Florida Democrats Are Sinking

As noted here on this blog and elsewhere, Democrats have been getting their posteriors kicked - sometimes with the boots wedged in the orifices pretty darn good - in so many down-ballot races that one wonders why it is the Republicans who are marked for extinction.  And nowhere is the Democrats' trouble more obvious than the state of Florida.  Democrats in the Sunshine State are doing so poorly, it's a wonder President Obama won the state twice.  Because a lot of these losers can't even win once.

  

When Marco Rubio ruled out a run for a second term to the U.S. Senate to concentrate on the Presidency, Democratic prospects for a Senate seat pickup seemed assured . . . until Rubio reversed course and decided to run for another term after all after ending his presidential bid.  He's so far ahead of his Democratic opponent, U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, in the polls that Democrats have stopped throwing money at the Murphy campaign and are throwing in the towel instead.  Which makes sense, considering Murphy's background; he's a former Republican who has received campaign contributions from an admitted felon, and his father and his family's business donated money to a super-PAC supporting him, under ethically dubious circumstances.

Did I happen to mention a bill Murphy co-sponsored in the House to help his family's business?  You can read all about it here.

Then there's that other former Republican, former governor Charlie Crist, who in 2014 proved to be as ineffective in running as a Democrat against Governor Rick Scott to get his old job back as he was when he ran for the Senate in 2010 as an independent.  Having lost the least loseable gubernatorial election in the 2014 midterm cycle, Crist is now running for the U.S. House of Representatives against Republican incumbent David Jolly, who in 2014 whopped Alex Sink in a special election for the seat (four years after Rick Scott whopped Alex Sink for the governorship).   Crist, in his new role as a professional candidate, showed how out of touch he is with his own would-be constituents by defending Hillary Clinton as someone who's honest and trustworthy during a debate with Jolly.  The audience erupted with laughter.

Then there is Representative Alan Grayson, who has been accused of spousal abuse by his ex-wife and recently lost as much as $18 million of his considerable fortune in an investment scam.  He gave up his House seat to run against Patrick Murphy, the Democratic establishment's choice for the U.S. Senate nomination, and, as you obviously have already figured out, lost. His new wife Dena Minning, whom he married this past May, ran in the Democratic primary for the House seat he gave up to run for the Senate.

She lost.

So did Tim Canova, a Bernie Sanders-type reformer, in his bid for the Democratic nomination for the seat of Florida's Twenty-Third U.S. House District.  The person who beat him?  Incumbent congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Who, as I understand it, is responsible for the many problems and disasters Democrats have had in Florida and elsewhere.

Florida Democrats, for all their efforts to stand tall and proud, are going down faster than the state itself, as sea levels rise.  An historical note: Florida was one of the first states in which the Whigs collapsed after that party's 1852 disaster.   

History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

More Grayson Matters

Recently, the Florida Democratic Party invited Alan Grayson to be the keynote speaker at the first meeting of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida. Grayson was voted out of his U.S. House seat in 2010, but he hopes to make a comeback in 2012 by winning one of the two new seats Florida gets in the House  starting with the next Congress as a result of reapportionment based on the latest census figures.  He drew hundreds of people to this Democratic event.  He critiqued the Republican presidential candidates (and Sarah Palin) in his thirty-minute speech, and I have to repeat what he said here.  If Grayson doesn't make it back to Washington, he should consider a career as a stand-up comic. :-D

Among his observations:

Sarah Palin: "I was disappointed that Sarah Palin was not running. But I understood why. She realized that she could not fit the Oath of Office on her palm."

On Mitt Romney: "There’s somebody who spends all day trying to figure out whether he should flip or flop."

On Herman Cain: "I hope he gets the nomination because clearly, if both parties nominate African-Americans, every racist in this country will have to commit suicide. . .. What is his business genius? That he paid people $8 an hour to deliver $15 pizzas."

On Rick Perry: "Rick Perry tried to pick a fist fight with Ron Paul on national TV. A 76-year-old man. He doesn’t want to just cut Social Security. He wants to beat up everyone on Social Security."

On Newt Gingrich: "Somebody said to me recently, 'I actually listened to Newt Gingrich, and he sounded really crazy to me.' I said, 'Look, Newt Gingrich has been listening to Newt Gingrich for 68 years. If you listened to Newt Gingrich for 68 years, wouldn’t you be crazy?'"

On Ron Paul: "I’m going to disregard Ron Paul, because everyone else does."

On Michele Bachmann: "I’m not going to say anything about her, because we actually have an agreement between ourselves. The agreement is that if I don’t tell the truth about her, she won’t lie about me."

Happy Thanksgiving. :-D

Grayson Matters

The second word in the title of this post can be read as either a noun or a verb.

Alan Grayson's influence of the Democratic party as a member of Florida's U.S. House delegation is palpable. It was Grayson who distinguished himself as a Democrat who refused to apologize to Republicans after attacking them heartless bastards in the health care debate when he said the Republican plan was to tell people not to get sick and to die quickly if they do. Now Grayson seems to be emboldening the embattled Senate Democratic leader. Harry Reid, normally a milquetoasty kind of guy, said on the campaign trail in his home state of Nevada, declared that he can't understand how Hispanics can be Republicans. The GOP demanded an apology; Reid wouldn't give one. Grayson must be proud.

Grayson himself was in the news again this week, as he blasted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs for complaining about how unappreciative and ungrateful the "professional left" ("Professional left?" What, he thinks all progressives are making money from voicing their opinions?) are for what the Obama administration has achieved so far, even grousing about the Democratic liberal base for complaining about what they didn't get, like a government-administered health insurance option. Grayson has been angry at Gibbs's fight picking with the base, saying that liberals should have their concerns taken more seriously - especially when a majority of Americans wanted the public option only to see it traded away in backroom dealing. Grayson - who wants to see the White House pick more fights with Republicans - has demanded that Gibbs resign, but Gibbs, like Reid, is in no mood to budge. The White House must have taken some of Grayson's concerns to heart, as they are finally beginning to go after House Republican leader John Boehner - though, perhaps they should go after him harder.

Update on Georgia: Nathan Deal is the Republican nominee for governor, having bested Palin-endorsed candidate Karen Handel. The good news is that a Palinista lost. The bad news is that Deal's probably going to win the governorship in November.

The Full Grayson

After delivering a spirited defense of the unemployed from the House floor on Monday, Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) found himself on the receiving end of a right-wing media group offering a hundred dollars to anyone who punched him in the nose. Grayson laughed it off - I'm surprised that he didn't complain he was worth so little - and told Ed Schultz on MSNBC that he punches back.

Today, another right-winger counterpunched, and Grayson isn't laughing. Someone called Grayson's office and told one of his staffers that ten people were out to kill him. Grayson expressed regret over how political discourse in this country has devolved - again, to Ed Schultz - and he was visibly upset.

As Schultz noted, this is what many in the American right wing have resorted to - threatening any liberal or progressive politician who forcefully offers facts and opinions they don't like with violence. The right likes to intimidate its opponents. Grayson deserves credit for standing his ground, as he takes these threats very seriously. Now is the time for conservative leaders to try to get their supporters to tone down their rhetoric. This has gone too far. With all the hatred having been generated in the media this past week, I hope this is indeed a turning point, and that the intensity of the attacking and counterattacking stops before . . . someone gets hurt.

Or worse.

Please note that I never mentioned the Republican party in this post.