Beach Peanuts

Medicaid Stall Day Two, Plus, Weatherford's New Behind-Closed-Doors Tax Giveaway Would Cost Floridians $100,000

 

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Photo: Martha Jackovics)

For the second day in a row, Democrats in Florida are forcing the House to read bills in full in protest over Republicans inaction on Medicaid expansion, debating the expansion in between the readings, which Republicans in turn limited to three minutes.

Democrats argued that House Republicans are ignoring the will of Florida voters while sending their tax dollars elsewhere in rejecting expansion. House speaker Will Weatherford, whose own family benefited from Medicaid when his brother needed medical care, which he is denying to others, said the stall tactics were "dissappointing" and "unbecoming." Weatherford recently said that if Medicaid wasn't dealt with this year "that doesn't mean that the world comes to an end." Those being denied health care might disagree on that. Weatherford and the rest of the legislators pay only $8 a month for health care, while the GOP House version of Medicaid would have those with low incomes paying three times that amount through private insurance, rather than accepting federal dollars as the Senate plan would.

In other developments per the Medicaid dispute:

Democratic National Chairman and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz traveled to Tallahassee to praise Democrats for standing up for Medicaid expansion, and to criticize both Republican lawmakers and Rick Scott. She said that by claiming he wants the expansion but not pushing the GOP to act, Scott was having his cake and eating it too. As for the Republicans:

"It's important and the right thing to do," she said. Democrats' delay tactics are preventing Republicans from "just ramming through what their tea party extremist agenda thinks is important."

In retaliation against Democrats, the Republicans began killing Democratic bills, while still pushing through bills for special interest groups and lobbyists. 

While claiming there isn't enough time to debate over Medicaid, and in doing so, sending Florida taxpayers money elsewhere, lawmakers still found time to meet privately overnight to give a special tax break to a California company that was recently hired by a Tallahassee lobbying firm. The tax break was personally requested by Will Weatherford. The tax break was never discussed publicly and would cost approximately $100,000 per year.

Also coming to light: The fact that by not expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, not-yet-naturalized immigrants may be able to get benefits that American citizens in their states can't get.

Related articles

Thrasher: "No Fallout From Doing Nothing On Medicaid," Unless You Count The Sick And Dying

Florida Democrats Won't Vote For A Budget With Inadequate Medicaid Coverage

Welcome To Florida, Where Death Is Certain For Some, But Taxes For Others, Not So Much

Gabrielle Giffords Leads Pledge Of Allegiance At The 2012 Democratic National Convention

Gabrielle Giffords, with assistance from friend and former colleague in the U.S. House, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, leads the Pledge Of Allegiance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

RNC Schedule For Thursday, August 30

It was day two of the RNC in Tampa, and things took a bit of an ugly turn on Tuesday night.

There was a bit of a rift in their own party ranks when the fears that Ron Paul supporters might cause trouble came true. Even though there was a video tribute of sorts to Paul used to placate them, (Paul refuses to endorse Romney) the Paulites staged a walkout and were also a bit angered when Rand Paul showed his true hypocrisy colors when he threw his support behind Mitt Romney.

Other low lights: A film tribute to both Bush 41 and 43, Rand Paul declared "ObamaCare" unconstitutional in spite of the Supreme Court ruling otherwise, (Why does he hate the Constitution?) John McCain blamed President Obama for defense cuts, instead of himself and Congress, (There's a shock.) Mike Huckabee, classy as always "man of God" attacked Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tim Pawlenty proved again he has all the charisma of a....I'm sorry, I nodded off. Where was I? Oh yes, Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty made several of what appeared to be jokes. (They weren't funny.) Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi made a fool of herself in an audience participation health care bashing speech. It didn't go well. (All was not lost though, she did prove that she can read a teleprompter. All three of them.)

Last and least, VP nominee Paul Ryan proved himself once again to be an adept liar, and clueless on most things he claims to be an expert at.

They all blamed everything on Obama, of course, and they all sucked it up and pretended to like Mitt Romney.

