Patrick Murphy-- Is He The Worst Freshman Democrat? Unlikely He'll Be The Worst Sophomore

Technically, Patrick Murphy is a Democrat. He switched his registration from "Republican" just before challenging much-hated Tea Party target Allen West in 2012. A son of great wealth and privilege, Murphy was, of course, a lifelong Republican. Since getting into the House he's voted with Republicans on crucial roll calls more frequently than with Democrats. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, he's sold out 100% to the Wall Street banksters and works consistently to help the Republicans seduce weak-minded and cowardly New Dems into joining them in dismantling the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. The Democratic freshmen voting more frequently with the GOP than with their own party are:

• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Kyrsten Sinema (New Dem-AZ)
• Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX)
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)

Florida Republicans see Murphy as weak and their easiest target in the state. He's also one of the easiest targets in the whole country, primarily because no progressive can vote for him and even those who held their noses to get rid of Allen West, won't be backing Murphy again this year. (He can count on a couple million dollars from Steve Israel, who encourages his atrocious voting pattern. Israel falls asleep every night repeating his mantra: "burn the base.")

It's not clear which Republican will be running against him-- so many plausible candidates want to try-- but Murphy had some especially bad news this week, when former state Rep. Carl Domino announced he's running. Domino, who had a net worth north of $20 million, was the richest man in the Florida legislature when he was serving there. Murphy's district has a PVI that is R+3 and Romney beat Obama there 52-48%. And Domino is famous for winning in blue districts. His last victory, also in an off-year, was in a D+5 district. No wonder Murphy sent out over a dozen desperate, substanceless e-mails begging for money over the weekend! George Bennett at the Palm Beach Post explained the lay of the land pretty well on Monday:

After months of waters-testing, former Republican state Rep. Carl Domino of Jupiter said today he’s definitely running for the Palm Beach-Treasure Coast congressional seat held by freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter.

Murphy is a top GOP target because he narrowly defeated Republican Rep. Allen West in 2012 and his district is one of only nine in the U.S. that chose a Democratic House member while voting for Mitt Romney last year.

Domino said he’ll file papers this week. He’ll join announced Republican candidates Ellen Andel (the vice mayor of Juno Beach) and Alan Schlesinger (a former GOP Senate nominee in Connecticut) in what could become a crowded GOP race.

Other Republicans who have shown interest in running include former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, St. Lucie County Commissioner Tod Mowery, state Rep. Gayle Harrell, former Tequesta councilman Calvin Turnquest and Martin County businessman Gary Uber.

Domino was elected four times to the state House, serving from 2002 to 2010. He also lost state House primaries in 2000 and 2012 and a bitter GOP Senate primary in 2010.

The National Republican Congressional Committee’s top recruiter has estimated that challenging Murphy will cost between $3 million and $5 million. Domino listed his net worth at $24.3 million in 2011 and poured more than $1.3 million of his own money into his four winning and three losing campaigns.

Something tells me Murphy's buddies on Wall Street and his pals at Big Oil aren't going to step up and save his ass. He'll be bothering the Democrats he's betrayed for money from now 'til election day.

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Bipartisanship... The Good Kind

Yesterday we talked about how cowardly New Dem freshmen Patrick Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema, who Boehner and Cantor know they can count on to almost always betray progressive Democratic ideals and vote with the GOP in a way that allows them to claim their toxic agenda is "bipartisan," have a phony-baloney bipartisan caucus that helps round up naive Democratic freshman to vote with the GOP. That isn't bipartisan-- that's self-loathing surrender-monkey opportunism. And Murphy and Sinema are probably the two worst mistakes of 2012.

This week Alan Grayson (D-FL) showed the way real bipartisanship actually works, something people like Murphy and Sinema will never understand even if they manage to survive in 2014. For Grayson, it comes natural and reminds people of how he was able to work with Ron Paul and bring along enough Democrats to pass Audit the Fed legislation that neither corrupt party establishment wanted to see happen.

This week Grayson's amendment to H.R. 1613 (the Outer Continental Shelf Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreements Authorization Act) was suddenly reported out of the House Rules Committee and was voted on Thursday. The amendment is simple: "Nothing in this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, affects the right and power of each State to prohibit management, leasing, developing, and use of lands beneath navigable waters, and the natural resources within such lands, within its boundaries." His amendment makes sure that States can do what they wish within their own boundaries. If Florida or New Jersey want to ban offshore oil drilling off their own coasts, they should be guaranteed the right to. In fact, Grayson rallied nearly the entire Florida delegation-- Democrats and Republicans-- in a way that left the entire House in shock. The Thursday go failed-- primarily because Henry Waxman, who supports it, was out of the room when it was time to vote and no one could find him. It was an unprecedented 213-213 tie. Only 5 rotgut Blue Dogs-- John Barrow (GA), Jim Matheson (UT), Jim Cooper (TN), Collin Peterson (MN) and Jim Costa (CA), among the most corrupt Members in the history of a very corrupt institution-- voted against the bill on the Democratic side.

