Day: March 13, 2013

Florida’s Lt. Gov. Resigns After Questioning in Gambling Investigation

Trish

Carroll, in a public service announcement for the sham Allied Veterans group.

The ground is shifting under the feet of Florida Republicans, as Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns after being questioned in a federal racketeering investigation.

The surprise isn’t that Carroll is resigning, it’s that she’s resigning over this

The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) was caught short by the news, after more successfully dodging another recent scandal bullet. On the very day former RPOF chief Jim Greer was set to begin trial for funny bookkeeping that would have spilled the beans on almost every Republican politician in Florida, including and especially Sen. Marco Rubio, Greer copped a plea.

But Carroll doesn’t look so lucky. Exhibit A in Gov. Rick Scott’s “big tent” GOP cabinet has had her share of ethics challenges since assuming office as the state’s second in command. The issue of her shifting net worth, which she never seems to have a handle on, has been a recurring problem.

Then there’s her recent trouble, which is hard to describe in polite terms. Let’s just say that she and Bill Clinton share at least one thing in common, and that would be ladies on their knees beneath the executives’ office desks. Carroll denied the allegations by explaining that women who look like her cannot be lesbians. Many were unconvinced.

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Marriage Equality Will Likely Become Law Again in Califorinia, Even if the GOP-Controlled Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8

Jon Ponder

With the Supreme Court set to debate marriage equality this month, conventional wisdom inside the Beltway has it that the court will likely overturn both the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 on grounds that both violate the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause. The vote, says CW, would likely come down to a 5-4 decision, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate from California, siding against his fellow Republicans by voting with the court’s liberal block.

Kennedy threw cold water on that assumption last week when he told reporters that he’s suddenly become concerned about the Supreme Court holding sway over issues best left to elected officials, which is to say voters:

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Paul Ryan Caught on Tape: ‘We’re Not Going to Give Up on Destroying the Health Care System for the American People’

Jon Ponder

Remember Kinsley’s rule: In Washington, a gaffe is when someone accidentally tells the truth:

Republican House Budget Committee Chairman PAUL RYAN: “This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

The “new” Republican budget released by Ryan, the infamous zombie-eyed granny starver, is the same as the old budget he drafted — it voucherizes Medicare, repeals Obamacare and the rest. Why would Republicans phone in a new budget that’s the same as the budget that is unpopular in the polls and was rejected by Congress?

Paul Krugman cuts to the heart of it:
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