Tag: Republicans

John McCain on Repealing DADT: Gay People Aren’t Fit to “Live, Eat, Sleep, or Fight’ Alongside Straight Service Members

Trish

If you’re wondering what very poorly disguised homophobia sounds like, check out John McCain. And a little newsflash for the senator: no amount of “studying” and holding hearings will turn back time. The world has changed, Pops, and your opinion of gay people, which apparently includes the idea that they are inherently less able than straight people to control their sexual urges (maybe like the situation you’re more familiar with, being married to one woman but screwing another?) and force themselves on straight people who are not interested in them, is sheer biogotry. And one last thing: I wouldn’t want to live, eat, sleep, or fight alongside you either.

Vote, Even If It’s for Moderates. Hell, Especially If It’s for Moderates!

Trish

Here’s a great video produced by Progress Florida, but worth watching even if you live elsewhere. Remember folks, they are turning out the base this election. As Democrats and progressives, we can’t prove that the only way to get us to vote is to also appeal to our most extreme views. If you’re not enthusiastic about supporting moderate or even conservative Democrats, then you can’t complain when Republicans and tea baggers continue to trot out their most extreme candidates, the ones least likely to get anything helpful done in Washington or state capitals. Now go vote.

Verbatim

Trish

It doesn’t bother him that maintaining tax cuts for the top 2 percent of income earners would increase the deficit by $700 billion. In his world, deficit spending is bad if it saves middle class jobs but good if it covers tax cuts for the wealthy.

— St. Petersburg Times editorial titled, “Rubio’s Rigid Ideology,” which ends, “Rubio embraces an inflexible ideology, not practical solutions. The Republican leaves no room for compromise or consensus — and that is what is wrong with Washington.”

FiveThiryEight Forecasts GOP Taking House 228-207 – Well Over 218 Required for Majority

Jon Ponder
Click this map to access FiveThirtyEight's interactive map at NYT.com.
Click this map to access FiveThirtyEight's interactive map at NYT.com.

Putting John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and the rest back in charge really is like appointing arsonists as fire marshals. This will be a big win for Wall Street, megabanks, super PACs, foreign corporations, religious extremism — a giant leap backwards for the United States.

Analysis from Nate Silver here.

Florida Gov. Candidate Rick Scott Doesn’t Know What You Mean

Trish

In this footage from depositions that then-CEO tea Rick Scott gave when Columbia/HCA was under investigation for Medicare/Medicaid fraud in 1995, Scott makes Bill Clinton — who famously told investigators into his sex life that his answer depended on what your definition of “is” is — look like an over-sharer. Although Columbia went on to receive the nation’s biggest fine ($1.7 billion) for its guilt, and Scott was forced to resign to avoid criminal prosecution, investigators got farcically little cooperation from the man who now wants to run Florida “like a business.”

Rubio Leads! — In Number of Citations for Fundraising Violations

Trish

4

Number of “flags” issued by the Federal Election Commission to the Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate from Florida campaign for taking contributions in excess of federal limits. Since the notices were issued, starting last year, 24 have gone out, with half going to three candidates: Rubio; Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Id.), who also got four; and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), with three. The other 13 notices have gone to candidates who only got one each.

Will Florida’s Three-Way Senate Race Revert to a Two-Way?

Trish
Florida3
From left, the very tall Meek, the shorter Crist, and the really short Rubio

Rumors are flying in Florida after this week’s debate among the three candidates for the U.S. Senate. One scenario, put forth by the Wall St. Journal, says Democrats might be pressuring U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) to drop out of the race, leaving only Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio to duke it out.

Should Meek give his concession speech now, or wait until after the election?

With Meek’s poll numbers showing no bump after the debate, and with groups like the Florida Sierra Club offering dual endorsements of both him and Crist, Meek really has two choices: quit and lose now, or stay in and lose later.

The candidate himself, though, seems still in fighting mode. After the Sierra Club’s odd move, Meek upped the oddness quotient by refusing the endorsement. He also made it clear he’s tired of people forgetting that Charlie Crist is neither a Democrat nor a true environmentalist.

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Verbatim

Trish

Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided. Sarah spent all morning working on a Face book post for Joe, she won’t use it, not now…Put yourself in her shoe’s Joe for one day.

— Todd Palin, in a righteously indignant (and grammatically disastrous) email to Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller. Palin came to his wife’s defense after Miller refused to say whether Sarah was qualified to be president, and after Sarah endorsed Miller over yet another Palin enemy, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R).

Rubio’s Credit Card Bills Show He’s No Fiscal Conservative. They Might Show More.

Trish

A new ad from U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.-NPA) spotlights the questionable spending practices of self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Tea Party Republican opponent Marco Rubio. The ad focuses on Rubio’s credit card problems, which should be leading Florida news but, since the talking points aren’t matching up to Rubio’s golden boy image, seem so far to be non-issues.

MrsRubio
Jeanette C. Dousdebes-Rubio

We’d like some answers about Rubio’s spending habits, and in particular, to find out if the reason he fought so hard to keep his full credit card records from becoming public is because of all the travel they show for his legislative aide, healthcare lobbyist Amber Stoner. Stoner, as has been noted, had a habit while Rubio served in the Florida House of either accompanying him or arriving in the same cities and resorts as he did within a day. We’d also like to see if Rubio’s wife, former cheerleader Jeanette C. Dousdebes-Rubio, joined the pair on those trips.

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