Meanwhile, Grayson was able to personally persuade state's rights-supporting Republicans, that this bill fit into their worldview. The Florida Republicans who went along with him:

• Gus Bilirakis
• Vern Buchanan
• Ron De Santis
• Mario Diaz-Balart
• John Mica
• Jeff Miller
• Richard Nugent
• Bill Posey
• Trey Radel
• Tom Rooney
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
• Dennis Ross
• Daniel Webster
• Ted Yoho

Doddering and incompetent imbecile Lois Frankel voted NO, but Pelosi woke her up and read her the riot act and she was quickly back on board. Today it was Hoyer, Israel and Pelosi that were corralling reluctant Democrats when Grayson introduced the same amendment for H.R. 2231, Doc Hastings' heinous Offshore Energy Act, It failed by one vote, 209-210 because the only two Democrats who wouldn't vote for it were the two biggest oil whores in the Democratic caucus, John Barrow and Jim Matheson. Barrow, especially-- coming from a state with a long coastline-- was happy to screw his own constituents and Georgians traditional preference for state's rights because Barrow takes more in bribes from Big Oil than any other Democrat in the House. Matheson, by the way, is #2.

Hastings freaked out that so many Republicans voted for the amendment Thursday and he got the GOP leadership to lean on Members. Doug LaMalfa voted against it yesterday but voted for it today-- until Hastings made him switch back to a NO voted again! Florida Republicans who voted for the amendment Thursday but were unable to resist leadership pressure Friday and switched to NO votes were:

• Ron De Santis
• John Mica
• Richard Nugent
• Tom Rooney
• Dennis Ross
• Daniel Webster

I wonder if GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy reminded Webster that it was Grayson's team who gave him the nickname "Taliban Dan." But the real culprit in this was clearly John Barrow, who had every reason in the world to vote for it-- and whose vote would have changed the outcome-- but who delivered for the oil companies that gave him $106,900 last year alone. Grayson doesn't get paid off by Big Oil the way Barrow and Matheson do and he works for us, not them. He's asking for contributions this weekend for his end-of-the-quarter FEC deadline. Give him a hand here.

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A Note From DCCC Chairman Steve Israel: "Top Race In The Country"

I shuddered to think which corrupt conservative shill he had decided was the "top race in the country." Since Israel was a member of the reactionary Blue Dog caucus himself before making a play for House leadership, I figured it would be one of the broken down, struggling, remaining Blue Dogs who are facing defeat next year: Barrow (GA), McIntyre (NC) or Matheson (UT). Those 3 vote far more frequently in concert with Boehner and Cantor than they do with Democrats. But when I opened the e-mail, I realized that Israel too had moved on from the wretched Blue Dogs in favor of the revitalized-- albeit basically the same ideologically-- New Dems. His pick, the worst New Dem of all: Patrick Murphy of Florida, a lifelong conservative Republican and opportunist who switched parties so he could run against Allen West. His rich daddy did the rest. Apparently daddy doesn't want to pay for junior's career anymore and Murphy sends out more campaign spam than any other member of Congress. And now he has Israel signing one for him:

TOP RACE IN THE COUNTRY

Howard --

As chairman of the committee charged with electing House Democrats, I want to tell you about one of the top races to watch in the entire country: Patrick Murphy in Florida's 18th district.

Republicans and outside groups have named Patrick as a top target and circled this district as a race they must win.

And I’ve seen what Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers are capable of: spending over a million dollars on deceitful ads in a single House race.

If we want to be successful in 2014, we have to make sure Patrick hits his grassroots goal. Here’s why: as soon as the fundraising numbers are released, the pundits will scour over reports and make a determination on whether or not Patrick's campaign has what it takes to win.

Please donate to Patrick's campaign before Sunday’s midnight deadline. Remember, every last dollar counts for his grassroots campaign.

I hope you’ll do your part.

Thanks,

Steve

OK, Steve, here's my part. Aside from founding a caucus to bring a horde of far right Republican freshmen like domestic terrorist Steve Stockman (R-TX), militia nut Kerry Bentovolio (R-MI) and hate Talk Radio host Trey Radel (R-FL) together with a tiny handful of the weakest-minded, cowardly and most naive Democratic freshmen-- people like Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Eric Swalwell (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Scott Peters (CA)-- Murphy has one of the most reactionary voting records of any Democratic freshman... or, for that matter, of any Democrat, period. His overall ProgressivePunch score is a dismal 43.64 (out of 100). Only 10 Democrats have worse scores, rotgut Blue Dogs like John Barrow, Jim Matheson, Collin Peterson, Henry Cuellar, Mike McIntyre... the real dreck of the caucus. But let's get specific.

Hoyer and Israel, sensing that Murphy is among the most corrupt freshmen, immediately put him on the House Financial Services Committee, one of Congress's top corridors of bribery from Wall Street. And on that committee, Murphy has been a reliable vote for the Republicans as they voted to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. Here's an example; "Mr. Murphy" is Patrick Murphy and this committee vote was nicely explained by Too Much Online:

This particular piece of legislation speaks to an ongoing frustration in America's body politic: the supersized paychecks that go to America’s top corporate executives. Average Americans, in overwhelming numbers, want something done to bring some common-sense back to CEO pay.

But the House Financial Services Committee, this past Wednesday, opted to do the exact reverse. By a 36-21 margin, committee members voted to repeal the only statutory provision now on the books that puts real heat on overpaid CEOs. The full House, observers expect, will shortly endorse this repeal.

The specific provision 31 Republicans and five Democrats voted to repeal-- section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act-- imposes a new disclosure mandate on America’s major corporations. Under Dodd-Frank, corporations must annually reveal the ratio between what they pay their CEO and what they pay their median-- most typical-- workers.

Corporations have had to disclose what they pay their CEOs ever since the Great Depression. But they’ve never had to disclose, until Dodd-Frank became law in 2010, their CEO pay as a multiple of what their average workers are earning.

Executive pay reformers consider this ratio information crucial to the struggle against executive excess. If Americans could see-- and compare-- the exact CEO-worker pay ratio from one corporation to another, the resulting negative publicity on those corporations with the widest pay gaps might help discourage excessive executive compensation in the future.

