Author: Trish
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.
The Less Influence They Have, The More Radical the Pro-Gun Groups Grow
There’s an interesting list of numbers on the website, Meet the NRA. Ladd Everitt, communications director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, recently called the National Rifle Association a “paper tiger.” With this record, I can see why.
- The National Rifle Association of America Political Victory Fund received a 0.83% return on the $11 million they spent during the 2012 election cycle, the worst performance of any Super PAC that spent over $5 million in the election.
- NRA PACs spent more than $13 million to defeat Pres. Obama alone, all for naught.
- The NRA spent $100,000 in eight Senate races, and lost seven of them.
- Of the 30 House incumbents who lost, 17 were endorsed by the NRA.
Maybe the NRA’s political fortunes are in part behind the rise of the even more radical Gun Owners of America (GOA). GOA refused to endorse Sen. John McCain in 2008 because they thought his record on “gun rights” (yes, apparently guns have rights) was weak. They endorsed Rep. Ron Paul in 2012 because they admired his inability to compromise.
And although Everitt continued to reference the more widely recognized NRA when he appeared recently on the Diane Rehm Show and described the unhinged nature of the new Burt Gummers of the world, he was probably also thinking of the GOA:
We often tell people this not your grandfather’s NRA. And, you know, the modern pro-gun movement today is marked by what we would call insurrectionist ideology, which is this belief that the NRA and others have put forward that there is an individual right under the second amendment to essentially shoot and kill government officials when you personally disagree with democratically enacted laws.
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.
If Only Romney Could Have Skipped That Whole Campaigning Part
Great, now you tell that to the thousands of volunteers, contributors, supporters and those that voted for Governor Romney. Smart move…
— Comment from a Republican friend on Facebook, linking to this story quoting Tagg Romney saying his father didn’t want to run for president. Unfortunately, campaigning and governing are two different skill sets and very few people have them both.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Is a Good Sport. The Chain Has Stopped Selling ‘Modern Sporting Rifles’
Big ups to Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has quit selling any guns at all near Newtown, Conn., and has stopped selling what pro-gun fans call, “modern sporting rifles,” aka, the type of military assault rifle that was used to kill 20 children and six adults in the recent mass shooting.
While the suspension of the sales of “modern sporting rifles” is temporary, it’s a step. Please show Dick’s your support for making the move permanent, and if you need a soccer ball, some running shoes, or new fishing gear, you know where to go.
It Never Seems to Be the Right Time to Discuss Gun Policy
White House spokesperson Jay Carney on the shooting in Connecticut:
“I think it’s important on a day like today to view this as I know the president, as a father does and I as a father and others who are parents certainly do, which is to feel enormous sympathy for families that are affected and to do everything we can to support state and local law enforcement and support those who are enduring what appears to be a very tragic event. There is, I’m sure, will be, rather, a day for discussion of the usual Washington policy debates but I don’t think today is that day. [Emphasis added]
In what universe is entertaining the idea of limiting the public’s exposure to guns, “the usual Washington policy debates?” When was the last time Washington debated this topic? When Jimmy freaking Carter was president? Like 80 or 90 or several hundred mass shootings ago?
We never think today is the right day to stand up to the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America, but it’s always a fine day for multiple funerals.
And the first person who says, “If those little kids or the teachers had their own guns, this never would have happened,” is going to get blasted — verbally — by me. The answer to too many guns is not more guns.
