tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39065141810023899512024-03-08T17:49:53.112-05:00Blue In MiamiBut if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-46261821418853018752016-12-06T10:02:00.001-05:002016-12-06T10:05:53.388-05:00Opening the smokey room.<b><br /><br />Just when I think I'm out of the blog business the Miami-Dade DEC pulls me back in. Do they think House of Cards is a documentary? Ha!</b><br /><br />Rules? We don’t need no stinking rules. That appears to be the attitude when it comes to the upcoming Miami-Dade DEC elections this coming Tuesday. A short primer for those of you unfamiliar with the somewhat arcane process of electing officers in each county’s DEC (Democratic Executive Committee). Every 4 years, after the Presidential election, the local DEC dissolves and reorganizes itself. Officers are then elected at the first meeting, usually in the first two weeks of December. There are lots of pesky rules that determine how these elections are run. To run for office, you must have been elected as a precinct committee person. Those elections were held on August 30, 2016. If you’re not a precinct committee person, you cannot run for office at this first Organizational Meeting. <br /><br />In addition to gaining responsibility for running the local party the Chair, Vice Chair, State Committeeman and State Committeewoman are eligible to run for Chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Subsequent to this first meeting any empty precincts are then filled by appointment by the local Chair with approval of the precinct committee people. Once appointed to that person gains all of the privileges of an elected precinct person, including running for any officer vacancies that may arise – remember this for later, it’s important.<br /><br />This is where the fix comes in. For any good fix to work, you need the right players in the right positions involved and “persuaded” in the right way. First we have Stephen Bittel, a democratic donor and infamous subject of DNC staffers less than laudatory emails (see DNC emails WikiLeaks), who holds no position in the DEC including precinct committee person (has he even ever been to a DEC meeting?). Then you have Juan Cuba the (current/former???) DEC executive director. Our less prominent players are Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz, and vice-chair candidates, Dotie Joseph and Ruben Young.<br /><br />Juan Cuba was running for state committeeman against Bret Berlin. It was going to be a close race and one of them would lose their coveted power. The state committee people, chair, and first vice-chair are the only members of the DEC who can vote for the Chair of the State Party. But the state committee people have more votes based on the number of Democrats in their county, giving them a lot of power to elect chair, and other party matter votes. <br /><br />Of the many catastrophes of Donald Trump’s election win, one that is becoming more apparent is that rich, white men now think they can become political leaders by using their business acumen. So Stephen Bittel (rich, white businessman) decides he wants to become chair of the Florida state democratic party. And his credentials are… wait for it, “he can raise millions for the party” (he’ll probably fail to tell you that he reneged on his agreement to fully fund the DEC executive director position for a mere few thousand dollars, and Juan Cuba formed a consulting firm to funnel dollars to pay himself). He’ll also tell you that he was on the DNC and the vice-chair of finance. <br /><br />Of course, none of those are elected positions and were appointments, by whom… DWS. But wait, Bittel is not a precinct committee person and cannot hold elected office in the DEC, so he’s not eligible. That’s where back room deals, arm twisting, generous offers, etc. come in. Bittel, Cuba, and no doubt members of the Florida Alliance (and who knows who else is involved), meet and the deal is made. Bittel gets two dupes to run for Vice Chair, since the rules are the chair and vice chair must be different genders he covers his bases with a male and female. Juan Cuba drops out of the race for state committee man to run for Chair. If he wins, a high probability, he coincidentally prevents the former Chair, Dwight Bullard, from running for Vice Chair (the gender thing). <br /><br />Now Bullard did not do a good job while he was chair. He did not raise any money and he did not provide much guidance, direction or inspiration to the party. So on one hand, blocking him from running may just be an attempt to prevent a less than stellar candidate from holding an officer position. But, oh yeah, he does want to run for State Party chair, the position Bittel wants.<br /><br />As the chess pieces fall into place, Berlin is now running unopposed because all these machinations were done right at the deadline (although yes, technically you can be nominated from the floor on Election Day, and if Cuba were to lose his bid for Chair, he can turn around and run for state committee man against Berlin, again!). <b>So, what's the fix? <br /></b><br />
Bittel makes a deal with Cuba. In return for setting all the right players in place, the female vice chair resigns setting up a new ad hoc election where the gender rules do not apply. Bittel, who will conveniently be appointed to a vacant precinct position, can now run for Vice Chair. Assuming he wins (can you say rigged), he is now eligible to run for Chair of the state party. What did it take to arrange all this, oh nothing big, probably just promises of positions on the DNC, super-delegate status, and did you know Bittel wants to have a CEO and COO lead the state party. <i>Hmmm, and if we need people to fill those well-paid positions, anyone come to mind?</i><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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Now for the pièce de résistance. How does Bittel ensure he wins the election for State Party Chair? He attacks on 2 fronts. First, the Florida Alliance allegedly has informed the powers and non-powers that be that if Bittel does not win, no more donations from them. And on the second front, well let’s bring in that final player, DWS. As we learned from the<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.8px;"> </span></span><a href="https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/">WikiLeaks DNC emails</a>, she is the master of the back room deal and arm twisting to her advantage. <br />
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She works it so she gets what she wants, which is usually about what benefits her (<a href="https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/">again read DNC staffers emails on WikiLeaks</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.8px;">). </span></span>For DWS, this behind the scenes control off the state party (or national party) is nothing new to her. Just ask Alan Clendenin about what happened in 2012 (or even Bernie Sanders). So Bittel, who has now co-opted Cuba, Dotie and Ruben with his extravagant promises, gets DWS to control the rest of the state’s committeemen and committeewomen, gets his friends in the Florida Alliance to threaten to withhold money and “voila”, our new state chair.</div>
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If you’ve been in politics for any period of time, you’re probably thinking, duh, this is how it works. Back room deals have been going on since our Republic was formed. But aren’t you tired of the good ole boys being the ones who do the deals, hold the power, and benefit. What all these players really want is power and benefits. As the famous saying goes, “it’s all about me.” What about the true believers, the grassroots activists, those of us who believe the party can and must do better. Bittel thinks his “I’ll raise millions” is the answer. If he wants to raise millions, he can do it without bending and breaking the democratic party rules, or being chair of anything. Just do it! The grassroots Democrats will be disgusted and walk away from the party if we continue to see these backroom deals happen that are so unnecessary, and only serve to stroke the egos of billionaires. Didn't DWS raise a ton of money at the national level? And look where that got us. Do you really want the democratic party to continue to be the party that loses elections by thin margins, or do you want to see us get back to our core and start electing more Democrats who will support progressive issues?<br /><br />When I first heard about all of this I thought, OMG, everyone is making a deal with the devil for their own benefit. I now realize it’s worse. Vote your values. Vote your conscience. It's time to stop selling out our party.Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-81263905194474211432012-04-09T15:16:00.003-04:002012-04-09T16:47:52.447-04:00FDP fucks up again, 2 candidates in 25.So today some <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/04/democrats-pick-candidate-to-challenge-david-rivera.html">unknown challenger from Broward</a> who was an anti-union developer decided to run for Congress. <div><br /></div><div>Why? She wanted to ward off challengers after the Women's Campaign Fund and Ruth's list got wind of a couple of big names being recruited by DCCC after Luis Garcia dropped out. She wanted to protect herself, since she has no history in running for office. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">I can confirm based on sources in multiple states that the FDP acted without consulting with DC in co-releasing together with her the press release announcing her candidacy.</span></div><div><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div>The big news today is the impending candidacy of Joe Garcia once again in district 25. Expect it in about two weeks. Without the Tea Party momentum and high levels of fundraising and name ID, I predict he will run and win over David Rivera. The biggest threat to him now is a primary challenge from the right on Rivera. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'll update this story as more comes out. </div>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-20340371533873043922012-03-06T13:42:00.002-05:002012-03-06T13:42:00.166-05:00Caramba<span>Thank you for the emails folks. One of them contained an interesting that inspired me to kick my monitor. </span><div><blockquote style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.4;"><b><a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/miamis-luis-garcia-name-dropping-or-donor-poaching.html">FL-25</a></b></span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(36, 36, 36); line-height: 17px; ">: Oy vey. Sometimes I just don't understand why things like this happen. Businesswoman Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, whom you'll remember from her run against GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in FL-18 in 2008 (minus the "-Goldstein" back then), is accusing state Rep. Luis Garcia of falsely claiming she'd endorsed his bid for Congress against troubled GOP freshman David Rivera. Garcia of course denies the charge, but seriously, wtf?</span></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(36, 36, 36); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span>Well, if you have a particularly good memory (like <span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"><b><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1067900/45098339#c327">ndrwmls10</a></b></span></span>), you may recall that <span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"><b><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/30/989992/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Morning-Digest-6-30?detail=hide">last June</a></b></span></span>, Dave Catanese reported that Taddeo-Goldstein was going to launch a her own campaign against Rivera "in the next 30 to 60 days." Obviously that never came to pass, but it also explains why Garcia was so interested in claiming Taddeo-Goldstein's endorsement, and why—if she's still contemplating the race—she wouldn't want to give it. Nevertheless, this is an ugly, unnecessary mess, but it also makes me wonder: Whatever happened to Taddeo-Goldstein's planned bid?"</span></p><div><div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span>This story has two points that stick in my throat. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: pre; "> </span>1) Why the heck is Louis Garcia using Annette's name? I'm not in fantasy land, all these politicians use everyone else's information from prior races against their opponents. The difference is not all of them outright say the name of the last candidates in the area. From talking to people I hear he's done the same with Joe Garcia. MEMO: STOP USING THEIR NAMES. If you're so incompetent you can't raise money against a guy with federal investigations over his head and tremendous disapproval ratings who hasn't done shit for the district, then give up and let someone else take over. Which is why I hear he's being dissuaded from continuing and is being pushed to switch over to city or county commission depending on who you ask. Good riddance. But this just shows how useless the DCCC is that they backed the wrong horse on this.</span></div></div></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>2) Taddeo-Goldstein needs to be brought down a peg or 17. She might be brilliant as a businesswoman but let's be clear about this, she's not a political figure. Here she is busting someone's chops who's actually won and done something. I'm not Garcia's biggest fan, but he's in a hard as nails district and still wins. He's liked. He's been effective in positions before. Taddeo got her ass kicked by a well known political foe and then got steamrolled because she gave 40% effort on a small race she should have dominated. I've heard plenty of excuses for her behavior from friends. You don't put this out publicly. How does she expect to be treated seriously?