Respect your elders

By Capt. Fogg

One of the things that annoys me the most about living in the most crimson county in a red state is the presumption by the inmates that you couldn't possibly be anything else but one of them. The lack of inhibition allowing them to launch into some vicious right-wing verbal assault, packed like a fat kid's lunchbox with unhealthy swill gives me no end of grief, but of course there are times when it backfires on them.

Republican Governor Rick Scott had one of those precious moments the other day, naturally assuming that a group of retired folks in nearby Boca Raton would, like a juke box, play his song when he pushed the right buttons. Wrong. The expression on his face tells it all.

Scott, who is filling my TV screen every evening with scurrilous lies and sleazy half truths about his Democratic opponent, blaming him for the recession, but worse, blaming him for not hating Obama and everything he's done enough -- Scott who oversaw what was at the time the largest medicare fraud in history, expected the doddering old folks to respond Republican-style to his questions about just how much they hated Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

What he found was a satisfied group with few complaints, says the Sun Sentinel. Some actually praised "Obamacare." One woman, some years younger than I responded that if young people don't have insurance the rest of us will have to pay their bills and if there really were cuts necessary under the ACA to provide equal care for others, as Scott claims it would, ( he lies) then people like her weren't going to fight to keep every last benefit because "it isn't the United States of senior citizens."

Another older fellow said if there really were cuts to Medicare, he hadn't seen them and that's of course because the cuts aren't to the beneficiaries but to service providers.  Perhaps people with some time to read noticed that the "cuts" were actually Medicare cost-savings passed by a Republican Congress.

Other people confirmed that they had seen no cuts, that they were satisfied.  Others affirmed that contrary to Scott's claims no doctors were quitting.  We get used to the image of everybody over 65 as feeble, barely rational and uninformed. That's as wrong as Scott's (did I mention that he ripped off Medicare for billions?) similar presumption that they aren't only drooling morons but Republican stooges? Is that redundant?

Did Scott's condescension and presumptions irritate his audience as much as his corruption and apparent dishonesty? Who knows? Stealing so much money from Medicare that he can become a governor through paid TV lies about Medicare, makes me glad I wasn't there at the Volen Center in Boca Raton to comment. I'm old enough, of course, but sorry to bust the stereotype, I'm more likely found in other venues like gun ranges, waterfront dives and biker bars where we've seen too damned many liars and con men like Rick Scott and remember him all too well to be fooled again.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Even Florida Gov. Rick Scott would veto Arizona's hate bill

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is a right-wing extremist and hyper-partisan Republican, and there are many, many reasons not to like him. But even he objects to Arizona's "religious freedom" hate bill targeting gays and lesbians but essentially legalizing discrimination against anyone for any "religious" reason:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) is now saying he would veto a controversial Arizona bill that lets businesses discriminate against LGBT people after dodging the question this morning on MSNBC.

"I don't want to tell Governor Brewer what to do, she can do what's best for her state. From my understanding of that bill, I would veto it in Florida because it seems unnecessary," Scott said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

*****

"In Florida we are focused on economic growth, and not on things that divide us. We are for freedom here in Florida. And we want everyone to come here, create jobs, and live in freedom, and that includes religious liberty," Scott continued in his statement.

"I am very much opposed to forcing anyone to violate their conscience or their religious beliefs, and of course, I'm very much opposed to discrimination. As a society, we need to spend more time learning to love and tolerate each other, and less time trying to win arguments in courts of law," he said.

Well, fine, nicely put, though of course sometimes you have to try to win arguments in court, like when, for example, you're pursuing marriage equality or otherwise trying to roll back generations of bigotry and discrimination.

And of course this is Florida. Fucking Florida. Scott can say he's opposed to discrimination and open to more love and toleration, but this is the man who, for example, sought to make it more difficult to vote and to purge the voter rolls of non-Republican voters, essentially disenfranchising blacks and the poor, among others; the man who required drug tests for those seeking welfare (but not, of course, for those seeking corporate welfare); the man opposed to expanding health insurance to the uninsured; the man who is opposed to marriage equality.

(And while he talks up freedom in Florida, let's not forget that Florida is the state with a rather notorious "Stand Your Ground" law. So let's just say it's freedom for some and not so much for others.)

So great, he's opposed to Arizona's awful bill. That hardly makes him a saint.