Tomorrow several speakers from Florida are scheduled, including the Charlie Sheen of the Sunshine State, Connie Mack IV, who will probably say "Lockstep Liberal" a lot (It's his favorite phrase.) and engage in lots of fake outrage over pretty much anything the President has done, and several things he hasn't done that Mack has dreamed up.

In other words, it's Thursday with the GOP.

7:00 p.m.

Convention convenes

 

Call to order

 

Introduction of Colors US Central Command Joint Forces Color Guard Team

 

Pledge of Allegiance by Dylan Nonaka

 

National Anthem sung by SEVEN

 

Invocation by Ken and Priscilla Hutchins

 

Remarks by U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (FL)

 

Reagan Legacy Video

 

Remarks by Newt and Callista Gingrich

 

Remarks by Craig Romney

8:00 p.m.

Remarks by Governor former Jeb Bush (FL)

 

Remarks by Bob White, chairman of Romney for President campaign

 

Remarks by Grant Bennett

 

Remarks by Tom Stemberg

9:00 p.m.

Remarks by former Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey

 

Remarks by Jane Edmonds, former Massachusetts Secretary of Workforce

 

Remarks by Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode

10:00 p.m.

Remarks by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (FL)

 

Remarks by presidential nominee Mitt Romney

 

Benediction by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

 

Speaker Boehner declares convention adjourned

President Obama: "Tampa, We Don't Need An Outsourcing Pioneer In The Oval Office"

(Photo: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

An enthusiastic crowd of nearly 3,000 came to Hillsborough Community College in Tampa Friday to see President Barack Obama, some arriving to line up early in the morning, for a late afternoon rally amid heat and thunderstorms, his first of many Florida campaign stops to come. It was his second stop in Florida after speaking to Hispanic leaders earlier in Orlando.

The energetic crowd cheered before, during and after his speech, chanting "fired up, ready to go" and "four more years" and many repeating his words as he spoke. 

(Photo: Martha Jackovics)

Obama's speech focused on strengthening programs like Medicare, cutting the deficit, and reforming the tax code in a fair and responsible way, as he slammed Republicans and Mitt Romney for putting tax breaks for the rich as their number one priority at the expense of the middle class and the poor.

The President zeroed in on Mitt Romney after a Washington Post investigation revealed in an article yesterday the extent of his role outsourcing jobs overseas while he was at Bain Capital. The Post's Tom Hamburger wrote that Romney's involvement in outsourcing was much bigger than previoulsy reported. Bain actually invested in companies that specialized in relocating jobs done by Americans, sending them to low-wage countries like China and India. 

In his speech, the President addressed the issue, saying: “My plan will stop giving tax breaks to businesses that ship jobs and factories overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs and manufacturing right here in the United States of America. Now, not only does Governor Romney disagree with this plan, today it was reported in The Washington Post that the companies his firm owned were ‘pioneers’ in the outsourcing of American jobs to places like China and India. Pioneers! Tampa, we don’t need an outsourcing pioneer in the Oval Office. We need a President who will fight for American jobs and American manufacturing.  And that’s what my plan will do.”

(Photo: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

As the President mentioned Romney, there was an audible crack of thunder from outside that brought on laughs from the crowd, and at one point something fell from the ceiling, at which point Obama made a quip about the need for infrastructure in Florida.

Before addressing the crowd, he spent time with an overflow crowd of about 250. At the same time, U.S. House Rep. and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke briefly. At the mention of Florida's Governor Rick Scott, she drew loud boos from the crowd, pausing to say she wasn't a fan of his either.

U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Photo: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

President Obama also got an enthusiastic introduction from Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn who praised him for the $10.9 million federal grant from the transportation department for the Riverwalk, saying it was an investment in the local economy, not pork, and that the President understands that investments make the economy grow. 

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (Photo: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

"Four More Years" (Photo: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

As the President was wrapping up his 35 minute speech, he had to pause as the crowd began chanting "four more years," clapping and stomping their feet. 

From a group who braved long hours, heat, rain and thunderstorms to see him, it was clear that there is no "enthusiasm gap" in Florida when it comes to President Obama.

