The Out of Touch Gang

As harmless as this article seems to be, it's the type of thing that ought to get those of us who have suffered because of Rick Scott foaming at the mouth angry. A posting I left there says it all:

* yacht club
* by invitation only
* they have to tell people WHY Scott is "good for Florida" (because obviously, a lot of people think he isn't)
This is the classic collection of people who are out of touch with the great harm Rick Scott has done to the everyday people of Florida. Not one of them has likely had to be unemployed, search the streets for a job, collect unemployment (especially via a malfunctioning website), find food for their children, etc. Or if they have, it's been decades (as with Ann Scott) since they did so.
No, ladies. You can't "tell the story better." We know the story. Rick Scott represents the selfish self-interest of the wealthy. Period.

My list of reasons to vote out this monster will soon reach 200. In the meantime I've set some things in motion to give it more exposure. That's coming soon. But kicking out Rick can't come soon enough.

Rick Scott Campaign Now Insulting Rich Hispanic Fundraiser But Defends the Bigoted Staffers

Crossposted as Rec on DKos
#CV. of My Stupid State

After a racist incident involving two high-level staffers mimicking a Mexican accent on the way to Chipotle, Miguel ("Mike") Hernandez, Rick Scott's finance co-chair and top fundraiser, fired off an angry email and then abruptly quit.

Rick Scott's campaign wasted no time in apologizing... I'm just kidding. I meant INSULTED their top fundraiser.

Rick Scott's campaign director, Curt Anderson, called him a "renegade donor", writing "bizarre emails", and slammed his resignation as "immaterial foolishness".

Then Scott's campaign manager, Melissa Sellers, essentially called him a liar:

"Mike was not in the van,” Scott’s campaign manager, Melissa Sellers, said in an email to the Herald.

“I spoke to every staffer in the van,” Sellers wrote. “If something was said in an accent, no one remembers what it was."

Really? Well, obviously somebody remembered something or why the hell would Mike have complained in the first place?

Let me ask you this, Melissa and Curt: Did a person who gave Rick Scott the largest single donation in Florida history, one MILLION dollars, and then raised 35 million more just make the whole thing up to make Rick Scott look bad?

Here is the ACTUAL email from Mike Fernandez. Doesn't exactly jibe with Melissa's story.

At least Rick Scott responded by cracking down on the behavior of the two senior staffers..... I'm just kidding. I meant he DEFENDED them by saying they are doing a "great job".

By the way, whenever Rick Scott says you are doing "a great job", watch out:

And as far as Mike goes, how does it feel?

You aren't one of "those" brown people who Rick Scott purged from voting, won't give a driver's license to, or asked for their papers. You were different. You are Republican, rich, and corrupt... you really thought you were one of them.

After all that money you gave and all that effort you put in, just to find out that in the end, Rick Scott stands by the white, snotty, Hispanic-mocking staffers--NOT you.

Lest you think this is an isolated incident, Mike, the Hispanic Outreach Director also quit the Florida GOP for their bigoted "culture of intolerance". And longtime GOP politician Ana Riveras Logan was tired of the bigotry as well and she just switched from being a Republican to a Democrat.

She also had a few words for Rick Scott as well:

"What is unbelievable to me is that instead of apologizing about these remarks and moving on, Rick Scott hasn’t said a word! That’s not leadership."

Minorities are insulted and shafted in this state all the time, Mike. In the case of SYG, they are even getting killed. None of that mattered to you. But now that they are personally insulting your character, maybe THAT will.

Crist's "Scott Free Florida" Page

I just got a note about this new website started by the Crist campaign. Even if you're planning to vote for Nan Rich in the primary, it looks like the kind of place you can get some good ammo.

Their first article is a list of 5 reasons why Scott is bad for Florida. Hey, I can give them at least 192 more right now...and maybe I will later!



 

Fact Check: Obamacare Driving 2.5 Million Out of Workforce?

Nope. Use Politifact's handy analysis to respond to this audacious claim in Rick Scott's new campaign smear...I mean, ad. They also cover the "300,000 cancelled policies" claim. Both get rated Mostly False.