Behind the Ad: Pro-Rick Scott group attacks Charlie Crist on Obamacare

By Richard K. Barry

Who: Let's Get to Work (Pro-Florida Gov. Rick Scott group).

Where: Florida (web ad).

What's going on: As TPM reports, a 527 group supporting Gov. Scott launched an ad yesterday tying former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (D) to Obamacare. Crist is running to unseat Scott.

"Obamacare isn't working but instead of standing with Florida, Charlie Crist stands with Obama," a voiceover in the ad, produced by the pro-Scott Let's Get To Work committee, said. 

According to Politico, the "Republican Party of Florida and Scott’s committee plan a combined six-figure digital buy."

TPM notes an interesting inconsistency, however:

Here's the rub though: back in February Scott endorsed a Medicaid expansion in Florida under Obamacare, but the Republicans in the state legislature refused to approve it.

"I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care," Scott said at the time.

Although it is easy to expect a lot of this sort of thing run against Washington Democratic pols, it looks like the Republicans intend to use it at every level. We'll see how that works. 

After DOMA, the fight for marriage equality moves to the states

By Mustang Bobby 

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on the repeal of DOMA:

Look, I've been married since I was 19. I believe in traditional marriage.

This was, in his lizard-brain reaction, his way of saying that the repeal has no impact on the laws of Florida and its constitutional amendment passed in 2008 banning same-sex marriage.

But Mr. Scott is predicting the next battle for marriage equality. The fact that he is (we assume) happily married doesn't mean anything other than there is connubial bliss in the Scott household, and his marriage doesn't have any bearing on the people next door. Equal rights is not a zero-sum game. Granting marriage equality to a gay couple doesn't take it away from the straight people. (Please don't let's rehash the slippery slope argument of man-on-dog marriages. That will only happen when a dog has the ability to comprehend and accept the terms of a contract. Dogs may rule, but that's not a part of the deal.)

The fact that DOMA is now dead means that states that do not recognize all marriages no longer have much of a leg to stand on in denying spousal benefits when a married couple named Fred and Paul from Massachusetts relocates to Palmetto Bay, Florida. And in a way, Justice Antonin Scalia, in his rant against the ruling, predicted the next shoe to drop. Marriage equality at the state level is coming up next.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Polling the Florida governor's race

By Richard K. Barry

A new survey by Public Policy Polling finds that Charlie Crist (D) leads Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) by 12 points in a possible 2014 head-to-head match-up.

Rick Scott's approval numbers have seen no improvement over the last two months, even after his decision to allow Medicaid expansion in Florida. 33% of voters continue to approve of the job he's doing to 57% who disapprove. Although his overall numbers are the same he has seen a slight improvement with Democrats (from 21/71 to 23/69) and a slight downgrade with Republicans (from 49/38 to 46/42). 

Scott continues to trail Charlie Crist by double digits in a hypothetical match up, 52/40. That's just a slight improvement for him from January when he was down 53/39. Crist, who still has a 28% favorability rating with Republicans, wins over 29% of the Republican vote and also has a narrow lead with independents at 47/41. Crist still isn't as popular as he used to be- a 46/43 favorability rating- but that's good enough against the backdrop of Scott's unpopularity to give him a pretty substantial early advantage.

PPP's analysis draws attention to the obvious, which is that 2014 is a long way off, though they admit that Scott's path to reelection is still pretty dicey. 

It would be sweet to get rid of him.

The sweet smell of desperation

By Mustang Bobby

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) hears the footfall of doom as he draws ever closer to his bid for re-election next year. Polls are showing that he'd lose to freshly-minted Democrat Charlie Crist, and now he's pandering to voters whom he offended deeply by signing a restrictive early-voting law in 2011 and then running away from it like his, um, hair was on fire. Now he says he's all in favor of expanding early voting... back to where it was.

His latest attempt to suck up to a major constituency is his proposal to give Florida teachers a raise. This comes a year after he stuck public employees with a law that forces them to make a 3 percent contribution to a pension plan that is already solvent:

Scott planned to announce his proposal Wednesday in Ocoee. No details were immediately available.

The Florida Supreme Court last week upheld a Scott-proposed law requiring the pension contribution from teachers, state and county employees and some municipal workers.

The Legislature last year approved Scott’s request to increase public school funding by $1 billion but left it to local school boards to determine how much, if any, would go to pay raises.

That was a turn-around for the Republican governor, who in the previous year persuaded lawmakers to cut school spending.