And if corporations should choose to ignore this negative publicity-- and charge ahead with lavish executive compensation-- the Dodd-Frank pay ratio disclosure mandate could serve as a stepping stone to tougher reform action.

Lawmakers could, for instance, set a specific CEO-worker pay multiple as the nation’s preferred corporate compensation standard and deny government contracts, tax breaks, and subsidies to any corporations that pay their execs over and above that standard.

The Dodd-Frank pay ratio disclosure mandate has the potential, in other words, to help extinguish what Forbes magazine recently dubbed “the out of control wildfire” that executive pay has become. But the mandate hasn’t extinguished anything yet because the mandate hasn’t yet gone into effect.

Corporate lobbyists have seen to that. They've been pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission, the top federal watchdog over Corporate America, to gut the Dodd-Frank pay ratio provision.

This lobbying blitz has paid off. The SEC has to issue regulations before any newly legislated mandate over corporate behavior can be enforced. The agency has so far issued no regulations on CEO-worker pay disclosure-- and nearly three years have gone by since Dodd-Frank initially worked its way into law.

But America’s corporate leaders don’t want to have to rely solely on their ability to intimidate the SEC. They’ve also orchestrated a congressional drive to simply repeal the Dodd-Frank pay disclosure mandate outright.

How can lawmakers who carry Corporate America's water possibly defend repealing a measure as publicly popular as pay ratio disclosure? Easy. They simply paint corporations as the victims of overzealous government bureaucrats who want to drown them in burdensome-- and meaningless-- paperwork.

So... of course a crook like Steve Israel is excited about Murphy. Some of Patrick Murphy's greatest hits on the House floor, aside from voting against all the Democratic alternatives to the Ryan budget:

• Voted with the Republicans for the Keystone XL Pipeline

• Voted with Republicans for CISPA

• Voted with Republicans to penalize workers who get overtime pay

• Voted for GOP Farm bill that took billions from food stamp program

• Voted with the GOP to make sure there are no limits to the amount of subsidies wealthy farmers get

• Only Democrat voting to undermine America's Farmers Markets

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Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz Maneuvering To Get Charlie Crist Into The Senate?

Saturday, Florida Democrats had their big Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood (the Hollywood in political boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Florida congressional district, not the actual Hollywood). The haul was reported to be around $850,000 and the theme was defeating Rick Scott next year when he tries for a second term as governor. Wasserman Schultz, however, used the conclave to continue trying to persuade Democrats that lifelong Republican Charlie Crist is not only a Democrat but has always been a Democrat. If she ever, by the grace of God, is defeated, she can certainly get a job at the Ministry of Truth.

Wasserman Schultz is pushing Crist for the gubernatorial nomination on actual Democrats, although the latest rumors is that her cabal is trying to get Bill Nelson to run for governor and then appoint Crist to his empty Senate seat. His non-denial denial-- “I have no plans to run for governor. I have no intention of running for governor"-- is less than convincing.

“We welcome anyone who decides that their views and their values line up with the Democratic Party,” she said, before running through a list of actions Crist took as governor that she said demonstrated his true colors: extending voting hours because of long lines in the 2008 presidential election, making it easier for felons who have served their time to get their civil rights restored and getting rid of touch screen voting and implementing paper ballots.

“There are a lot of examples that Charlie Crist has in his record as a Republican that I think he probably decided that he lined up more with our party’s values than theirs and we welcome that.

“We are not, unlike the Republicans, a party that requires a rigid adherence to extreme dogma. We are a big tent. The true definition of a big tent. So we have blue dogs and we have yellow dogs. We have more progressive members and we have conservative Democrats. We all come together around core values and we support a core agenda.”

Wasserman Schultz, as we mentioned Sunday, blocked gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich from speaking and has San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro give the keynote address. He gave her a Spurs jersey with the initials "DWS." Meanwhile Crist showed up claiming he was there so he could “meet some of the nicest people I’ve ever met: Florida Democrats. I’m just listening and enjoying the opportunity… Just listening to people and hearing what they have to say.” He was accompanied by veteran Democratic strategist, Ashley Walker, who ran President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in Florida.

Nan Rich, the only Democratic candidate for governor who is officially in the race, has been traveling the state for the past year.

She’s made more than 200 campaign stops, something she said would pay off in next year’s primary and general election. “I believe strongly very strongly in grassroots activism. I come from community activism. It re-elected Barack Obama and will elect the next governor of the state,” she told a gathering of Democratic state representatives.

Rich said she’s finding women are ready for the state’s first female governor, to which state Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville, yelled out, “Some men are too.”

In a comment aimed at likely gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist-- who was a Republican when he was governor before and is now a Democrat-- Rich described herself as “a lifelong Democrat. I have certain values and priorities and you all know what they are because you all share them. The truth is so many people around this state share them.”

Rich brought her message to small groups meeting throughout the day, including a bout 60 people gathered for the meeting of state legislators and about 100 people at the state Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus.

But she was denied a speaking slot at the big dinner, where more than 1,200 people are expected. The state Democratic Party leadership said it’s to streamline the program after complaints the dinner usually lasts too long; Rich supporters think the party leaders are trying to grease the skids for Crist.

Rich has received a publicity bonanza in recent weeks over the state party’s decision.

“This is kind of a blessing in disguise because the media attention... is incredible,” she said. Reporters who didn’t give her campaign any attention “now all of a sudden they’re calling and wanting to know what I have to say.”

