The Spencerian

Off the Radar 'Round Florida (and Everywhere Else) Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I was really thrilled to see that Steve Schale, the Democratic political operative who oversaw then-Senator Obama's win in Florida in 2008, is hanging out a shingle, going out on his own.   

I have made the decision to jump into government and public affairs world. I have some very cool projects that you will likely hear about in coming days and weeks, but mostly, I am ready to get out on my own.   And before my political operative friends get too relaxed, I am also looking forward to playing at least a little politics along the way!  But along the same lines, I am also excited about jumping into to some of the real and pressing issues facing our state and our future. 

I also plan on re-engaging in this space.  Florida will once again be front and center in the national conversation in both 2014 and 2016, providing more than enough opportunities for analysis and punditry.  There is no better place in America to practice politics than Florida, and in our ever dynamic state, there is never a shortage of topics to explore.

I'm particularly excited that Steve will be "re-engaging" on his blog.  Good.  We need more smart voices like his out there.  (You know... to counterbalance this crap.)

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This looks like a "yes" vote from the Pinellas County Commission, and that's good news.  

The Pinellas County Commission will vote Feb. 26 on whether to place a sales tax increase for major transit changes on the ballot in November 2014.

Though the election is 21 months away, Pinellas County's transit agency asked the commission to save a spot for the sales tax hike on the ballot, setting a deadline by which it must sell the plan to the public. A majority of commissioners have said they will approve placing the question on the ballot.

If my position on light rail and mass transit isn't clear, let me say this: I am for it.  Strongly.  I think it is abundantly obvious that we are one of Richard Florida's "mega-regions" --  and one poised for great emergence at that -- and if we want to keep moving forward as a region, we need rail, and we need a world-class transit system.  

This vote by the Pinellas County Commission later in the month isn't the most important part of getting us towards that ambitious -- and yes, expensive -- goal.  But it is a step in the right direction.

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It's State of the Union night, and it sounds like the big news out of the President's speech will be the withdrawal of at least half the troops in Afghanistan by next year.

President Obama intends to announce in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that he is ordering the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be reduced by more than half over the next 12 months, according to a senior Obama administration official.

The president’s decision — to remove 34,000 of the 66,000 U.S. troops in the country by this time next year — speeds the pace of withdrawal that top military commanders had been seeking, according to U.S. officials briefed by senior officers involved in the war.

This -- an interesting and poingnant juxtaposition the day after a rare Medal of Honor was awarded -- is nothing but good news as far as I'm concerned.  I'll be curious to see how Senator Rubio handles this in his response.

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And speaking of Senator Rubio... the Violence Against Woman Act just passed in the Senate.

He voted "No".  Along with:

...Republicans John Barrasso (Wyo.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James Inhofe (Okla.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Jeff Thune (S.D.) and Tim Scott (S.C.). 

Stay classy, fellas.

Rubio's reasoning for voting no may offer some insight into what he could say in response to the SOTU:

Unfortunately, I could not support the final, entire legislation that contains new provisions that could have potentially adverse consequences.  Specifically, this bill would mandate the diversion of a portion of funding from domestic violence programs to sexual assault programs, although there’s no evidence to suggest this shift will result in a greater number of convictions. These funding decisions should be left up to the state-based coalitions that understand local needs best, but instead this new legislation would put those decisions into the hands of distant Washington bureaucrats in the Department of Justice. Additionally, I have concerns regarding the conferring of criminal jurisdiction to some Indian tribal governments over all persons in Indian country, including non-Indians.

In other words, let's take government out of Washington!  It's the old state's rights bit... you know.  Local control.  

Well.  Except for those Indians.  

Right.  So local control, except for local Native Americans.  Got it.  

And -- you had to know it was coming -- he claims to have concerns about shifting "a portion of funding from domestic violence programs to sexual assault programs."  

I'd be willing to bet you the price of lunch that those "sexual assault programs" offer abortion services.  What do you think?

This... is the Republican savior?

 -- more later --

Off the Radar Other Stuff Around Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Hostages have been taken, including a number of American citizens, by Islamist militants in Algeria. 

Islamist guerrillas seized a number of hostages, including Americans, in a brazen attack early Wednesday on a remote gas-production facility in Algeria, and the United States vowed to take all necessary steps to deal with what it called a “terrorist act.”

Algeria’s official news agency said two people were killed, including a British national, and six were wounded, two of them foreigners, in the attack by what authorities described as a homegrown Algerian terrorist group. There were conflicting accounts of the number of people taken hostage. The agency, Algerie Presse Service, said Algerian troops quickly surrounded the site.

It's worth taking another look at the map at the link and noting that Algeria is a northern border to Mali, where the French, backed up by Americans, have been engaged in battles with Malian rebels.

From there, it is worth pointing out that Algeria borders both Tunisia and Libya, hubs of the Arab Spring.

If the White House hadn't unveiled comprehensive and sweeping gun control measures today, this stuff would be front page, above the fold for a few cycles. 

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Here at home, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is leaving.  

An interesting note here is that this may be an opportunity for Obama to appoint the first openly gay Cabinet Member:

Other possible, but perhaps less likely contenders, are Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), an outspoken liberal backed by environmentalists, and Office of Personnel Management director John Berry, who is openly gay and who would be the first openly gay cabinet secretary.  Berry, 53, was a deputy secretary at Interior during the Clinton administration and led the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Zoo before Obama tapped him to run his personnel agency.

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An iron dome?  Really, Senator Rand Paul?

That's never been thought of before...

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Immigration reform is moving along as well.   

It's a full agenda, people.  Let's keep the momentum going.

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar Twist Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I've had some people kind of give me the Nelson Muntz ha-ha over my theory that the GOP may actually be breaking up.

Further proof that they don't know whether they're coming or going is today's nomination by the President of former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel -- a Republican -- to be Secretary of Defense.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) strongly denounced the nomination of Hagel, calling him “the wrong man for the job at such a pivotal time.” The second-ranking House Republican said Hagel’s “views and inflammatory statements about Israel are well outside the mainstream and raise well-founded doubts that he can be trusted to manage the special relationship the United States shares with our greatest Middle East ally.”

Cantor also charged that Hagel’s “reported views” on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and defense spending “represent a call for a broad retreat” from America’s preeminent role in the world.

The guy earned two Purple Hearts as an infantry squad leader in Vietnam.  And though he was a fairly conservative voice in the Senate, he wasn't the most conservative (for example, he voted against Bush's "No Child Left Behind," against Bush's Medicare bill, and against McCain-Feingold. 

He was also openly critical of the Bush Administration's policy with respect to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as their policy towards Israel.  

