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Rick Scott's "Not A Scientist?" He's Also Not Florida's CEO, And Shouldn't Be A Shareholder

In case you're keeping score, Rick Scott's latest reason for ignoring climate change is the same as one of the many used by national punch line Marco Rubio recently:

"I'm not a scientist."

 

That's an understatement, coming from a man who clearly has no business being a governor either. After all, Florida is ground zero for disappearing into the deep, thanks to climate change and according to 97 percent of those who are scientists and say man is largely to blame. 

I'm sure Scott's denial has nothing to do with companies like Duke Energy who keep his campaign coffers full while convincing the Florida legislature that Floridians should foot the bill now for power plants they may well never build. Or FPL, who convinced him that, even though no nuclear power plant has been commissioned in the country for 37 years (and Floridians are also still footing the bill for the Crystal River DIY nuke debacle), we now need to build not one but two more in South Florida.

As the guy charged with governing in the best interests of Floridians, Scott is doing a great job....."governing" in the best interests of the business interests and highest bidders who are doing their part to hasten the state's ultimate demise. After all, Duke Energy ranks second in the nation for carbon emissions.

Rick Scott's VA Hypocrisy Reaches Astounding Heights

Rick Scott and the Republican Party's blatant hypocrisy in the VA situation continues at an accelerated pace highlighting their main interest in veterans: To be used as political pawns, nothing more.

The Republican Party (most of which have never served) never hesitate to "Support the Troops" by sending them to battle no matter what the reason, nor the cost. Those same Republicans then ignore the troops forevermore after the fact.

Veterans deserve the utmost care for the sacrifice they make for the rest of us, but sadly, we have a long history of letting them down when they need us the most, and it's hardly a new phenomena as the GOP would seemingly, and laughably, have you believe. They count on short memories and think we're stupid. Case in point: Karl Rove is feigning outrage and running ads off the VA as I write. Yes, Karl Rove. 

Not to be left out in his sudden interest in veterans is Florida's own Rick Scott, a man whose only interests in veterans until now was cutting their benefits, denying them the right to vote, and firing his first Lt. Governor when she was caught up in a veterans charity scandal. Highlighting the "she got caught" part. 

Then there's his crowning achievement: Denying veterans who would qualify for Medicaid access to the care they need. Yes, many veterans fall into the "Scott gap" between the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, which Scott and his fellow hypocrites refuse to expand.

Yet the problems at the VA have managed to do what no one else could do before: Get the Republican Party to admit that people actually do need health care, that access to health care is in fact a good thing. 

Who knew?

Yesterday Scott placed himself front and center in the GOP effort to make political hay with veterans who, up until now, he had no interest in. After all these years in office, he waited until he kicked off his reelection campaign to decide that VA hospitals in Florida needed attention, and in April, he began sending "inspectors" to facilities in what seems to amount to little more than making a very public, headline grabbing fuss. Then he followed up yesterday with a made for lazy reporting announcement.

Sadly, many media outlets in Florida predictably ran with it. 

Scott fired off this press release to anyone and everyone:

Rick Scott's Hypocrisy On The VA And His Refusal To Expand Medicaid

Rick Scott was busy today joining the Republican Party in placing all the blame for the problems in lack of care and deaths through the Veterans Administration at President Obama's feet while ignoring his own party's part in all of it. He made media appearances and took to social media to criticize the President and to demand that Eric Shinseki resign:

 

In the video from that Tweet, Scott balks at those referring to the lack of care as doing harm to vets, and the differences between 'harm and death" at veterans hospitals, by saying "give me a break."

If anyone, it's Scott who doesn't understand the differences between harm and death, nor does he care. His refusal to expand Medicaid is killing six people a day. Real people, not just numbers, and those numbers include veterans.

So has the Rick Scott feigning outrage over the VA met the Rick Scott who refuses to expand Medicaid? You know, the same Rick Scott in this Twitter ad, which also appeared today as he was making his media rounds?