Republicans have had a field day accusing Democrats of silencing one of their own. Their “Free Nan Rich” campaign includes mailers and an automated Robocall to Democrats, and a drumbeat of press release taunting the Democratic Party leadership.

Rich said she’s been getting good consideration from grassroots party activists. She said 300 people she’s met from her year of campaigning attended a Friday night reception.

...Randy Fleisher, president of an unofficial Democratic group called the Davie Dem Club, was sporting a “Nan” sticker.

He said Rich has “great credentials.”

He said he’s frustrated that some in the party leadership appear to be eager for a Crist candidacy.

“The party hierarchy is looking for a messiah to come in and win Florida.

“It doesn’t make any sense for me that the Democratic Party is waiting for Charlie Crist. I remember Chain Gang Charlie,” he said. “He’s a charmer, but that’s not what I want in a governor. I want somebody who’s right on the issues, and has been there since the beginning. Not somebody who is a wily weather vane. His big trick is spinning in the wind.”

When Wasserman Schultz talks about "a big tent," filled with Blue Dogs and Yellow Dogs, she doesn't mention that she herself is one of the only Democrats in a party leadership position to have joined a partisan caucus. She's one of the leaders of the corporately-owned New Dems, a conservative bunch of Wall Street careerists who are among the most corrupt Members of Congress, in either party. If Randy Fleisher ever tries to run for office, he may never have a direct confrontation with Wasserman Schultz but she'll make sure there's no room for him in her sickening version of the Big Tent.

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Can Florida Democrats Blow The 2014 Gubernatorial Race?

Last week, Florida politics expert Steve Schale had a cautiously optimistic analysis of how his state's electorate has changed since 2006 and what it portends for the future. Since the 2006 election, the total number of active registered voters in Florida has grown from 10,433.849 to 11,934,446 voters and of those million and a half new voters, 61% are either black or Hispanic. Here's the kicker: only 6% of them registered as Republicans. On top of that, over 50% of Hispanic voter registration growth has accrued to the Democrats, while the Republicans account for only 12%. Schale ends his post with a warning:

[M]any of the institutional party challenges remain. Recruiting good candidates down the ballot to build a farm team and creating a stable fundraising base, not just for the party, but to help the aforementioned candidates get off the ground. Both of these things would improve if a Democrat wins the Governor's Mansion in 2014.

Ah... yes, the Governor's Mansion in 2014. Intense buyer's remorse over Rick Scott is still the most salient feature of the electorate as the election approaches. But can the Democrats blow it? It was looking like the DC Democratic Establishment-- think Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- had locked up the nomination for Republican opportunist Charlie Crist, using the same tactics they used to shoehorn lifelong Republican Patrick Murphy-- a Crist crony-- into the 2012 congressional race against Allen West. I might mention that Murphy has been one of the absolute worst Democratic freshmen in Congress, not just consistently crossing the aisle to vote with the GOP on core issues, but undermining Democratic values among weak-minded freshmen and dragging them across the aisle as well. There's a lot of grumbling about the Crist inevitability meme Wasserman Schultz has been trying to get off the ground and now there is talk that the whispers among the Establishment creeps is that they'll get centrist Senator Bill Nelson to run for governor after all and have him appoint Crist to his Senate seat after he kicks Scott's ass. Everyone's happy-- except Democrats who don't want to see another conservative Republican in the Senate, even one calling himself a Democrat.

Another Florida politics expert, Peter Schorsch, pushed back against speculation that Crist isn't going to run for governor.

[Miami New Times' reporter Terrence] McCoy posits that Crist will not run because:

#5, Charlie Crist is all alone: “Though years have passed… and Crist has lured some high-profile supporters-- like Barack Obama-- they aren’t exactly the most loyal because Crist, himself, hasn’t been loyal.”

#4, His sweet deal with Morgan & Morgan: “Crist has it pretty good right now. He’s has a nice place along the bay in St. Pete, he has a high-paying job that allows him to exercise his high quota of pouts and brow furrows. This job allows Charlie Crist to live out his own caricature. If he ran for governor, he’d give up all of that...”

3, All the divorce drama: “As I recall the phrase ‘piece of shit’ came up often in conversation. and if Crist decides to run, it will again and again.”

#2, Who the fuck is Charlie Crist, anyway?: ” Though he dismisses the myriad flip-flops-- on gay marriage, on taxation, on health care reform-- as an evolution of thinking, they speak to a much broader issue in his politics. Voters aren’t stupid.”

And...

#1, He won’t win: “Those [unemployment] numbers are hard, and though Crist is undeniably more likable than Rick Scott, his economic performance has been substantially better...”

Pardon me, while I deconstruct these arguments better than Grant Achatz does a tomato.

First of all, Crist is not all alone. He actually has a better support system in place now than he during his previous campaigns for elected office. If Crist were ever alone, it was in 2006 when, running for Governor, he found himself surrounded by sycophants like Jim Greer, Delmar Johnson, and the like.

Today, Crist is a more grounded, more mature happily married man who is almost an entirely different person than he was a decade ago.

Crist’s critics were once so quick to dismiss his marriage as little more than stagecraft. Now those same critics are silent as Carole has become Charlie’s best friend and partner.

Crist has also returned to his St. Petersburg roots, mostly eschewing the Broward Republicanism that saw him turn his back on hometown allies. There are no George LeMieux’s around nowadays. And that’s a good thing. His old friends, like Bernie Campbell and Mike Hamby, are back in the picture.