Nice try, Governor. And while no one would begrudge giving a pay raise to teachers (full disclosure: when teachers get raises, so do some administrators), is there a way you could do it without being so shamelessly ham-handed about it? It makes us feel so used.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Rick Scott: I knew nothing

By Mustang Bobby

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) says he had nothing to do with a law he signed:

Facing a highly critical group of black legislators, Gov. Rick Scott largely defended his record Tuesday but distanced himself from a controversial election law that led to fewer early-voting days and long lines.

Scott agreed with black lawmakers that the 2011 election law contributed to the chaos at the polls in November, including long lines all over the state and up to seven-hour waits in Miami-Dade. But Scott, who is seeking re-election in 2014, said it was largely a decision of the Legislature.

"It was not my bill," Scott said. "We've got to make changes, I agree... The Legislature passed it. I didn't have anything to do with passing it."

Scott signed the bill into law in 2011. His administration spent more than $500,000 in legal fees in a largely successful defense of the law, though a federal judge struck down new restrictions on groups that register voters.

So that's how he's going to run his re-election campaign: "I'm not responsible for the all the bad stuff that happened under my watch. Elect me again."

Yeah, that seems to be working.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Charlie Crist spanking Florida Gov. Rick Scott in early polling

By Richard K. Barry

Charlie Crist used to be a Republican but then hugged Presient Obama, which pretty much made it impossible for him to continue being a Republican in that strange world known as GOP politics. He is now hoping to exact a measure of revenge on his old party by returning to the Governor's mansion, which he previously occupied from 2006-2011, this time as a Democrat. To do that he would have to oust the current Republican governor Rick Scott. 

According to Public Policy Polling, it looks like he's got a good shot at getting it done in 2014: 

Crist would start out as the favorite in a showdown with Scott. He leads 53-39, most notably taking a whooping 29% of the Republican vote. He still has some residual appeal to Republican voters. 

Scott's overall approval rating is just 33%, with 57% of voters giving him a thumbs down. Crist, on the other hand, is starting to gain traction among Democrats who give him a favourability rating of 70/16. He is also far out in front of other potential Democratic candidates.
Read more »

Take the money

By Mustang Bobby

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) does her best to exemplify the Marxist maxim of "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others":

Although Brewer has been a consistent opponent of Obamacare, she acknowledged Monday that the law is now an unavoidable reality and that Arizona would be worse off turning down the federal dollars that will come with broadening Medicaid. "Try as we might, the law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court," Brewer said. "The Affordable Care Act is not going anywhere, at least not for the time being." The Arizona governor said the federal funding would help pay for some individuals already covered by the state's Medicaid program and provide some protection for the state's rural hospitals.

Gov. Brewer is refusing to set up a health-care exchange in her state, which means the federal government will do it, and she'll get free money to boot. In other words, socialized medicine.

Why stand on political principle when there's a shitload of money to be had?

Read more »

On the road to single payer

By Mustang Bobby

All those Republican governors who railed against government-run health care back in 2010 are making it come true, at least in their states:

Late last week more than a dozen Republican governors declared that they will not build the insurance market exchanges called for by the Affordable Care Act, including prominent names like Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, John Kasich of Ohio, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Perry of Texas.

On Monday, Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma joined them, declaring in a statement that it "does not benefit Oklahoma taxpayers to actively support and fund a new government program that will ultimately be under the control of the federal government."

The original deadline for states to notify the Department of Health and Human Services on whether they intend to build their own exchange was last Friday, but the administration extended it to Dec. 14. About a dozen Republican governors are weighing their options, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, Rick Scott of Florida and Terry Branstad of Iowa.

The Affordable Care Act encourages each state to build and operate its own exchange — a regulated, subsidized marketplace where consumers and small businesses can shop for insurance plans. If a state declines, the federal government has the power under the health care reform law to build one for it.

The decisions carry important implications for the long-term arc of Obamacare, which supporters and opponents alike agree is here to stay now that President Obama has been re-elected. The Obama administration wants states to build the exchanges so they have an incentive to make the law work. If the federal government takes over, state-level Republicans have a scapegoat in case things go wrong.

There's no telling how it will work out; different states have different needs, and HHS can only do so much, but if it works as well as Medicare, it might be better than what the states can come up with on their own despite all the rhetoric about "local control."