Four more years, indeed.

Watch the entire speech here:

 

(Photos: Martha Jackovics-AJ)

Congress Members Urge Bondi Not To Divert Foreclosure Funds Away From Intended Homeowners

With states like Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont already making plans to divert funds from the recent foreclosure fraud settlement away from the homeowners they were intended to help, some in Florida have wondered if the State Attorney Pam Bondi would try to go the same route.

Several members of Congress from Florida have written a letter to Bondi to get out in front of a possible diversion of funds that could wind up elsewhere.

Think Progress:

Members of the Florida congressional delegation have already penned a letter to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) in an attempt to head off a similar effort to siphon away funds, writing, “given the ongoing state of Florida’s housing crisis, we strongly urge you to use these settlement funds for housing relief, and resist any effort to divert the funds to close shortfalls in the state budget.” 

The letter was signed by Ted Deutch, Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings, Richard Nugent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Fredrica Wilson.

Let's hope Bondi does the right thing and uses the settlement to help the homeowners it was intended for, rather than filling holes in an already devastated state budget that's already hurting many of those Floridians enough as it is.

Allen West: Call Me Hatefully Irresponsible, Please!

"Respect My Authoritah!"

Those of us in Florida are painfully aware of Rep. Allen West's (R-FL) "colorful" statements, whether he's relentlessly attacking Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) for "not being a lady" or telling liberals to "take their message of equality of achievement and get the hell out of America." While they still tend to be shocking, we no less have become somewhat accustomed to them.

On the other side of things, Allen West seems to have become accustomed to the attention that his bloviations get him. After all, he hasn't accomplished much since he went to Congress, so if it weren't for his unhinged outbursts, many wouldn't notice him at all. So naturally when anyone in the media or the blogosphere reports what he says, he jumps on it. Just in case anyone out there missed it the first time.

Case in point? Recently Think Progress put up a list of West's 15 most outrageous statements, and it provides an ugly trip down memory lane.

Naturally, when Allen West found out about the list, he just couldn't help himself. He was so proud of himself that he announced it to the Boca Raton Republican Club yesterday, accusing the people at Think Progress of being "whiners." 

Back in the old days when there were still one or two civilized members of the Republican Party left, this wouldn't normally be something to brag about, but in today's world a Republican who makes frequent use of hateful slurs and dog whistles (or more recently, bullhorns) not only gets a pat on the back from some, but probably a nice big check to be spent on the next ugly campaign ad from some of the rich and equally rabid ones. In West's case, it seems there's an added "bad-ass bonus" to be earned where he's concerned given how much he seems to thrive on the attention.

Saying he found the Think Progress list "hilarious" West went on to say this:

So I go around and there’s a website she has up, and it’s called ThinkProgress.com [sic]. And it was hilarious. Because there are people out there on the other side that are actually tracking every little single thing that I say, and they had the top ten things that Allen West is saying, and you know, it really started to look like a bunch of whiners: “He said nuts. He said he doesn’t want liberal message [sic] in America.”

You know, what I can’t understand for the life of me is how people on the other side can certainly dish it out, but when you stand up on principle, when you tell them what you believe in, they can’t take it, they act offended, and they act hurt. So I know that whatever I say tonight is going to show up somewhere.

Whiners Rep. West? No, as one who has done so myself on several occasions I can say that those of us who quote you directly aren't whining, we're quoting you directly.

As for those of us on the other side you claim are offended and hurt by your principles? Offended, yes. Hurt? Hardly. The only one hurt by your hateful comments is you. Just ask the members of your own party who did a little redistricting dance in yours recently.

No one on this side is "dishing" anything, we just point out what you're shoveling, and there's plenty to go around. 

If you can't take the heat, perhaps you should "get the hell out" of the political kitchen.