</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>Annette; you seem to think Florida House or Senate is beneath you. Your hot shot friends have backed you and you can fundraise way too well for such a small race. I just want to point out you'll never get to Congress without being there and that representing Floridians and testing your legislative skills is an honor and a challenge to see if you'd be good. So far you are an egotist who thinks something is owed to her. You are owed nothing. You make your own headway in politics. If you want to be a sideline player keep doing what your doing. But if you want to get on the field, make some sacrifices and go help your state. That's if your ego doesn't get in the way. Also, stop doing stupid things like this which just cause resentment among the ground troops in the party.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span></div>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-75610085245061049052012-02-22T20:40:00.005-05:002012-02-24T07:48:55.174-05:00It's been a long time<span style="font-weight: normal; ">Your favorite blue blogger is back on a supremely inconsistent basis. Since my last post I've gone through marriage, the birth of my first child and the purchasing of my first property. So I my time is limited by waking up at 5 AM because my son decides he wants attention or that he couldn't sleep. Don't expect blogging masterpieces. </span><div><span style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; ">Having said that expect slow news drips. For those of you not familiar with this blog; read it.</span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; ">I break news on the Democratic Party and make fun of the Republican party. If you're wondering what inspired my return it's having heard <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/under-federal-inquiry-dem-rep-steinberg-admits-sending-sexxxy-stalker-type-emails-to-federal-prosecu.html">this was coming down</a> two days ago. </span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></span></div><div>I'd also like to send a special message to Senator Steinberg: You're an ass. Thank God it's a safely Democratic seat. I'm sure Democrats across the county will appreciate this stupidity. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><blockquote><span >The d</span><span >ozens of messages, sent over the course of more than three months last fall, were sent from a phone that used software to disguise the number.</span></blockquote></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 1px; height: 1px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><span ><br style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/under-federal-inquiry-dem-rep-steinberg-admits-sending-sexxxy-stalker-type-emails-to-federal-prosecu.html#storylink=cpy</span></div></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></span></div><div>Nice job. Just resign ASAP before you do progressives actual harm moron.</div><div><span style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></span></div>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-34748765516621603142010-08-08T20:53:00.004-04:002010-08-08T21:35:00.625-04:00Democracy gets kicked in the faceI have very little to add to <a href="http://politicalcortadito.blogspot.com/2010/08/ruling-takes-candidate-off-ballot.html#comments">this post</a> as it communicates overwhelmingly my thoughts as to what happened in District 112. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://politicalcortadito.blogspot.com/2010/08/ruling-takes-candidate-off-ballot.html#comments"></a>I have to say Rep. Luis Garcia has not always been my favorite Democrats but he has nailed this spot on.<br /><br />Sandra Ruiz (Democrat-Doral) is now facing an uphill battle thanks to Johnny Farias (Douchebag) and Jeanette Nunez (Opportunist Republican). With the information I've received showing that Ruiz was leading the Republican in the race, she manipulated the neophyte that is Farias into joining her in a lawsuit that removed her from the ballot.<br /><br />If I were...say Ana Rivas Logan, I'd be crapping my pants now.<br /><br />But that's a separate issue. The issue at hand is that Johnny Farias, who has been running one of the dirtiest, behind the scenes campaigns one could imagine for over a year now, has finally found a way to beat Sandra Ruiz. Not at the ballot box where he'd have his ass handed to him.<br /><br />I have to say that this win at any cost mentality may be good for Johnny's short term political legacy. It's bad for democracy, it's bad for the voters and I hope this sticks in the minds of local Democrats for a long time yet. When one of your own takes away your best opportunity at picking up a house seat and when they do it through these means...says volumes.<br /><br />I think this matter is pathetic, and if through the stay, Mrs. Ruiz is allowed to be on the ballot and ultimately wins on appeal. I hope she crushes him. I'm glad that the underhanded tactics aren't working with Rep. Garcia or other high level Democrats. Former State Representative and now PSC commissioner Ron Brise pulled his endorsement from Farias after taking so many calls against Farias. When devoted Democrats like Joe Geller and Annette Taddeo stand up for you, it says plenty to me.<br /><br />Johnny Farias may win the battle, but he'll lose the war, and inadvertently, he'll cost his wife the chance to win her seat as well.<br /><br />Farias states:<br /><blockquote>"That's not a chance I am willing to take. We have to be unselfish. Did we want a democrat in the general election, yes or no? If she had been removed we would have had no democrat in the race. Whats better to have a Democrat or no Democrat?"</blockquote>So let me ask him, when the David Rivera-esque charges about domestic violence come out against him in the general, is he ready for that? Hey, I'm just being unselfish and asking some questions that <span style="font-weight: bold;">will</span> be put to him.<br /><br />Let me tell ya'll something else; to have a Democrat like that, I'd rather not have a Democrat in the race.Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-21016692432856004982010-06-20T10:36:00.003-04:002010-06-20T10:56:27.273-04:00Is supporting Kendrick Meek viable?I don't want folks to get me wrong here, I usually support the most progressive candidate in a race and usually in Miami it's our Democratic Party nominee. The reality though is that Kendrick Meek's half assed campaign, now about 18 months old, has failed the Democratic Party of Florida. He hasn't expanded his coalition, his field organizers are rarely seen and heard from. I see very few supporters that are non-establishment types. When Jeff Green, a former Republican with a whole resume that is bad for political purposes is picking up large numbers with his unprecedented and daunting $40 million its pretty telling. The primary is interesting. Check out this <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/18/1689108/money-talks-when-voters-still.html">story from the Miami Herald.</a> I don't like Green, but he's stronger than Meek for the general.<br /><br />The latest poll from the <a href="http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/06/chamber-poll-gov-race-tightening-crist-still-with-wide-lead.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+%7C+tampabay.com%29">Chamber of Commerce</a> (who's polling I don't even remotely trust) is weird. I'm wondering if they're unsure of whom they are supporting so far. It's shows a blowout win for Charlie Crist but like every other poll shows about 15 points for Meek. What's sad here is that the reality is that Kendrick isn't even close to competitive. Crist is winning over Democrats. Every teacher in the state is going for him.<br /><br />So I think the question I'll pose to my readers is this: Is it time to hedge our bets and support Sun Tan Charlie?Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-69201132718981859972010-05-27T15:56:00.003-04:002010-05-27T21:18:22.695-04:00Critics "don't know the facts"Just a quick blog post on President Obama's <span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>press conference today. As <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37875.html">Politico</a> headlines he actually said:<br /><br /> <blockquote>“Those who think that we were either slow in our responses or lacked urgency don’t know the facts. This has been our highest priority since this crisis occurred,” Obama said during a rare news conference in the White House East Room. “We understood from day one the potential enormity of this crisis and acted accordingly.” </blockquote> <div style="border: medium none ; overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" id="TixyyLink">I'm a supporter of the President. But his I'm smarter than you act is wearing thin on me. It was his Chief of Staff<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/rahm-dems-attacking-other_n_254340.html"> <span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>Rahm Emmanuel</a> saying that those progressives who don't sit idly and go after Blanche Lincoln type Democrats were "fucking stupid". There are other examples but I'm too lazy to go google things for you, my dear reader.<br /><br />Yes, the President is privy to information that we don't. That doesn't make him our intellectual superior or the average citizen an idiot. It makes him able to make judgements and come to a conclusion better than we can. But the country, already frustrated with the federal governments' slow response and terrible lack of following through on existing laws, doesn't need to be looked down on by our leader. It needs an efficient and good Commander in Chief who doesn't allow for hundreds of gallons of oil to spill and is to worried about not stepping on the neck of British Petroleum<span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>. Who cares about them? The damage they've caused has already altered our environment for decades.<br /><br />Is anyone surprised by <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0527/Obama-press-conference-anger-and-frustration-over-oil-spill">this</a>?<br /><br /><blockquote>A Gallup Poll released Thursday found that 53 percent of Americans rate Obama’s performance on the oil spill as “poor” or “very poor.” The federal government came out worse at 60 percent. And worse still was BP<span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>, at 73 percent “poor” or “very poor.”</blockquote>As that article goes on to say:<br /><blockquote><br />No less a Democratic ally than James Carville<span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>, now living in his native Louisiana, bashed Obama Wednesday for what he called the “political stupidity” of his response to the Gulf crisis. “I have no idea of why their attitude was so hands off here,” Mr. Carville said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”</blockquote><br />I'd say Carville <span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="J-JK9eJ-PJVNOc"></span>knows a thing or two and isn't "stupid." What's more, he has nothing to gain by attacking or defending this administration.<br /><br />Sometimes Mr. President, the public can see the Emperor's robes. We know when a mistake has been made, and this time it's your fault.</div>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-91065287408669224062010-05-18T08:34:00.010-04:002010-05-18T09:08:57.653-04:00Why I support the AZ Law<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><span style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">N</span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">ow the title will shock you but follow me here (I've been trying to post this but the formatting has been off):</span></span></span></span></span><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">A) The idiots talking about the Democrats violating the Constitution have gone quiet sharpish. Why? Because despite clearly violating citizens' 4th Amendment rights and steam rolling the Equal Protection Clause of our 14th Amendment those very same idiots who were screaming about the "Obama Gestapo" are now screaming STATES RIGHTS!!!! It's great to see them jump from talking point to talking point. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">B) The Florida GOP is shooting itself repeatedly in the foot, leg and arms. Starting with Attorney General Bill McCollum who as the </span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/13/1628658/florida-candidates-backing-arizona.html" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Miami Herald says</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">"threw his support Thursday behind a tough new immigration law in Arizona that he criticized as ``far out'' just two weeks ago." You're welcome Alex Sink for your first campaign ad. It doesn't even matter that you're whiter than most bridal dresses, just run that in Miami, Broward and Orlando/Tampa on the hispanic TV stations and pick up the votes. Label him a racist flip flopper.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This may work in the Panhandle:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">"I support Arizona's law as amended, and if the federal government fails to secure our borders and solve the problem of illegal immigration, I would support a similar law for Florida."</span></span></blockquote></blockquote></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But the AG is now going to get murdered in the South and Central Florida. Puerto Ricans may not jump on because they're US citizens but they may feel empathy for their fellow Hispanics. Maurice Ferre should scream bloody murder in midstate.</span></span></span></span></span></div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></span></span></span></span></span></span><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">That very article then brings up this AG candidate Holly Benson quote : ``Illegal immigration is a serious problem facing our country and it is unfortunate that the Los Angeles City Council came down in support of illegal activity, over the actions of Arizona's attempt to enforce the law.'' In what is the most open race in the state, where no one knows who'll win the primary for AG on either side, all I can say is well done, she just locked up the primary and may have lost the general election. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">And speaking of inner party fights here are some people who disagree:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">`Hispanics are going to remember in the future whether candidates supported us at this historic moment,'' said Juan Hernandez, a political consultant who directed McCain's Hispanic outreach in his 2008 presidential campaign.