Tag: Florida

Charlie’s Cristing again: this time, on gay marriage.

He’s apparently now for it.  And the Washington Post itself is snarking over why, although it’s subtle:

In his Facebook post, Crist did not discuss when or why his personal views on the issue have changed.

There’s gotta be a timeline for this sort of thing, you see.  Timeline, paper trail, and perhaps a lot of loud distractions from questions like “Didn’t you use to be the most Republican Republican that ever Repubkicked a can?”

Moe Lane

PS: You know, it’s funny.  I used to be a Democrat.  When I switched sides, I kept a few of my existing opinions on social policies (I am not particularly a social conservative, unless being basically pro-life these days counts).  In particular, I support same-sex marriage. And yet, I’ve never felt the need, either professionally or privately, to either recant my earlier views, or to hide them. And yet, if Charlie wants to be governor again he apparently has to – has to – admit to being a bald-faced liar on the subject.

I don’t know whether that’s more of a judgement on the Democratic party, or of Charlie Crist.

QotD, And May You Have Joy Of His Company, Democrats edition.

There are a bunch of people out there worried that Charlie Crist possibly wasn’t the get for the Democrats that they thought that it was:

“There are Democrats out there who can’t get their arms around [former Florida Governor Charlie] Crist. I get it,” [Democratic operative Steve] Schale said. “They spent 20 years of their activist lives working against him. It’s a process.”

I know that there’s a bunch of people out there who are a little ticked at Governor Rick Scott right now, and I don’t blame them.  But if Charlie Crist actually does become the Democratic nominee then the people who are most upset at Scott must understand that most of the rest of their current compatriots will decide that being a systematic party and ideological turncoat easily trumps wanting to expand Medicare.  :shrug: I just tell you this stuff; I don’t actually cause any of it.

Via

Salomon Melgen (Bob Menendez crony) has an apparently questionable past.

This is, um, going to be an interesting week.

The resume of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist and controversial Democratic donor, boasts medical education and experience at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Missouri.

But none of those schools says it can find any record of Melgen, who claims to be a Harvard alumnus, the former chief resident of the University of Missouri’s ophthalmology department, and a former Yale intern.

Not be cute, here… well, yes, I am trying to be cute here, but it’s still a valid question: did Senator Bob Menendez REALLY accept plane rides from a foreign-born campaign donor without discreetly doing a basic background check first?  I mean: Menendez is on the freaking Foreign Affairs committee. He’s taking free rides from a guy.  Simple caution might have suggested that the Senator at least make sure that he wasn’t being set up for some kind of scam.

And while I’m still trying to be cute while still asking legitimate questions, here’s another one: doesn’t any of this worry Democrats?  At least a little, and in relation to the very, very powerful Senate committee that Menendez is scheduled to take over? – Particularly since Menendez is also credibly being linked to a multimillion dollar contract dispute that Melgen is having with the Dominican Republic.  Surely at least that should be setting off warning bells in Democratic heads…

Marco Rubio and the Immigration Controversy Time Bomb.

I could live with this. More importantly: so could probably 50+% of the electorate, which I suspect is getting thoroughly tired of this issue.

[Marco Rubio’s] wholesale fix tries to square—triangulate, if you will—the liberal fringe that seeks broad amnesty for illegal immigrants and the hard right’s obsession with closing the door. Mr. Rubio would ease the way for skilled engineers and seasonal farm workers while strengthening border enforcement and immigration laws. As for the undocumented migrants in America today—eight to 12 million or so—he proposes to let them “earn” a working permit and, one day, citizenship.

Those proposals amount to a collection of third rails for any number of lobbies. Organized labor has torpedoed guest-worker programs before. Anything that hints of leniency for illegals may offend the talk-radio wing of the GOP.

Continue reading Marco Rubio and the Immigration Controversy Time Bomb.

BTW: Marco Rubio’s running for President.

Or is at least angling for a VP slot in 2016. From The Corner:

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida says the Senate’s fiscal-cliff compromise, which passed the upper chamber early Tuesday, was a political mistake.

