Watch Out in Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio – Gov. Scott Supports Giving Authorities Power to Demand Proof of U.S. Citizenship from Latinos

Florida’s Republican Sen.-Elect Marco Rubio had better make sure he doesn’t leave home without documents proving he is a U.S. citizen when he returns to Florida from D.C. next year.

His state’s GOP Gov.-Elect Rick Scott says he backs legislation that empowers authorities to demand proof of U.S. citizenship from Latinos and others who are detained or arrested:

“We need to come up with an immigration policy that works for the country,” he said. “Finally, if you’re stopped in our state — no different than if you’re asked for your ID — you should be able to be asked if you’re legal or not.”

Under the proposed law, police and other authorities would not be allowed to detain or arrest people solely on grounds that they look Hispanic suspicious.

‘Oh You Thought I Was Including My Tea Party Self in That Whole No Earmarks Thing? Nah’

What’s more hypocritical than a born-again homophobe with a same-sex “escort?” How about tea party politicians criticizing government spending while requesting all they can get for the folks back home? The National Journal:

Advocate: ‘It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up.’

According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.

“It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “There’s going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks.”

In founding the caucus in July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she was giving voice to Americans who were sick of government over-spending.

“The American people are speaking out loud and clear. They have had enough of the spending, the bureaucracy, and the government knows best mentality running rampant today throughout the halls of Congress,” Bachmann said in a July 15 statement.

And who had the most requests? Not Bachmann, but probably someone from a large population state with plenty of constituents, right? Wrong. How about a guy from Mon-frickin’-tana which, with just under a million people, is ranked 44th in residents in the country?

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) takes the prize as the Tea Partier with his name on the most earmarks. Rehberg’s office requested funding for 88 projects, either solely or by co-signing earmarks requests with Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D), at a cost of $100,514,200. On his own, Rehberg requested 20 earmarks valued at more than $9.6 million.

The full list of tea bagger earmark for the past year is here.

Verbatim

The Reagan comparisons aren’t helping. You might as well compare yourself to Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt.

— GOP consultant Ed Rollins, writing for CNN, offering advice to Sarah Palin while noting, “I knew Ronald Reagan, and you’re no Ronald Reagan.”

Verbatim

If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president — that’s not in the cards anytime soon, thanks.

— Mitt Romney, in an interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, when asked whether Fox News had ever approached him to work as a correspondent.

Andrew Sullivan: The Dickishness of the GOP

Former Republican sympathizer, Andrew Sullivan:

What we’ve observed these past two years is a political party that knows nothing but scorched earth tactics, cannot begin to see any merits in the other party’s arguments, refuses to compromise one inch on anything, and has sought from the very beginning to do nothing but destroy the Obama presidency.

These people are not conservatives in this core civilized sense; they are partisan vandals.

I see no other coherent message or strategy since 2008. Just opposition to everything, zero support for a president grappling with a recession their own party did much to precipitate, and facing a fiscal crisis the GOP alone made far worse with their spending in the Bush-Cheney years. There is not a scintilla of responsibility for their past; not a sliver of good will for a duly elected president. Worse, figures like Cantor and McCain actively seek to back foreign governments against the duly elected president of their own country, and seek to repeal the signature policy achievement of Obama’s first two years, universal health care.

I know it is the opposition’s role to oppose. But the sheer scale and absolutism of the opposition, and its continuation in the lame duck session, even over such small but integral reforms such as the new START and DADT repeal, is remarkable… These people are not conservatives in this core civilized sense; they are partisan vandals.

And if the GOP blocks the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, despite the careful Pentagon study, a slow roll-out of its provisions, and support from the Joint Chiefs chairman and the defense secretary, then we will find out something else. The contempt the GOP has for gay lives, gay citizens and those who wear the uniform of the United States is as deep and as vile as we ever thought it was.

Yes, I’m angry at this general nihilist partisanship, and wounded once more by these people’s profound, obsessive homophobia. But I cannot, alas, say I am surprised. The degeneracy has been building for a long time. It is just the stench of it right now that overwhelms the nostrils. [Emphasis added.]

Verbatim

Politics is increasingly becoming a blood sport where the end game often means somebody goes to jail.

— John Feehery, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), quoted by Swampland, arguing that “common practice here in D.C. looks an awful lot like plain old corruption everywhere else in the country.”