<br /></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So your presidential nominee's Hispanic outreach chair is sounding, well nasty about it and then you get money quotes like this: </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">``I am reconsidering my endorsement,'' said state Rep. Juan Zapata, a member of McCollum's leadership team in Miami-Dade who chairs the education fund for the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. ``All this law does is fuel an anti-Hispanic fire. . . . All it does is cause fear and innocent people to be persecuted. If you happen to look Hispanic, they're going to go after you? What about an elderly person who doesn't speak English?'</span></blockquote></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Bill and Holly, your endorsers are considering leaving you. They see the possibility for discriminatory policies. I've heard the rumors of some Hispanic Republicans angry at this law as well, meaning your activist base down south is unhappy. If I'm Alex Sink, I mobilize university students to go to Bill McCollum events in Miami and protest about this every single time from now until November. And throw in Rick Scott if the polls continue to tighten up.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(By the way Zapata, a Colombian, is actually a pretty common sense Republican most the time and if it weren't for some boneheaded party line votes could pull a Crist and really run as an independent in the future. He's one to watch out for.)</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">And hell, if Sink decides to not do what her husband did last time and goes all out and throws everything including the kitchen sink at the GOP nominee then she'll use an ad on what the</span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/sleazy-deal-snares-mccollum/1094764" target="_blank"><span><span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Tampa Tribune</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">thinks about McCollum having "</span></span></span></span></span><span style="line-height: 15px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">personally chose Rekers, a notorious antigay psychologist, as an "expert'' witness in Florida's legal effort to defend the state's indefensible ban on gay people adopting children." And not to mention we, the taxpayers paid Rekers about 60 thousand dollars for his b.s. homophobia!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/sleazy-deal-snares-mccollum/1094764" target="_blank"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">How the</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-05-06/news/christian-right-leader-george-rekers-takes-vacation-with-rent-boy" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Miami New Times</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">dug up the dirt, got Rekers on camera at the airport and totally caught this jackass with his pants down is beyond me. Great journalism from them.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here's a tip: If your career is based on being anti-gay, don't use someone from rentboy.com</span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">. Don't take him on an all expenses paid trip to Europe. And don't forget to pay your rentboy.com</span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> person so he </span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/05/george_rekers_is_a_homosexual_says_escort.php" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">doesn't tell people you're homosexual.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">And don't say you're confused about what r</span></span></span></span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">entboy.com </span></span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">does when it can easily be made fun of by a satirist, like say</span> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/05/video_stephen_colbert_names_ge.php" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Stephen Colbert. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But the coup de grace was Marco "the boy king" Rubio's flip flop. As</span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2010/may/12/marco-rubio/marco-rubios-position-arizona-immigration-law/" target="_blank"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;"> Politifact</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">points out this was his statement on April 27, 2010 here in Miami: </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">States certainly have the right to enact policies to protect their citizens, but Arizona's policy shows the difficulty and limitations of states trying to act piecemeal to solve what is a serious federal problem. From what I have read in news reports, I do have concerns about this legislation," Rubio said in the statement.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- color:initial;"><span><span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">"While I don't believe Arizona's policy was based on anything other than trying to get a handle on our broken borders, I think aspects of the law, especially that dealing with 'reasonable suspicion,' are going to put our law enforcement officers in an incredibly difficult position. It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens," he added. "Throughout American history and throughout this administration we have seen that when government is given an inch it takes a mile.</span>"</span></span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- color:initial;"><span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But as</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/29/1603751/immigration-bill-in-works-from.html" target="_blank"><span><span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">The Miami Herald</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">notes about his flip flopping after 2 amendments were added to the AZ law:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But the changes don't appear to have eliminated the shortcomings Rubio laid out in West Miami.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Not carrying immigration papers -- the provision that Rubio said evoked a ``police state'' -- remains a crime.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Rubio's concern about the police questioning someone based on a ``reasonable suspicion'' of illegal status? Still there. And still no explanation of what an illegal immigrant is supposed to look like.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The law's prominent opponents -- including Rubio's political mentor and one of his most important backers, former Gov. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Jeb Bush </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">-- remain prominent opponents.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">In contrast, Rubio said one thing to a bilingual group of reporters in West Miami and something different to a Washington website where one regular columnist asked recently, ``What's Wrong With Racial Profiling Anyway?"</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Or as the article says a couple paragraphs later: </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Rubio's attempt to have it both ways recalls his close ties to Sen.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> Jim DeMint</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> of South Carolina, a chief proponent of the ``English-only'' movement and an early Rubio supporter who has helped him raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Wonder what DeMint would have thought of Rubio's opening remarks to the predominantly Cuban-American crowd in West Miami.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">``I have a statement I'd like to make in English,'' Rubio said, ``but if you'll permit me for a moment [I'd like to] to start in Spanish because we have a lot of people here who would understand it just a little bit better and it's important to me.''</span></span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek must be laughing it up. But the worst part is then left for last, because as bad as the immigration bill being ridiculously stupid, don't forget the horrible</span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/putting-the-accent-on-526836.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">legislation mandating that teachers with the wrong accent can't teach English</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> I think those of us near a Marco Rubio or Bill McCollum rally have the duty to ask if they also support this legislation. This bigotry has yet to be driving furor from people, despite it having zero tangible benefits. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The group that I've most seen pushing the Hispanic law as being threatening though? Univision News. I speak some Spanish, and from what I gather combined with what my friends tell me; they've been reporting on this in a pretty one sided fashion. One friend told me "The English stations are giving a mixed review type thing and some are now trying to ignore the situation, but the 6 and 11 o clock Univision or Telemundo news are attacking and have been on full on interview and grilling mode recently. They're not allowing the Hispanic public to forget who passed it and it's effect. Frankly, this is right in their ally to push because it directly affects their constituency and demographics. They've made this an albatross around the GOP, so when you hear that other states like </span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/immigration/3531-other-states-consider-arizona-style-anti-immigration-statutes" target="_blank"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Georgia, Indiana and Michigan</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">are considering passing this, it really becomes that much worse for the GOP. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But what the hell do I know? Don't forget according to Tom Tancredo, I'm just another citizen of a </span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051303542.html" target="_blank"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">"third world country" called Miami. </span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> Check out that article recalling some of the signals that Hispanics recently have been given by the GOP. Let's not forget that Hispanics support Obama by more than 2 to 1. That only 27% of Hispanics want the GOP to be in control of Congress while more than half want Democrats in control. 73% of them think these type of policies target Hispanics overwhelmingly, according to a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;"> A</span></span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.pollster.com/blogs/us_immigration_apunivision_571.php" target="_blank"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">P-Univision poll</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> So in sum, I support it because it makes the GOP look like a bunch of jackasses.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">______________________________<wbr>_______________________</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">P.S. </span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The pathetic/shamless spin of the week?</span> </span></span></span></span></b><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">State Senator Dan Gelber emailing supporters saying "</span></span></span></span></span><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Mason-Dixon released its first poll of the Attorney General’s race and it shows us leading our primary opponent by three points. This is the second straight poll that has us in the lead. While it's better to be ahead, both polls also show that the great majority of Floridians are still undecided."</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This gives the impression the race is like 40 to 37 and tightening. Sen. Gelber, I've met you on a number of occasions and you are a bulldog of a progressive. I genuinely respect and admire you. But to even dare sending out that email with the title "we're in the lead" in it. In the lead? Here are the numbers: </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Gelber 15%</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Aaronberg 12%</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Undecided 73%</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Margin of Error: 4%. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal; "><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So you're within the margin of error, and 73% of people are undecided. Don't try to build a narrative of how you have momentum when right now if I put my name on the ballot, I'd poll at about 10% just from people randomly circling my name because they think it's a nice name, this is embarrassing. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p></span></div></span></span>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-73583951194703170212010-05-04T10:25:00.003-04:002010-05-04T14:24:06.211-04:00Guess who's back?<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div class="im"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It has been quite a while hasn't it? </span></div><div><div class="im"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It did lead to more comments though...including one saying "whatever it is that took Blue In Miami out should be praised eternally."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I've been absorbing the political environment, you can't spill everything you hear and have to have your ear to the ground. We all knew about Joe Garcia announcing soon, that was the worst kept secret in Dade political history. We all knew Crist would go NPA after his party Lieberman'd his behind. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Today I'm picking on a smaller target. Recently a source of mine indicated that they'd received a flyer attacking Sandra Ruiz who is running in District 112 for State House. It was not sourced and was left at their front gate. Apparently the whole neighborhood received this little doozy claiming Ruiz said she "lived in Doral because other places were lower class."