Hagel's position on gay rights is well-known to be pretty awful, and so that's a big strike against him from a more progressive view.  I think the best we can do is take him at his word that his views have evolved appropriately.  

The fight to confirm Senator Hagel for Secretary of Defense -- and John Brennan to serve as CIA Director -- will be one to watch.

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There was more evidence of the GOP fracture today in a just-released Rasmussen poll: only 30% of likely voters hold a favorable view of the so-called tea party.

From the report:

Views of the Tea Party movement are at their lowest point ever, with voters for the first time evenly divided when asked to match the views of the average Tea Party member against those of the average member of Congress.  Only eight percent (8%) now say they are members of the Tea Party, down from a high of 24% in April 2010 just after passage of the national health care law. 

Yeah, and by the way -- I do believe this is a further sign of a GOP crack-up, not just a fading of the tea partiers.  The voices opposing any real progress in Congress most recently on this "fiscal cliff" deal were all the tea party types -- and they still have enough juice in Washington to derail stuff.  And they will.  This will drive the GOP apart, not bring it together.

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My friends who follow sports -- particularly football -- are undoubtedly going to give me a static on this.  Nonetheless, I believe it merits saying: in the wake of what appears to be a sort of national enlightenment (too slow in coming, to be sure) around our culture of guns and violence, I find it unbearably ironic that so many people were so deeply concerned about Robert Griffin III, the quarterback for the Washington Redskins, when he badly injured his knee in an important game this past weekend.

Please don't get me wrong.  I feel badly for RGIII, as he is known (though I can't help but imagine him as a Star Wars droid when I hear that).  He is an accomplished player in his chosen sport -- a Heisman Trophy winner -- and by many accounts, a decent guy.  I don't wish pain on him, or on anyone, for that matter.

And that is the point.  He injured his knee -- and further damage may have occurred when the coach made the controversial call to keep him playing -- during a football game.  

Football.  A sport where physically tackling opposing players happens almost every single play.  

Can you grasp the level of our national cognitive dissonance when in one moment we root for the defensive lineman of our team to shred or "take out" the offense of, say, the Seattle Seahawks, and in the next post warm fuzzies on Facebook and Twitter (both of which become unreadable around sporting events of any significance), holding vigil for a wounded RGIII?  

Look, I get it: I'm not a football guy.  Never have been.  I genuinely don't understand it -- not the rules, not the culture, not the history.  I find it horribly boring.  It is violent.  And I can't stand the hero-worship of guys like Robert Griffin III, who are indeed good, but who -- I promise you -- will be summarily thrown away by fans (and more important, the billionaire boys-club of the National Football League) the instant that knee goes south and stays south.  You may like the way RGIII throws a football for the 'Skins today, but will you go buy a car from him when he's a junior salesman at the Ford dealership in a year or two?

I don't have any answers here.  I don't know the sporting world well enough to comment even as much as I have already.  

But I do know our culture is changing.  And -- slowly, surely -- so is our politics.

And the truth is, comments like this from RGIII are no longer going to square: "Many may question, criticize & think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle."  

"...few have been in the line of fire in battle"?  

Sorry, no.  There are simply too many people coming back from too many actual fields of battle who in fact have been in the "line of fire" -- actual fire from actual guns -- for us to simply accept this from a guy who got a twisted knee playing ball.

Our culture is changing.  Our politics are, too.

The NFL -- and, to be fair, other sports where there is a high level of fairly consistent violence; boxing, obviously, and hockey, too -- is going to have to figure out what to do to keep up.

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All hail Schoolhouse Rock!

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Robert Waechter, the former head of the Republican Party in Sarasota, is in a world of trouble.

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I swear to you, if you'd made me guess a few years ago that this birther nonsense would still be around today, I'd have said no way.  

I'd have been wrong.  Sadly.

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar Kind of a Lot Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Okay, there's kind of a lot to get to, so let me start by saying that Christmas was wonderful, and we're all doing great.  Hope you had a good holiday as well.

More on that later.

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First up: Hawaii Governor Abercrombie has appointed a replacement for the late Senator Daniel Inouye, who died last week.  It's the Lt. Gov., and his name is Brian Schatz.  He's 40, a year younger than me.  

I don't know a lot about politics in Hawaii, just that it is strongly Democratic -- one of the strongest leaning Democratic states in the Union.  I know that Senator Inouye served since Hawaii became a state, and the recently retired Senator Akaka served in the Senate for longer than I've been involved in politics and government.

I know it can be an interesting place with respect to politics, too.  Apparently Governor Abercrombie did not go with Senator Inouye's personal choice to replace him, Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa.  It seems pretty wrong to disregard the last wishes of a man of such distinguished service as Senator Inouye, but Abercrombie's reasoning does make sense:

Abercrombie said that his decision was in the “overall best interest” of the state and that “sometimes you have to set aside personal considerations in order to look for the good of the whole.”

“Now that Sen. [Daniel] Akaka has retired and Senator [Daniel] Inouye has passed away, that Representative Hanabusa occupies a key position on the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives,” he said.

“She has an excellent reputation in the House of Representatives. I know that from my contacts with people that I’ve known for more than two decades in the house, she has the confidence of the minority leader and the leadership in the house and I think as well the question of establishing seniority in as many venues as we can with our small delegation is another foremost consideration.”

Armed Services is a big committee assignment, and there are only two Representatives from Hawaii.  Look, the governor had a tough call.  I'm sure Senator Schatz will serve honorably.  Lord knows a lot of people will be watching.

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I'm not sure what's more entertaining: the ongoing -- and very serious -- police investigation into 'Meet the Press' host David Gregory, who held up an illegal (in Washington, D.C.) 30-round gun clip on his show the other day, or the armed "guard" for tea party/astro-turf leader Dick Armey illegally packing heat. 

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I'm not a big fan of GOP pollster Frank Luntz, but in this instance, I think he's right:

“The public wants guns out of the schools, not in the schools, and they're not asking for a security official or someone else," Luntz said on CBS’s “This Morning,” responding to a proposal first floated by top NRA lobbyist Wayne LaPierre during a press conference last week.

"I don’t think the NRA is listening. I don’t think that they understand," Luntz continued. "Most Americans would protect the Second Amendment rights and yet agree with the idea that not every human being should own a gun, not every gun should be available at anytime, anywhere, for anyone. That at gun shows, you should not be able to buy something there and then without any kind of check whatsoever. What they're looking for is a common-sense approach that says that those who are law-abiding should continue to have the right to own a weapon, but that you don’t believe the right should be extended to everyone at every time for every type of weapon.”

The GOP goofballs listen to this guy every other time... why not now?  It is quite literally the most common-sense thing I've heard a Republican say on this issue yet.

