The Red Tide Is Flowing Here From Massachusetts

BY BUDDY NEVINS

The Massachusetts political earthquake is sending vibrations all the way to the Galt Ocean Mile.

After Scott Brown’s come-from-behind victory in the Blue state, Republicans here are crowing that they can grab back the beachfront congressional seat once held by Clay Shaw. And easily hold the beachfront state Senate and state House seats.

“As to Democrats in all elected offices in Broward, they should take note that if a Republican can get elected in Massachusetts with its 3-1 voter advantage with the help of Independents and Tea Party activists, it can happen in Broward, county GOP Chair Chip LaMarca wrote in a news release today.

“Just as voters in Massachusetts rejected the corrupt, closed door, backroom, insider dealings in Washington, voters in Broward will reject it here at home. Broward Democrats can no longer consider winning a Primary a slam duck for victory in November.

I agree with LaMarca.

I know hardcore Broward Democrats who are burning mad at Congress and Obama for forcing through a cobbled-together health care bill while ignoring the growing unemployment rate.

A final insult to one of my Democratic friends was the special treatment union members got under the bill, allowing them to avoid taxes while forcing more costs on small businesses.

This Democrat told me: “I’m going to vote against every Democrat who voted for that bill.

Watch out U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson!

Watch out U. S. Rep. Ron Klein, who holds the former Shaw seat!

The signs from Massachusetts will cause Charlie Crist to shift his campaign for Senate to the right.

Crist’s problem: He can’t go to the right of opponent Marco Rubio, who already has the support of the Tea Party faction of the party. And Crist can’t shake his early embrace of Obama’s economic policy, which so far hasn’t done enough for Florida.

With the Red Tide flowing in, my bet today is on the open GOP seats for state House and state Senate in northeast Broward and Palm Beach Counties remaining safely Republican.

As far as the rest of Democratic Broward, I’ve long felt that the county’s political structure would be better served by having more Republicans in office.

We are the outlier in Florida a Blue county in a heavily Red state. We suffer in Tallahassee because of it.

Maybe Massachusetts will encourage some voters to at least consider Republican alternatives in the fall.

A one-party system isn’t good  in Cuba, China or in Broward.



12 Responses to “The Red Tide Is Flowing Here From Massachusetts”

  1. Dog Bones says:

    Sooner or later every dog finds a bone and even a blind pig will uncover an acorn now and again. Massachusetts has been redefining itself, that has been happening slowly for the last 20 years. Whether that will have impact elsewhere is a guess right now.

    The most likely reaction in Florida will be an increased surge in support for Kendrick Meek, and some more for Rubio. Whether that will be enough to derail Crist remains to be seen. Democrats are rooting for Rubio because they think he’s easier for Meek to beat. Conservatives like that bet just fine.

  2. Resident says:

    I tend to agree with you. A healthy challenge of parties can be good. The problem is that the minority Democrats are mostly in South Florida, and a few other large cites. Majority Republicans are everywhere else. You need a mix throughout the state that is competitive, and that is not what we have.

    Good reason for that is district apportionment, which protects parties. If districts were drawn more to geographical lines and not political lines things may improve. If one party didn’t control the entire government, things could improve.

    Look at the positive, I am not sure it could get more polarized than it is now. So maybe the only way is up. But don’t count on it.

  3. Right Wing Reactionary says:

    Oh, Dog Bones, you just don’t get it. Rubio will beat the crap out of Meek if for no other reason that he voted for the health care bill sight unseen.

    The apportionment formula no longer rings valid for “protected” Dems and Republicans. There are more than enough pissed off Democrats who have been ignored by the radical left wing of the party that will join forces with the independents and end the Progressive arrogance once and for all.

    Buddy is correct about the vulnerable seats so far, but mark my words; Debbie Wasserman Schultz is safe for 2010, but if the Republicans take both houses in November, they’ll come at her with a vengeance in 2012.