</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Let's assume that this random, unsourced quote on an unsourced flyer with no one claiming responsibility for it was true. Why would she be stupid enough to say that out loud or in a room where she couldn't trust everyone? These type of flyers are dirty, have no ethics and frankly are disgusting. This could be the Republicans trying to hurt her and I'd love to accuse them of it. Unfortunately, her primary opponent, Johnny Farias has been so underhanded and dirty during the campaign that it is not out of the question that perhaps he did this.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I think Johnny's an alright person but is being manipulated by the GOP to run a campaign that is utterly negative. My sources see that he goes to many events and has tried to press flesh but that at fundraisers he is inappropriate and that has led to complaints from other candidates. One prominent local figure said that through "sheer harassment" they decided to endorse Farias. Another person told me that they were sent a YouTube video attacking Sandra Ruiz by one of his biggest supporters. Another complaint was that the campaign manager had said "fuck it, we can get nasty, we have plenty of dirt on her."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I noted that one fundraiser was thrown for him in Doral, Sandra's backyard, by an interesting group of non-primary voters...Republicans on the city council. The GOP does know elections and stupid it is not. They sense the opportunity to take a candidate that is clean in Ruiz and drag her name through the mud by opening a divisive and contentious Democratic primary. That way she'll have to spend and compete in a primary, perhaps even go negative herself, something that would raise her unfavorable numbers and weaken her for the general election. Farias' anger as one local heavyweight told me is based on the contention that Ruiz waited until he jumped in the race and then went to his donors and told them why she was a better candidate. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I believe that's called "retail politics" and if Farias takes offense to that he's not fit for office, as that is a minor transgression at best. I've seen him speak and he is neither eloquent nor impressive, consistently failing to tailor the message to the room he is in. Yet he continues to drive a negative narrative towards Ruiz who is ultimately our best chance in November. I have been in a room when he attacked her and she did not respond with fire. I think our candidates in that race should look at the numbers and realize they need to go after the Republicans in the race, not each other. Sandra got the memo, when will Johnny? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">And one final thing, a female supporter of his who donated a small but significant sum of money told me: "I was on board with him, I'm his friend and I love his family but I won't donate again to someone hosting an event at Hooters, that's disgusting." The Democratic Party is often ridiculed and called the "mommy party" because women voters are so crucial. He's running against a woman, so already demographics in his district are against him. There is an 8,000 registered voter difference that favors the GOP in the district. The single largest constituency are female Hispanics, so turning them off is stupid politics. According to fundraising reports, he's raised $9,000 and spent $7,000 with election day four months off. That's also stupid politics. Come on Johnny, shape up and if you can't play fair in the big leagues, run for a small council and then make a run for a bigger office. That would be smart politics.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">On a brighter note, thank you to Rudy Moise for being the first candidate of the 2010 cycle to add my email to their press list. Minor miracle! And he's raised over half a million so far which is worth applauding in that messy District 17 race where three quarters of the district is running. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">My email as always: </span><a href="mailto:blueinmiami@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">blueinmiami@gmail.com</span></a></div></span></div></div></span>Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-89885217138401602302010-03-24T11:57:00.006-04:002010-03-24T12:46:45.936-04:00It's been a whileSo the bill has passed with many flaws and no public option, because doing what's right is a little harder than we'd like. But at least they've gotten something done through the skin of their teeth. There's nothing I can add to the Health Care debate that hasn't been said already.<br /><br />But there are these two little nuggets: The Republican candidate for Governor is going to<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/23/1544299/could-mccollums-fight-to-block.html#storylink=omni_popular"> sue the United States</a> and even those on the right think it's stupid.<br /><br />Andrew Cohen in the Atlantic talks at length about the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/health-care-reform-the-return-of-interposition/37778/">Doctrine of Interposition a discredited legal theory </a>last really used to try to sustain racist Jim Crow practices in the South. It makes for a great read.<br /><br />Also from the reasonable right (I just came up with someone's campaign slogan) is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/22/frum.healthcare.gop.strategy/index.html?iref=allsearch">David Frum wondering where the GOP goes from now</a>. There are some very good ideas in that piece too that I think Democrats should consider. <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/republicans-in-disarray/37836/">Ambinder looks at a GOP in dissarray</a> with its November strategy now shot to pieces in what makes for another good read until the final three paragraphs.<br /><br />Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2248513/">over at Slate</a> (the inside DC types most overrated columns) we see how this could now turn into a huge boost for Democrats in November as the GOP claims (Death PANELS!) are proven false and Americans feel the good elements of this bill.Miamian Blueshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08439502563979773722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-71319542622149744282010-02-11T18:03:00.003-05:002010-02-11T20:43:50.428-05:00Lincoln Diaz-Balart retires. [FL-21]One of the last big names in Miami politics made a huge splash today. Lincoln Diaz-Balart retired today setting off a huge domino effect in Republican ranks.<br /><br />Here's the <a href="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/02/diazbalart_to_r.php">National Journal's</a> take on it:<blockquote><br />The district is heavily Hispanic, thanks to Miami's large Cuban population. 73% of district residents call themselves Hispanic, while just 16% are white. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) won a narrow 51%-49% victory in the seat.</blockquote>The reaction from his brother came fast, saying that he'd<a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2010/02/the-diazbalart-political-dominoes-.html"> run to replace Lincoln</a>.<span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"> But it is the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/lincoln-diaz-balart-to-retire.html?wprss=thefix">Washington Post</a> that gives us the first part of a nice little scoop:<br /></span></span><blockquote><p>Mario Diaz-Balart announced this afternoon that he will run for his brother's now open seat, vacating his 25th district -- a seat where McCain won only 50 percent in 2008 and where Mario Diaz-Balart won only 53 percent against Miami-Dade County Democratic Chairman <strong>Joe Garcia</strong>. </p> <p>Garcia is reportedly interested in running again and would give Democrats a genuine pickup opportunity in the 25th if he did decide to make the contest. One complicating factor for Garcia is that he is currently working in an appointed post in the Obama Administration. Another Democrat mentioned is <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1463960.html">Miami-Dade Commissioner <strong>Katy Sorenson </strong>who recently announced she would not seek re-election to her current post</a>.</p> <p>If Mario Diaz-Balart does leave the 25th, Republicans may well look to state Rep.<strong> David Rivera</strong> whose current state House seat shares significant population with the U.S. House seat.</p></blockquote><p>Mario apparently called it a "natural move" because he had represented the communities in the district before and because there would be redistricting in two years. I used to think it was natural to run for re-election in the district you already represent, especially if you're running unopposed, but I guess that's not true if your poll numbers are slipping and there's something more politically convenient. His brother spoke of honor at representing the 21st district, but apparently the 25th, not so much. </p><p>But anyways <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2010/02/joe-garcia-running-for-congress-seems-inticing.html">the Herald</a> continues:<br /></p><strong></strong><blockquote><strong>Joe Garcia</strong> is in Washington for the Obama administration as Director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact at the Department of Energy -- but friends say it may be inticing for him to be up here as a member of Congress.<div class="entry-content"><div class="entry-body"> <p><strong>Giancarlo Sopo</strong>, a political analyst at Bendixen & Amandi in Miami and a former advisor to Garcia's 2008 congressional campaign, says he hasn't talked to Garcia -- but says he wouldn't be surprised if Garcia was being recruited to run again for the district now held by <strong>Mario Diaz-Balart</strong> -- who is likely to move over to the more Republican-leaning congressional district being vacated by his brother. </p></div></div></blockquote> <blockquote><p>"Mario's being run out of the district because it's changing," Sopo said.</p> <p>Garcia gave Mario Diaz-Balart the strongest challenge of his congressional life in 2008, coming within a few points of winning the seat.</p></blockquote><p>Well, it seems to me that if the DCCC ponied up some cash, say 2 Million (or more not less), split it among all three congressional raises, you'd be able to get Garcia (whom I love) or Katy Sorenson to run in the 25th, in the 21st I've heard two or three names but a decent candidate with a good amount of fund-raising would be needed, though not necessarily a Hispanic, and someone (Taddeo or even Shriver?) in the 18th and you could give the local GOP a heart attack and win 1 or 2 of the seats.</p>Step up DCCC, FDP, and Miami-Dade DEC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-91883119616765305312010-02-02T17:09:00.010-05:002010-02-03T23:38:06.816-05:00One of my favorite songs<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Goes a little something like this:</span><br /><br /><object style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4XWYefe9EzI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4XWYefe9EzI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts,<br />Something's telling me I must go home.<br />And the lights all went down in Massachusetts<br />The day I left her standing on her own.<br /><br />Tried to hitch a ride to San Francisco,<br />Gotta do the things I wanna do.<br />And the lights all went down in Massachusetts<br />They brought me back to see my way with you</blockquote><br /><br />There's more obviously, but I am thrilled now by Scott Brown's election. One well placed source on the Hill from a non-Florida politician told me that the House caucus has basically fallen in love with the video of Obama destroying the GOP from last Friday.<br /><br />But, it's more than that, as some MSNBC pundits have been saying it seems like this is a new Obama. The House senses it too, Pelosi has been working lately to make sure her caucuses stand by her and is emboldened. She's been pushing Reid with Reconciliation. This strikes me as a potential goldmine for progressives. A President who is calling out his critics right back and saying: "I've adopted your ideas!" but you've abandoned me when I agree with you! essentially. He now sounds a little angry and is forcing the GOP to stop swinging and start ducking.<br /><br />And the Democrats do seem to have regained some pep in their step, even on newer challenges like the Citizens United vs. FEC ruling. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/2/833161/-Rep.-Donna-Edwards-Just-Introduced-Constl.-Amendment" target="_blank">Donna Edwards filed a bill</a> on this today and the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/2/833148/-Undoing-the-damage-of-the-Citizens-United-decision" target="_blank">Senate too is moving on this issue</a> according to Sen. Schumer.<br /><br />While they may be polling <a href="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/02/nervous_dems_go.php" target="_blank">in a nervous frenzy</a>, you still get the feeling that with some tracking polls, Obama's SOTU speech combined with the Friday Q & A, a speech in the NH-1's district with Carol Shea-Porter being challenged by Frank Guinta , that Democrats are preparing to go on the offensive. I think the DC establishment has had enough of the crazies in the Republican party (<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/02/there_are_so_many_alarming_thi.html" target="_blank">check out this insane poll of GOP'ers</a>) and is prepared to combat them. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Now, does this mean they'll hold to the middle the closer it gets to election time or will they go to the left for their base?