Tag: Florida
South Florida Tea Baggers Try Re-Branding
The South Florida Tea Party has apparently done some soul searching in the two and a half months since the 2012 elections and, upon reflection, has chosen a course correction that it hopes will put it back in good stead with voters. It has opted to try re-branding:
Jolted by the re-election of President Barack Obama, the defeat of congressional tea party icon Allen West and the cracking of Republican anti-tax orthodoxy during the recent federal budget showdown, the tea party movement is trying to rebrand and repackage itself in South Florida.
The South Florida Tea Party — the group that helped Marco Rubio launch his Senate bid and that hosted Donald Trump during his last flirtation with a presidential run — is shedding the words “tea party” as it undergoes a name change.
“We felt for branding reasons that we wanted to differentiate ourselves from certain organizations that have the name ‘tea party’ and we can’t control,” said Everett Wilkinson, leader of the organization that will now be called the National Liberty Federation.
The National Liberty Foundation? Oh, yeah. Much better.
A Tale of Two Governors and Their Dogs
You can tell a lot about a person’s character by the way they treat animals. For millions of dog lovers, for example, learning that Mitt Romney had once decided to force his Irish setter Seamus to ride in a kennel strapped to the roof of his car on a 12-hour family vacation, even after Seamus got sick in the kennel, exposed a man whose life of privilege had left him with a deficit of compassion and common decency.
The revelations this week that Gov. Rick Scott, Florida’s Republican governor, got rid of a dog that appears to have been acquired in 2010 as a prop for his campaign for governor is similarly a window into Scott’s character. And it stands in stark contrast with the the story of another big-state governor elected in 2010, Jerry Brown, and his dog, Sutter, who has become an unofficial mascot in California since the governor took office.
Satanists to Rally in Support of Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott
Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., may be one of the most unpopular governors in the nation, but he does have some supporters:
On January 25, the members of the Satanic Temple will gather on the steps of Scott’s office in Tallahassee as a show of solidarity with the Governor, whom they believe “has shown unwavering fortitude and progressive resolve in his defense of religious liberty,” according to a press release.
Specifically, they’re referring to Scott’s recent approval of Senate Bill 98 that permits school districts to allow students to read inspirational messages of their choosing at assemblies and sporting events. It went into effect on July 12.
“The Satanic Temple embraces the free expression of religion, and Satanists are happy to show their support of Rick Scott who — particularly with SB 98 — has reaffirmed our American freedom to practice our faith openly, allowing our Satanic children the freedom to pray in school,” the release continues.
Record Numbers in Florida Locked and Loaded
The news that nearly 800,000 people in Florida requested the background checks needed to purchase a firearm in 2012 gives the rest of the country one more reason to avoid the Sunshine State. If you come, keep in mind that one in every 24 people around you is probably armed.
A bulletproof Hawaiian shirt to go with those black socks and shorts might not be a bad idea.
Gun sales surged after Obama’s re-election, but really took off after the recent shooting with semi-automatic weapons in Newtown, Conn. killed 20 children and six adults (plus the shooter).
In December alone, there were 131,103 background checks requested through the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] — the highest number the agency has recorded in any single month. That beat the previous record, set only a month earlier, when 84,745 background check requests were submitted in the same month that Obama was re-elected.
It doesn’t hurt that the NRA and Gun Owners of America keep telling people that Obama is going to take their guns and then turn the country into a socialist dictatorship.
Marco Rubio Votes No on Senate Fiscal Cliff Bill
It’s hard to explain why Florida’s junior senator would vote against the economic bill extending the Bush tax cuts on household income under $450,000. Or maybe it’s painfully easy to explain: Rubio is indeed planning to run for president in 2016.
Rubio stood with the handful of his peers who voted against the package, including Rand Paul (R/Tea-Ken.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), and Thomas Carper (D-Del.).
Those looking for a less cynical explanation of Rubio’s vote won’t find any help from the senator’s office, which issued this statement.
Could Rick Scott Be the Best Thing to Happen to Florida Democrats in the Next Election?
The path to power for Florida Democrats might run through Gov. Rick Scott’s office, if recent polls accurately reflect opinion.
The “let’s run government like a business” Medicare cheat won Florida’s highest office in the 2010 tea party wave that crested that year and ebbed a bit in 2012, sweeping some of those, like Rep. Allan West, back out as swiftly as they rolled in.
Scott, despite spending $75 million of his own money on his campaign, won by only 1 percent over Democrat Alex Sink. After taking office, his approval ratings plunged lower than anyone thought an elected official could go and not simply announce an early retirement, ala former Sen. Mel Martinez (R). Even the infamous former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (R) didn’t poll this badly.
71% of Floridians hate Scott’s idea of setting different education goals based on race and ethnicity
The new numbers show that not only might Scott lose in 2014, he could take lots of other Republicans down with him.
A stunning 43 percent of Florida voters view Scott unfavorably in new polling and just 31 percent viewed him favorably. Scott is in a rare position political operatives call “upside down” because his unfavorable percentage is much greater than his favorable — an ominous state for any political candidate.
Maybe more damaging for Scott is that a majority of his own party — 53 percent of Republicans — said they want someone else to run in 2014 instead of Scott…
Florida Democrats Mourning the Man They Wish Had Been Governor
Former Democratic candidate for Florida governor Bill McBride died suddenly of a heart attack at age 67 while on a family trip to Mount Airy, N.C. on Sunday.
Florida Democrats remember McBride fondly from his run in 2002, when he tried to unseat incumbent Jeb Bush. The state would have been a very different place under McBride, an attorney and former Marine, and one of the best – and most colorful – examples of a moderate, down home Democrat.
McBride’s wife, Alex Sink, also ran for governor and lost, but in 2010. She lost by the thinnest margin – 1 percent – to tea bagger Rick Scott, who has earned the lowest approval ratings of any governor in Florida. Sink, a former NationsBank executive, was born and raised in Mount Airy and was elected Florida’s Chief Financial Officer in 2006, serving under Gov. Charlie Crist.
We at Pensito Review are sad to hear of McBride’s passing and offer deepest condolences to his family.
Dim Bulbs Light the Way in Secession Movement
I’m not deriding these people because it’s so easy to point out their cluelessness
Great leaders are skilled in strategy and compromise that achieves underlying goals, according to “Lincoln” screenwriter Tony Kushner. Which explains why there will never be any great tea party politicians, whose only strategy is to storm off in a huff if they don’t get their way.
But the secession petition Florida rightwingers recently sent to the White House points up another problem for the tea party: many of these folks are not bright.
Was there really no one on the petition writing squad who made an A in English?
Murphy Defeats West Again as Board Misses Deadline
Despite a judge’s refusal to grant a recount to Rep. Allen West (GOP/Tea-Fla.), a partial recount of the early votes only is under way, as of Saturday morning, Nov. 17.
The colorful (read: “nut case“) tea party congressman lost to Democrat Patrick Murphy by about 0.6 percent. Florida law requires that a candidate lose by 0.5 percent or less to trigger a full ballot recount. But when the governor of the state is Rick Scott, himself a tea party champion, anything can happen.
Updates available after the jump