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Good news for homeowners in the Tampa Bay area -- including me: home prices are up.

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Sooo... what are you doing on Monday?

Nothin'?  Good!  Because remember that whole "debt ceiling" non-fight fight?  Well, we're about to be consumed with it once more...

Great.  Just when home prices were on the right track, we're going to (maybe) dork it all up again.

Ugh.

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Former President George H. W. Bush is in an intensive care unit tonight.  Our thoughts are with him and his family, along with hopes for a speedy recovery.

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar God Rest Ye Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;

-- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

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There has been an early and important indicator that the conventional wisdom behind what is going on with the politics of guns in America may be changing, or about to change.  Some important flags around the depressingly predictable politics-as-usual gun issue have been re-staked, and may indicate a shift.  It comes from first from the shifting position of Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Mark Warner, Democrats from West Virginia and Virginia, respectively, on gun rights.

“I’ve been a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights,” Warner said Monday outside the Virginia Capitol, where he was attending an unrelated meeting. “I’ve got an A rating from the NRA. But the status quo isn’t acceptable. I’ve got three daughters.”

“They asked me on Friday evening, ‘Dad, what are you gonna do about this?’ ” Warner added. “There’s got to be a way to put reasonable restrictions, particularly as we look at assault weapons, as we look at these fast clips of ammunition.”

Manchin debunked the idea that you need high-capacity ammunition clips to go hunting:

Manchin, a conservative Democrat and National Rifle Association member, told MSNBC that the massacre of 20 children and seven adults made clear the need to consider new regulations on such weapons. Two other adults were wounded in the shooting and are recovering.

“I don’t know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle,” Manchin said on “Morning Joe” on Monday. “I don’t know anyone that needs 30 rounds in a clip to go hunting.”

And speaking of "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, he sounded like he was changing his tune, too:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I applaud this brave change of heart...

...although I share the skepticism of Charles P. Pierce, and note the faint whiff of quid pro quo from Scarborough.

As for Scarborough, well, it seems he's offering a little Beltway horse trading here. If you crack down on video games, I'll consider cracking down on guns. 

We'll hear a lot of this from the other side.  It's not the guns.  It is not the mental illness.  They'll harp on the apparent fact that this most recent disturbed young person "like to play violent video games."  It's a scapegoat, of course.  

In the meantime, I'll call even a little movement -- even from those in my own political party -- progress.  Slow -- too slow -- but better than nothing.

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Here's a new one we're going to get from the other side of the political spectrum: Obama’s Now Borrowed More Than All Presidents from Washington to W

This is a misleading headline to rook you into a red herring "conversation" about the national debt, which, I guess, is a way of trying to scare our way back into a discussion about the "fiscal cliff".

Look, if there's any confusion, just remember this chart (click to make big):

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Speaking of the "fiscal cliff" negotiations -- they're not going well for Speaker Boehner.

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In other political news that matters, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley named freshman Congressman Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint, who resigned to take a job at the helm of the Heritage Foundation.  

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Did you read Laura Jane's post at her blog after the Newtown tragedy?  

It's well worth your time.  As always.

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I gave up booze in April of last year.  

It was a health thing I chronicled with great delight on this particular post:

The doctors call it Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis and it is not really that big a deal... until it is.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH is a common, often “silent” liver disease. It resembles alcoholic liver disease, but occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol. The major feature in NASH is fat in the liver, along with inflammation and damage. Most people with NASH feel well and are not aware that they have a liver problem. Nevertheless, NASH can be severe and can lead to cirrhosis, in which the liver is permanently damaged and scarred and no longer able to work properly.

Well, I haven't been just pretty good about not drinking -- I haven't touched a drop.  

Okay, okay: a couple of times I tried a glass of wine Duncan was drinking if she liked it a lot -- but it was just a taste!  

Seriously, though, it's been an interesting year-plus of not drinking, and I don't see myself going back to it any time soon.  Truth is, I just don't miss it all that much.  And I really have taken the "fatty liver" thing seriously.

Now there's this idea that fatty liver isn't so much a "disease" as... well, something we all have or could have.

Those with fatty liver disease won't know for certain they have the disease without a scan, be it ultrasound or some other modality. Usually fatty liver disease causes no symptoms. Yet those who have it are more likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes, more likely to develop liver cirrhosis, more likely to have high blood pressure and diabetes. Their health is improved from lowering their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, from dieting and exercising, and even (if they're particularly obese) from having a gastric bypass or similar surgery to help them lose weight. So why isn't it necessarily a real disease?

[snip]

Fatty liver disease appears to be a manifestation of what could be called—with justification—Modern Life. We eat too much and we do too little, and one of the things that follows is that we put on weight. As a doctor, I know too little about how to help people deal with that. But banal advice doesn't cut it, nor does piling on the guilt. The existence of chlorosis said something about our ancestors’ ambivalence toward female sexuality. Fatty liver disease, I suspect, comes from our mixed feelings over modern lifestyles and who to blame for them. It's not good for us to spend too much time eating and sitting and not enough fasting or running around, but is it really a disease? I think we're unsure and bad at facing up to our uncertainty. Moral ambivalence, more than calories, might be driving our contemporary pandemic of fatty liver disease.

That seems right to me.  

As we begin to talk about how to better care for people with mental illness in this country -- a conversation that's only getting started, really -- I feel a little guilty saying "I have a disease" when the truth is, I don't exercise enough and I eat unhealthy food too often.

I'm going to keep trying to live a little healthier -- because I should, not just because of the liver thing.  And that includes not drinking.  We'll see how I do.

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Dawn Morgan of the Tampa Do-Gooder is now in my old adopted home-town of Washington, D.C.  I'm glad she's still posting on her blog, though.  This interview of a victim of a crime she has posted from the other day is fascinating.

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It always takes me a little time to get into the Christmas spirit, and after the horrible events of last Friday in Connecticut, I worried if I'd get there at all.  That loss will certainly be on my mind now and through the holidays.

But I don't want to let it dampen the spirit of love -- and appreciation for life -- the Christmas season brings.  It wouldn't be fair to Emmy or Finn, who are both too young to understand what happened.  They -- well, Emmy, mostly -- just know it's Christmas and that Santa is coming.

So I did what I do every year.  I wait for the Christmas song to get me.  

See, every year the Christmas spirit finds me through a Christmas song.  It's a different holiday jingle every year, and the minute I hear it, I transform from my usual Grichey self into a jolly holiday elf, fully embracing the season of, well, comfort and joy.

Emmy found a little Christmas-bear-music-box kind of thing.  It plays a few notes of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," which I think, this year, carries with it a certain level of... well.  I don't know.  As it always does, it just seems like the right song for the right Christmas.

