In which we learn FL Gov. Rick Scott is worse than we’d suspected.
Shortly after winning the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010, Rick Scott (R) announced that his family had rescued a Labrador Retriever and gave it a name: Reagan.
But when the Tampa Bay Times “asked last week what had happened to the dog, Scott’s current and former communications directors refused to answer… At one point an exasperated reporter asked Burgess if he had killed the dog, and Burgess denied ever killing a dog, but still wouldn’t say where Reagan was.”
Later a spokeswoman called to say Reagan had been returned about a year ago.
On voter roll purge, FL Gov. Rick Scott vows to neither put up nor shut up.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) insists the state’s voter rolls “must be scrubbed carefully to remove any non-U.S. citizens, but his administration is keeping secret a list of more than 180,000 voters whose citizenship may be in question,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“Scott’s elections agency is refusing numerous requests from voter advocacy groups and news outlets to release the list, months after the state released an initial list targeting 2,625 potential noncitizens. Many people on the first list turned out to be citizens.”
I think it’s been pretty well-established that Rick Scott is pure evil and is attempting a bloodless coup, so there’s no reason to belabor that point.
Let’s look at this as proof of a better-established point that’s not so common knowledge — that there are two words that are to Republicans what crosses are to vampires and those two words are “prove it.” They’re fine when they can just declare whatever the fuck they want to be true true, but when it comes time to prove something, suddenly everything’s a big secret and no one can see the evidence because shut up, that’s why.
Romney to FL Gov. Scott: Shut up about your improving economy!
I know I said I wouldn’t be posting today, but this was just too good not to share.
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.
What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.
How is Mittens supposed to convince everyone that Obama’s economic policies can’t possibly succeed when Republicans are running around telling everyone how great their economies are?
“It’s pretty hilarious if you think about it,” says Ed Kilgore. “Scott’s taking credit for a trend he’s had almost nothing to do with, and Romney wants him to shut up about the trend itself. It’s an attempted lie chasing the tail of an actual lie. And truth be told, neither of these gents has reflected much abiding interest in the actual state of the economy, which serves simply as the backdrop for their pursuit of ideological hobbyhorses and their own careers.”
The story’s the same here in Wisconsin. Scott Walker’s been running around telling everyone about all these new jobs (the numbers are still way below his promised quarter-million, though), but he hasn’t actually done anything to create jobs. Banning collective bargaining for public employees creates jobs you say?
Really? Explain how that works. Because it would seem the only effect it would have on employment is to chase talented public workers to states that are willing to pay what they’re worth. Some quick back-of-the-envelope math suggests that subtraction doesn’t result in addition.
If all the governors start talking about how the economy’s improving, then Romney’s case for the presidency is shot. All his eggs are in one basket — the working against the nation’s interests one.
On the bright side, conservatives can take comfort in the fact that Mittens is finally showing something approximating leadership. Unfortunately, that leadership is being used to tell Republican governors to STFU about the improving economy and get back to work sabotaging America by undermining consumer confidence.
Dear Rick Scott: If you oppose democracy, you oppose America.
Governor Rick Scott (R) has ordered the state to purge all “non-citizens” from the voting rolls prior to November’s election. But that list compiled by the Scott administration is so riddled with errors that, in Miami-Dade County alone, hundreds of U.S. citizens are being told they are ineligible to vote, ThinkProgress has learned exlusively.
According to data from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections obtained by ThinkProgress:
- 1638 people in Miami-Dade County were flagged by the state as “non-citizens” and sent letters informing them that they were ineligible to vote.
- Of that group, 359 people have subsquently provided the county with proof of citizenship.
- Another 26 people were identified as U.S. citizens directly by the county.
- The bulk of the remaining 1200 people have simply not responded yet to a letter sent to them by the Supervisor of Elections.
You can see a similar letter sent to alleged “non-citizens” by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections HERE. (“The Supervisor of Elections… has received information that you are not a citizen of the United States.”) If recipients of the letter do not respond within 30 days — a deadline that is mere days away — they will be summarily removed from the voting rolls. The voters purged from the list, election officials tell ThinkProgress, will inevitably include fully eligible Florida voters.
In short, an excess of 20 percent of the voters flagged as “non-citizens” in Miami-Dade are, in fact, citizens. And the actual number may be much higher.
Poetic justice would be a Dickensian nighttime visit by the Ghosts of Memorial Days Past, with veteran after veteran lining up to explain to Rick Scott that they didn’t die so some vampire freak of a would-be dictator could pick and choose the voters most likely to vote for his party.
Of course, that’s impossible. So I guess I’ll have to settle for Scott being dragged out of the Florida Governor’s Mansion in chains — preferably by his ankles — to the nearest courthouse to answer for treason in this attempted bloodless coup.
Wait, that’s unlikely too? What the fuck kind of country are we running here these days, anyway?
Today in Republican supervillainy: Rick Scott’s healthcare sabotage.
Gov. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) opposition to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act has cost the state $200 million in funding it could have used to enroll more children in health care insurance, Health News Florida reports. Under the law, states that “adopt at least five of eight measures that make it easier for eligible children to become and stay enrolled” qualify for bonuses that could be used to enroll more low-income children in the program. But Florida passed up those dollars, along with billions more in other health grants that could have assisted millions in the state. Currently, 687,300 or 16 percent of children are uninsured in Florida — six percentage points higher than the national average..
