Once in a while I get to hug myself in glee. Last night's primary election results gave me one of those rare opportunities. Rick Scott defeated Bill McCollum to run for the Florida governorship in November under the Republican banner.
This has been the dirtiest campaign that I have ever seen, and his conservative claims notwithstanding, McCollum proved himself to be an underhanded dirty trickster of the worst sort. Beyond McCollum's very poor ethical performance, many of the establishment Republicans in the Florida Republican Party publicly supported McCollum - something they should not have done.
It was also distressing to see such a herd mentality at work among other national "conservative" voices such as Newt Gingrich, Dick Morris, Foxnews, Newsmax...the list reads like a roster of good guys. Knowing what I know of the McCollum campaign, I can only imagine that they, being at some distance from it, were not able to see what was really going on. I don't like the thought that they would throw principle overboard to support a corrupt career pol who is their pick. Such short-sighted behavior is what ruins political parties.
Normally, I associate the "conservative" logo as meaning that one's behavior is grounded in Godly moral principles, but I am at a loss to discover how McCollum could have garnered such support from so many people without someone blowing the whistle on what he was actually up to.
One staunch Republican friend in Palm Beach county blew the whistle on the unethical behavior by many in the state Republican party who were urging support for McCollum in their official capacity as representatives - insiders in the Party apparatus. No one would deny any person the right to privately support any candidate of their choosing, but to speak on behalf of one of the primary candidates when one occupies a postion in the State Party - and to make it known they are speaking in their official capacity - that goes beyond good ethical behavior. Some of them have quibbled that they did nothing wrong, but the donation of millions of Republican Party dollars to the McCollum primary campaign against Scott is clearly a betrayal of the Party's primary process and an open indication that the Florida Republican establishment is picking winners. Doing that in a party primary is both foolish and wrong.
Fortunately for the people of Florida (and the nation) their plans were derailed by voters who decided they did not like the underhanded campaign McCollum ran, nor the prospects of living under a governorship of such a man.
One can only hope that those same voters don't decide that they need to jettison the Party that so publicly polluted the primary.
I am sure that the right man won. It remains to be seen whether he can deal effectively with the disgruntled Republican pols who might form a barrier to his gubernatorial campaign and inadvertently hand the election to the Democrats. For them to refuse to cooperate with Scott because he is profoundly an "outsider" would, in my opinion, be suicidal for the Republican Party. It would solidify the suspicion in many people's minds that our basic civic problem is career pols who care more for their own things than the things of the people they purport to serve.
Of course it also depends on Scott's leadership skills. The gubernatorial race is now in his hands, and at this point he could presume to hold a lead going into the November elections. How he handles his public persona, and the issues, and the recently-beaten Florida Republican establishment will show us the mettle of the man. My support is with him. We need many more outsiders in our political system to reverse the decades of damage done by the career pols.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Scott vs McCollum Race in Fla. - A Friend's Commentary
A man I have grown to respect more and more as I got to know him wrote this email blast. There are other well-reasoned and well-documented thoughts he has shared recently, but I felt his words needed repeating. (His comments are in quotes at the end of this article.)
We are coming down to the wire in this Primary for Governor in Fla. I have observed that all the national Republican voices (Gingrich, Hannity, NewsMax -who recently received a visit from perhaps their new hero Bill Clinton) and the usual suspects.) have gotten on the McCollum bandwagon. Normally, I would have been glad about that, but something is not right about how this primary campaign has been waged by the McCollum people and other supporters. The career pols have circled their wagons and are vigorously attempting to exclude someone not of their career politician group from the governorship.
Often I will get behind someone I know something about, but this time I have learned more than perhaps I wanted to know about McCollum. I now regard him as the dirtiest pol in Florida, even dirtier than Charley Crist, and that is saying something. This primary campaign has solidified my attitude against the State and National Republican party, and some of the so-called conservative voices nationally who have thrown their support behind McCollum. FoxNews has also unwittingly been featuring McCollum, and not Scott at all (to my knowledge). The McCollum campaign has been run on an agenda of dirty tricks and innuendo, using Florida Republican Party funds - in a PRIMARY race. My friend points out that unseemly support from a group who takes party contributions from all Republicans and is not supposed to get involved in backing one primary candidate over another. That is an unforgivable betrayal of those who contributed to that fund.
I think on that point alone they have probably broken their trust with the party loyalists who have hitherto supported it. They Florida Republican Party leadership need to be held to account.
Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson, regardless of which way the race goes. Never trust a career politician, nor the party of career politicians that feed off of the continued election of these types. We have been betrayed on several levels already, and it might mean some more years of betrayal politics in Fla until the business of the state can be set right again.
Here are the comments from George Blumel, my friend whom I trust.
Title of the email: "Win or lose, we must learn this lesson..."
"The lesson here is never give money to the Republican Party directly –it can and will be used against you and your choices. Maybe you like their choice this time but next time they’ll give to the other guy. They have their own agenda. That applies to the RNC, The NRSC, the NRCC and your State Party, in Florida, the RPOF. In Florida’s primary race for governor, Rick Scott, the clean-government, self-financing outsider, is being vilified by the leadership and they are interfering with the primary election in favor of their career politician.
It takes more than money to win an election but at least Scott is spending his own money. "McCollum has raised just $7.7 million in hard money — but benefited from $3.9 million in help from the state Republican Party (RPOF) and another $9 million in special-interest money from Walt Disney, U.S. Sugar, Florida Power & Light, Publix Supermarkets and other companies, used to buy ads. In total, McCollum and his corporate backers hurled $21 million into his primary." That quote from the Orlando Sentinel doesn't even mention the taxpayer money McCollum has taken directly from the State. The special interests are buying their candidate as usual, but the big contributor that bothers me the most is the $millions from the RPOF. This is money contributed by Repubs for promoting the party and our candidates in the general election, NOT for taking sides in the Primary! OUTRAGEOUS!
The lesson here is NEVER CONTRIBUTE TO THE PARTY --these are the professional political establishment types that have given us corruption and bad government. They are scared to death that an outsider successful businessman will run the State efficiently with regard to taxes, regulations and even-handedness which largely leaves them out of their control. They lose their clout, their perks, their favors, their "importance."
Give to the candidate you favor directly or the funds will be used against your choice for the benefit of the insiders and business as usual. Jim Greer, Charlie Crist and the other crooks in our party have done that and continue to do it. Scott is our one chance to reverse that trend here in Florida –McCollum will happily continue his lifelong feeding at the government trough as he honors not his oath but his commitments to those who put him in office –Sugar, Disney, the utilities he is supposed to regulate, and all the others. "
All I can say is "Amen."
We are coming down to the wire in this Primary for Governor in Fla. I have observed that all the national Republican voices (Gingrich, Hannity, NewsMax -who recently received a visit from perhaps their new hero Bill Clinton) and the usual suspects.) have gotten on the McCollum bandwagon. Normally, I would have been glad about that, but something is not right about how this primary campaign has been waged by the McCollum people and other supporters. The career pols have circled their wagons and are vigorously attempting to exclude someone not of their career politician group from the governorship.
Often I will get behind someone I know something about, but this time I have learned more than perhaps I wanted to know about McCollum. I now regard him as the dirtiest pol in Florida, even dirtier than Charley Crist, and that is saying something. This primary campaign has solidified my attitude against the State and National Republican party, and some of the so-called conservative voices nationally who have thrown their support behind McCollum. FoxNews has also unwittingly been featuring McCollum, and not Scott at all (to my knowledge). The McCollum campaign has been run on an agenda of dirty tricks and innuendo, using Florida Republican Party funds - in a PRIMARY race. My friend points out that unseemly support from a group who takes party contributions from all Republicans and is not supposed to get involved in backing one primary candidate over another. That is an unforgivable betrayal of those who contributed to that fund.
I think on that point alone they have probably broken their trust with the party loyalists who have hitherto supported it. They Florida Republican Party leadership need to be held to account.
Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson, regardless of which way the race goes. Never trust a career politician, nor the party of career politicians that feed off of the continued election of these types. We have been betrayed on several levels already, and it might mean some more years of betrayal politics in Fla until the business of the state can be set right again.
Here are the comments from George Blumel, my friend whom I trust.
Title of the email: "Win or lose, we must learn this lesson..."
"The lesson here is never give money to the Republican Party directly –it can and will be used against you and your choices. Maybe you like their choice this time but next time they’ll give to the other guy. They have their own agenda. That applies to the RNC, The NRSC, the NRCC and your State Party, in Florida, the RPOF. In Florida’s primary race for governor, Rick Scott, the clean-government, self-financing outsider, is being vilified by the leadership and they are interfering with the primary election in favor of their career politician.