As for the consultants and staff Crist would need to run a statewide campaign, how quickly would the printer run out of paper from the volume of resumes being e-mailed and faxed in were Crist to say he needed help. Crist has already put Dan Gelber and Steve Schale in his camp. His best political friend, Rep. Darryl Rouson, is the incoming leader of the House Democrats.

He’s also clearly the preferred choice of the last two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Alone, McCoy says. Hardly.

Regarding Crist’s sweet deal with Morgan & Morgan, it’s hard not laugh at the inclusion of this point as a reason Crist won’t run. After all, he joined Morgan & Morgan so that he had a place to hang out while he waited to run for Governor.

What, do you think Charlie’s fielding incoming slip-and-fall cases? Puh-leeze.

John Morgan is going to spend every cent he can to elect Crist, for no other reason than he wants to gut the Republican legislation gutting the state’s PIP laws. That system has been worth tens of millions of dollars to Morgan. Spending ten million or so to elect a Governor who can block further changes to the PIP system is simply a smart investment for Morgan.

One more counter-argument to this point: Say what you will about Charlie Crist, but the one thing he has never been motivated by is the pursuit of money. To think that Crist won’t run for Governor because he needs money to keep up his “nice place along the bay in St. Pete” (it’s actually just a two-bedroom number in the city’s oldest waterfront tower) is to completely misunderstand the man.

McCoy’s #3 reason why Crist won’t run for Governor wouldn’t make it into my own Top 50 reasons why Charlie won’t take the plunge. McCoy describes it as ” all of the divorce drama” and it refers to Carole Rome Crist’s ex-husband, Todd.

Crist has been dogged for thirty years by rumors of closeted homosexuality, so any time a story runs reminding people that he’s actually married to a smart, sophisticated, wealthy, gorgeous woman, it’s not a bad thing. That there is an ex-husband peddling stories about Carole being a subpar mother is the kind of gutter-talk Crist has always risen above.

Besides, the guy he will be running against did this. So if the 2014 election comes down to the word of a disgruntled ex-husband versus Scott’s record of corporate fraud, guess who wins that debate?

The Republican Party of Florida is attempting to already frame the campaign against Crist as an indictment of their former leader for his “myriad flip-flops-- on gay marriage, on taxation, on health care reform.”

Well, yeah, sure, Charlie has some explaining to do. Then again, who’s better at ‘plaining than good ol’ Charlie. Dude could talk his way out of a sunburn.

According to the last Quinnipiac poll, Florida voters say 50 – 40 percent that Crist’s switch from Republican to independent and now to Democrat is a positive thing that shows he is a pragmatist, rather than a negative thing that shows he lacks core beliefs.

“These numbers indicate Republicans will have a tough job turning around Crist’s lead over Scott by reminding voters of Crist’s evolution,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The numbers speak for themselves when addressing McCoy’s final point-- that Crist won’t win.

The last PPP poll: Crist 52%, Scott 40%; The last Q-poll: Crist 50%, Scott 34%.

Rick Scott and the Republicans will huff and puff and blow the house down with $150 million in attacks on Crist and all this will do is reinforce the negative perception voters have held of Scott since his first year in office. 

And therein lies the only legitimate reason why Crist won’t run for Governor. Not because of any of the five or fifteen or fifty McCoy might outline. Rather, it’s the possibility that Crist could very well win that he may not run. 

I don’t know if Charlie (or Carole) wants to again live in Tallahassee. I don’t know if he wants to preside over Cabinet meetings with Jeff Atwater and Pam Bondi beside him. I don’t know if he wants to be in charge of DBPR, DEP, DMS and the alphabet soup of the state bureaucracy.

I don’t know if Charlie wants to run for Governor because I don’t know if he wants to govern. And I say that as someone who knows him pretty well.

Yep... Crist would much prefer being a senator, no doubt about that. But does Bill Nelson want to live in Tallahassee? Can Obama and Wasserman Schultz persuade him to be a pawn in their little drama? And then there's Nan Rich, who really does want to govern Florida-- and govern Florida as a progressive. Wasserman Schultz and her machine are doing their best to make sure that never happens. Here's the speech Senator Rich wrote to give at this weekend's Florida Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson dinner-- a speech Wasserman Schultz made sure she would not be allowed to deliver:

Why I’m Running
June 14, 2013

Hello.

My name is Nan Rich and I am running for governor!

In November 2014, Florida’s voters will choose who will lead the state for the next 4 years.

Will they want to continue down a path paved with false promises and failed policies-- or are they ready to change direction-- change priorities-- and get Florida back on the right track?

Well... that’s an easy question for me to answer.

But what about you?

Are you ready to “Pink Slip Rick” and get Florida back on the right track?

During the 2010 Gubernatorial Campaign, Rick Scott made “Let’s get to work” his theme.

But we didn’t know then what it really meant. Since taking office, Rick Scott and the Right-wing Republican-led legislature really did get to work.

They worked to make it harder for people to vote.

They worked to undermine public education.

They worked to restrict women’s reproductive rights.

And they worked to block Floridians from the benefits of the Affordable Health Care Act.

None of these initiatives created even 1 job in Florida.

Worse yet, the Governor turned away more than $2.4 billion Federal dollars for a high- speed rail line that would have created over 20 thousand jobs and built new and valuable transportation infrastructure.

Governor Scott and the legislature also refused to request or accept tens of millions of Federal health care dollars that could have protected children against abuse and kept frail seniors out of nursing homes.

And, most recently, they refused to accept $51 billion dollars in federal funds-- our tax dollars-- to expand Medicaid; which, in addition to depriving over a million Floridians from healthcare coverage, also will cost the state an estimated 120,000 jobs over the next 10 years.Put simply, there are few decisions that Governor Scott has made that I believe have been in the best interest of Floridians.