What I think is both troubling and predictable is that these governors are willing to put a lot of their citizens' health and well-being at risk just to score political points with their re-election base (hi, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida). How many people have to get sick and die quickly for him to avoid getting primaried by a teabagger?

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

How the Republicans are trying to steal the election

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Voter suppression efforts by Republicans are in full swing all across the country, but the focus clearly, and as usual, is on key swing states like Ohio and Florida -- where else?

For example, in Florida:

[Saturday] night, voters in Miami-Dade County were forced to wait in line up to six hours to vote. In some precincts voters who arrived at 7PM were not able to cast their ballots until 1AM.

In response, Republican-affiliated election officials in Miami-Dade have effectively extended early voting from 1PM to 5PM today [Sunday] by allowing "in-person" absentee voting. But this accommodation will only be available in a single location in the most Republican area of the county.

*****

The decision to make the accommodation available was presumably made by Miami-Dade Election Supervisor Penelope Townsley. She is registered with no party affiliation but was appointed to her position by Republican Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Mayor Gimenez did not request Gov. Rick Scott extend early voting throughout Miami-Dade county. Further, according to Jim DeFede, an investigative reporter for CBS News in Miami, the decision to have in-person absentee balloting was made last night but not announced publicly until 9:30AM this morning. 

And in Ohio:

Ohio GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted has become an infamous figure for aggressively limiting early voting hours and opportunities to cast and count a ballot in the Buckeye State.

Once again Husted is playing the voter suppression card, this time at the eleventh hour, in a controversial new directive concerning provisional ballots. In an order to election officials on Friday night, Husted shifted the burden of correctly filling out a provisional ballot from the poll worker to the voter, specifically pertaining to the recording of a voter's form of ID, which was previously the poll worker's responsibility. Any provisional ballot with incorrect information will not be counted, Husted maintains. This seemingly innocuous change has the potential to impact the counting of thousands of votes in Ohio and could swing the election in this closely contested battleground.

This generally will be one of the key stories to watch tomorrow: Republicans doing their utmost to prevent people in Democratic-leaning areas, and likely Democratic voters generally, from voting.

They'd be up to this anti-democratic malfeasance anyway, but with the presidential race so close and Romney's path to 270 looking bleaker and bleaker they're ramping it up with every last weapon at their disposal.

Conventional wisdom

By Mustang Bobby

The Republican Convention will kick off a day late in Tampa thanks to the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac, so I'm guessing the gay bars in Ybor City and the strip joints elsewhere will get some extra business today. Yip yah.

I'm not going to rain on the GOP's parade. Let them have their fun of Obama-hating, gay-bashing, warmongering on women, birtherism, and demonizing everyone that isn't white, straight, and Jesus-shouting. (Aw, they had to cut Donald Trump because of the storm. Bummer.) If these folks want to wallow in their unbearable whiteness, let them have their fun. Mitt Romney will get some kind of bounce out of it, which will send the Villagers into paroxysms of twitterpation over how close the race is, and then wait with bated (if not gin-soaked) breath until the Democrats convene in Charlotte and they do their version of the partisan rag.

The only mildly interesting news out of the convention is former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's endorsement of Barack Obama. That really scattered the pigeons, but anyone who's watched Mr. Crist over the last few years saw it coming, and the rumors that he'll challenge Rick Scott for governor in 2014 have been nearly as rampant as those about his private life since he got hammered by Marco Rubio in the 2010 Senate race.

Call it liberal bias, but I'm not going to devote too many pixels to the GOP wet blanket party over on the other coast. I've been watching conventions since the 1960's and they're basically studies in foregone conclusions, right down to the spontaneous demonstrations cued to the second. But if I wanted a constant stream of whining, bashing, and misogynistic and hateful rants about how horrible life is under the brutal heel of that secret Muslim Kenyan-born gay socialist coke-snorter, I'd subscribe to a certain family member's Facebook page.

Knock yourselves out, Republicans.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Keepin' it white

By Capt. Fogg

In general, I support the laws allowing most licensed and qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons in most places. Here in Florida, someone who has a permit does nonetheless not have the legal right to carry weapons in many areas, like courthouses, police stations, schools, stadiums, and, of course, bars. A national political convention, however, where emotions run high, where the attitudes resemble the local stop-and-sock tavern, and where people whom other people would like to harm are present, would seem to be another proper exception. 