Off the Radar Monday, Back At It Edition

by Benajmin J. Kirby

I have been loathe to speculate on the 2016 Presidential Election -- my god, people, we still haven't washed all the 2012 stink off yet -- but the David Remnick piece in the New Yorker is interesting, and reported through an interesting lens: that of the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

He goes on to say, rather matter-of-factly, that for sure, without a doubt, Hillary Clinton is running for President of the United States in 2016.

Sure.

I never really thought she wasn't, frankly, and the dead giveaway was the fact that she announced up-front that she wouldn't stay on for a second Obama term as Secretary of State.  That's the savvy announcement of a wise woman right there, folks.  She recognized the George W. Bush fatigue after two terms with that guy.  And she remembered the nation's fatigue all too well, I'm sure, after two terms with her husband.  

There will be Obama fatigue in four years, too.  And she's better off setting a little distance now than two and-a-half or three years from now.  

What's more, it's a pretty safe bet the Palestinians and the Israelis will still be doing their awful things in four years, too.  Better to let that be someone elses problem than hers as she ramps up a presidential campaign.  

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Not all that long ago, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) was, as the head of the chair of the Democratic National Committee, the recipient of some negative speculation about her tunure there.

Well, I guess they got that wrong.

Wasserman Schultz is going to be back at the DNC for another term -- and everything Cillizza says in that piece linked above is right.  She was a good soldier for Team Obama, she helped deliver Florida, and she is at a good place in terms of her career (which is a nice way of saying where else could she go?).

Frankly, I never understood why she wasn't "beloved" by the Obama people.  She seems like a pretty capable leader to me.  If you don't think so, I would refer you to the 2012 Election Results.  Just sayin'.

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Eight insights about Election 2012.  All of them... true enough.

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I think it's really interesting that the restaurant honchos who complained about Obamacare are hurting their own brand.  

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I'm not a big fan of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, but I do hope she's okay.

High-profile politicians disappearing for extended periods of time generally doesn't end well.

You can always find this -- and other crap -- on my Twitter feed: @bkirby816

I'm on Facebook, too.

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar Over It Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

First of all, you should know that we're packing up and hitting the road for Arkansas at the end of the week.  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and having Emmy and Finn there with their Grandmommy, Grandaddy, cousin Hayden, Uncle Adam, Aunt Jennie, and Aunt Susie.  

I love Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday.  

So we have an eighteen to twenty hour drive in front of us, starting Friday night.  We'll be back that next weekend.  I'm taking the Chromebook, but I'd expect posting to be light around here.

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Couple people asked me about my thoughts on l'affair Petraeus. 

It's weird.  It is just weird.  And that's about the best you can say about it.

There's been a lot of buzz around the question of why the guy resigned as Director of the CIA.  It's a private concern between he and his wife.

That strikes me as strange and a little naive, maybe.  This isn't your neighbor sleeping with the UPS delivery person.  This is the man in charge of thousands of global covert operatives.  He is in charge of a paramilitary organization fighting a largely secret war.  He is the keeper of America's secrets, an integral link in the monumental, colossal intelligence gathering supply chain.

When I started in the Federal government in the early 1990s, the security and disclosure documents were dizzying.  And that was for a GS-7 administrative assistant.  What I remember most are the security interviews I went through -- and I went through several for the different positions I held.  The bottom line in each?  Was I involved in anything which could potentially embarrass the government?

I wish I could tell you it was more than that.  It's not, really.

And that's not such a bad thing.

I doubt they'd have fired a 35-thousand dollar-a-year administrative flunky for cheating on his wife (something I never did, by the way).  But I had a mundane "secret" clearance and access to virtually nothing important.  A potential paramour looking to use me for access to government secrets and information would have said more about her being a lousy paramour than me being a dishonest government employee. 

The Director of the CIA is a bit different.  

And, for the record, it is quite clear -- maybe the only clear thing, at least today -- that there's more to this than we know.

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I wonder how much things are going to change at the Washington Post now that they're getting a new editor. 

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One quick final word on some Election 2012 fall-out.  You know I'm not a big fan of "winner" and "loser" lists.  That being said, you have to think that the hospital grifter Governor Rick Scott is the big, big loser of Election 2012.

He took a gamble -- a big gamble -- on voter suppression.  And he lost.  Bad.

I actually thought he might hedge his bets a little bit and extend early voting, as Charlie Crist did before him.  

He did not.  And so when Obama took Florida, anyway, it was nothing but egg on his face.  Lots and lots of really rotten egg.  It'll be hard to wash off.

Here in Pinellas, the Supervisor of Elections still has some questions to answer.  A robo-call went out informing people of where to vote... a day late.  

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio -- a former Supervisor of Elections herself -- has been way out front criticizing the governor for falling down on the elections job.  [For the record, she is currently heading up the Hillsborough Children's Board, which is a similar organization to the one I work for here in Pinellas.]  

It's pretty obvious to me this is some early noise from the popular former mayor signalling a run for governor herself.  

Her entry will shake up a field that hasn't even formed yet: a return of Alex Sink, and the aforementioned Charlie Crist, this time as a Democrat.  State Senator Nan Rich is already running.

And those are the Democrats.  I'd be curious to know if any Republicans are hearing noises about a primary challenge to the hospital grifter.  

Florida in 2014 -- it'll be the place to watch.

-- More later -- 

Off the Radar Two Weeks Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I won't re-hash too much of the debate for you.  Spend about ten quality seconds with Google, and you can get the analysis which best fits with your particular worldview.  

Of course, Obama cleaned Romney's clock, which is why the idiots at Fox News went ahead and made a bunch of crap up.  Yeah, "bayonets and horses" was pretty good.  And I'm sure they really did get a tweet from a Marine.  None of that, of course, was really the point.  But that won't deter Fox News -- the same organization that gave us "declaring something an act of terror doesn’t mean you’re declaring it a terrorist attack." 

Anyway, I thought the real line of the night went to Obama:

...when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors, I didn’t attend fundraisers, I went to Yad Vashem, the — the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the — the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.

This was Obama in response to the silly complaint from Romney and the GOP that he had not traveled to Israel as President.  Neither did paragon of conservative virtue Ronald Reagan.

It left Romney looking exactly like what he is: a bully who just got a heaping helping of what he likes to dish out... and it didn't go so well.

As somebody else said, though, it's hard to imagine there are any real undecided voters out there now.  And if there are, they're likely not that interested in foreign policy, I'm sorry to say.

Besides, it was football night, not to mention a big baseball game between the Giants and the Cardinals (sorry, Cards). 