“I just couldn’t vote for it,” Rubio told reporters. “I ran, just two years ago, on the idea that I wanted to be part of solving the long-term problems this country faces. Time and again, we’re given choices here that don’t involve that.”

Via Hot Air Headlines.  Of the other four GOP holdouts… oh, I am a cynical evil giraffe this morning.  Suffice it to say that these Senators have their reasons, and that I expect that Mike Lee’s and Rand Paul’s are ones that I would actually like.

Obama for America shocked to discover that ‘Latino’ is a most vague designation.

Well, this is embarrassing:

President Barack Obama has a problem with Florida’s important Puerto Rican voters, and it has little to do with the immigration and deportation issues that dominate so much of the national debate involving Hispanic voters.

Florida’s two biggest Hispanic groups — Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans — have legal statuses not enjoyed by immigrants from other Latin American countries. This makes illegal immigration a tangential issue for them.

Please tell me that Barack Obama, at least, isn’t stupid enough to think that everybody in this country who speaks Spanish as a core language will have precisely the same likes, dislikes, and base issues. I mean, I’m well aware that the rabiblancos that make up his base team think that, but I’d hate to have to decide that Obama was a bigot, too.

Mason-Dixon: Florida’s gone and thanks for playing, Barry.

The writing was on the wall when Suffolk stopped polling there, but Mason-Dixon confirmed it today: it’s over in Florida and Romney will win.

An exclusive Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll of likely voters along the Interstate 4 corridor finds Romney leading Obama 51 percent to 45 percent, with 4 percent undecided.

“Romney has pretty much nailed down Florida,” said Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, which conducted the poll for the Times and its media partners. “Unless something dramatically changes — an October surprise, a major gaffe — Romney’s going to win Florida.”

Which both campaigns know very well.  What I’m hearing privately – and it may also be public information right now – is that Obama for America has left the shell of its Florida operation up for appearances, but moved out its funding and national support out to other, more hopeful places.  Which downright sucks for anybody counting on national Democratic support for downticket races, but then I’m not the one who decided to make one of the two national parties to adopt a ruthlessly top-down strategy for 2012.
Continue reading Mason-Dixon: Florida’s gone and thanks for playing, Barry.

October surprise: Obama’s killing Democratic House prospects.

Let me just list the House races that Democratic strategists are willing to admit – some, even by name! – as having been endangered by Barack Obama’s sub-par October performance.  Just list.

And then there’s the generic ballot, which has gone from plus-Democrat to even-steven. Also note the ostensible swing-state nature of most of the races on that list; you can be certain that official political operatives from both parties have.  All in all, this is pretty good news to have, less than two weeks out – both on the Congressional, and the Presidential, level.

Needless to say, the Republicans in all of the races above could use whatever support that you can muster.  The Democrats were counting on taking or holding all of those seats.  Deny them the satisfaction.

Moe Lane

http://sulia.com/channel/capitol-hill-insiders/f/41a85fb6-5ca1-41a4-96b9-9ed885ad13f9/?source=twitter

#rsrh Crass – and frankly, unerotic – sex blogtalk takes down Keith Fitzgerald’s (D CAND, FL-16) comm director.

Now this is what I call wasteful: “Dem Candidate’s Comms Director Resigns After WatchdogWire Report.”

The details are, alas, FAR too salacious to be repeated here, especially since my readers are clearly too refined to have them recounted – what’s that?  Oh, right, sorry: here’s the link.  Be sure to listen to the video if you’ve ever wondered what a woman faking an orgasm sounds like – but the real tragedy?  It’s FL-16.  Vern Buchanan was going to steamroller Keith Fitzgerald anyway.

Moe Lane

PS: Here’s a pro-tip for all those budding Communications Directors out there: your job is to transmit your boss’s irrational prejudices, woolly thinking, and general asshattery.  Not your own.  Nobody cares what you think.  If they did, you’d be the one who would need to have a Communications Director.