Is 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 story from the Miami Herald. I don't like Green, but he's stronger than Meek for the general.

The latest poll from the Chamber of Commerce (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.

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?

Critics "don't know the facts"

Just a quick blog post on President Obama's press conference today. As Politico headlines he actually said:

“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.”

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 Rahm Emmanuel 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.

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. Who cares about them? The damage they've caused has already altered our environment for decades.

Is anyone surprised by this?

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, at 73 percent “poor” or “very poor.”

As that article goes on to say:

No less a Democratic ally than James Carville, 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.”

I'd say Carville knows a thing or two and isn't "stupid." What's more, he has nothing to gain by attacking or defending this administration.

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.

Why I support the AZ Law

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Guess who's back?

It has been quite a while hasn't it?

It did lead to more comments though...including one saying "whatever it is that took Blue In Miami out should be praised eternally."

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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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?

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.

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.

My email as always: blueinmiami@gmail.com

It's been a while

So 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.

But there are these two little nuggets: The Republican candidate for Governor is going to sue the United States and even those on the right think it's stupid.

Andrew Cohen in the Atlantic talks at length about the Doctrine of Interposition a discredited legal theory last really used to try to sustain racist Jim Crow practices in the South. It makes for a great read.

Also from the reasonable right (I just came up with someone's campaign slogan) is David Frum wondering where the GOP goes from now. There are some very good ideas in that piece too that I think Democrats should consider. Ambinder looks at a GOP in dissarray with its November strategy now shot to pieces in what makes for another good read until the final three paragraphs.

Meanwhile, over at Slate (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.