# # # #

Speaking of Romney falling apart -- and maybe no one caring -- I genuinely hope this is somehow all a big mistake, or in some way just not true: Gold Star Mother: Romney Skipped Funeral, Left "Bullying" Messages

But Mitt Romney did not attend every soldier’s funeral; there were at least two cases where he did not.

And in one of those cases, a Gold Star mother claims that, far from comforting, Romney left insensitive phone messages – messages that she calls “bullying” and her husband describes as “abusive.”

“I can’t believe you haven’t returned my call,” Romney said on one of the voice mail messages, according to Stephany Kern, speaking at her Westerly, Rhode Island home this past Saturday. “Here I am making a second call; I haven’t heard from you.”

Kern did not save the messages. This is the first time she has spoken publicly about them.

Kern’s son, Marine Lance Corporal Nickolas Schiavoni, was killed by an IED explosion in Iraq on November 15, 2005. He was born and lived his entire life in the Haverhill, Massachusetts, area, and his funeral took place in Haverhill on November 26. His grandfather, David Swartz -- Kern's father -- was a well-known attorney, prosecutor, and city councilor in that city.

I guess I'll have to once again link to my post from June when I declared this the "bully election" -- but god, I wish I didn't have to.  

This is why people are so sick of this election.  This is why even those of us who usually enjoy the political process are turned off.  Because nothing -- nothing -- is now off-limits.  Is this a true story?  Who knows.  Lord, who cares.  All I know is that it does nothing to honor the memory and the service of Marine Lance Corporal Nickolas Schiavoni, it does nothing to help his grieving family.  

Just awful stuff.  Thank god it'll be over in a couple of weeks.

# # # # 

Hurricane season isn't technically over until next week -- so keep your eye on this, fellow Floridians.

# # # #

I'll say this: politics nationally may be disheartening, but here in Pinellas, it is always interesting.

# # # #

I'll make this plea again, but if you have the opportunity to early vote, then go do it.  Please vote.  

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar The View From Here Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Having John "Crush a Child's Testicles" Yoo say that President Obama "violated the Constitution" may be a tipping point for me.  

John Yoo, the George W. Bush-era Justice Department lawyer who penned so-called "Torture memos" authorizing controversial interrogation techniques, accused the president Friday of holding a "radical vision of executive power" and usurping the Constitution with his recently enacted policy to stop deporting some young undocumented immigrants.

Look, I've basically been in a daze for the last two weeks trying to A.) figure out how any reasonable person could say that Mitt Romney won that first debate when he deliberately, purposefully -- and in ways easily provable -- lied again and again, and B.) figure out why the American people, idiots that we apparently are, bought this ridiculous line that "Romney won" to the tune of a massive, terrifying polling shift in Romney's favor.

And so this week I am finally getting my act together.  Because I get it.  Finally.

Mitt Romney will say anything -- anything -- to get elected President.  If you accept that -- I mean really accept it -- then you sort of get a clearer picture of where things are and how we got to be here.

Everyone loves a compliment, even from a liar.  Call me the best blogger in America.  Call me a fabulous writer.  Call me a strikingly handsome man.  

It's all lies.  Of course it's all lies.  I know they're all a lies.  But I'd still like to hear it.

And that is the truly insidious thing about this Romney/Ryan Campaign and this Republican Party: they'll say anything to anyone.  Anything.  And even though you know they're lying to you, you love hearing it so much, you're willing to let them say it to you.

John Yoo virtually set fire to the Constitution, allowed for the torture of people (including children, thus the graphic lead-in above), and probably made America less safe while doing so.  He's a genuinely awful American and a terrible human being.

Yet here we are, getting a lecture in Constitutionality from this clown.  All without irony.  

That's what this campaign has become.  The do anything, say anything campaign.

No wonder we're all so fed up with this election.

# # # #  

Tommy Thompson -- the former Secretary of Health & Human Services under President George W. Bush and former Governor of Wisconsin -- is behind in his U.S. Senate bid against Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.  Now would not have been the time for his idiot son to say something stupid.

Which he did.

And the point is not that he "apologized" for it -- which he sort of did... to his father -- it's that he said it at all.  

Look, this isn't some fanatical wingnut in a crowd with a racist shirt on.  This is the grown son -- an attorney at a big firm in Milwaukee -- of a man who has been nominated by his party to run for the United States Senate.  This is indicative of mainstream thinking in the Republican Party, and I'd say it shouldn't be tolerated, but well, we've seen it before from other candidates as well.

# # # #

I have to be honest with you: I'm surprised Vegas set the record for political ads.  I'd have bet on Florida all day long.  And I'm not just saying that because I live here.  I am still an acolyte of the Steve Schale Sixty Thousand Vote Rule.  Florida matters.  Florida will matter, polling be damned.  

And if not Florida, then Ohio as a close second.  It's big and it's close, too.  I'd have bet on one of the two as way oversaturated with ads well before Las Vegas.

But then again, the house always wins, right?

# # # #

I've said it before, I'll say it again (and I promise to say it yet again -- even if Obama does well in the second Presidential debate this week): I hate the debates, and I think they're useless.  

Now it looks like both campaigns are going to pre-kick the crap out of the moderator, CNN's Candy Crowley, because, I don't know, she said she'd actually moderate the debate?

In a rare example of political unity, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of this Tuesday’s town hall has publicly described her role, TIME has learned.

While an early-October memorandum of understanding between the Obama and Romney campaigns suggests that CNN’s Candy Crowley would play a limited role in the Tuesday-night session, Crowley, who is not a party to that agreement, has done a series of interviews on her network in which she has suggested that she will assume a broader set of responsibilities. As Crowley put it last week, “Once the table is kind of set by the town-hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, ‘Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?’”

You know, they could program a computer to ask questions and keep time.  Little flashing red light when time's up.  Maybe even program it with a celebrity voice.  I'd like Peter O'Toole.  Or maybe Patrick Stewart.  If that's too British for you, then maybe Morgan Freeman -- too male, then Angelina Jolie.  

God, I'll be glad when these debates are done with.

# # # #

I know the Felix Baumgartner supersonic jump thing happened the other day, and has not one single thing to do with politics, but I was just fascinated -- and I admit it: a little scared for the guy.  It didn't help that Duncan and I read about all the horrible things that could've happened to him on the way down.

I'm really, really glad they didn't.  Seeing things like that make be glad we live in the time we do.  A guy jumped from the edge of space, flew faster than sound, and landed in the desert.  

This is the CGI video they did before the jump.  Pretty cool.

 

-- More later --

Off the Radar Walk On Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I've been largely quiet on the issue of abortion, mostly because who in the hell knew which way Romney would go on it.  But his statement today that there is "no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda" completes his throwing of his base -- which he spent the better part of a year-plus trying like hell to cultivate -- entirely under the bus.