</span><br /><br />That's the true question and the DADT stuff is an interesting move by Obama at this time. The Democrats have better money and a bit more trust at this time. Even freshmen Congressional Representatives are faring well in the money stakes <a href="http://twitter.com/Dave_Wasserman/status/8485743494" target="_blank">for example Nye in VA-02. </a>Gonna be an interesting ride through the end of this year folks but it seems like Mass. was in fact the catalyst that set off this year into campaign mode. And maybe it'll be back in Massachusetts where Democrats will find they have to go home. They have to go to their base and please them as much as independents.<span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></span></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-3179560884629464192010-01-19T18:26:00.000-05:002010-01-27T09:56:52.849-05:00Fillibuster Proof Majority!Perhaps the words the NSCC and Majority Leader like to hear the most. I'm not sure what to say after Scott Brown won last week in Massachusetts. (he'll lose, easily in 2012 when he has to run as the same time as the President's race, or he'll lose the backing of the GOP trying to survive in Mass.)<br /><br />But here's my two part approach to this blog post.<br /><br />1] The bad news: The DC establishment will now try to move Democrats further to the right, making the competition and legislation a battle of Crazy Right (The GOP) and to the right (Dems). I would read this as, if you'd passed the legislation Obama ran on, had gotten it out of the way and were focused on the economy, you'd never have been in this position. Whenever Democrats try to run as Republican-lite they lose. That's where the Howard Dean's and Paul Wellstone's come in have to take charge and say "No, here's what we believe in." The Democrats don't have anyone like that. The best leader they have is Nancy Pelosi. Obama has continually proven that he will waffle and concede territory on any issue. He has not stamped his foot down on any legislation and has managed to spit in the face of the left, alienate the middle and as usual annoy the right by being a Democrat. He hasn't brought change that the country wanted. Harry Reid is fighting for his political life and won't be that person either. You need a progressive/liberal leader to step up.<br /><br />And the economy still sucks. Obama now has to focus on this, but of course after giving away stimulus money with no strings attached and his policies as one of my friends says "being run by Goldman Sachs" it doesn't bring too much hope to the forefront.<br /><br />Health Care Reform is probably dead. The "small, popular pieces" mentioned in this <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31717.html">politico article</a> is the best Democrats will do now.<br /><br />2] The Good News: Democrats have no buffer real or imagined anymore. Maybe this loss will be the kick up their ass they need to get their shit straight. Either the House will vote for this travesty of a bill [unlikely to pass] or their going to have to use reconciliation [likelier]. What comes out of that would probably be more liberal, seeing as how only 50 votes are needed for it to pass [Biden would be 51]. Perhaps this will focus Democrats, take out their arrogance and force them to work on policies. Maybe they'll learn they can't expect their base to be revved up to go if they call them "foolish" or "stupid". Maybe it'll get 'em to pass what they said they'd pass in Republican style "we have what we have and we'll jam it down your throats".<br /><br />The problem is there's more bad news that is concrete than there is good news. Everything in the good news column is hope. And last time that didn't turn out too well.<br /><br />Can't wait for the SOTU.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-3649972156950407232010-01-15T10:43:00.003-05:002010-01-15T16:49:27.127-05:00Orlando Sentinel rips Sink a new oneOUCH.<br />You know I got this link emailed to me by a friend of mine saying <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-mike-thomas-column-sink-mccollum-0114120100113,0,4885111.column">this article</a> was on the mark. Sadly, it is.<br /><br />I don't know much about Mike Thomas other than that he wrote this article. Remember my last blogpost (back in 2009 I gave her The Katherine Harris Total Failure to Inspire as a candidate award.) In that article I stated:<br /><blockquote> "No one likes a candidate who's <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/10/alex-sinks-publicoption-silent-treatment.html">too spineless to make a stand on an issue such as health care reform. </a> No one really wants to support Alex Sink. We just see Bill McCollum on the other side and go...SINK 2010"</blockquote>Well guess what ladies and gents the article goes on to complain (largely from a journalists point of view) how she has been ducking the media and being irresponsibly non committal about her positions. As Eye In Miami (who's acronym EIM is nowhere near as good as BIM, but are better at everything else) <a href="http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2010/01/alex-sink-glad-handing.html">has covered</a> before, she seems to not know what audience she's talking to. I don't know if she's taking SoFla for granted but she's been almost entirely unavailable down here and I've seen very little campaigning by her. Whereas the Gelber/Meek campaign have small resources down here expecting to cruise and State Sen. Aaronberg's campaign is having representatives go to meetings in the area, Alex Sink has rarely come down here, has no discernible staff down here.<br /><br />What kind of crap campaign is this? And after seeing the New Jersey debacle why are the Florida Dem Party so high on a banker?<br /><br />While I don't get paid to write this, don't get the media emails for any campaign and am generally left in the dust by campaigns (damn you) I have enough sources and friends in the state to keep me in the loop. They ALL complain she's just not reaching out to the media or for that matter, voters nearly enough.<br /><br />It's gonna be a long slog.<br /><br />P.S. <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1421696.html">Help out Haiti!</a><br /><br />Update: The Sink campaign updated the website the day after the article came out knocking them for not updating. Wow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-79752979695310293532009-12-26T06:58:00.000-05:002009-12-26T06:58:00.087-05:00My Annual AwardsAs I do every year I plan on handing out awards. The more astute observers of this blog will say "I've never seen you give awards before". That would be true. Anyhow, these awards are prestigious, merited a lot of thought from the committee, really drove emotions through the hearts of many (mostly laughter, embarrassment and anger). Enjoy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Toby Flenderson- Get The Hell out of my Office Award</span><br />To the undesirable Rahm Emmanuel. You made a hard job seem like something that a manipulative ex on the rampage would be great for. You have used your powerful office to blast and ignore political opponents (Howard Dean for one) and you have used your incredible responsibility to destroy the most meaningful legislation in 50 years piece by piece until it fits the mold of your ideology- the DLC so that it helps the health care companies.<br /><br />You have one of the greatest leaders in the world, a man who just became President and have made him the laughing stock and partial villain of the left and the right in America. You're essentially the George Bush of Chief of Staffs. You listened to Pres. Obama well by uniting the country and bridging the gaps between blue states and red states. Against him.<br /><br />Your political malpractice took a guy with approval numbers in the 70's and 60s and he's now in the 40's. If all goes well in 3 more years he'll be in the 7's and 6s. Gotta love the Rahmster.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Ann Coulter I'm just saying shit to sell books Award</span><br />To the beautiful, sultry, intellectually deficient, effectively in a vegetative mental state former Governor of Alaska. Sarah, you are my hero. No one else would have thought that in one year alone you would go from the biggest political threat to Democrats to the biggest political threat to Republicans. No one would have thought you'd have quit elected office to take a 2 to 7 million dollar paycheck for writing a book, where you exposed personal grudges, aired laundry publicly...... Shit, has she met Rahm Emmanuel? If she does, goodbye Todd.<br /><br />But seriously she said to <a href="http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/05/13/palin-s-book-deal.aspx">Newsweek</a>[Money quote ahead!]<br /><blockquote><span class="BlogPostWords">Being a voracious reader, I read a lot today and have read a lot growing up. And having that journalism degree, all of that, will be a great assistance for me in writing this book, talking about the challenges and the joys, balancing the work and parenting, and, in my case, work means running the state.</span></blockquote><span class="BlogPostWords">Yes, Sarah of 6 years to get a journalism degree at 10 universities is such a voracious reader that as we all remember from THE Katie Couric Interview she couldn't name a single darn newspaper she read. <a href="http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/11/sarah_palin_only_knows_about_r.php">The Miami New Times</a> [who linked to my blog this year- yeah I don't forget Kyle!] explains that while she knows "real America" she doesn't know "Latin America" which for an avid reader is interesting. She in another interview talked about wanting to relate to America without a filter. Because really, who didn't run a state and for VP of the country.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hillary Clinton I killed my campaign a year before the election award</span><br /><br />This goes to Charlie Crist.<br /><a href="http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/08/amid-doubledigit-deficit-marco-rubio-staff-encouraged.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+%7C+tampabay.com%29&utm_content=Twitter">August: 25 point gap. </a><br /><a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/florida/election_2010_florida_gop_senate_primary">December: Tied</a><br /><br />I'd write more but I'd fear I'd be held liable for the Crist staffers who are committing mass suicide or homicide or both.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />The Dumb Ass Award for Democrat who stepped in the most Crap<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><br />If the Olympics are seen as the triumph of will, strength and years of hard work and dedication, then BJ Chiszar would win a gold medal and forever be an Olympian. For being a dumbass.<br /><br />You know whether it was in <a href="http://blueinmiami.blogspot.com/2009/01/speaking-of-idiots.html">January</a> or <a href="http://blueinmiami.blogspot.com/2009/03/bj-chiszar-stupidest-man-in-florida.html">March</a> he set forth on an unmistakably erroneous path. Whether it was not allowing Democratic candidates access to the VAN, pissing off every individual he met, playing favorites with campaigns [see the March post again] or attacking local groups of college Democrats and the Florida Democratic Party and involving everyone he could think of in the<a href="http://blueinmiami.blogspot.com/2009/11/miami-dec-chairman-attacks-everyone-in.html"> dumbest chess move</a> by a political figure in Florida since the Spaniards owned this territory you really have to hand it to him. And by "it" I mean the award for being a <span style="font-style: italic;">dumbass. </span>I will miss him though. Really helped traffic to the site.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />The Mumia Abu Jamal Award for journalist most likely to be framed and convicted for speaking truth to power award.</span><br />Matt Taibbi is either the smartest man alive or one insane writer. His blog <a href="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/author/matt_taibbi">The Smirking Chimp</a> is clever, witty and basically all things good. The antithesis of this one. Check out his articles there on the economic collapse. This Rolling Stone Magazine writer has really ripped into major corporations, the right, the left and anyone else in between by using facts, intelligence, humor and a dose of morality. No wonder he's not in office!<br /><br />Whether it be his fantastic story on <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover">Wall Street insiders</a> or <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong">health care reform and how it was being screwed</a> or how <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout/print">Obama's a huge sell out</a> the man is fantastic.<br /><br />Read the last one about Obama. Then read the first two paragraphs. Yeah, he's <span style="font-style: italic;">THAT</span> damn good.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Howard Dean- Politician who Says the Truth Award</span><br />Alan Grayson over the course of the last year...<br />1] <a href="http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/12/alan_grayson_tells_dick_cheney.php">Told Dick Cheney to Shut the Fuck Up on Hardball </a><br />2] <a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNE3Yo5hTale4-eBVz0PuX7OgimUtQ&cid=1481690131&ei=GqoyS9DnNpbQ8gS_truZAw&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F1209%2F30179.html">Called Sen. Coburn Delusional</a><br />3] <a href="http://wonkette.com/411853/alan-graysons-k-street-whore-apology-is-so-much-funnier-than-the-actual-insult">Called a lobbyist a K-Street Whore than provided the worst apology ever.</a><br />4] <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27726.html">Revealed the Republican Health Care Plan</a><br />Oh and he accused his <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26135.html">Republican opponent of being hired from Hooters</a> and that his staff <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article1041022.ece">spent all their time flicking pins and watching porn, called Rush Limbaugh a has been and said VP Cheney liked to shoot old men in the face. </a><br /><br />And that's just really the last 6 months.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Blue Dog Democrats Knife in the Back Award</span><br />They say in politics you keep your enemy close and your friends closer. But you definitely want to handcuff the Blue Dogs and have a mirror in front of you around them at all times. The same may apply to Chairman Lydecker of the Miami Dade DEC around those that were on the <a href="http://blueinmiami.blogspot.com/2009/11/continual-dysfunction.html">emails calling for his ousting</a> after his appointment by the Florida Democratic Party. 