It takes more than money to win an election but at least Scott is spending his own money. "McCollum has raised just $7.7 million in hard money — but benefited from $3.9 million in help from the state Republican Party (RPOF) and another $9 million in special-interest money from Walt Disney, U.S. Sugar, Florida Power & Light, Publix Supermarkets and other companies, used to buy ads. In total, McCollum and his corporate backers hurled $21 million into his primary." That quote from the Orlando Sentinel doesn't even mention the taxpayer money McCollum has taken directly from the State. The special interests are buying their candidate as usual, but the big contributor that bothers me the most is the $millions from the RPOF. This is money contributed by Repubs for promoting the party and our candidates in the general election, NOT for taking sides in the Primary! OUTRAGEOUS!
The lesson here is NEVER CONTRIBUTE TO THE PARTY --these are the professional political establishment types that have given us corruption and bad government. They are scared to death that an outsider successful businessman will run the State efficiently with regard to taxes, regulations and even-handedness which largely leaves them out of their control. They lose their clout, their perks, their favors, their "importance."
Give to the candidate you favor directly or the funds will be used against your choice for the benefit of the insiders and business as usual. Jim Greer, Charlie Crist and the other crooks in our party have done that and continue to do it. Scott is our one chance to reverse that trend here in Florida –McCollum will happily continue his lifelong feeding at the government trough as he honors not his oath but his commitments to those who put him in office –Sugar, Disney, the utilities he is supposed to regulate, and all the others. "
All I can say is "Amen."
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
In the midst of all the furor regarding illegal aliens stealing across our borders to reap the benefits of an overly indulgent American people, this quote strikes a attitude that is both fundamentally correct and sensible, but also practically unutterable in today's culture of anti-Americanism emanating from the White House.
Interestingly, one ought to read it with Muslims in mind - especially in the light of the furor over the attempt to place a victory mosque at ground zero
Read:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
In applying the previous sentiment to most Muslims either immigrating to the US or born here, it becomes painfully apparent that many of the more literal Muslims do not assimilate. The ones wanting to build a ground zero mosque certainly don't want to. Their aim is to denigrate our liberties and the basis of our liberties - the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, and substitute a foreign deity, allah, who is no friend to liberty or kindness.
If Muslims inhabited the early America, there never, never, never would have been a United States of America. Islam spawns thuggery and oppression, not Liberty, especially when it reaches critical mass, as it is doing in France and the Netherlands and other European countries. We will in our own lifetimes witness the takeover of those countries and the complete elimination of what we call Western Democracy.
That cannot be allowed to happen here. Radical Islam is more than a religious idea, it is an oil-financed Jihad bent on destroying and assimilating - like the Borg - the entire world. It has made remarkable progress and has already enlisted many in its cause, most notably, Barack Hussein Obama.
But the struggle is basically about worldviews, and the worldviews in contention are the Judeo-Christian worldview based on the reality of Biblical truth, and Islam, a sixth-century amalgam of militarism and thuggery wrapped in religious garb and enforced by fear and force. The two systems are mutually incompatible.
One of the founders, Samuel Adams, was of the opinion that Muslims could not faithfully discharge the duties of public office in America because they did not accept the core beliefs that established our nation. He was correct.
Interestingly, one ought to read it with Muslims in mind - especially in the light of the furor over the attempt to place a victory mosque at ground zero
Read:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
In applying the previous sentiment to most Muslims either immigrating to the US or born here, it becomes painfully apparent that many of the more literal Muslims do not assimilate. The ones wanting to build a ground zero mosque certainly don't want to. Their aim is to denigrate our liberties and the basis of our liberties - the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, and substitute a foreign deity, allah, who is no friend to liberty or kindness.
If Muslims inhabited the early America, there never, never, never would have been a United States of America. Islam spawns thuggery and oppression, not Liberty, especially when it reaches critical mass, as it is doing in France and the Netherlands and other European countries. We will in our own lifetimes witness the takeover of those countries and the complete elimination of what we call Western Democracy.
That cannot be allowed to happen here. Radical Islam is more than a religious idea, it is an oil-financed Jihad bent on destroying and assimilating - like the Borg - the entire world. It has made remarkable progress and has already enlisted many in its cause, most notably, Barack Hussein Obama.
But the struggle is basically about worldviews, and the worldviews in contention are the Judeo-Christian worldview based on the reality of Biblical truth, and Islam, a sixth-century amalgam of militarism and thuggery wrapped in religious garb and enforced by fear and force. The two systems are mutually incompatible.
One of the founders, Samuel Adams, was of the opinion that Muslims could not faithfully discharge the duties of public office in America because they did not accept the core beliefs that established our nation. He was correct.
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