This one made #196 on my list, by the way.

Really Good Spoof of Creepy New GOP Ads

Because I can't get enough of the GOP hipster wannabe, Scott Greenberg:

Rick Scott Says the Two Bigots on his Staff Are Doing a "Great Job"

Rick Scott's fellow Medicaid fraudster, top fundraiser and finance co-chair Mike Fernandez abruptly quit last week after a racist incident involving two of Rick Scott's staff.

Rick Scott, who is already struggling with Hispanics, got on top of this today--by having his Lt. Gov defend them!

Today's tweet (H/t Beachpeanuts for catching this)

I spoke with @FLGovScott earlier today and he told me that @justonjohnson and @tsgop were doing a "great job." #sayfie

Even if you give tacit approval to brown-people bigotry, you would cynically think a savvy politician might consider at the VERY LEAST condemnation of his lead staffers' behavior: mocking Mexicans and contributing to a hostile culture that caused his top fundraiser to quit.

But you don't know Rick Scott.

1:14 PM PT: Coincidentally, today is the launch of the Florida GOP's big outreach to the Hispanic community. I wonder if rick will ask these two knuckleheads to lead it.

A Casualty of Rick Scott, The Florida Legislature, And The Party Of "No"

Fox News and other Right wing opponents of The Affordable Care Act have paraded people in front of the camera, complaining about how Obamacare has ruined their lives, costing them money, and any other thing they can think of to cast negative aspersions on the law. What they won’t tell you, however, are the stories about people who NEED medicaid expansion, and the rest of the things that go along with Obamacare. I want all of you to take a few moments and read the touching story of Charlene Dill, as told by her best friend, Kathleen Voss Woolrich. You see, Charlene can’t tell you her story herself, because Charlene is dead, caught up in the politics of the party of “no”.

Full Story here

Several facts about Scott Greenberg, the GOP's new "hipster" in those creepy ads

When I first saw the ads featuring this dweeb, I thought it was a fake Colbert ad and was waiting for Stephen to deliver the punch line. The punch line I got at the end wasn't what I was expecting--it was the GOP logo at the end. It was real.

The fabulous Reince Preibus is getting slammed all over the interwebs in his party's bizarre attempt to reach millennials with a series of stupid commercials featuring a fake hipster dude who can't seem to stop driving his Audi. Its so bad that even young republicans are doing a face palm over this. Note to Reince: If your ads are getting more dislikes than likes on Youtube at a 15:1 ratio, and you are getting snarky comments from supporters telling you its embarrassing, you are in danger of failing on a Karl Rovian scale.

We are first introduced to Scott Greenberg in an opening commercial featuring a representative of each demographic the GOP has insulted over the past few years (all except Muslims because, you know, fuck them I guess). Reince really and truly believes that the GOP's disgusting message of greed, xenophobia, and only helping those who don't need any help would resonate with people if ONLY their "messaging" was better. So what better way to get people voting for team GOP than paying actors from the various groups they are fucking over to read off GOP talking points.

That's how you get this crap-fest:

Look! An Hispanic guy who apparently doesn't mind GOP bigots making laws forcing him to produce his papers! A black chick who's primary worry is any cuts to the Pentagon's bloated budget! And by golly, that young Starbuck's employee is right. She SHOULD have a say in forcing you to bear child!

How could any of that NOT work?

Of course, out of the pandering colorwheel they picked the lone white guy in that bunch to focus on for their remaining multi-million dollar ad buy.

Scott Greenberg. The ultimate caricature of a "hipster": giant glasses, greased hair, drawn-on beard, and a child's t-shirt. He's real. He's not an actor. (Which is obvious since he can't memorize the lines for a 30 second commercial.)

Here he is gasing up his Audi, (which ironically, was ranked the most unhipster car of the year), talking about imaginary regulations that are keeping billion-dollar corporations from hiring.

You see, there could be all these great jobs if only liberals weren't forbidding them to hire! Thanks Obama!

The fact that that profitable companies aren't hiring because we allow them to write off paying their executives 475 times salary of the average employee never enters this douche canoe's radar.

