March 8, 2011 - Pensito

Florida Residents Unite to “Awake the State”

March 8, 2011March 9, 2011 Trish

AwakeState Sign at an “Awake the State” rally in Orlando

When the Florida legislature opened its 2011 session, there were a lot more people than usual in Tallahassee. The tea party sent in folks from all over, not just Florida, to support Gov. Rick Scott’s proposals to give away billions in revenue breaks to corporate interests and make it up by slashing paychecks and benefits to public service workers like teachers, rescue personnel, and law enforcement officers. But across Florida, counter-protests by these public servants and their supporters carried the day.

Ocoee Elementary School media specialist Isabel Chipungu electrified the Orlando crowd, declaring that teachers are being demonized.

“I love my job, but I’m angry,” she screamed from atop a picnic table in Senator Beth Johnson Park in downtown Orlando. “Teachers in this state are once again being made the scapegoat for all of the budget problems our politicians created. And we are again asked to pay the price. We have not had a raise in five years.”

While tea party zealots cultivate an air of chronic aggrievement and persecution, their leaders think nothing of taking back promises – and legal contracts – to union employees.

“People seem to have forgotten that the middle class is made up of hard-working individuals — firefighters, police officers, teachers, the people who pick up your garbage,” said Ron Glass, an Orlando firefighter who is secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Firefighters-Orlando, Local 1365.

Boehner’s ‘Incompetent Daycare Supervision’

March 8, 2011March 8, 2011 Jon Ponder

I also see Boehner’s performance to date as one of incompetent daycare supervision. Grandma Nancy had her charges lined up and ready for inspection by 7 a.m. each day, while Mr. Boehner gives every indication of a man at wit’s end. He stands at the door yelling for everyone to settle down, quiet down and listen up, but they’re too busy playing cops and robbers and cowboys and indians and wrecking the place and tying up Eric Cantor to hear him, or care.

— PM Carpenter

Verbatim

March 8, 2011 Buck Banks

Just the idea of whether the American electorate is ready for someone a bit unconventional, who is willing to tell it as she sees it, not be beholden to special interests or such obsessive partisanship as to let a political machine get in the way of doing what’s right for the voters.

— Sarah Palin, quoted by the BBC, on what she needed to think about before making a decision on a presidential bid. Oh, and there’s the scheduling deal, too — Palin has booked a speaking appearance in Denver on May 2, the same day as the first Republican presidential debate in California.

Verbatim

March 8, 2011 Buck Banks

If they care at all about their children or grandchildren, and sometimes I doubt that — I think, you know, grandchildren now don’t write a thank-you for the Christmas presents, they’re walking on their pants with the cap on backwards listening to the enema man and Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dogg, and they don’t like them!

— Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), in an interview on Fox News, scolding the elderly for complaining about possible Social Security cuts and demonstrating his deep understanding of popular culture.

Day: March 8, 2011

Florida Residents Unite to “Awake the State”

Boehner’s ‘Incompetent Daycare Supervision’

— PM Carpenter

Verbatim

Just the idea of whether the American electorate is ready for someone a bit unconventional, who is willing to tell it as she sees it, not be beholden to special interests or such obsessive partisanship as to let a political machine get in the way of doing what’s right for the voters.

— Sarah Palin, quoted by the BBC, on what she needed to think about before making a decision on a presidential bid. Oh, and there’s the scheduling deal, too — Palin has booked a speaking appearance in Denver on May 2, the same day as the first Republican presidential debate in California.

Verbatim

— Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), in an interview on Fox News, scolding the elderly for complaining about possible Social Security cuts and demonstrating his deep understanding of popular culture.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%

KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”