That’s why I’m running for governor.

A majority of Floridians don’t want private, for-profit management companies taking over their schools-- they support strong public schools and want a quality education for their children.

So do I.

Education is the path to prosperity and an educated and skilled workforce is the most essential element in attracting new business and economic development to Florida.

Floridians want health care coverage that’s available and affordable. So do I.

The Affordable Health Care Act is the law of the land and the Governor and legislature need to implement it.

A majority of Floridians believe women’s reproductive rights should be protected. So do I.

The assault on women’s rights must be stopped. Women must have the right to control their own lives and their own bodies.

And there can be no doubt that a majority of Floridians expect their right to vote to be protected and encouraged by their government.

So-- do-- I!

The blatant efforts by this Governor and Republican-led legislature to suppress Democratic voters is shameful and nothing short of an attack on a fundamental right of every American citizen.

Voters stood in line until 1:30 in the morning long after they knew that Barak Obama was re- elected because they were not going to let anybody take away their precious right to vote.

I’m a lifelong Democrat.

I’m a Democrat because of our Party’s values and priorities.

We believe in fairness-- in putting the needs of people first.

We believe the civil rights of every individual must be protected regardless of race, creed, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

We believe that our elderly and disabled should be cared for with dignity and respect.

We believe in the right to a public education and the opportunity for everyone to reach their full potential.

I have fought for these rights-- as a state representative, as a State Senator, and as the first elected woman leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

And I am prepared and ready to do so now as governor.

Right now, I am the only Democratic candidate who’s been actively campaigning across the state-- and the primary just a little more than a year away.

And while I haven’t run for statewide office before, I would like you to recall a little bit of Florida history.

When Reubin Askew launched his campaign for Governor, he was a little-known state senator from North Florida.

When Bob Graham started his campaign he was a little-known state senator from South Florida.

And when Lawton Chiles began walkin’ the state-- he too was a little-known state senator from Central Florida.

All three of those candidates faced better financed and better-known “front runners” when they ran. They were the dark horses-- the long shots.

But they won.

I intend to carry on that tradition-- the tradition of Florida’s greatest leaders-- by earning the trust and votes of a majority of Florida’s voters in November 2014.

I made history when I was elected the first woman leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and with your support, I plan on making history again when I’m elected the first woman governor of Florida in November 2014.

Join me-- join the campaign-- let’s make history together!

This kind of Democratic talk makes Debbie Wasserman Schultz's skin crawl... unless it's delivered wit tongue firmly planted in cheek. And that's why she made she Nan Rich couldn't deliver it. Maybe that will backfire on the corporate shills like Wasserman Schultz who run the Florida Democratic Party-- and have run it into the ground. I hope so.

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How Republicans Use Pot Law Enforcement To Disenfranchise African-Americans

Edith Jones, a controversial Reagan appointee and a notorious corporate whore, is no longer the Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but she still sits on that court. Hopefully that will change now that she's exposed herself as a demented and deranged racist. She gave a speech for the proto-fascist Federalist Society at the University of Pennsylvania Law School a few months ago asserting that blacks and Hispanics were more prone than others to commit violent crimes and that a death sentence was a service to defendants because it allowed them to make peace with God. The League of United Latin American Citizens, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program and other civil rights organizations and legal ethicists filed a misconduct complaint against her Tuesday.

It's because of judges like Jones that I don't support the implementation of the death penalty. In theory I completely support the death penalty... but not with judges like her-- and there are hundreds of them-- sitting on the bench handing out sentences based on their own hate-filled bigotry.

I used to be a big pothead. It's when I was in college and I smoked from the moment I woke up 'til I went to sleep. On December 1, 1969 I had an out-of-body experience sitting in my van at the India-Pakistan border and gave up drugs on the spot. I never used them again. When I think back to my drug period, the memories are overwhelmingly positive-- although I wish I had been more moderate in my use of other substances besides the pot. Today I feel marijuana should be legal, although I couldn't call it a defining political issue for me. In fact, I'm more concerned about how the prohibition laws are applied than I am about any other aspect of marijuana legalization. There are plenty of judges like Edith Jones that makes pot prohibition untenable in a civilized society.

Most Republicans outside the South won't admit it publicly but in places like Texas, they have no such qualms:

At a Dallas event featuring Steve Munisteri, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Ken Emanuelson, a leader in the Tea Party, said: "I'm going to be real honest with you-- the Republican Party doesn't want black people to vote..." 

There are many tactics in the ever-evolving Republican Party arsenal for keeping African-Americans and other minorities from voting in a post Jim Crow era. One of the least understood and most effective way of taking blacks off the voting rolls, especially in the South, has been to prevent felons from voting and then arresting every black man in site on marijuana charges. Although whites and blacks use pot at the same rates, one Alabama County where blacks make up 12% of the population, reports that every marijuana arrest-- 100%-- was of a black man... not one white person. The ACLU report Tuesday was an astounding account of systemic judicial racism.

The aggressive enforcement of marijuana possession laws needlessly ensnares hundreds of thousands of people into the criminal justice system and wastes billions of taxpayers’ dollars. What’s more, it is carried out with staggering racial bias. Despite being a priority for police departments nationwide, the War on Marijuana has failed to reduce marijuana use and availability and diverted resources that could be better invested in our communities.

...According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana. Nationwide, the arrest data revealed one consistent trend: significant racial bias. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.

Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority couldn't agree more with the ACLU report and points out that blacks are arrested at higher rates than whites for marijuana possession no matter where or no matter if the counties examined are urban, suburban or rural.

And, while criminal justice observers have long known that drug arrests are conducted on a racially disproportionate basis, the report finds that the disparity has widened even further over the past decade. ACLU's analysis reveals that while annual marijuana arrests have risen over 10 years, the arrest rate for whites remained constant, meaning that the overall national increase in arrests is largely attributable to a whole lot more black people getting busted.

Bill Berkowitz did an interesting report a few weeks ago about how felon disenfranchisement is the new Jim Crow.

[R]ecently we have heard a great deal about new legislative efforts in a number of states to suppress the vote, including, making it harder to register, cutting down on the period for early voting, implementing photo ID laws, and ending Election Day simultaneous registration and voting.

However, when we think of voter suppression, we don't often think about felon disenfranchisement. According to a 2010 report by The Sentencing Project titled Expanding The Vote: State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform 1997-2010, while things have been slowly changing for the better in a number of states, "more than 5 million citizens ... [were] ineligible to vote in the midterm elections in November [2010], including nearly 4 million who reside in the 35 states that still prohibit some combination of persons on probation, parole, and/or people who have completed their sentence from voting."

In addition, "Racial disparities in the criminal justice system also translate into higher rates of disenfranchisement in communities of color, resulting in one of every eight adult black males being ineligible to vote."

Florida is one of the states with an extraordinarily egregious record regarding felon disenfranchisement. A mid-April report by the South Florida Times' Bill Kaczon pointed out that Florida Governor Rick Scott has "made it more difficult for Floridians with past felony convictions to get their voting rights restored-a situation critics say has suppressed the minority vote and hurt Democratic candidates."

According to Kaczor, "As one of his first actions after taking office in 2011, Scott, as chairman of the Florida Board of Executive Clemency, undid automatic restoration of voting rights for nonviolent ex-offenders that previous Gov. Charlie Crist helped adopt in 2007. Since then, the number of former felons who have had their voting rights restored has slowed to a trickle, even compared with the year before Crist and the clemency board helped make the process easier."

Susan Greenbaum, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at The University of South Florida, recently prepared a briefing paper for Florida Rep. Dan Raulerson (R) on felon disenfranchisement in the state. The paper, titled "Permanent felon disenfranchisement in Florida," appeared in the April 2013 issue of the "LWV (League of Women Voters) Voter."

Greenbaum pointed out that "A bad law that originated for the wrong reasons, not only has negative effects on ex-felons, but their families, communities, and the state budget" also suffers.

Greenbaum wrote:

In a democratic society, "Measures that reduce the size of the electorate are regressive ... and an inability to vote renders ex-felons into what has been called 'civil death.' This outcast status has been described as an 'invisible punishment' that offers no obvious deterrent example, but hinders the capacity of released inmates to achieve successful re-entry [into society]. There is no evidence of harm to elections if ex-felons are permitted to vote, and [there is] considerable evidence ... that this ban increases reoffending, rather than discouraging it."

Further, "There is consensus that these laws (which are unusual internationally) are an historical artifact of Jim Crow restrictions and reflect persistently large racial disparities in arrest and sentencing. Florida, which imprisons a very disproportionate number of African Americans (and Latinos), shares this history, [and] is distinctively harsh with regard to felon voters.

Greenbaum found:

• "Florida is one of only four states that permanently disenfranchise individuals who have been convicted of felonies. (Most states permit immediate or eventual re-enfranchisement.) As incarceration rates have soared, both in Florida and elsewhere, the number of people affected by this restriction has grown very large (about 6 million in the U.S.). Florida accounts for 1.5 million, 1.3 million of whom have completed their sentences (NAACP 2012). Although Florida comprises only 6% of the U.S. population, 25% of disenfranchised felons and ex-felons reside in the state."

• "Criminologists have compiled ample evidence that voting bans do nothing to deter future criminals and promotes recidivism. A recent study by the Florida Parole Commission of ex-felons restored since 2007 found rates of re-offending that are 50% lower than other released convicts."

• "Felon disenfranchisement has direct links to post Civil War 'Black Codes' in Florida and many other Southern states as laws were enacted to prevent African Americans from voting. Other measures followed; poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, etc. The Voting Rights Act outlawed most of these practices, but voting restrictions for felons have survived numerous court challenges. Felon disenfranchisement currently affects nearly one quarter of Florida's black voting age population-- the highest rate in the nation."

• "The scope of crimes falling under the definition of 'felony' is extremely broad, including many non-violent offenses. Minor drug possession accounts for a very large share. The expanding use of plea agreements that avoid long sentences in exchange for shorter ones has been shown too often to convict the innocent. Low-income defendants who may be innocent but have no effective legal assistance are convinced to plead to lesser degree offenses rather than risk almost certain conviction on more serious charges. This practice helps ease court dockets and reduce the costs of jury trials, but is ballooning the prison population and bringing increased numbers of low income minority citizens unjustly into felon status; essentially 'second-class citizenship.' Among the other life-long costs of this awful dilemma is having to forgo the right to vote."

• "The right to vote can be restored only by individual considerations of the Florida Board of Executive Clemency, an excruciatingly slow and unpredictable process. In early 2007, then Gov. Charlie Crist, eased rules to provide automatic restoration for lesser felonies, with review for more serious cases. Although still a very small fraction, in three years more than 150,000 ex-felons had their rights restored. Almost immediately upon entering office, Gov. Rick Scott repealed Crist's changes and added new restrictions, resulting in fewer than 300 individuals' rights restored during his tenure. Applicants must wait at least 5 years before commencing a process that, if successful, will take another 7 years or longer. In effect, they currently have no path to restoration."