In the other ad where he supports fracking you can actually see cue cards switch in the reflection on his glasses. This one is my favorite because his gratuitous use of the word "Whatever"

I drive everywhere but can't afford gas. Thanks Obama! Fo shizzle...

We give the oil companies hundreds of billions in taxpayer subsidies, even though they have the highest profit margins in human history. What kind of moron believes that allowing them to drill in our national parks will convince them to lower gas prices? (The same guy who thinks large corporations will create more jobs if only they pay no taxes. The fact that the stock market is at an all-time high and we have no jobs should have shut these people up a long time ago.)

I had to know if this dude was for real. So I did my own checking and came across some interesting facts about Scott Greenberg:

• Says he's a graduate of "The" Florida State University and has a degree in English

• Selling out to the GOP has its perks: Established a one-man "marketing firm" in this posh office

• It also apparently helped him buy his brand new house (He had pictures on his instagram account but he took them down)

• He bitches about his heating bill at his house, something most millennials can't relate to since the overwhelming majority don't own a house

• He obviously loves to drive, although millennials are less likely to buy or own cars than any other current generation of Americans. A lot of them don't even have driver's license

• Yes, he's a pampered prick

• His main job is, get this, public relations manager for the Washington Ballet, who gets most of its funding from federal grants from the National Endowment of the Arts--the very organization that the GOP wants to defund!

  The NEA is the #3 GOP bogeyman after Planned Parenthood and ACORN. Romney said he would cut their funding in half.

In other words, a typical, hypocritical republican. Just in dorky clothes.

John Oliver's new show reshot both of Scott Greenberg's commercials much more effectively:

Whatever you paid Scott Greenberg, Reince, it was an overpayment. Millennials think hipsters are pompous asses anyway, and you managed to find one that even fellow hipsters want to smack. Getting smug, pampered young people to read your soundbites was never going to work; but to be fair, no amount of marketing genius can fix your problem if the problem is you. In the words of one Millennial youtube commenter:

My American Dream is one where women have control of their own bodies, very narrow religious morality isn't legislated, consenting adults can marry whoever they want, minorities aren't constantly demonized either overtly or through dog-whistle code words, where greed at the expense of human life and dignity are punished rather than rewarded, where scientific consensus is understood and accepted and where everyone feels it is their civic duty to help their brothers and sisters rise to their level rather than stamp them down into the dirt to elevate themselves.

This is why I will never vote Republican. Your party is an unholy marriage between the remnants of the Moral Majority, the southern racists that joined your party after Nixon courted them and Gordon Gekko. No. Fucking. Thanks

Rick Scott's Top Fundraiser Quits Amid Campaign Turmoil and Racism

Mike Fernandez was named Finance Co-chair of Rick Scott's campaign to ruin our state for four more years just two months ago. He is a billionaire CEO who has done quite well under our governor.

It wasn't enough for Rick Scott to be the largest Medicaid fraudster in US history. He did a major sequel with Mike Fernandez that I wrote about when Mike was just appointed. Essentially Mike was the mastermind behind Rick Scott's “managed care” Medicaid scam, which carves up our state into 11 regions to private insurers. This was after Mike made a huge campaign contribution to Scott. Not surprisingly, two of Mike's companies were awarded contracts for some of these regions worth BILLIONS in Medicaid funds.

Mike, in return, raised a few million for Rick Scott in his new post. But yesterday, Mike abruptly quit.

He wrote the standard "spend more time with my family" lie in his resignation, but the truth was more along the lines of having to put up with this crap from Rick Scott's campaign:

Despite the praise, Fernandez has been unhappy for weeks with the struggling campaign’s direction and the attitude of some of its workers.

Fernandez began expressing his frustrations at least a month ago when he sent an email to top Scott allies and complained about two campaign aides who had joked around in a cartoon-style Mexican accent en route to a Mexican restaurant in Fernandez’s home town of Coral Gables.

Fernandez, who is Cuban, wouldn’t comment about the email.

What?

How can that be? Rick Scott is such a friend of Hispanics. I can't imagine such a culture in his campaign.