7 minutes after he was appointed. That <span style="font-style: italic;">might</span> be an exaggeration. There were so many individual agendas flying around that they could have started an Office Depot. Just Taking Care of Business.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Katherine Harris Total Failure to Inspire as a candidate award</span><br />I love Alex Sink as much as the next person (ok no one loves her other than her family and friends..and Karen Thurman) but really it's kind of hard to get behind someone with all the enthusiasm of Eeyore. No one likes a candidate who's <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/10/alex-sinks-publicoption-silent-treatment.html">too spineless to make a stand on an issue such as health care reform. </a> No one really wants to support Alex Sink. We just see Bill McCollum on the other side and go...SINK 2010. If Shriver and others are out there really going to give it a go...maybe now would be a good time to jump in folks. I've talked to DEC members and leaders from across the state, and with the exception of one county, no one is actually happy about her. Activists just kind of roll their eyes. Sounds like a winning ticket.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The George Bush Katrina Level Management Award</span><br />This monumental Award goes to Harry Reid for making the Senate Democratic Caucus into a joke of a joke. Whether it be being shaken down by Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu he really has made himself and the party look like incredibly incompetent assholes who can't figure out diddly squat. And that's without talking about Sen. Lieberman (hey you have to spell LIE! to spell his name!) and the hostage situation that occurs whenever Joe-mentum decides to change course or not like a policy. But hey he's still chair of his committee.<br /><br />I imagine that Sen. Reid's staff all look like this whenever a bill is being discussed.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TJ9fbp6f_bI/SzKwKJ9tdLI/AAAAAAAAAHs/1X77Mtdcyhk/s1600-h/three-stooges.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TJ9fbp6f_bI/SzKwKJ9tdLI/AAAAAAAAAHs/1X77Mtdcyhk/s200/three-stooges.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418586990200059058" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you all and I hope 2010 is a great year!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-56632191797596744802009-12-19T17:23:00.005-05:002009-12-19T17:34:25.670-05:00An Email From A Loyal Reader<span style="font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Every once in a while I get emails from the blog-world telling me off or praising or about general things. I got this one the other day from one of the most loyal BIMians. I asked for permission and will re-post the email in its entirety below with no edits. Enjoy.</span><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><blockquote><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br />For the past week I’ve been struggling to write a post about the Senate heath care bill. I started with taking on </span><a href="http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/20-questions-for-bill-killers.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><u>Nate Silver and his challenge to progressives</u></span></a><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" >, but after reading the </span><a href="http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/12/16/answering-nate-silvers-20-questions-on-killing-the-senate-bill/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><u>excellent rebuttal on FDL Action</u></span></a><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" > and after listening to all of the establishment Democrats bash Dr Howard Dean in an effort to discredit him and shut up the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party”. I then decided to go a different route. Some of you may have read </span><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/17/101527/33" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><u>Governor Dean speaks for me</u></span></a><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" >, posted by Charles Chamberlain at Daily Kos. I want to take that a step further. Dr. Dean not only speaks for me and the progressive base but he speaks for all of us who are uninsured, or underinsured and looking into the maw of for profit insurance companies as we are about to be swallowed whole. And then I read the </span><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/18/rahm-emanuel-dont-worry-about-the-left/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><u>interview with Rahm Emanuel</u></span></a><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" > that insults and blows off the progressive base.</span><br /><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" >I’ve been so angry over this that I’ve been unable to think straight let alone write a cogent post. I finally decided that Dr. Dean did indeed say it best (not his exact words, but very close):</span><br /></p> <span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;" ><b>I didn’t work my ass off to elect Democrats to vote for crap legislation like this!</b></span></blockquote>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-44844756629050193282009-12-14T12:34:00.004-05:002009-12-14T12:36:34.304-05:00The Holiday dead periodThere's not been much to report on recently due to the Holidays coming up. Your loyal correspondent will be taking a break as a result, but if there's a major story I'll be on it.<br /><br />In the meantime entertain yourself with comments. Happy Hanukkah (days late but still got it in!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-84738893291381302742009-12-09T16:08:00.002-05:002009-12-09T16:23:36.095-05:00Health Care Reform got flippedI feel as though out of nowhere we received a 180 degree turn on health care by the Senate yesterday. Out with the Public Option and in with Medicare being expanded for those over 55. Under 55? You're screwed. There will now be a plan, that's slightly undefined, offered by private companies. <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30371.html">Politico broke the story</a> since it's become the paper everyone in DC reads and might be the one paper turning a profit right now.<br /><br />Here's what Majority "Leader" Reid said:<br /><br /><blockquote>“This is a consensus that will help insure that the American people win in a couple different ways. One, insurance companies will certainly have more competition. And two, the American people will certainly have more choices," Reid told reporters in the Capitol, but refused to divulge details of the agreement.</blockquote>That's probably because there are few details. It's already been pushed to the CBO so we'll see what they say. Also from that article:<br /><blockquote><br />The “buy-in” period could kick in as early as 2011 – three years ahead of when the larger set of reforms would begin – although the coverage for the interim period would not be subsidized.<br /></blockquote>That's great but if the insurers, the very people who screw Americans over are running the program, it's not going to be very effective.<br /><br />Here's what <a href="http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1209/obama_backs_compromise_8a37cb40-e121-4b69-8d82-f3007058768e.html">President Obama</a> has to say:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Senate made critical progress last night with a creative new framework that I believe will help pave the way for final passage and a historic achievement on behalf of the American people," Obama said. "I support this effort, especially since it's aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering cost."<br /><br />"I want to thank all of you for sticking with it, for all those late nights," Obama said. "With so much at stake, this is well worth all of our efforts."</blockquote>I too want to thank the Senate for proving their critics right. The Senate may be the least useful institution in the world right now. The American people voted for change right? Does this sound like Obama's plan at all? Instead they got slapped across the face by them. All those late nights I assume are a reference to all the nights spent getting campaign contributions from the health insurance lobby. I hope Pelosi and the House sticks it to 'em and do what is right in conference.<br /><br />I hope the Progressive Caucus delivers on its promise and doesn't vote for this abomination. I'm tired of people who say no litmus test for Democrats. You're darn right this should be it.<br /><br />What are your thoughts? Drop a comment!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-15762928837320243902009-12-01T17:35:00.002-05:002009-12-01T17:41:27.727-05:00A New Era Begins<div class="gmail_quote">BIM was honored recently to sit down with many of the local Democratic Party's activists and one Richard Lydecker, the new DEC Chairman.<br /><br />BIM can only go off of words and actions. It seems to me, that so far, Mr. Lydecker is saying all the right things. He spoke of unifying around a solitary purpose, electing Democrats. This singular aim which should be the DECs main goal, is crucial because it should default & trump all the idiotic rivalries within the DEC. He spoke of bringing in big names such as CFO Sink and Sen. Nelson down to the DEC meetings to increase turnout. It'll be nice to get Sink in SoFla for once!<br /><br />Overall, this relative neophyte to the local scene has his finger on what to do; he's either been coached up or naturally has common sense and a good political instinct. Hopefully, those that joined me at the meeting will listen, put aside all our egos and work together. I'm genuinely excited, but the first test, as Mr. Lydecker emphasized, is to elect Democrats to the Governor's Mansion, the Cabinet and for the State House, for which he said polling is being conducted to see where we put our resources into. I feel much better about where we're going in 2010 now than I did before.<br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-69392483317255082822009-11-26T06:57:00.000-05:002009-11-26T09:00:22.292-05:00ThankgivingI thought the President's email was particularly touching this year and while I usually stray from propaganda for candidates I think this one is poignant and important enough to copy and use in full. Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone.<br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Americans across the country will sit down together, count our blessings, and give thanks for our families and our loved ones.<br /><br />American families reflect the diversity of this great nation. No two are exactly alike, but there is a common thread they each share.<br /><br />Our families are bound together through times of joy and times of grief. They shape us, support us, instill the values that guide us as individuals, and make possible all that we achieve.<br /><br />So tomorrow, I'll be giving thanks for my family -- for all the wisdom, support, and love they have brought into my life.<br /><br />But tomorrow is also a day to remember those who cannot sit down to break bread with those they love.<br /><br />The soldier overseas holding down a lonely post and missing his kids. The sailor who left her home to serve a higher calling. The folks who must spend tomorrow apart from their families to work a second job, so they can keep food on the table or send a child to school.<br /><br />We are grateful beyond words for the service and hard work of so many Americans who make our country great through their sacrifice. And this year, we know that far too many face a daily struggle that puts the comfort and security we all deserve painfully out of reach.<br /><br />So when we gather tomorrow, let us also use the occasion to renew our commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future that every American family can enjoy.<br /><br />It seems like a lifetime ago that a crowd met on a frigid February morning in Springfield, Illinois to set out on an improbable course to change our nation.<br /><br />In the years since, Michelle and I have been blessed with the support and friendship of the millions of Americans who have come together to form this ongoing movement for change.<br /><br />You have been there through victories and setbacks. You have given of yourselves beyond measure. You have enabled all that we have accomplished -- and you have had the courage to dream yet bigger dreams for what we can still achieve.<br /><br />So in this season of thanks giving, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to you, and my anticipation of the brighter future we are creating together.<br /><br />With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,<br /><br />President Barack Obama</span></blockquote>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-91032434072398983092009-11-21T09:45:00.001-05:002009-11-21T09:45:00.178-05:00The GOP and Foreign PolicyNow on to bigger and better things.<br /><br />Naked Politics reported a couple of interesting stories this week. First, our wonderful new Senator's first toe tap into the ocean of foreign policy is <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/11/lemieuxs-first-foreign-relations-foray-draws-a-rebuke-.html">turning into a disaster</a>.<br /><br />Higher ups in the State Department are a little angry that he's ignoring Brazil, the cornerstone of capitalism in South America and perhaps America's strongest ally, for political points. He's blocking the Obama appointed new ambassador to that country.<br /><blockquote>"This continuing, prolonged vacancy sends an unintended signal that the United States does not consider Brazil an important relationship,'' the nine former assistant secretaries of state wrote in a letter to LeMieux, urging him to lift his opposition to nominee<strong> Tom Shannon</strong>.</blockquote>Yikes. What's the real political game?