Seriously, Fehrnstrom wasn't kidding about re-setting Romney like "an Etch-a-Sketch."  

Remember this: "I'm running as a conservative Republican, I was a conservative Republican governor, I'll be running as a conservative Republican."  The severe Republican.

Or whatever.

# # # #

I've been monitoring the polling in a number of places, always starting with PollTracker at Talking Points Memo.  They now have Romney leading nationally by +2.4 in the popular vote, but still losing in the Electoral College, 270 to 206.  I would note that on the PollTracker page, Obama had fluctuated going well into the three-hundreds on the electoral vote counter, but Romney couldn't seem to bust out of 191.  

He obviously has now.  

Here in Florida, it's a straight-up tie.  I think that tells you a lot about where things really are nationally.  People are giving Romney a second look.  

What's more, the air war is really heating up.  Ads from both sides are starting to reach saturation levels.  This is happening fairly early, by the way.  We still have several weeks to go, and already people are fed up with the ads.  What will be the strategy from either side to keep people going, keep people engaged in the conversation and not turn folks off in the next twenty-seven or so days?

The ground game matters now, too.  People are already voting in a number of states.  Voter registration just closed here in Florida, where many folks -- like me -- already have their mail-in ballot.  I know a bunch of folks who have already voted.  (Duncan and I will tonight or tomorrow).

If you're frustrated about Obama's debate performance, or wondering why a guy as lame as Mitt Romney has surged at all, for crying out loud, don't complain about it: get out and do something.  Go walk some neighborhoods for Obama.  Make some phone calls.  Donate some cash.  

The way we get to real change is not by complaining (or blogging like an idiot, like me) -- it's by suiting up and going to work.  

Go campaign.  You'll love it.  

# # # #

Just a quick administrative update: I've been using the Typepad platform for a long time, here.  Actually, for the full six-plus years.  It's served me fairly well, and has only ever eaten a handful of the Greatest Blog Posts Ever Written.  

I have been investigating different platforms for some time, now, and I think I'm ready to make a move.  

I'm probably going to migrate everything over to Wordpress at some point, after the election for sure.

I want to do more with my fiction writing, so I need a better home for that, rather than just a whole separate blog.  I also want to give my contributors a better space, too.  

I'm thinking about this theme -- what do you think?

Well, I'll give you the heads-up before I make the change (which, FYI, isn't cheap, and may take a bit of technical work on the back end; what I don't want to do is lose a lot of stuff I've spent six-plus years writing...)

Thanks, as always, for reading. 

# # # #

I know I usually do videos for almost Friday and finally Friday, but I love this song, and I figured you could use the inspiration.

Now go out and walk a neighborhood for Obama, or your candidate of choice.

Off the Radar Hardy Har Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I've never really watched the Joe Scarborough show, and now we don't have MSNBC, so I don't go out of my way to find the clips online.  I must tell you, though, that this had me laughing:

I don't know what's funnier: Scarborough trying to pray (along with the Fredo Corleone reference there at the end) or Mika's sort of dismissive reaction to the whole thing.

Classic TV.

# # # #

And if Mitt Romney keeps saying stuff like this, especially in places like Ohio, then he can expect that people will never chant his name:

"We have got to reform our tax system," Romney said at a morning event here. "Small businesses most typically pay taxes at the individual tax rate. And so our individual income taxes are the ones I want to reform. Make them simpler. I want to bring the rates down. By the way, don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes because I'm also going to lower deductions and exemptions. But by bringing rates down we will be able to let small businesses keep more of their money so they can hire more people."

The comments were either a flub on Romney's part or an admission that many of the deductions and exemptions that he will have to target in order to make his tax plan deficit neutral will end up affecting the middle class.

The gang charged with keeping this guy on message must either cry themselves to sleep at night or just stay drunk all the time.

# # # #

A must-read interview of Five Thirty Eight's Nate Silver at Talking Points Memo:

Well, we have Obama with a 77 percent chance on the site. My personal prediction would be pretty close to that. Those would be the odds I would be willing to establish at a betting line. In the book I say we should try to make probabilistic forecasts and almost look at ourselves as being sort of bookmakers or gamblers. That’s the closest compromise between the uncertainties in the real world and our ability to perceive them. That’s as well as you can do. At this point it does look like we have a clear favorite, but we could be surprised.

This guy has pretty much written a large part of the polling gospel for campaigns and elections.  I know I've been saying this a long time, but it's true: we still have a long way to go before Election Day.  A lot could happen -- but the window is closing.

# # # #

Speaking of polling, Kos himself of DailyKos fame has a snapshot of where we are in the battleground states.  

Right now, today, it is not looking good for Mitt Romney.

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Finally, also via TPM, this:

So there you go.  Early voting has begun in many states.  

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar Back to Ohio Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Public Policy Polling has Obama up by five in Ohio.

PPP's first post-conventions poll in Ohio finds Barack Obama with a 5 point lead over Mitt Romney, 50-45. This is the largest lead PPP has found for Obama in an Ohio poll since early May. Last month Obama led 48-45.

Let's remember our trending, though -- that polling is not about right now, today, but about what's been happening over time.  The trends from a group of polls, collected by Talking Points Memo, show a steady lead by Obama, that is actually being closed by Romney:

That's a whole bunch of polls.  Let's look just at Public Policy Polling:

Hm.

Different picture, right?

So make of it what you will.  I'd say that Ohio is still a remarkably important critical battleground state in this election.  

If you're playing around with the Electoral College calculators already (like me), then you already know that if Obama wins Pennsylvania and Ohio, the road to victory for Romney/Ryan is much, much narrower.

Don't get too excited.  We've still got a long sprint in front of us.

# # # #

That being said, when you're putting out the "Everybody stay cool" memo, maybe it's time to panic.

# # # #

As the dynamics of the presidential race continue to take shape and evolve, I'm noticing a bit more chatter around the idea of Democrats actually keeping the Senate (which is very much in play right now).  

And someone -- somewhere -- has even raised the idea of Democrats taking back the House.

My general -- unformed, amorphous, not-based-in-data -- idea behind all of this is this: that if Obama can do the hard work of winning over not just his base (something he's not done just yet), but a whole throng of voters who voted for him in 2008 (also something he's doing but not done just yet), then he potentially carry some pretty significant coat-tails, sweeping in Democratic majorities into the House and Senate.

But he's not there yet.

# # # #

To prove just how big a mountain that would be to climb, check out this interesting graphic from the Washington Post's The Fix, here, entitled (appropriately enough) Why 2012 isn't 2008 -- in 1 chart.