Truth is, Rick Scott is behind in the polls despite spending tens of millions. He has a negative job approval rating. In addition to the bigotry, the article mentions frustration with the poll stagnation. Mike may have sensed this is a sinking ship and is just the first rat to jump off. Its not like this hasn't happened before for Rick Scott. He has so far had a record 17 staff member resignations in his governorship.

Slick Rick has managed to piss off just about every constituent group outside of ignorant, angry whites. But unfortunately, he remains competitive because this group makes the largest single voting block in Florida. Combine that with his extensive voter suppression tactics, and he could still pull it off. Banking on Florida to do the right thing has never been a safe bet.

4:26 PM PT: My initial post about Mike Fernandez back in January focused on the shady nature of one of Mike's winning companies. They upgraded their website significantly since I ran that story, but notice they took down who was on their team.

America's Dumbest Congressman Attacks SNL on House Floor for 6 Year-Old Palin Skit

Crossposted on DKos

Tea Party Congressman Louie Gohmert has earned his title of America's dumbest Congressman.

A small sampling of his greatest hits:

• Literally screamed about the threat of killer babies
• Claimed money earmarked for Chinese snow leopards might mean we'd be eating more "moo-goo-dog-pan"
• Said we should fight the health are bill by not allowing election of senators
• Compared a dictator to George Washington
• Claims vaccines are a liberal plot to stop human population
• Claims hammers are just as dangerous as assault rifles

and, up till now, my personal favorite:

• In an attempt to sound smart, attacked Eric Holder for "casting aspersions on my asparagus"

But I may have a new favorite. Two days ago, Louie discovered an old skit parading Sarah Palin's bid to be vice president....

The skit, which aired in September 2008, is a classic that I got to enjoy again. Its the now-famous one of Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler playing Sarah and Hillary while poking fun at Sarah Palin's clear unreadiness as well as Hillary Clinton's ambition.

A little slow as always, Uncle Louie was so incensed upon seeing this old sketch that he declared on the House floor, just this past Thursday, that he would like to set the record straight on how smart Palin really is. He did this by reading the entire skit ver batim so it can be part of the Congressional Record and painstakingly correcting the "errors" with actual quotes!

His dry delivery of the sketch was worthy of its own parady:

Poor Gohmert.

He has apparently never heard of satire.

Joe Biden never actually said "You dopes got schooled Biden-style!" McCain never called Obama "Pee-pee pants". Obama also never went on national television to say the census was revised to find people who oppose Obamacare.

Even if I didn't like the skits, as a Congressman, I wouldn't go on the House floor to correct these "errors". But I get satire. Sketch comedy shows build skits from an established perception of a politician: they almost never use a politician's exact words.

In Sarah Palin's case, however, they actually did. The OTHER famous sketch with Sarah Palin involved her notorious interview with Katie Couric. SNL didn't need satire. It copied the interview almost word-for-word:

Since the Texas Congressman thinks that defending a failed candidate and Fox News pundit from 2008 pre-election satire is currently the most pressing issue facing his constituents, I would challenge him to do the same with this sketch.

Its rare when a politician is so inept that comedians can just use their own words without embellishment. Lucky for them, Sarah Palin is just such a politician. Its just too bad that Gohmert isn't a more prominent one, or they could get a goldmine that rivals even her.

Deconverting Scott Voters

Some time back I posted comments about how hard a time I had finding an intelligent Rick Scott supporter. I've also commented on reasons why people might vote for Scott, and ignorance was at the top of the list. Many of my encounters with Scott supporters prove this is the case, and tell us that there's a way to change their minds.

I had a talk with a not-too-unreasonable guy of late, who said he was voting for Scott because a) he couldn't stand Crist, and b) Scott "did what he said he would do." I didn't have time to talk to him for too long, so I drew a few things from memory from my list and told him about them.

I usually start by telling people how Scott wanted to disband the Florida Highway Patrol. This is a great account to give people, because everyone in Florida has seen the FHP at work and knows what they do. They may not always like them (especially after a speeding ticket) but as a whole, their image is a good one.