"Galactically Stupid" The Sequel: Rick Scott Flees Another Appearance With Charlie Crist

Run, Scott, Run...Away

Last week Rick Scott reportedly pressured the Council of 100 to withdraw an invitation to opponent Charlie Crist to speak at their Spring meeting in Orlando. The group claimed it was because they didn't want it to be a "political" event. Of course, Rick Scott then did his best to make it political by bashing Crist and promoting himself during his speech there.

This week, Scott is running scared again by refusing to attend a candidate forum at the convention of the Florida Press Association and Florida Society of News Editors where he and Crist were both invited to speak:

The groups invited Scott and Crist to speak separately in back-to-back appearances at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables on July 10. A letter to Crist called it a “forum,” and said “also invited for this session is Gov. Rick Scott.”

Crist said yes. Scott said no.

Scott's refusal to be accessible to the press is nothing new, and chances are the press wouldn't succumb to pressure and refuse to let Crist speak this time, so it appears Scott is once again afraid to stand up to defend all his rhetoric in the face of the opposition who would call him on it. Besides, Scott said early on that he would be bypassing the press during his reelection, and would address the voters only through social media. 

Of course, there may be another reason Scott doesn't want to face the press at the forum:

The Florida Press Association and Florida Society of News Editors oppose Scott in a lawsuit before the Florida Supreme Court filed by a former top aide to the late Democratic Gov. Reubin Askew. The lawsuit challenges Scott’s use of a law that allows elected officials to place assets in blind trusts as a violation of a constitutional requirement that officials must make a “full and public disclosure” of their assets.

Not only is his running scared from Crist for the second time in a week "galactically stupid" as Crist referred to it last week, but his excuse for doing so this time is galactically moronic:

Rick Scott's Fear Of Charlie Crist Takes A Brazen Twist

Rick Scott is famous for fleeing questions. When he ran in 2010, he refused to speak to editorial boards, fled reporters questions, and avoided direct contact with voters.

Since then, it's only gotten worse. This time around, Scott said he would run his campaign through social media only. So far he's stuck to that with staged campaign events (some say on the taxpayer's dime) and speeches, leaving the only "interaction" with voters through ridiculous stunts like letting a few ask questions through Facebook. Those events were more like Faceplants. 

Scott flees tough questions from reporters, when he's not just changing the subject, or twisting the facts:

 

Today Scott took it a step further, by pressuring the Council of 100 to disinvite Charlie Crist from making a speech there today. Crist was invited to speak weeks ago, but then the organization abruptly canceled his speech, which was to take place after Scott's:

...sources familiar with the incident say the business group felt nervous about the political ramifications of upsetting the current incumbent at the council's Spring General Membership Meeting in Orlando.

The reason for the cancellation became clearer later in the day:

 

The Republican-leaning group had invited Crist weeks ago to address its spring meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, and offered 30 minutes of speaking time.

On Tuesday, it withdrew the invitation, but Crist showed up anyway and listened to Scott’s talk. He then called a press conference and basked in the free publicity.

“It’s silly, childish and, frankly, rude,” said Crist. “It’s galactically stupid.”

The council gave no explanation for silencing Crist, who as a former governor is a lifetime member of the council. Two council leaders, chief executive Susan Pareigis and chairman Steve Halverson, did not respond to phone and text messages and emails.

Crist said Halverson told him Wednesday, “I owe you an apology. I was involved in that,” and that the reason was “we didn’t want it to be political.”

No, wouldn't want to make it political. No sir! 

 

First of all, it's a laughable excuse. Anyone who's been paying attention to Rick Scott for the last three years knows that everything he does is political. Everything.

 

Second, the Council of 100 claims it's a non-partisan organization for business interests. Again, anyone paying attention knows that the state's business interests are Rick Scott's base. Their's are the only interests that matter to this governor who fancies himself the CEO of Florida since his hostile takeover of the state in 2010, bought in part with his millions.