<br /><br />Shannon had triggered the ire of South Florida Cuban Americans who believed he wasn't tough enough on the Castro regime during his tenure as a former assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs under President George W. Bush.<br /><br />Shock in a GOP member pandering to the lowest elements of the Cuban exile community.<br /><br />Here's the Senator himself:<p> </p><blockquote><p>"I feel like I have a role and a responsibility far greater than other senators do in terms of anything that deals with Latin America, and I take that job seriously,'' said LeMieux, who will be a "special guest" at a DC fundraiser Friday for Crist. "This is about the entire hemisphere. This is about Venezuela, El Salvador, Bolivia, Colombia and Brazil and Cuba and the role that Mr. Shannon played . . . and the role he will play. We are burning the midnight oil here to make sure I'm doing the best job I can for 18 million Floridians, and that's my motivation.''</p><p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0jfBabbhpz8">Bloomberg News</a> reports the extended hold could cost Boeing Inc. up to $7.5 billion.</p></blockquote><p></p>Yes, Mr. Shannon is almost entirely responsible for so much of the Western world seeing the Bush Administration's screw you approach to diplomacy and running to the opposite spectrum. If LeMieux's really burning the midnight oil by doing this, then I'm glad this moron will be gone in a year.<br /><br />But that's not all. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who continues to embarrass herself by schilling for herself <a href="http://twitter.com/irl">on Twitter</a> also screwed up in foreign policy. She of the military comes first mentality found one <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/11/roslehtinen-enlivens-cuba-hearing-with-a-dustup-with-a-retired-military-general.html">General who didn't back down, pissed him off and then argued with him in Congress. </a><br /><br />Apparently she's a disrespectful little shrill when people don't kiss her butt, even to Generals who have done more for our country than she could ever dream of.<br /><blockquote>Today's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing was a highly-charged event -- but the real sparks flew when Rep. <strong>Ileana Ros-Lehtinen</strong> tussled with retired Gen.<strong> Barry McCaffrey</strong>. <p>McCaffrey raised the Miami Republican's hackles with his testimony that Cuba represents no risk to national security and the travel ban should be scrapped since it hurts longtime U.S. interests.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Them's fightin' words. He destroyed the one issue she has to run on and wave the bloody flag of the cuban revolution. Cuba's a national security threat to America? How?<br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p>But during ques<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1258672340065_877"></span><span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1258672340065_561"></span>tioning, he took exception to Ros-Lehtinen, whom he said appeared to question his national security credentials and called him "Mr. McCaffrey,'' rather than "General.'' </p><p>"To refute the argument that I had offered to the committee, she seemed to be implying my lack of commitment to U.S. national security, which is a silly thing for her to do,'' McCaffrey told reporters after the hearing. "She stated a very carefully chosen way to denigrate my military credentials, which she is not authorized to do.''</p></blockquote><p></p>You know he's worked for that title, much like a doctor works for theirs. I'm pretty sure most doctors don't like having their title left out in their professional careers. Alas, Ileana will surely hypocritically post how wonderful the military is next time to score political points, while insulting them for political gain at other times.<br /><blockquote>She said she had written down the questions she wanted to pose to McCaffrey and that "General'' appears in her handwritten notes.</blockquote>Too bad her brain's apparently too small for her to be able to both write something and then verbalize it. It's clearly done intentionally and I'm glad the General spoke out.<br /><br />But that's what the GOP offers going forward folks. Enjoy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-14477290929482026652009-11-17T01:18:00.000-05:002009-11-17T07:41:35.692-05:00Continual Dysfunction<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" >Apparently the Miami-Dade DEC isn't happy having just had a chair who had verbal diarrhea getting removed. They're not happy having largely being a dysfunctional organization since around the turn of this millennium. Old habits die hard but apparently old rivalries, orchestrated events by party insider's from the Steering Committee, former candidates and DEC club presidents and the like, never die. In a widely circulated letter that I hear has reached the new DEC chair himself, individuals such as former Congressional Candidate Dave Patlak, Democrats of South Dade Club President Bob Goldstein, State Committeeman and former candidate for the Florida Democratic Party Chair Bret Berlin and a host of others are discussing the authority of Karen Thurman to remove and appoint a new DEC Chair.<br /><br />The original letter comes from Dave Patlak, a longtime activist who ran for Congress in 2006 and Commissioner in 2004 as well as running for DEC Chair in 2008 to replace Joe Garcia. In it he questions whether the FDP can appoint a non-DEC member as Chairman.<br /><br />He writes: "If there is not a properly appointed Chair, then a vacancy exists to be filled by an election called by the 1st Vice Chair within 45 days of the vacancy, correct?"<br /><br />Kristin Wipior the current credentials chair responded to him "Richard has been a new member candidate since July." Chairman Lydecker had been sworn in the previous week.<br /><br />Patlak continues by stating: " If you determine he is not a properly appointed DEC member, then you as 1st Vice Chair, should assume the duties of the Chair and convene an election for a new Chair"<br /><br />Liz Collins has since continued this line of reasoning and blamed DEC Chaiman Lydecker for being "exclusive" by saying: "I see that this maley of coruption and </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" >exculsiveness</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" > will continue. It seems that he has</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" > choosen</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" > those individules that he will acknowledge as leaders of the PARTY."</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Patlak's former position of Vice Chair for Outreach is now held by Henry Crespo who has also actively been attempting at undermining the brand new chair.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:100%;" >It seems as though some are already planning to destabilize a possible foundation for the DEC. The Party has received a large sum of money in just days since Chiszar's removal but it seems that the continued allegiances and rivalries have morphed and that many of the same characters move about while the local party continues to be dysfunctional at best. I wonder how much of this jockeying for positions and attempts to clarify the position of Mr.Lydecker are not at all for party interests but instead for the short sighted personal gain of certain individuals. It seems as though if you'd want to attempt to please the party and to help it, you'd try to end the bickering and cooperate with the FDP's lead.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia,serif;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Instead of some calling for this guy's head, they should see that he's already fund-raising and attempting to get some bearing as to where to move from here on out, and give him a chance. A united DEC it seems to me would be of utmost usefulness. Instead, the same old attempts to rise up in the career ladder and to injure one another rather than developing strategies to defeat the GOP seems to still be the mantra within the DEC. I hear Karen Thurman will be in town around the time of the next DEC meeting and I strongly hope she lays out some of the plans the state has so as to show what the state's strategy for this cycle is. Maybe this will calm some of this new found opposition down and allow for a reasonable time period before judgments about Chairman Lydecker are made.</span><br /></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-37125860070434957682009-11-12T11:36:00.003-05:002009-11-12T11:43:03.719-05:00Final EditionAs Blue in Miami posted earlier today, The FDP has removed Miami Dade DEC Chairman BJ Chiszar. Beth Reinhardt has a couple more details and the letter of removal on her <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/11/karen-thurman-ousts-miamidade-dec-chairman.html#comments">Naked Politics blog</a> and the FDP is not being polite about it!<br /><br /><blockquote>Thurman's spokesman, <strong>Eric Jotkoff,</strong> said the timing is incidental and the complaints against Chiszar have been mounting for months. He's been in the post for about one year. <p>"He has engaged in activities that injured the name and status of the Florida Democratic Party,'' Jotkoff said. "Not only has he not been able to hold a single meeting with a quorum but repeatedly done things like try to sell access to our voter file to state House candidates and repeatedly been rude and overbearing toward the staff and to elected officials...We have huge election coming up in 2010 and we need a successful Democratic party down there."</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Again as I reported earlier today. The rest is from Naked Politics:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Thurman is replacing Chiszar with <strong>Richard Lydecker</strong>, a Miami attorney who is little-known among Democratic activists but apparently has ties to Sen. <strong>Bill Nelson</strong>, former Miami Mayor <strong>Manny Diaz</strong> and Chief Financial Officer<strong> Alex Sink</strong>.</p> <p>Here's the letter from Thurman to Chiszar: <span class="asset asset-generic at-xid-6a00d83451b26169e20120a6877c8a970b"><a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/files/letters-of-removal-for-miami-dade-dec-chair-b-j-chiszar.pdf">Download Letters of Removal for Miami-Dade DEC Chair B J Chiszar</a></span></p></blockquote><p><span class="asset asset-generic at-xid-6a00d83451b26169e20120a6877c8a970b"><a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/files/letters-of-removal-for-miami-dade-dec-chair-b-j-chiszar.pdf"></a></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-59120139255794284132009-11-12T04:05:00.004-05:002009-11-12T10:48:51.145-05:00UPDATED:Another Blue In Miami ExclusiveBIM (yes a better acronym should have been a priority but alas) is the first to report breaking news coming out of Tallahassee. I hear the Florida Democratic Party has decided to come down on local DEC Chairman BJ Chiszar, informing him by writing that he's been removed from his position.<br /><br />Apparently the replacement Chairman has been selected and is a close friend of Former Mayor Manny Diaz. This <span style="font-weight: bold;">may </span>signal that Mayor Diaz is considering a run for higher office hopefully for Congress against one of three GOP seats, probably Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.<br /><br />The good news is that the party has finally stepped in to see what's happening at the local level. The bad news is that they delayed themselves by nearly a year in figuring out the former Chairman's actions while numerous complaints were filed about his shenanigans and divided the DEC body.<br /><br />This blog has long called for that <a href="http://blueinmiami.blogspot.com/2009/03/bj-chiszar-stupidest-man-in-florida.html">chairman to step up or be removed</a> and now transfers that to the new chairman and hopes he will run a fair, effective DEC that moves the party forward in a positive light and away from the nasty infighting that has long plagued the DEC since the turn of the century.<br /><br />Update: He was removed via statute 103.161 for interfering with the FDP.<br />He was removed for<br />-Attempting to charge organizations and candidates for VAN access while knowing it was free.<br />-Being rude to FDP officials, groups, allies, elected officials, staff members, DEC allies.<br />-Failure of the DEC of attaining meeting quorum at all times this year causing the DEC to lose the ability to function as an active county DEC.<br />-Threatening elected officials<br /><br />Additionally he received a 4 year ban to any position within the state party and is no longer a member of the DEC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906514181002389951.post-47371019715274230082009-11-08T14:53:00.007-05:002009-11-09T01:18:47.676-05:00Miami DEC Chairman attacks everyone in emailI really am at a loss for words in what the local party's chairman decided to do, by sending an email to a host of local officials and activists (such as Katy Sorenson, Yolly Robertson, Paul Barthole, Cindy Lerner, Carrie Meek, Joe Geller, Nadine Smith) all the while including national figures like former DNC ChairmanTerry McAuliffe on an email ranting about the Florida Democratic Party, the UM College Democrats, Democracy For America and local activists. Here's the full text, enjoy the reading below. Enjoy the ranting but also the false claims he throws out there:<br /><br /> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Nov. 6, 2009</span><br /><p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Dearest Party Leaders,</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >My name is <b><u>Chairman Benjamin John “BJ” Chiszar</u></b> of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party and it is with great sadness that I write to you all to expose what I consider to be the final straw in my dealing with the leadership at FDP headquarters. I have had nothing but problems and frustration in dealing with our “parent” organization and enough is enough is enough. I am not going anywhere and I will continue to lead the Miami-Dade DEC to victory <b><u> (we have won 23 out</u></b> <b><u>29 local races this year).