It's also good to use because no one's ever heard about it. And my friend's jaw hit the floor when I told him about it.

Then I told him about a couple of Scott's lies from his State of the State speech this year. In particular, I related the one about Scott lying about Florida's fourth graders being second in the worlds at reading. That had him shaking his head.

In the end, I didn't have time to do more, but at the very least, I expect this guy may now vote third party instead. And that's fine, if it's someone who would have voted for Scott otherwise.

The point is that yes, we can change people's minds about Rick Scott, if we get the truth out. My list of non-partisan reasons is now at 195, after an update after this original post. When it reaches 200, I won't stop collecting, but I will start presenting those reasons in a new way that will let people spread them around even more.

It can be done. As usual, we just need to get out there and do it. The real problem (as always!) is getting people mad enough to get up and vote. And that's why I created the list.

Rick Scott's Peek-A-Boo Trust

While I contemplate the next post I make, here's some food for thought to feed anyone you know who supports Rick Scott. The Broward Bulldog has uncovered yet another smelly situation involving Governor Skeletor.

Want to Build an F-Rated Charter School? WITHOUT Approval? Only in Florida

This could only happen here.

Orange County, Florida, home of Orlando, is the 12th largest school district in the US. It has over 115 elementary schools. Since 1999, we have been grading our schools. Last year, only three schools received an "F" rating.

One of them was Renaissance Charter School. The County has made it very clear they DO NOT WANT Charter Schools USA building another failed Renaissance Charter School. They are suing to stop the decision from the Florida Dept. of Education, stacked with Scott cronies, that is trying to force them to build THREE campuses in Orange County. The owner of Charter Schools USA, John Hage, is just appalled that anyone would sue to stop him.

The County is opposed to these schools based on their past performance. They have a good case, and the judge is weighing his options. In the meantime, Hage said screw it.

Charter starts construction, despite not having approval yet for school

Charter Schools USA isn't waiting for a judge to decide if it can open a disputed school in Orange County. Construction already has begun.

How do you build something that isn't approved?

Charter Schools USA and its owner, Jonathan Hage, are major donors to Gov. Rick Scott and have influenced changes to state law intended to make it easier for charter chains to open new schools.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

In that case, my next question: what's it like living in a state that isn't a banana republic?

To those of us paying attention, Orange County's opposition is exactly the same argument that the Hillsborough School District made last month when it was looking to build a school at MacDill AFB near Tampa. Scott wanted his buddy Hage, of course. The Hillborough Co. Superintendent, knowing Hage's reputation, went so far as offering to convert a local school into a K-8 school as opposed to building one of Hage's failed schools. Yes, that was the cheapest and best option for the students--if only those were criteria here.

It is no secret that Rick Scott hates public schools. He cut $1.3 billion in K-12 education his first year (a record). He vetoed capital repairs for public schools, but approved them for charter schools. He got rid of long-term teacher contracts, and refused to even set foot in a public school until 7 months into his term. He does, however, love him some charter schools. He has done everything in his power to grow charter schools at the expense of traditional schools. In what can be described as a coincidence, his buddy/donor John Hage happens to be the region's largest charter school operator.

To be blunt, charter schools have, on a whole, been a disaster in this state. They make up the overwhelming majority of "F"-rated schools. In fact, charters were seven times more likely than regular public schools to receive F's on the state's report card.

But they make their owners money. LOTS of money. They are a $400 million dollar industry backed by real-estate developers. (That's right, real-estate developers, not educators.) But unlike traditional schools, they have virtually ZERO accountability:

But while charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled, they continue to operate with little public oversight. Even when charter schools have been caught violating state laws, school districts have few tools to demand compliance.

Hmmm. Act with no oversight. Make money off the people you are supposed to be helping. Violate state laws. Ignore the criminal justice system.

No wonder Hage is such good friends with Rick Scott.

Crossposted on DKOS
My Stupid State #102

FL and Nat. Dems: Learn the RIGHT Message from Sink's Defeat

Crossposted as rec. diary on DKos

Hindsight is always 20/20.

