Why They Don't Take Florida Seriously

Every single major newspaper in Florida, even the conservative ones, even the ones who said to vote Bush and McCain, were terrified of a Rick Scott governorship and got behind Alex Sink.

I wondered what an endorsement of Scott would look like. Something like this: "Be Optimistic About Our New Governor" by Jordan Swanson. This, I guess, is the closest thing to a "newspaper" endorsement. Last week my local college rag, the UCF Future, extolled the virtues of governor-elect Scott. (PS...If you click on the link, please read the site comments to this piece, they are hilarious!)

Granted, this piece at the Future doesn't come close to rivaling their other great works, such as the endorsement entitled "Bush Worthy of Great Leader Status" written shortly after Katrina, or the article gushing Palin. But it is still cringe-worthy.

The guest columnist, who has a little trouble with grammer, proudly claimed she didn't vote in the midterm election, but had "good reason". She didn't know anything. She even more proudly claimed to have based her whole opinion on watching political TV ads, although she did manage to catch his victory speech.

That is the only way it could have happened. A lazy kid pretending to be a journalist who is proud of being an idiot: and just as confidently states she did no research whatsoever.

But the reason I titled this rant why they don't take FLORIDA seriously as opposed to some irrelevant college paper seriously is because this is a microcosm of why Florida is in such bad shape. She did what a lot of people here do. Watch a few ads and make up their mind. Seniors voted for Rick Scott even though the guy LITERALLY stole from them.

What does Florida have to show for almost two decades of GOP rule? We have 12% unemployment, property values that are the worst in the nation, an education system that went from the top 10 to #48, overdevelopment, and toothless regulation that is about to be completely gutted.

So what does Florida do? A state with more registered Dems than GOP? Put a veto-proof, right-wing majority in the state legislature... and a felon responsible for the largest Medicare fraud in history in the governor's office.

OK, putting the obvious problem of having a criminal in the highest state office aside for a moment (yes, let's make a whole new argument here because that isn't enough), let's talk about his "plan" to create 700,000 jobs. Here just a taste of what he wants to do:

1. Bring Arizona's Anti-Brown Law here (which has cost that state nearly 100 million in revenue due to boycotts)
2. Force all women who want to exercise there legal right to an abortion to be VIOLATED with a forced ultrasound, a lecture, and then PAY for it (Who wouldn't want to live in a state that practices forced rape on a patient. And this was the guy that wanted government out of health care??? Fuck you)
3. Allow drilling on our coasts (Nothing bad can happen there)
4. Kill the high-speed rail line (that the federal government is already mostly paying for, killing hundreds of jobs instantly and ensuring years of gridlock on I-4)
5. Push the anti-teacher law that punishes teachers working with difficult children (We went from the top 10 to #48 in schools under GOP rule. Its going to get worse)

How is this going to create jobs, Rick?

All these things mentioned above will COST us jobs. The big plan is to cut the corporate tax, but Florida already has one of the lowest in the nation, and that hasn't created anything. Businesses hire when there is a market--and Rick Scott has ensured that Florida will be toxic to investors for years.

But columnist Jordan Swanson saw one of Scott's $73 million dollar TV ads featuring his mom saying he was a "good boy", so I guess I have every reason to be optimistic as the article tells me.

The GOP takes California seriously because the voters there took it seriously, and didn't let Meg Whitman buy the election although she spent twice as much as Rick Scott. In New York, Paladino was laughed off the electoral stage.

After years of taking our state down the toilet, the GOP was given more power. Worse, this new crop of teabaggers now have absolute control, and just put a guy in office his fellow republicans thought should be in jail. How could anyone take us seriously?

We were mocked for not knowing how to vote 10 years ago. What is more frightening is when some of us do.