  4. DWS says:

    Hey righty, I’m not exactly a Debbie Wasserman Schultz fan as far as all her polcies go. But you’ve got to admire her tenacity, guts and political skill.

    Pound for pound, she is the meanest political junkyard dog in Florida. In a fight she’d bitch slap any ten of you Republican. You’d be crying like little girls. You yokels talk a lot of shit but you still don’t get it. People sometimes vote for you but they don’t like you. They love Debbie and vote for her even those that don’t agree with her. Huge difference.

    You’re way out of your depth even going there.

  5. Phil Heck says:

    @Dog Bones

    “Democrats are rooting for Rubio because they think he’s easier for Meek to beat.”

    I think this is just fantasy. Nearly all of the polls for several months have indicated that Rubio will win over Meek. This was true even when Rubio was given no chance of winning the GOP nomination.

    A recent Rasmussen poll finds that Rubio would beat Meek by an even greater margin than Crist as it stands now. It’s still a long time before the election, but I see no basis for the Dem’s belief that Rubio is the weaker candidate.

    But then until recently another Democrat fantasy was that the GOP was dead.

    A vigorous two party system is not a silver bullet for this messed up county, but I agree with Buddy that the more competitive political climate that a stronger Republican Party would bring would be good for Broward. I’m not optimistic that it will happen soon.

  6. Hey Phil says:

    Let me follow your logic here: Crist is still ahead of Rubio in the polls. With me so far? But the polls you rely on have Rubio beating Meek by a bigger margin than Crist. Do I have that right?

    OK then, it’s all settled.

    Every Florida Republican should vote for Rubio because he has the best chance to beat Meek. I think that’s exactly what every good GOP voter in Florida should do.

    In fact the more I think about it the more I like it. PLEASE, you all, vote for Marco Rubio.

    And if you truly believe and want a vigorous two party system, then tell your friends in Tallahassee to draw district lines straight and we’ll see what a two party system looks like in Florida.

    Republicans have no answers to America’s problems. Most just care about themselves and to hell with everybody else. Nobody is more representative of that angry, selfish, reckless viewpoint than Marco Rubio. Even Crist has a more seasoned perspective, and face it, nice guy but who can honestly say that Charlie Crist isn’t mostly a smiling suntan in a suit?

    Take this healthcare thing. Everybody knows the deal on the table now sucks. But that’s the deal that was barely able to get 60 votes in the Senate because the Republicans absolutely refused to cooperate at any stage along the way. Now they have a 41st Republican.

    What do you think happens to healthcare now? Do you think that Republicans are going to come in and fix it or destroy the idea yet again, with the result of offering Americans without coverage anything? I’ll tel you what they will do. Nothing. They will let that idea die, they will let uninsured Americans die.

    Why? Because they truly don’t give a shit about anyone who’s poor. If you’re poor in America, if you didn’t make money early in life, if you’re sick, if you’re kids are in need, Fuck you. I want to go to the Bahamas this weekend.

    If you’re elderly and have outlived your retirement savings, living on social security, cutting pills in half, eating less than you should, Fuck you. That’s your fault. Die you old bitch. Why should I care, I have my BMW to pay for.

    If you’re one of the 12% of Floridians out of work, you can’t find a job no matter how hard you try, you lose your home and become homeless, fuck you loser. You and your bitch wife brought this all upon yourselves by having kids you couldn’t pay for. Die. I have to redo my landscaping this year.

    You’re a teacher that only makes $40K a year and can’t raise a family on that. Fuck you. That’s the profession you chose, I don’t want to pay a nickel more in taxes. But by all means, let’s give billions to criminal banks, auto manufacturers and insurance companies whose recklessness brought this nation to the brink of economic depression because they might have been naughty, but they’re Republicans after all.

    That my friend is what being a Republican is all about. Want more of that, America. Fine. Bring it on.