People are piling on Alex Sink. Her volunteers are blasting her on Facebook that she ran a keystone cops campaign. The Young Turks are blistering her for bashing the president on the ACA rollout and trying to be "republican-lite". And these guys are gentle compared to the skewering she is getting on the internwebs.

I met Alex Sink in 2007. She is a wickedly smart woman. She did an excellent job as CFO in Florida. But she has always been a wishy-washy Democrat. These are not the best for turnout. Midterm elections are all about the base, and even though they know they will be hurt by the opposition, they only bother to show up if they feel you will fight for them. And yes, I agree that politics is not her specialty. (No matter how you spin it, she has now lost to two fatally-flawed candidates).

Although she deserves a fair share of blame, I do think it unfair to place the entire defeat squarely on her shoulders. Keep in mind that this is Florida, the land where people vote against their own best interests--and unfortunately, these are the people who vote most often. Here, more than anywhere, Democrats have had an historically persistant problem of turning out our base for midterm elections--and this hurdle was made even harder: we were trying to get our people to vote in freaking March. In-person voting on election day put Jolly over the top: his districts had turnout of over 50%. Ours was around 30%.

I should also mention that Rick Scott went so far as to target the Elections Supervisor to make absentee voting as inconvenient as possible in this particular district. He succeeded.

I was trying to be positive for our sake, but this state has let me down so many times and the obstacles were as such for this special election that I was frankly amazed we did as well as we did.

But I'm not posting here today to defend or lament Alex's campaign. I think its safe to say her political career is over, so focusing on her is pointless. However, we SHOULD learn from this campaign. If we do, there is no reason why we shouldn't win in November. But we have to, this time, learn the right lesson. The reason I'm posting right now is to say LOUD AND CLEAR that unless we want to lose, (and sometimes I wonder), the one thing our national and state party SHOULD NOT do is take their marching orders from Fox News or right-wing radio.

In other words, DO NOT RUN FROM OBAMACARE.

The Affordable Care Act is popular here. Florida has the second-highest rate of signups in the nation--only behind California. This is freaking amazing, considering that Rick Scott, the legislature, and our attorney general are working as hard as they can to make it as difficult as possible. We not only don't have our own exchange, our Secretary of State refuses to give information on it. Rick Scott even issued an order to prevent residents from finding out how to sign up for it. If you try go to Florida's website just to find information on where to go, you get a nasty page filled with burdensome regulations and warnings about being a health care navigator. And yet, people in this state are still finding ways to sign up.

Consider this: In freaking red Kentucky, over 300,000 people, half of all of their uninsured, have signed up thru ACA. Can you imagine if Florida set up something for our people? If our leaders were actually trying to HELP the uninsured get healthcare?

People in this state are getting healthcare who never had it before. Next time, instead of a lukewarm response, how about touting the myriad of benefits of this law that people love? FL-13 is packed with seniors. Just one ad about the benefits of ACA for seniors might have closed the deal: the 250M investment to fight fraud (which also would have allowed an obvious swipe at Rick Scott), the requirement that insurance companies offer free preventive care (like colorectal cancer), or the fact that the ACA finally CLOSES the medication donut hole!

HELL NO I don't want to repeal it! How can you be AGAINST any of those things? How can you be against the job creation and lower rates because you refused Medicaid expansion? How can you be FOR taking insurance away from people who finally have it? Where was THAT line of attack?

The other side is going to run against ACA. In fact, the only advantage of this failed election is that the GOP is going to double-down on campaigning against it, even though the war is over! We WON! The American people now support the law at 64%, and its growing everyday as more and more people sign up. Those advocating complete repeal are throwing in the towel.

Running away from it is a fool's errand for a Democrat--and in shortime, for a republican as well. Keep in mind that the people who hate Obamacare are never going to vote for you, but you can excite your own base by letting them know that the ACA might be crippled. Give them a reason to come out and fight with you! For those few remaining on the fence, hit them with a whole list why its awesome!

AS A DEMOCRAT, YOU OWN THE LAW... SO FREAKING OWN IT!!!

The law's opponents are spending millions and can't even find people who aren't benefiting from this law. Why aren't we running ads on the MILLIONS it has helped? Heck, I can find you two people on my block who would make a commercial.