The problem Republicans face in opposing the Affordable Care Act is, of course, that it will do good things for people. It’s hard to argue that something won’t work when there are plenty of examples of it working just fine.
So what you want to do is break it. Make sure it doesn’t work by keeping it from people. Then you can ask voters, “What’s the ACA done for you lately?” and the voters will answer “Nothing!”
And if that means kids will have to do without healthcare? Well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few hundred thousand eggs.
Stories to Watch: 9/26/11
Finally. I needed to get some bandwidth issues taken care of and it took me a lot longer than I thought it would. I think I’ve got it squared away now, but I’ll run diagnostics later tonight to make sure. I’ll set them up to run overnight. For once, I’ll be productive even while I sleep. Now here’s the news…
Greg Sargent takes on the idea of a third party by pointing out that there isn’t exactly a third position on most issues for that party to take. Hence, it would be redundant. I’d go a bit farther and point to parliamentary systems where several parties exist; those tend to be narrowly focused parties (dealing almost exclusively with environmentalism, women’s rights, copyright reform, etc.) that wind up as part of one coalition or another along the conservative/liberal divide. All we do in the US is skip the coalition building part. You may agree, you may disagree, but it’s always nice to see a sound, logical argument. Paul Krugman also takes a stab at the issue.
The House and Senate continue to wrangle over disaster relief spending as the government faces a possible shutdown. David Dayden of Firedoglake makes an excellent case for Democrats sticking to their guns.
Allegations of the use of excessive force get awfully hard to deny in NYPD crowd control during the Occupy Wall Street protests. I want you to stop a moment and consider the political shitstorm that would ensue if police treated ‘bagger protesters this way. I guess it’s OK to abuse liberals.
Speaking of ‘baggers, how racist can they be? How’s this?
The DNC capitalizes on the bloodthirsty and hateful nature of the crowds at GOP debates.
Finally, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is just a clown.
Stories to Watch: 6/28/11
Had to do a clean install of my browser this morning, which means I lost almost everything. Ever come to rely on something, then can’t remember where you got it from when you want to replace it? Yeah, that’s fun. Now here’s the news…
Not only is Michele Bachmann dumb, but she also hasn’t accomplished a whole lot.
Also on the Bachmann front, if your “knowledge” of history is making you look like a fool, just change history. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before.
And, to top it all off, Shelly gets no love from a former top aide. And Tom Petty doesn’t like her, either.
President Obama caves to the GOP on Bush’s tax giveaway to the wealthy, leaving House dems wondering why they even bother to show up to work in the morning.
Pawlenty agrees with Obama on Libya, making him the most Bush-like neocon contender of the GOP field.
Florida’s Rick Scott is officially the most unpopular governor in America.
Finally, one of my senators is Ron Johnson. Fuck you, Ron Johnson.
Stories to Watch: 5/27/11
Florida Gov. Rick Scott may be the most unpopular governor in the nation. It’s easy to see why.
Painted into a corner by House Republican’s worship of Paul Ryan’s Medicare scheme, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell finds some hostages to shoot — and it’s pretty much everybody.
Frankly, I wouldn’t want to touch it either. Still, using an autopen to sign the extension of the PATRIOT Act into law doesn’t really spare you the responsibility, President Obama. It’s an awful dog of a law, it’s everything you originally said you were against, and that’s your name at the bottom.
I don’t care what anyone else says, Charles Krauthammer is an idiot.
Our for sale elections just got a little more for sale.
Italian seismologists are to be tried for manslaughter for failing to predict an earthquake. You read that right and, yeah, it’s just a stupid as you think it is.
Illinois GOP Rep. Joe Walsh is about to learn that saying, “There’snothing racist about this!” isn’t the best way to hide an incredibly racist statement.
Finally, Senate GOP move to block a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren to a consumer watchdog position. I want to be mad, but Democrats have done the same thing.
Stories to Watch: 5/8/11
Happy Mothers Day. Now here’s the news…
The Washington Post tells their readers that there’s simply nothing that can possibly be done about unemployment. So Dean Baker points out all the stupid in the WP’s editorial, while Brad DeLong does the same. Also in economics news: worried about runaway inflation because the fed “keeps printing money?” Yeah, you can knock that off now.
Rightwing media are shocked to learn that the president shares information with generals (make sure to read the breathlessly panicked comments — don’t worry, the crazy isn’t catching). Obama is “caught on video” handing a “secret note” to an Air Force General and… Well, that’s it. The fact that he’s out in the freakin’ daylight, giving a memo to a general is… I don’t even know what it’s supposed to be. These guys know that the president is supposed to talk to generals, right? “Apparently this is what happens when the media can no longer accuse President Obama of having shady information on his birth certificate,” writes Mediaite’s Frances Martel.
This is fun; Taegan Goddard goes back to 2008 to find an example of Bill O’Reilly being vehemently wrong. “You’re not gonna invade Pakistan, Senator [Obama], if you’re president. You’re not gonna send ground troops in there. You know it.”
Osama bin Laden’s death proves that evolution is a buncha hooey. Sometimes, I wonder if creationism isn’t just an elaborate prank.
The courageous and oh-so-serious Paul Ryan plan to balance the budget turns out to have yet one more flaw — there’s no way it balances the budget.
Finally, whenever I start thinking I have the worst governor in America, I think about Florida’s Rick Scott, who cut unemployment benefits to fund a tax giveaway to the wealthy.