I'm afraid it's not so in Florida, where during the upcoming RNC in Tampa, squirt guns, pieces of chain, ropes, and other items which might be used to harm or at least get people wet are strictly illegal, Republican Governor Rick Scott seems likely to refuse the City Council's request to keep guns out of the convention. You can bring your Beretta, but leave the Super Soaker at home.

There are other reasons, of course, to wonder how Scott gets away with avoiding the other common nickname for Richard. No, I'm not talking about his rejection of federal funds, because, as he says, hiring people kills jobs, and I'm not talking about the dozen or so felonies his company committed in a billion dollar orgy of Medicare fraud. I'm not even referring to his recent attempt to "purge" the Florida voter rolls of likely Democrats. This time "Rick" deserves a nice cold blast from one of those banned squirt guns for neglecting to tell nearly 18,000 Floridians that their voting rights have been restored and that they can now register. I'm sure he has forgotten how a few hundred votes can put a president whom the majority of voters did not vote for into office. Otherwise, he would be ashamed, right?  

Or maybe he is out of the loop once again. Maybe he just didn't know, the way he didn't know about the 1 billion, 700 million dollar Columbia/HCA Medicare fraud -- in charge but not guilty by virtue of some ineffable virtue and of course well deserving of his severance package of 10 million dollars, 300 million in stock, and a million a year "consulting" fee.

I wonder what he'll make for his part in defrauding America this time, his help in making the White House white again.

(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)

All's fair in fraud and felony

By Capt. Fogg

Voter suppression -- there's nothing new about it, but when the support for it comes from people who think testing city water for arsenic is "too much government," you have to expect odd, snarling noises from the cynics. Pennsylvania's latest attempt to reserve the right to vote for the landed gentry, posing as a reaction to voter fraud that might possibly occur but actually does not seem to have, has Pandagon snickering and me barking  -- and for good reason. Government intervening in the free exercise of a constitutional right is different I guess, because the goal of keeping Pennsylvania for "real" Americans sanctifies a little bit of  double-think:

[T]he argument seems to be that the state can impair a constitutional right because... well, because they can. It doesn't really matter why, it just makes a kind of instinctual sense, like how vaccines cause autism or how evolution can't exist because I've never seen a thing evolve in front of my eyes despite staring at it and chanting "evolve" for hours on end,

wrote Jesse Taylor yesterday.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, where excluding "undesirables" from the voter rolls is a tradition of long standing, former Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer is suing the "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies" that filed criminal fraud charges against him in 2010 in a plot to force saner Republicans including former Governor Charlie Crist out of the party and suppress the African-American vote by once again purging voter rolls.

Florida, of course, bans ex-felons from voting for life for those without good connections in the GOP, like Governor Scott of the Fourteen Felonies, so if one wrote a bad check in 1956 or was found with an ounce or so of cannabis in 1968, one can go fish forever. In fact, if your name sounds like someone else who did, and you live in Florida, you may have been illegally banned from voting in the 2000 election by a similar voter roll purge that targeted minority voters and probably put George Bush in the White House. You may be banned once again and you won't likely know until you show up at the polls.

It's funny how consistently the voter fraud circus parade neglects to mention the voting machine "problems" in Ohio. Again, I'm a cynic, so I find it easy to believe that GOP tampering is treated differently in the post-Bush, Tea Party era. Remember those "unhackable" Diebold machines that took only minutes to hack, delivering more Republican votes than could be accounted for by registered voters -- and delivering Ohio for Bush, as the CEO openly boasted before being forced to resign over accounting fraud? I wonder if he's still on the voter rolls.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Republicans trying to rig the vote in Florida

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So what are Republicans doing to try to ensure Florida goes their way in November? Well, this:

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has ordered the state to purge all "non-citizens" from the voting rolls prior to November's election. But that list compiled by the Scott administration is so riddled with errors that, in Miami-Dade County alone, hundreds of U.S. citizens are being told they are ineligible to vote, ThinkProgress has learned exlusively. 

And specifically targeting those likely to vote against them:

An analysis of the state-wide list by the Miami Herald found that "Hispanic, Democratic and independent-minded voters are the most likely to be targeted" as ineligible by the list. Conversely, "whites and Republicans are disproportionately the least-likely to face the threat of removal." 

In other words, it's just Republican being Republicans.