The GOP is saying we should run from what is arguably the Democrat's greatest social achievement. WE need to have candidates with a message that is exactly the opposite.

Now I expect the GOP to take the wrong message from this election, but heaven help us if we do the same.

John Boehner Slaps Down Rick Scott!

Republicans really don't have a lot to celebrate despite David Jolly's win in Pinellas County. In a district where the prior Republican candidate always won in double digits, Jolly's smidgen-sized win should be a wake up call for them instead.

But to make things more interesting, check out what John Boehner had to say about Jolly's win:

House GOP leaders were jubilant after a Republican won a competitive special election in Florida last night, crediting a focus on the economy for candidate David Jolly's victory.

“We had a big win last night in Florida," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, proclaimed at the top of a GOP press conference on Wednesday.

"And I would attribute to the win to the fact that our candidate was focused on the issues that were most important to the people in Florida 13th, and that's the economy and jobs," he said of Jolly's win over Democrat Alex Sink. Boehner's assessment was noteworthy because it didn't invoke Obamacare, a factor which figured heavily into the special election campaign.

Boehner did try to tie the Affordable Care Act into the economic narrative.

"The American people really are asking 'Where are the jobs?' And I would argue that the president's policies are making the economy worse. Top of those policies that are making is Obamacare," he said.

Hold on.

Rick Scott has been telling us that the jobs are right here in Florida.

So are they here, or aren't they? 

If they are, then it couldn't have been a reason why people voted for Jolly. Unless, of course, they were very ignorant...which I shouldn't count out!

Yes, it's Romney vs. Scott all over again. And as usual, the Republicans can't keep straight who to credit and who to blame.

Just to be clear, I personally doubt any elected official has much to do with jobs either way. Sure, they can authorize a few projects, which produce a sliver of jobs in the market, but as a whole, they're not the ones who do the recovery work. Jobs will come back slowly after any economic slump as large as this one. The history of the Great Depression shows that. As I see it, you could elect either a cabbage or the Pope as President, and that won't change the economic outlook any more or less. The far more important factor is how the people as a whole rebound from economic crisis, not what some politician does or doesn't do.

Either way, this comment by Boehner shows that the party of the elephant has a serious problem keeping the narrative straight. But we already knew that.

Unreported $500,000 Donation an ‘Accounting Error’, Says Rick Scott

How the hell do you "misplace" a half million dollars? Or do you just not want people to know where the money came from?

From AATTP:

This is one of the many things that Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign can do that we apparently cannot. The donation, given by Florida Crystals to Scott’s “Let’s Get to Work” – a committee designed to help Scott during his campaign – was one of the largest donations in the race.

It’s also not on any of the books.

FL GOP Senator's Aide Still Not Fired After DUI, Fleeing Scene

Lemme get this straight...

FL GOP State Senator Jeff Brandes' Chief Aide drove drunk, crashed, left scene of accident... and Brandes still can't decide what to do??

I know. How about saying "YOU ARE FIRED" or "EVEN I HAVE STANDARDS". How about stop giving him a taxpayer salary, you idiot!

Sink Lost. Jolly Won. Let's Not Screw This Up Again in November.

Sink gave it her all but was just short of victory. Keep in mind this was a GOP-drawn district and Scott made it as difficult as possible by revoking absentee drop-offs. It was an uphill battle.

Nonetheless, the margin was close enough that a few more Democrats would have put her over the top. YOUR VOTE COUNTS! Consider this a dry run for November.

TODAY IS THE DAY! Vote for Rick Scott's Nemesis! VOTE ALEX SINK!

Scott has made it very difficult to vote in this election. We can give you a ride if you need it. If you can volunteer, make calls, please do. Most importantly, VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Help make calls: http://action.dccc.org/landing/1

Need a ride or have problems voting? Call here: (727) 441-4947

March 11 is the Big DAY. VOTE FOR ALEX SINK!!

Click here to volunteer. Let's start rolling back the disastrous teabag tital wave of 2010 and put sane leaders back in place.