(Photo: Allen West, U.S. House)

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Statement On Florida GOP Primary

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement tonight on the results of the Florida Republican primary:

“Mitt Romney’s victory tonight in the Florida GOP primary comes as no surprise—Romney and his super PAC outspent his nearest opponent by running 13,000 ads to Newt Gingrich's 200, carpet-bombing the airwaves with negative ads. In fact, Romney’s campaign has already spent more on negative ads than John McCain did during his entire presidential run.

“Tonight, Romney was successful in buying his way to victory—but with every passing Republican contest, he becomes weaker with key general election swing and independent voters should he make it that far. That’s because Mitt Romney has made it clear he will say anything, take any position on any given day and before any given audience and will distort any fact about his or his opponents' record to win.

"But voters are paying more attention than Mitt Romney gives them credit for. They know he has declared support for both an extreme Tea Party agenda that would gut Social Security and Medicare and a budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and shifts costs onto the backs of America’s seniors. They also know Romney has doubled down on his incredibly out-of-touch positions of letting foreclosures hit the bottom and expanding tax breaks to the wealthiest few at the expense of the middle class. And despite his double-speak in Florida, Mitt Romney has done nothing to dissuade voters from the notion that he is the most anti-immigrant significant major party candidate for president in generations.

"The reason Mitt Romney's negatives have soared with independent voters nationally and in key states, even as he has won one contest on his home field and bought his way to victory in another, is because the more voters learn about his extreme and out-of-touch positions, the less they like him and the less they trust him to lead."

 

Winner From NH GOP Debate: Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Netroots Nation 2011

(Photo: Beach Peanuts)

Saturday night's GOP debate (wink, wink) turned out to be a bit of a yawner. If you watched it, you already know this. If you tuned in but promptly fell asleep (as Ron Paul appeared to do at one point), or didn't bother to tune in at all, then lucky you. Congratulations! In short, you missed very little. It wasn't quite the slug-fest I thought it would be and we didn't hear much of anything new.

The bigger news, and the quote of the night actually came from none other than Florida's own, Democratic Rep. and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In an interview with TPM she said this about Mitt Romney and his ludicrous claims to being a job creator:

“Mitt Romney, I think, is more of a job cremator than a job creator,” Schultz said. She added: “He was a corporate buyout specialist at Bain Capital. He dismantled companies. He cut jobs. He forced companies into bankruptcy and he outsourced jobs and sent jobs overseas. That’s not a record to write home about, that’s not a record to be proud of, and it’s something voters need to know.”

Schultz said Romney received the most attention from Democrats in part because he had devoted the most time to going after President Obama in his public remarks.

“That’s all he does,” she said. “His singular focus really is to attack President Obama.”

Well put I would say. Wasserman Schultz was also right about Romney's focus on President Obama. That's one thing all the GOP candidates seem to agree on: That President Obama has never done anything right (although Jon Huntsman did give him a little credit on foreign policy during the debate), another ridiculous claim. Despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday that 200,000 jobs were added last month alone, Romney claimed in the debate that wasn't because of President Obama. By the same token, a tanked economy thanks to the GOP and George W. Bush that began long before Pres. Obama took office? Republicans claim that however was Obama's fault.

It must be quite a perfect world for the GOP up there on Planet Delusion, the place where you can loot the country, tank the economy, place roadblocks to slow any possible recovery, and then turn on the person who is trying to fix the mess and declare him a complete failure. In other words: Bold-faced lying. 

As for the "platform" they're running on? Well, for average Americans that would be "in order to restore and take back the country, we have to take away your health care, Social Security, jobs and unemployment benefits, while also raising your taxes so we can all live the millionaire and billionaire lifestyles we've become accustomed to since we pay few, if any taxes ourselves. If you're not rich and a victim of our failures and scams, well (as Herman 9-9-9 Cain said before dropping out) blame yourselves!"

Hey, what's not to love about the short end of that Republican stick?

So yes, naturally the guy who the Republicans have chosen to lead them to the United States of Pillage and Plunder is one of the biggest experts they have: Mitt Romney: job killing profiteer in chief.

So yes. Debbie Wasserman Schultz nailed it:

Mitt Romney: The Job Cremator.

Bumper sticker anyone?