Thanks Rick

By Capt. Fogg

I didn't listen to the President's speech Thursday night, partly because I had a meeting to attend and partly because I've ceased caring. Of course not listening to the president's ideas about reviving the economy by putting people to work seems to a matter of pride in this part of the swamp and one squints when asked "didja listen to to President?" with that certain tone. The proper answer is of course, "hell no!" Why should I care about a country wherein this sort of idiocy is called "patriotism?"

Of course I didn't listen to Rick Scott, our Governor/Medicare Fraudmeister either -- hell no. I save such things for later and I prefer to read that kind of news rather than to be waterboarded with it. That way I can take a deep breath when I read that before the speech, he snarked that there wouldn't be anything for Florida in it and my TV was safe from having my foot through the screen when I read that it's likely he'll turn down 7.5 Billion allocated to improve and upgrade our infrastructure. That's money that would employ a lot of people who would spend their income in Florida and make Florida more attractive and accessible to the tourists upon whom our economy depends.

It wouldn't be the first time Ricky has turned away an opportunity. He refused to accept 2 billion to build a high speed rail line - you know the kind of thing other countries we feel superior to have. The kind of thing that, once again, would boost tourism and tax dollars. Oops - I used the magic word tax and Rick doesn't like taxes. Of course he doesn't like employment and he doesn't like the President and isn't about to let him do anything about employment because the only way to get out of a recession is to make sure the state doesn't take in a dime and to fire so many employees and cancel so many necessary projects that hardly anyone has enough income to require them to pay any taxes.

And then you cut costs more which puts more people out of work which means they spend less and so less gets made and companies go out of business and fire more people so there are still fewer with any money to buy anything -- and by and by everything gets better. Don't get it? you must be a liberal, or so the Teabrains tell me and I'd rather argue with a toadstool than with the kind of fungi and pond scum that make up that seething ferment. I mean, who can afford to care any more?

(Cross posted from Human Voices)

Rick Scott 2012

By Mustang Bobby

From Adam C. Smith of the St. Petersburg Times via the Miami Herald:

Rick Scott for president in 2012?

Absurd as it sounds, people who have talked to Florida’s tea party governor about the Republican presidential field are convinced Scott has a bid lurking in the back of his mind.

“I’m not running for president,’’ Scott declared last week.  Probably he won’t.

But let’s say the field of Republican candidates still looks muddled and uninspiring come November. Let’s say no one has managed to persuade Jeb Bush or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in the race. Let’s say fed-up tea party activists still dominate the GOP primary electorate and show no enthusiasm for the “electable” Mitt Romneys, Tim Pawlentys and Jon Huntsmans of the world.

[...]

Any normal politician would recognize the ludicrousness. One of the nation’s most unpopular governors, not even a full, rocky year into the job, running for president?

Remember, though, Scott is no normal politician. A lot of people thought it nuts for a fellow known mainly for running a company that paid the biggest Medicare fraud fines ever to think he could win statewide office — in Florida.

Scott pulled it off, though it took spending more than $70 million of his own money. That was only about one-third of his net worth last year, so he still has plenty to self-finance a formidible campaign operation in early primary and caucus states.

Another consideration: Scott often appears to care much more about his perception in national circles than in Florida.

He appears constantly on Fox News. He’ll show up for the opening of an envelope in Washington if it involves hob-nobbing with Beltway celebs. He caught the political bug founding Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, a group to combat healthcare reform, and constantly frames issues in a national context. Barack Obama was more of a foil in his gubernatorial campaign than Democrat Alex Sink, and he still frequently criticizes the president by name.

Folks outside of Florida may laugh, but here in Florida this dude has been doing his business for five months, and by any objective measure, he's a disaster. I know card-carrying life-long Republicans who shudder at the mention of his name. One of them said the reason Mr. Scott is bald is because he can't comb his hair; his image won't appear in a mirror.

There's no doubt that he has always had his eye on national office. Why not? In Republican circles, his record of shady business and corruption is a feature, not a bug. And while he campaigned on putting Florida to work, he and the GOP legislature decimated the state budget for schools and the environment, gave a lot of tax breaks to his rich friends, ran roughshod over the rights of doctors and women, and passed a bill regulating baggy pants in high school and outlawing sex with "dumb animals." (So the legislature took a vow of celibacy?) He's teabagger catnip.

There's a move afoot to amend the state constitution to recall the governor. It would be an arduous process, and by the time it's actually done, Mr. Scott's first term will be up, he'll be in the joint, or he'll be Michele Bachmann's vice presidential running mate. One way or another, his reign of terror in Florida will be over.

(Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.)