Although several states have initiated legislation that would ease requirements allowing released felons the franchise. "No such legislation has been filed in Florida," the South Florida Times' Bill Kaczon reported. "House Democratic Leader Perry Thurman of Plantation said that nothing short of electing a new governor will change Florida's policy unless [Gov.] Scott has a `'change of heart.'"

The right-wing Heritage Foundation, a wing of the Republican Party, pushes this policy relentlessly and over 5 million people across the country have lost their voting rights for it-- though non are Wall Street banksters who tanked the economy. Other states, primarily under control of reactionary Republicans, like North Carolina, are eager to emulate Florida's success in keeping African-Americans from voting. Right now the states that are most egregiously using systematical felon-disenfranchisement to keep blacks from voting, besides Florida, are Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia (which is trying to abolish the practice) and Wyoming.

One of the Blue America congressional candidates, Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach, has been the leader against marijuana prohibition in his state and will be a leader against unfair pot laws in Congress (You can help him get there here.) This morning he told me that "the targeting of the black community for disproportionate enforcement of marijuana prohibition is yet another tactic in the right-wing's war on minority voting. An arrest often leads to incarceration, which sucks one into the vortex of crime, the prison-industrial complex and the loss of the franchise. What's one life destroyed if it means one fewer Democratic-leaning voter?"

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Will Rubio's Centrist Position On Immigration Reform Disqualify Him From The Presidential Nomination Of The Party Of Hatred And Bigotry?

Californians for Population Stabilization insists they're not a hate group and not about racism but they're fooling no one in California. Now they're taking their bigotry on the road-- running TV spots against McCain and Flake in Arizona and against Marco Rubio in Florida. Rubio isn't up for reelection next year. If the above and the ad below are meant to harm him, I suspect it's his presidential ambitions they have in mind. Marc Caputo at the Miami Herald covered the animus right-wing hate groups are developing towards Rubio for his role in the comprehensive immigration reform process. And they're not just running the ads on cable. They, at the minimum, targeted Brevard County, a GOP bastion where Romney beat Obama 159,270 (56%) to 122,972 (43%). In his 3-way race in 2010, Rubio cleaned up in Brevard:

• Rubio- 107,930 (54%)
• Crist- 56,202 (28%)
• Meek- 32,069 (16%)

The spot that's running now, seen on NBC, savages the immigration bill for flooding Florida with workers at a time when joblessness still plagues the land. It's a potent message in the Space Coast for two reasons: It's a very conservative place and unemployment is among the highest in the state.

While the Florida media buys likely aren't big, it's another sign that Rubio-- a 2016 White House hopeful and GOP frontrunner-- faces some conservative blowback in his own backyard for backing immigration reform. And his support for hard-core conservative positions (from voting against an iteration of the Violence Against Women Act to opposing Gulf oil-spill money because it was laden with pork) don't seem to matter as much as adopting a center-right position on immigration reform.

In a statement, Rubio's office disagrees that there's been much blowback because "he was very well received at all the recent GOP dinners he spoke at back in the state, and we continue to get good feedback from our conservative grassroots. There's been a handful of anti-immigration protests, but as your paper has noted, they've been poorly attended.

"I have no objection to you saying that we're getting some backlash from anti-immigration forces, but I'd disagree with characterizing those groups as 'conservative,' since conservatives traditionally support legal immigration, and many of these groups (including the California group running the new ad) do not."

The House Republicans considering their own immigration bill-- one that is unlikely to be acceptable to the Senate, the President, immigrants or the general public beyond the KKK and Tea Party fringe groups-- are meeting with Rubio and two other Senate teabaggers, Mike Lee (a hard core racist) and Rand Paul (who hasn't taken a stand on immigration reform yet) on Wednesday. The House Republicans leading the circus are all anti-immigrant fanatics beloved of the Tea Party: Steve Scalise (R-LA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Raul Labrador (R-ID).

Unlike the fights over gun control and the budget that have united the caucus in the 113th Congress, there is no conservative consensus on how to approach immigration reform. For months, many RSC members have refused to stake out a position, insisting that they would wait to see legislative text and hear arguments from all sides before making up their minds.

The three confirmed Senate attendees, all of whom rode tea-party support to 2010 victories, represent diverse viewpoints on the issue of immigration reform. Rubio, the most high-profile member of the Senate "Gang of Eight," has been attempting to assuage conservative fears about providing citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants without first installing border-security triggers. (Rubio has acknowledged the Senate bill must be improved to secure Republican support in the Senate, as well as in the House.) Paul is seen as a critical swing vote on the Gang of Eight bill, having spoken favorably about the idea of eventually legalizing those who are living in the U.S. illegally-- as long as they aren't given preferential status over those who have been waiting in line. Lee, who was once involved in the Gang of Eight talks, eventually defected and later voted against the group's proposal, citing his opposition to a pathway to citizenship and special treatment for agricultural workers.

Many pro-immigration activists have been wary of Rubio, who always seems to be trying to water the bill down, all along. Now he's running around attacking his own bill. He now claims it won't pass the House without changes-- and none of them good changes. Frank Sharry, head of the immigration advocacy group America's Voice, is concerned. "If he thinks now that he's the face of immigration reform, that he's going to drive this bill in a direction that makes it less palatable for the progressive coalition that created the political space for reform, it's going to be a huge problem."

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