</u></b> We are active on the issues that we as Democrats say we believe in (healthcare, equality, assault weapons ban, right to vote, the environment, etc) and we are growing our DEC rapidly <b><u>(over 150 new applicants- up 62% in my first year).</u></b> I do not require the FDP for anything! The MD-DEC would be better served if they would simply <b><u>leave us alone</u></b>. Let them coddle up to corrupt big donors (like the crook Mr. Rothstein, whom FDP <b><u>returned $200,000 to</u></b>) and then continue to waste the money, without supporting DECs, as section <b><u> 7 and 9 of the FDP Charter</u></b> demand!</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >On yesterday, November 5<sup>th</sup>, I received a rude and threatening phone call from the FDP Director of Party Affairs, <b><u>Milli Smith</u></b> who claimed that the DNC had contacted the FDP to complain about me. The way Ms. Smith spoke to me as if she was some supreme authority figure over the MD-DEC was inappropriate and I let her know it. I yelled at her in response to her wording and tone, and told her that she was not to call me and threaten me ever again and if there was a problem with DNC, they should put it in writing for my review and then hung up in her face. Unfortunately for Milli, it turns out that she was lying, got caught and then tried to play the victim as if I was mean to her. The DNC told me that they <b><u>DID NOT contact FDP</u></b> to complain about me and Southern US Political Director, my friend <b><u>Nate Jenkins</u></b> (from Orlando) even went so far as to say that it was <b><u>“completely inappropriate for Milli Smith to call me and say there was a</u></b> <b><u> complaint”.</u></b> What had occurred was that I, as the youngest Chair of a large county in the US had placed a call and left a message to speak with our National leader Gov. Tim Kaine on Wednesday. I left my name and number and that was it. I didn’t specify the reason for my call, so Nate Jenkins called FDP to see if my call to DC had something with the Judicial Committee issue from this summer (which I will get late in this letter). My call did not have anything to do with FDP. Ms. Smith also claimed that our DEC Treasurer called to complain about me twice yesterday, which I found out to be a lie as well, according to my Treasurer Paul Barthole. He says called because Milli <b><u>never sent a certificate for the Haitian-American Democratic Club, which is part of her job. </u></b>Now where does Ms. Smith get off taking liberty with the facts and saying the DNC and DEC Treasurer “complained” about me? Why do <b><u>Karen Thurman</u></b> and <b><u>Scott Arceneaux</u></b>, who knew exactly what was going on, because I copied them on <b><u>ALL</u></b> the emails, allow this non-sense? Because it deals with BJ in Miami-Dade, that’s why! I highly doubt any of you are subjected to this tyranny!</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >First of all, allow me to give you some background information that will help you understand my frustration with FDP. The <b><u>Karen Thurman</u></b> cronies <b><u>DID</u></b> <b><u>NOT</u></b> win election at our Organizational Meeting. Knowing that I do not like Karen and her team in Tallahassee (based on 2008 personal experience, when I was an employee of DNC and FDP), my victory was greeted with utter panic and disdain. <b><u>Karen Thurman</u></b>, FDP staff and their gadfly do nothing friends in Miami-Dade have tried their darnedest to be divisive and disruptive from day one. I have no doubt that their failures to impact our DEC operation boils their blood. In the spring, the FDP and Karen’s MD-DEC cronies tried to undo my free and fair election of December 3<sup>rd</sup>, by complaining about past Chair and current State Committeeman Bret Berlin and his conduct before and during the election. After failing to comply with their own bylaws and having to re-schedule the hearing, the <b><u>FULL</u></b> Judicial council met and exonerated both Bret Berlin and also Chairman Mitch Caesar (Broward) from any wrongdoing concerning the organizational meetings. They made some recommendations, one of which we had done 2 months before the hearing. Another was to send the ballots from December 3rd which had never been in my possession and the third was to “bring our DEC bylaws into compliance with FDP”. <b><u>I asked both verbally and in writing at least 10 times for someone to please tell us EXACTLY what is wrong with our bylaws and we will change them</u></b>. I spoke to Vice Chair Diane Glasser, who told me that was a reasonable request and that FDP should assist. This never happened, yet the FDP wanted to try me later for not following their broad general recommendation. It should be noted that FDP was updating their own bylaws this year and makes zero sense to tell a DEC to fix our bylaws while FDP is fixing their own. These are the folks in charge of this Party!</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Another bit of information for background purposes pertain to rude and intimidating calls from FDP staff. The first rude call I received from <b><u>Milli Smith</u></b> came on <b><u>April 1</u></b>, while I was down at the election department to get confirmation that a candidate was NOT a registered Democrat (Myron Rosner). It just so happens that Ms. Smith was calling about this same candidate. Three of her DEC friends (Thomas Pinder, John Julien, & Carline Paul) had supposedly (according to Milli) called FDP to complain that I was telling them they had support our Democrat, Mayor Ray Marin (who happened to be one of our only Puerto Rican electeds in the entire State) in North Miami Beach. <b><u>Now I did not</u></b> <b><u>invent the loyalty oath or make her friends sign it, they did so on their own, knowing full well what it says and means</u></b>. Milli Smith ordered me to <b><u>“let them</u></b> <b><u> support whomever they want, because FDP didn’t want them on Haitian-American radio saying bad things about the Party”.</u></b> So I was told to let them violate the loyalty oath that we all signed by an FDP official. On the same call, Milli claimed that another friend of hers (Elizabeth Judd) had called to say that I was doing “nothing to help DEC member Eddie Lewis in his council bid in Miami Shores”. The only problem is that it is completely false! We (DEC and myself as an individual) had been doing everything you can imagine (door knocking, phone calling, providing walk-lists & call-lists, emails and even did a GOTV mailer) to help him and he is still very appreciative of the DEC’s efforts to this day. So once again, Milli’s friends and Milli Smith take liberty with the facts to suit their own agenda of opposing me. Ms. Judd’s true intentions were later revealed. She wanted the DEC to assist her friend in North Miami in a race featuring 5 Democrats! We offered them all the same assistance as any good DEC would. To add icing on the cake, on the same April 1<sup>st</sup> call, she claimed that one of the DFA gadflies, Sam Feldman said “BJ won’t give me VAN access”. This is also false; Sam was one of the first DEC members to get VAN access (3/23/09) for his PRECINCT. He demanded the entire city of Miami Beach and of course I said no way! This is a perfect segue to what FDP tried to do to me this summer.</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Mr. Feldman and DFA decided to endorse a Republican over the Florida League of Cities President, and Liberal Democrat Michael Blynn in North Miami. They did so knowingly and in fact didn’t even invite the Democrat to their “candidate screening”. Now DFA can do whatever it wants, but Milli’s friend Sam Feldman violated the loyalty oath and took a paid position with the Republican. Hmmm…I would find out later that the Republican’s daughter had been employed by DFA during 2008 and when the Republican made a run-off, Sam had her switch to Democrat to prevent the DEC from assisting the Real Democrat. DCCA Chair Alison Morano was made aware of this, as was Vice Chair Diane Glasser and Milli Smith. This exposure was an embarrassment for DFA and Sam. This incident was the catalyst for these gadflies filing a fraudulent complaint against me with FDP. </span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The first complaint was about Union bugs and that the DEC used a designer bug, instead of printer bug. The DEC has been using the same guy for 9 years and I never examined with a magnifying glass what the tiny bug said. Not to mention that <b><u>nowhere in our State or Local bylaws does it say I have to use any Union bug. </u></b> I will have you all know that the DEC relationship with organized labor has never been <b><u>stronger</u></b> as I am known all over South Florida as “<b><u>Union guy”.</u></b> The second complaint was from the UM Democrats who were encouraged by Sam (who signed complaint because none of the others were from DEC) saying that I wouldn’t give them VAN access for free. What they forgot to mention is that these rich little snobs refused to assist our Cuban-American Female Democrat, Commissioner Maria Anderson in Coral Gables (she lost the UM precinct) and said they weren’t interested in local politics or joining the DEC. Once again <b><u> nowhere in our State or Local bylaws does it say</u></b> <b><u>that I have to give inactive and unsupportive Non-DEC members from a</u></b> <b><u> College Democrats Chapter VAN access</u></b>. The third complaint was from perennial gadfly and Karen Thurman crony, Barbara Walters claiming a litany of procedural silliness that she couldn’t back up. <b><u> This was proven at FDP hearing</u></b> <b><u>AND DEC hearing which both found no grounds to remove me</u></b>. I save the best for last, the fourth complaint was from a Club President in Dade who had no idea about the complaint process, made false accusations that he later withdrew and told me <b><u>“he was put to this by someone from the FDP staff”. Let me say that again, the FDP staff told one of my Club Presidents to make a false complaint</u></b> against me in the hopes I would resign. If that does not disturb you, then I question your loyalty to truth and justice.</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Now let’s review the despicable August 29<sup>th</sup> Judicial Council hearing in Miami Lakes. This <b><u>Kangaroo Court</u></b> set up by Karen Thurman, who appointed a <b><u>SUBCOMMITTEE</u></b> with one my enemies Millie Herrera, a gadfly who lost to a complete unknown civil rights activist in the election for State Committeewoman and still cries herself to sleep every night about it. This hearing was in violation of FDP bylaws! First of all, <b><u>section 5.5.2 says the Judicial Council hears APPEALS, an appeal would indicate that it came before the DEC first</u></b>. That did not happen and everyone at FDP knew it. <b><u>Section 5.5.2 also clearly says that the appeals must be a result of a FDP bylaws violation. </u></b> Not a single one of the four complaints met this criterion, unless you consider Ms. Walters non-sensical complaint bylaw related. You as Party leaders should also be aware that <b><u>Section 5.5.4 of FDP bylaws says that a complainant has 30 days from date of the incident to file a complaint in writing by certified mail</u></b>. Not a single one of the complaints was filed within that time frame. This was easily noticed by looking at the date they were filed (all within 3 days of each other and signed by the same people) and the dates of the alleged incidents. <b><u> FDP knew that they</u></b> <b><u>were all filed way after the 30 days time limit passed</u></b>. This was brought up at the beginning of the hearing and <b><u>Vice Chair Rhett Bullard</u></b>, while having the deer in headlights look on his face, let the Kangaroo Court proceed. My attorney also pointed out at the beginning of the hearing that <b><u> Section 5.5.6 of FDP bylaws clearly states that when a DEC or DEC officer is brought up on charges and Karen Thurman appoints a subcommittee instead of the full Judicial Committee, the Chair (Rhett Bullard) SHALL enlarge the subcommittee to include fellow DEC Chairs from within 100 miles of the county where accused</u></b> <b><u>is from.</u></b> This did not happen and after being informed that the hearing was violating these 3 FDP bylaws pertaining specifically to Judicial Council, Vice Chair Bullard proceeded. After wasting all of our time, there decision was to send it back to DEC officers and let them decide. This was as backwards as you can possibly get. So the FDP appointed my fellow officers to be a grievance committee, which I believe to be inappropriate. It didn’t matter because they found the complaints non-sensical and denied them all!</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Again. Let’s return to yesterday, I got a call late in the day from <b><u> the NEW</u></b> <b><u>Executive Director, Scott Arceneaux</u></b>. This was my first time ever speaking with the gentleman and after simple hello-how are you, I asked him why his staff had lied twice in one day about receiving complaints about me, got caught and he allows such a thing to occur. He then told me not to be mean to his staff, when I reminded him who started this business. Mr. Arceneaux then proceeded to rudely insult me and tell me to shut up. As you can imagine, I let him have it and put him in his place real quick. I will not be spoken to by these scumbags like that! I can only assume that you wouldn’t either!</span><br /></p> <p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Today I am calling for <b><u>resignation and/or removal of Karen Thurman and her senior Staff (especially Scott & Millie). </u></b> Given that many of you are friends with these people, I expect some blind loyalty to the status quo. This is unacceptable behavior from leaders of the most important State in the Union. I believe there is a direct correlation to this pathetic excuse for leadership and our losing big in 2010! You can prevent that from happening! All you need to do is ask some simple questions. If you do that you will find that everything I have laid out for you is true. I wake up every day with the people of Florida and especially our 4 million+ Democrats on my mind and in my heart. Thank you for your time! </span><br /></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><b><u>BJ Chiszar<br /></u></b></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3