We had only a jumble of disconnected phrases from which to discern Sarah Palin's plans for the future and a possible reason for her abandonment of the governorship of Alaska. We have a few more complete and coherent sentences from Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez but probably no better idea of why he's walking away and where he's going. "Feeding the birds" is the clearest hint he's given us of his plans.
I wouldn't blame anyone for not being aware that a US senator from a large state spontaneously resigned yesterday. The press has been otherwise occupied with trying to make it less obvious that Big Pharma and the Republicans are trying to disrupt any rational discussion of health care reform using violence and intimidation and symbols and tactics of the Third Reich. Martinez tries hard to emphasize however that it is indeed spontaneous and of his "own free will" and nobody is pressuring him. That he brings up that strange notion, rather suggests that someone is.
It will be up to Governor Charlie Crist to replace Mr. Martinez, but Crist will be leaving the Governorship to run for Senator himself and so isn't going to be motivated to replace him with anyone unbeatable -- which is a nice, but unavoidable conflict of interest.
On a more local level my State Representative Ken Pruitt recently resigned "for family and financial reasons." As Pruitt wasn't shy about endorsing the fundamentalist agenda, I'm not sorry to see him go, even though I have to wonder what the family and financial problems were and what improprieties might be involved. Of course his replacement is no less fond of government support of Christian institutions and the first thing one notices about him is his striking lack of intelligence, but one has to expect that in Florida.
But something is happening here and neither I nor Mr. Jones knows what the hell it is.
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10 comments:
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Wonder if the birds were vultures?
Any chance of Dems picking up these seats?
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It's hard for me to gauge the mood of Florida since the Righties are so damned loud. We can usually trust Floridians to do the stupidest, most self destructive thing possible though. The special election to choose my State representative went to the Republican in a 78% landslide.
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Too bad. Once a single Party has control, it hardly seems to matter what the people think. Between gerrymandering & vote-rigging, they can slice & dice the electorate any way they want. But Obama, or McBush, certainly put FLA in play. If the Dems aren't willing to put the money & talent into it, they're never going to get those electoral votes again.
They'd better be thinking about Congress, too. The anger out there is not just faux drama cooked up on the corporate Right. If healthcare fails, they can count on the Left fighting them for at least a few seats.
I think we've shown that the majority of the country is progressive and/ or sick of the same old sh*t. But voters have to stop being so passive, and participate in the process from the get-go at the grass roots. We can't just leave it to somebody else and hope for the best. If we do, we'll get the government we deserve, the one chosen for us by those willing to do the hard work of politics & government.
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Democrats here are so desperate for anyone brae enough to buck the system, thy haven't done enough vetting. The fellow I was talking about for instance, seems to have done time for embezzlement of Post Office funds many years ago. That came out a week before the election.
Being a loser can become a habit.
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It's kinda like nobody good wants these jobs any more. I think the only cure is to open up the process: Encourage ordinary citizens to participate in selecting candidates before the primaries. Reach out to bloggers and activists, people working in the trenches at Legal Aid or social services or the free clinics, recruit honest hardworking people who still care about our values, our principles and our people.
They are out there. But they've been shut out by the machine. We have to bust that open by participating in strength. Otherwise, this sh*t will just go on forever. We're to big and too powerful a country to allow idiots, nuts and crooks to run things any more. It's on us if we do.
How 'bout you, Capt? You're pretty Senatorial-looking in that hat. Better you than Crist!
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I do have many of the common characteristics - lazy, selfish, easily distracted -- but I don't work well with others.
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OK, then, the President's Chief of Staff? National Security Advisor? Senate Majority Leader? House Minority Whip?
All these positions may be opening up soon, and it sounds like you're a match...
Too bad you can't just skip the whole political process and go straight to commentator emeritus on Fuxsnooze. That's where the REAL imaginary power is these days. How are you at seditious blather? I know it's not your thing, but we're talking seven figures here.
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"How are you at seditious blather? I know it's not your thing, but we're talking seven figures here."
Hey did you hear Obama wants to eat your grandmother for Thanksgiving?
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[urp]
Too late.
Try the Obamacare Green, though. It's delicious.
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