# # # #

So the Rays remain in third place in the AL East behind the Yankees and the Orioles, but B.J. Upton hit three home-runs and James Shields pitched a two-hitter shutting out the top-of-the-American-League Texas Rangers yesterday.

Post-season is fast approaching.  Let's go, Rays!

-- More later --  

Off the Radar Kickin' It Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

A Ryan Lizza must-read in The New Yorker on the complicated relationship between President Obama and President Clinton.

David Axelrod describes the Presidents’ relationship as improved. “Would I be truthful if I said to you that we went through a long and difficult campaign in 2007-08 and as soon as it was over the relationship was instantly close?” he said. “I mean, that just defies human nature. But I think it’s grown up over time.

Indeed, plenty of us remember 2008 (though I know a lot of folks would like to forget it).  

Look, I'm a pretty terrible guy to relay the details of articles like this.  I get caught up in "good-old-days" nostalgia, and it's all over.  I get asked the question a lot: would I ever want to go work for the Obama Administration?  

Of course I would.  Who wouldn't?  Washington, D.C. is an incredible place.  It's even more "incredible" when your party is in power -- trust me, I was there when the other guys were in charge.  Not as much fun.  

It would be an honor and a privilege to serve in government again.  And frankly, having the Obama Administration on my resume would be pretty nice.

So why not move up to Washington and find a job?  

I kind of like it here for starters.  

More to the point, I'm a big believer that you can spend too much time in "the system."  Am I going to be a political appointee in the federal government the rest of my life?  I don't think so.  Though Lizza points out that Clinton folks have filled a lot of jobs there...

With many of Obama’s senior political advisers—Axelrod, Messina, Robert Gibbs, Stephanie Cutter, Ben LaBolt—now in Chicago working on his reëlection campaign, the Administration in Washington has taken on the aura of a Clinton alumni association.

...

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that the many staffing changes since 2010 have resulted in the Obama camp running the campaign while the Clinton camp runs the government.

...I'm a big believer in the idea that different folks bring new and fresh ideas to government -- and we need that (now more than ever).  In other words, Clinton folks like me had our time.  It's time for Obama's folks now.

For the record, I think they're doing a damn good job.

# # # # 

More than 4,600 words in the Lizza piece, and wouldn't you know that The Daily Caller, Tucker Carlson's weird, irrelevant website picks up on around 34 near the end (from Lizza's piece)

At least one of Clinton’s closest advisers seems to be backing that strategy. According to two people with direct knowledge, Douglas Band has said that he will vote for Romney. Band declined to comment.

Speaking of weird and irrelevant.  

If Doug thinks Romney winning this year is the best way to get Hillary Clinton elected President in 2016, then he needs to get his head examined. 

Look, Doug -- a nice Florida boy, actually -- didn't get where he is because he's stupid.  He's a smart guy.  But even smart guys can do dumb things.  You say you're voting for Romney but you decline to comment?  

He nearly derailed the whole article, really.  Who knows, maybe he did.

I should note that I have a brief but awful history with Doug Band, so maybe I'm biased.

Back in 2002, I managed the congressional campaign of Jan Schneider in the old District 13 -- Sarasota, where Doug's family is from, Bradenton, Hardee and DeSoto.  Jan had been a law school classmate of the Clinton's and wasn't afraid to say so.  She mentioned it frequently when speaking to folks out and about.  

Between fewer of us, we often talked about the possibility of bringing the former president -- or both President and Mrs. Clinton -- down to Sarasota to campaign for their old Yale classmate.  It was more a dream, less an actual plan.  

But worth talking about.  After all, though we were running in a five-way primary at the time -- a primary Jan would go on to win handily, I might add -- the real opponent was Katherine Harris, the Wicked Witch of Election 2000.  She'd stolen the election from President Clinton's Vice President, Al Gore.  Right?  What better political opportunity than to stop her in her tracks with a high-profile from a guy who was, at that time, the leader of the Democratic Party.

I still remember it.  It was out of the blue.  I don't know why, but I was eating a late lunch at Taco Bell.  I know.  I'm disgusting.  

Anyway, my cell phone rang, and it was Doug Band.  He identified himself, and immediately started screaming.  What was weird, though, was that he wasn't unhinged.  Just loud and pissed off.  

Stop telling people that President Clinton is coming to Sarasota to campaign for your candidate.  He is not.

It wasn't a very long conversation, but it is one that stuck with me.  

And it's one that helped me realize I probably wasn't ever going to be a good campaign manager (for the record, I'm not).  Doug needed some forceful push-back, and I didn't deliver.  I just kind of took it (to be fair, I frequently had a mouthful of bean burrito; stress eating).

On principle, of course Clinton should have come down to help Jan.

As a matter of cold political calculation, he did the exact right thing.  Jan wasn't raising much money, she was in a tough primary, and Katherine Harris was in a district tailor-made for her.  It was something like +8 GOP, if I remember (which I probably don't).  

Doug is paid to make cold political calculations, and by all accounts, he does a good job.  I'm sure a vote for Romney is a cold political calculation.

This time around, maybe he should have considered the principle of the thing.

# # # # 

Lots being made of the fact that both Florida and North Carolina -- the two Convention states -- are dead-heats we move beyond Labor Day and begin the sprint towards Election Day.

Once again, you can do the math on your own, but without Florida, it's a hard -- nearly impossible -- road for Romney to the White House.

# # # #

Some quick notes: 

You can find some great photos from Charlotte here, thanks to Mo Eppley.

Watch for a special day-by-day edition of Into the Echo Chamber from me and Matt.

Watch for more guest posts.

Find The Spencerian on Facebook.

Find me on Twitter, @bkirby816

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar The Breeze Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Well, the plans at the Republican Convention are getting all turned around, thanks to Isaac.  

I have to say, I genuinely feel bad for the delegates and Convention attendees.  They thought they were going to get this, and instead, they got this:   

All due respect to the late Karen Carpenter, I'd take Lynyrd Skynyrd, who canceled their appearance at the Convention, any day.  

Like I said the other day, the safety of the attendees preempts politics, and the RNC planners made a tough call, but the right call... even if Isaac is turning west, largely leaving us alone.

If there is a silver lining to be had, the Conventioneers are seeing some of the best of the Tampa Bay area and of Florida.  Folks here know how to take a (potential) storm seriously, and with the exception of our governor, (who seemed milquetoast-ey and squishy in his remarks to the people of Florida about Isaac, though he, too, made the right call in canceling his Convention remarks and participation) people seemed really ready to hunker down, and help out however they could.  It's not the face we expect to show the world, but it is a good one, nonetheless.

