursing; this is the first i'd seen of such. On top of that i didn't think it was out of line with the subject matter at hand, including the level and intent of sleaze being put forth by the poster and many of those commenting.
Since you're threatening to ban, i will ask: *was* it the cursing? I can (and will) easily refrain from this in future posts. I would hope that such a threat would have nothing to do with the expression of my opinion on this forum.
My comment was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction because this is the kind of thing i *liked _not_ seeing* in the previous years (yes, years) of hitting C&L in comparison to many other blogs. But i do stand by everything i said, even while i could've done it without the swears.
[Deleted. Off topic and overly long]
[No problem with cursing. Use it all the time myself. It was the tone of the entire post, and personal attacks leveled against the author. You too can look at all 4 or 5 of your posts. We have a commenting policy. And in future, use the email for a message like this-Sitemonitor]
SITEMONITOR - Why do you let lorib go off on everyone who didn't think it was molestation, but edit this guy's post? Granted I don't know what was deleted, so you might very well be right - But I can't imagine it could possibly be any worse than what this lorib has been saying to everyone.
Oops, didn't read your followup asking for this to be in email instead of post - sorry
The legal consenting age in Georgia is Georgia, unless you are related then it is 12.
heard anyone say that the age of consent in Georgia is Georgia. Where did that information come from?
He was giving her a hug and screwed up. He's an old man. It happens. He's got enough to answer for that you don't need to grasp at straws for things to accuse him of. And please don't belittle the real suffering of real survivors by screaming abuse where there isn't any.
the ad was f*cking creepy... Ugh.
"Vote fah mah beeeg daddeeehhh" WTF, is this the long lost sequel to Deliverance?
I think he was just reminding Georgians he had something Max Cleland lost.
May have been accidental, maybe not. But you think they'd at least do another take. Too cheap too I guess.
But the lady to his left had her fist up his ass the whole time.
He french kissed the family's German Shepherd.
thanks for that, Roberto. This type of comment is why these postings exist on C&L.
Why in the hell didn't they use a different take? You know, one where he WASN'T groping the child? I doubt Chambliss did this intentionally, but to let this be the ad that makes it on TV is the part I don't get.
The only thing creepy here is some of these comments. Your comment in particular, Judylou, was insulting to all fathers everywhere.
Chambliss has more than enough REAL flaws - there's no need to make crap up about him.
My grandfather was a Republican, and he groped me when I was 4 or 5 years old and showed me sexually explicit magazines. Seeing this man's actions, I cannot believe my eyes how blatantly sexual they were, and how stupid, or just ignorant people say they can't see anything wrong with him grabbing that girl's breasts. Must be a lot of Republicans posting today!
She doesn't have any breasts to grab! Sheesh!
you annoying little gnat.
She's a mammal; she was born with breasts. And pal, paedos don't like big girl titties; they're enamoured of the child's body. It's what MAKES them paedophiles.
Looks like she has more then grandma...
1) It is creepy
2) It is fair game
3) This site remains excellent
4) get an enema
Agreed.
The fundies may not like it but its understandable he embarrassed them. Like many they want to get rid of the proof, to late its on the web :-P Thanks C&L F-Hufpo...
He didn't grab her breasts, he hugged her, plain and simple. I think insinuating he is 'groping' says more about the accuser than it does about the accused.
There are so many other things that are plainly wrong in the world, there really is no need to invent them.
If its just a fun post, its very jejune.
If its meant to get a dialogue started then it is a waste of time completely and should've been pre-edited.
Maybe Bob could get a job at Foxnews.
[Maybe YOU could start your own blog, then you would control editorial content-Sitemonitor]
it's didecember. How's that for sophomoric? I'm a sophomoron. Enjoy the show.
I lost.
This is weird, wild stuff, folks! I mean after the initial
gropehug, he moves his hand down a bit as if he knew his hand wasn't supposed to go there.I also found it amusing that it currently has a 1.5 star rating on YouTube. Happy Thanksgiving indeed!
But it was CREEPY!! She is clearly developing to me.
At that age a girl is sometimes too timid (too unsure of herself) to refuse or redirect affection that makes her uncomfortable and some adult relatives insist that it should NOT make the child feel uncomfortable. Hence you get a situation like the one seen in the video.
It's just plain creepy.
C&L maintains its excellence.
on his page. All I did was tell "Big Daddy" not mo' that little girl on his lap.
It is obvious he is looking at his granddaughter at the end. Any honest viewing can tell he is NOT looking at his penis or down her shirt. Whichever you are intimating.
Nor does he grope her. That is silly also and belittles real observation. Please.
My grandma hugs me and her huge boobs are all over may cheast arms and on occasion cheek, it is not sexual, nor is this.
Freud would raise an eyebrow at the protester - I think.
I am no repub troll, but I read C&L 1 or 2nd daily. But this is stupid.
I completely agree, an utterly shameful posting.
you may need to have a talk with grandma. She may have a different "feeling."
That's funny crabby, because my first thought was, is he checking to see whether he's getting a stiffy? But if he is, he's looking in a really weird direction. And I agree that he's not looking down her shirt, more like he probably had his lines taped to her back so that he could remember them, and he probably glanced at them again to see if he said them correctly. That's what it looked like to me.
The whole, fireside, smiling gramps and kids is circa 1960 and the Donna Reed show and about as interesting and informative as having a beer with the criminal Dubya. Probably plays well in Dobsonville and Swaggarttown, though.
The affection police are out in force. Could it be that the only people who thought this was inappropriate are themselves out policing the expression of their secret repressed desires and dressing it up in sanctimonium. That explanation seems about as valid as the one that sees this as molestation. Get a life, and put something on that I wouldn't read in the left version of the NY Post.
I saw palin with saxby yesterday and today I saw mcsame with him and all I could think of was birds of a feather flock together.
Or what a pack of losers!
Bob, at the last point you state you don't want to speculate but I cannot see anything else but speculate from this article. First thing, the subject title is very FOXnews-y if I ever saw one.
I don't regard this hand gesture as a gaffe. I don't know who she is but I expect she's a grandchild. Of course, the whole thing looks a bit awkward but that has everything to do with the climate we live in. Everything that's not standard behaviour is bound to be suspect.
I just think there's nothing much going on.
Thanks for the past 2 years.
Maybe when you start doing some actual investigation and writing decent articles rather than picking the corpse of the republican party I'll subscribe again.
This post was pathetic. The DOW dropped 700 points today... where's the posts about something real, instead of this disgusting smear?