  7. Phil Heck says:

    @Hey Phil

    I didn’t say anything about whom voters should vote for. I was addressing the contention held by some Democrats that Meek would beat Rubio, not Crist. Most polls do not support that belief.

    I cited a poll in fact that found that Rubio would do better than Crist against Meek. Meek could turn it around, but 10 months out, it looks like Meek is mostly wishful thinking against either Republican.

    I’m sorry you don’t like what polls are showing right now.

    But your personal political beliefs won’t change the outcome of the elections.

  8. Hey Phil Again says:

    You say that my political beliefs won’t change the outcome of elections. Mine alone won’t. But yours and mine together can. And here’s my point.

    I abhor waste in government funding, I am also for us paying the lowest responsible tax possible. I am all for free enterprise. But I object to America having misery. We should afford ourselves the “luxury” if you all insist on calling it that to eliminate as much misery among our people as we can.

    People in need of work should be able to find it and we as a country should do more to get that done. The cost of living in America should be such that Americans can afford to live here. If you’re truly sick and can’t pay to get well, I want this government to find a way to have that person taken care of somehow. If you’re old, I want you to have dignity in your golden years. If you’re an orphan, I want you cared for. If you’re disabled I want to help you.

    And when we go to war, Goddam it, I want there to be a very good and truthful reason. And then I want us to win that war using overwhelming force if necessary, I want it ended quickly and with a minimal loss of life. I want us to stop playing around with people’s lives of our service men and women.

    Is that asking too much from the wealthiest nation on earth?

    Does that make me a bleeding heart liberal?

    Does that make me an arch-enemy of the many good conservative principles out there?

    Why can’t we just stop being Democrats and Republicans and become Americans again?

    I’m just so sick of all this bullshit. Get the job done for the people already. We’re hurting out here while these elected assholes play around with what group wants to be in charge.

    Yes, I’m a democrat but I don’t hate republicans I just wish they weren’t so harsh in their viewpoints. Mostly, I want us all to work together and get stuff done.

    Only let’s not say we agree with healthcare for the uninsured and then do nothing about it. That’s a snake’s excuse. America doesn’t need that anymore and THAT my friend is the change I want to believe in.

    And as to your polls ten months out, go look at the polls in Mass ten months ago. A whole lot can change in 10 months. I just hope we get someone in there that’s for the people.

  9. Phil Heck says:

    @Hey Phil Again

    All that’s fine and well if that’s what you believe.

    It has nothing to do with what this post is about or what my comment was about.

  10. Hey Phil Again says:

    On the contrary. Yours point is merely a symptom of the larger point which I raised. But if you believe otherwise, that’s all fine and well with me also.

  11. Right Wing Reactionary says:

    Okay Mr. DWS, you asked for it.

    First of all, for how much you really know, I am not a Republican. But in comparison with the “Progressive” Left Wing nuts I’m a right wing reactionary. But I not only know the message, I’m one of those who SENT the message.

    The voters of MA got the message loud and clear. You seem to have missed it. The real DWS is indeed a junk yard dog. She knows me and knows I oppose her health care stance. Because we know each other, she was royally pissed at me over the last few months. I suspect that junk yard dog or not, she’s finally getting the message. I won’t say quaking in her boots just yet, but she knows the warning signs. The real DWS is a climber and I suspect she’ll move to the center a lot quicker than Pelosi or the rest of the arrogant twits simply because she knows when opportunity comes knocking. And with opportunity will come the chance of real leadership. The message to Debbie which I’ve been sending for months is “follow up on your promises rather than parroting and bowing down to Nanci Pelosi.” Don’t bother, Mr. DWS, only the real DWS will know what it means.

  12. DWS says:

    Hey righty, I see your point better now thanks. Like I said, I also have differences of opinion with DWS. But short of an airplane crashing on her head, I don’t see anybody taking her out of office no matter how she votes on healthcare. I cannot say the same about many others in Congress, there we absolutely agree. They would be out of their depth even trying.