# # # #

Former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist endorsed President Obama in an op-ed exclusive to the Tampa Bay Times yesterday.

As America prepares to pick our president for the next four years — and as Florida prepares once again to play a decisive role — I'm confident that President Barack Obama is the right leader for our state and the nation. I applaud and share his vision of a future built by a strong and confident middle class in an economy that gives us the opportunity to reap prosperity through hard work and personal responsibility. It is a vision of the future proven right by our history.

We often remind ourselves to learn the lessons of the past, lest we risk repeating its mistakes. Yet nearly as often, our short-term memory fails us. Many have already forgotten how deep and daunting our shared crisis was in the winter of 2009, as President Obama was inaugurated. It was no ordinary challenge, and the president served as the nation's calm through a historically turbulent storm.

Now Governor Crist will be speaking at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte.

This is all fine and good.  I'm glad, really glad that there are Republicans (technically, in Crist's case, voters registered as "no party affiliation") who are supporting President Obama.  I think it speaks not just to Obama's leadership style, but to which party really is the "big tent" party in this nation, despite what the grifters, crooks and fiction writers at FOX News say.

Here's my position on Governor Crist's change of political heart, which most folks openly assume he's making as the first steps in a run for Governor, this time as a Democrat: I'm happy to have him on-board, but he's got some work to do with me.  After all, this is the man who in 2006, came out in support of a complete constitutional ban on abortion, similar to the draconian law enacted in South Dakota.  "I encourage a culture of life," he said.  He did veto the equally draconian "ultrasound bill," which was helpful, but it only serves to muddy the waters.  Indeed, he was given a "zero" from the Florida Alliance for Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

He supported a ban on same-sex marriage, but then later backed off.

He supported the ban on same-sex couples adopting, which is really unforgivable.

He got a some great scores from the conservative Cato Institute, and an "A-" from the NRA.

He flipped -- the the wrong side -- of the off-shore drilling debate during his run for the U.S. Senate seas in 2010.

Finally, in a state with one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation, he championed the awful Amendment 1 of 2008, a massive tax cut which choked off revenue to state government just when we needed it most: at the precipice of the current economic downturn.  

Okay, here's the deal: I understand that in politics you can change, evolve, grow.  I get it -- I really do.  And I'm glad Governor Crist has done the right thing.

But if he wants to be Governor of this great state once more, he's going to need to do some explaining of his previous positions -- and he's going to need to make some promises.  Some of those promises may be tough, because it will likely involve him undoing some of the work he previously supported. 

As for me, I'll make Governor Crist this deal: if he is willing to evolve, I'm willing to listen, and maybe evolve as well.  Keep talking, Governor.  

And if you ever need a blog space to share something, well, you know where to find me.

# # # # 

We got a little rain, some wind, some dark skies, but nothing too awful from Isaac.  Nothing like what I fear the folks up in New Orleans and that way are in for, just at the anniversary of Katrina.  Maybe it is on everyone's mind -- it's on mine.

Keep the folks of the Gulf Coast in your good thoughts and prayers, friends and neighbors.

# # # #

If I shared this already, sorry.  It's pretty damn good -- and it's true.  

Via the New New Journalism Tumblr.

# # # #

Wasn't Meg Whitman a collosal failure at HP?  

She would be a cabinet member in the Romney Administration, gang.  Scary.

 -- More later -- 

Off the Radar Not Who You Thought Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I was hoping to avoid starting another week with news like this -- as were we all.  But here we are, tragically, once again:

Texas A&M University says a shooter has been taken into custody near its campus in College Station.

The university issued a warning on its website just before 12:30 p.m. Monday warning of an active shooter near the campus football stadium, Kyle Field. The warning tells residents and students to avoid the area.

We have got to stop this insanity.

[sigh...]

Moving on...

# # # #

Yes, lots of stuff out there now about Mitt Romney's pick to be his Vice Presidential running mate...

...U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

Whoops.

Well, read Stephanie McCrummen's piece, anyway, on how folks really don't know much about Representative Paul Ryan, or his apocalyptic Medicare plan:

A conservative rock star in the marbled halls of Congress, Paul Ryan — his ideas, his politics, his very name — was just barely beginning to register at the Spot Cafe off State Road 16 here Sunday.

Rick Paul, said one diner, was a brilliant vice presidential choice. Mike Ryan, said another, would surely boost Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and help “save the country.” At last, said Jim Smith, 74, Romney made a decision that solidifies his conservative credentials.

“Paul — from Kentucky?” Smith said, referring to the junior Kentucky senator, Rand Paul. “Definitely a good move. I didn’t support Romney in the primary, but I will now with Paul in there.”

Ah, Paul from Kentucky.  

Good times.

# # # #

Yes, not a lot of folks know Congressman Paul Ryan here in Florida, which is why the Romney Campaign kicked off a bus tour here on the other side of the state with Ryan... in Iowa.

# # # #

Of course, this is hardball politics, and the big-guns are already criticizing Congressman Ryan, saying he is simply unfit to be President of the United States.

Wow, harsh words.

# # # #

A final, interesting word on Ryan, from an un-named Democratic Operative, via Twitter:

Dem operative: "We've spent 18 months trying to make House races about their plan for Medicare and Mitt Romney just did it for us overnight"

My experience with a campaign of a President running for re-election is that it's all about the President.  They are almost always a referendum of the last four years.  How has the guy currently in office done?  If you like the way things are or are going, vote to give the guy four more years.  You don't?  Then vote for the other guy.  

And, with respect to down-ballot races, that's about it.  Yes, there's some turnout factor there, for sure, but I just don't buy it that the incumbent tends to carry heavy coat-tails, or that the other guy sweeps in a giant majority for his party.  

This time may be different, and it's because of what Congressman Ryan represents: the wholesale dismantling of Medicare (not to mention untenable -- at best austerity measures we know don't work).  

The idea that incumbent Congressional Republicans supported -- voted for -- "the Ryan Budget" is what most, if not all Democratic challengers are hanging their hats on.  Just ask Keith Fitzgerald, who is running against Republican Vern Buchanan:

Over 190,000 seniors living in Manatee and Sarasota counties experience first-hand the benefits of Medicare. Earlier this year, the Paul Ryan-Vern Buchanan budget plan attempted to turn Medicare into a voucher-like program which should never be a solution to solving our nation’s budget woes. Our community deserves pragmatic, common sense ideas to solve our nation’s budget challenges, but they can't be on the backs of Suncoast seniors and middle class families.

Naturally, Romney & Company are backing way from the Ryan Budget -- but it's not clear that's going to work real well for them.

And Ryan's presence on the ticket may just help some of those races a little further down the ballot, too.

-- More later --