 

As for Halverson's statement "“we didn’t want it to be political,” well, that's more than a bit hard to swallow, given this:

The Charlie Crist Speech Rick Scott Was Afraid You'd Hear About

Here's the transcript of Charlie Crist's prepared remarks, which he was scheduled to give before the Council of 100 cancelled it under pressure from Rick Scott:

Thank you for being here today. I truly appreciate the opportunity to share my vision for Florida.  I've enjoyed the dialogue we've had over the years, the willingness of this organization to tackle big ideas and those in the membership who have sacrificed to serve their state in a variety of ways. So thank you for all you do, and for allowing this grandson of Greek immigrants to join you today.I am running for Governor for one simple reason:  Tallahassee is broken, and it is time to put the people back in charge.Quite simply, our state needs and deserves a Governor who will wake up every day thinking about people like you, who will govern honestly and with the state’s collective best interests in mind, and who will make this economy more fair for hard working business owners and taxpayers.And we need a Governor who will refocus the state on things that are important to all Floridians: good schools, affordable health care, respect for our environment and dignity for our seniors.Because that's who I am, that's what I believe in and that's what I'll do if given the honor of returning to the People’s house.My record is pretty clear – putting the people first. Going back to the days when I was blessed to serve the good people of the Tampa Bay area in the State Senate, I’ve always tried to do what is in the best interests of the people I served.And I am proud of my record as your Governor.

• Investing in public education and stopping the layoffs of some 20,000 teachers during the global economic meltdown…
• Cracking down on government corruption and opening up government so that you the people could be the watchdog...
• Cutting unnecessary regulations that held back the entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners, while protecting those regulations critical to consumers...
• Helping families by dramatically cutting property taxes and stopping the excessive profits in the property insurance market...
• Advocating for seniors by working to cut the cost of prescription drugs and helping seniors to stay in their home instead of being forced to move into nursing homes...
• Standing up for the basic tenets of democracy by ensuring that Florida voters would vote on paper ballots – and extending early voting hours in 2008 when long lines were limiting the right of our people to vote...
• Being tough on crime – locking up the most dangerous in our society so they can do no harm, but also leading on forgiveness,by ensuring that non-violent ex-felons who had paid their debt to society would have their rights restored...
• And leading on the environment, working to help the Gulf Coast recover from the oil spill…reducing pollution into the Everglades…supporting green energy.

From The Dept. Of Keep Digging: Rubio Cites Abortion In Argument Against Climate Change

Marco Rubio is still trying to get himself out of his most recent fumble in climate change denial, and it's easy to note that while he claims the science on that is debatable, what isn't debatable is his effort to keep digging.

Now he's found something to distract from the real issue much like his party turns to Benghazi whenever things go right, like Obamacare.

Rubio's "Benghazi!" is "Abortion!"

Seriously:

Marco Rubio said his liberal critics show their “hypocrisy” when they cite science and label him a climate-change denier when they decline to embrace the science of human life beginning at conception.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday afternoon, the Florida senator brushed off a backlash labeling him as a climate-change denier by aggressively accusing left-leaning critics as hypocrites given their abortion rights positions. He said emphatically that the “science is settled” that life begins at conception but that liberals “will never admit” to it.

“Let me give you a bit of settled science that they’ll never admit to. The science is settled, it’s not even a consensus, it is a unanimity, that human life begins at conception,” Rubio said. “So I hope the next time someone wags their finger about science, they’ll ask one of these leaders on the left: ‘Do you agree with the consensus of science that human life begins at conception?’”

“It’s a proven fact,” Rubio said. “That’s a scientific consensus they choose to ignore.”

Rubio's goals here are pretty clear. The first is distraction from the fact that he's a climate change denier. He still is. Shifting the subject to abortion doesn't change what he's said about climate change. Among his many statements is this one:

Marco Rubio: Still Clueless After All These Years

Marco Rubio On Climate Change: Sink Or Swim

Despite all the evidence that shows his home state is ground zero for climate change disaster, Marco Rubio is steadfast in his disbelief, ignorance and/or denial of it. 

The guy who said "I'm not a scientist, man" when asked how old he thought the earth was has no respect for those who actually are, either. He's still in denial, even though he would have many believe he's planning to run for President. 

He's been all over the airwaves the past couple of days demonstrating he's still not ready for primetime, even after years of practice and pretending to run for higher office. In fact, all evidence shows that he may have actually regressed.

Jennifer Carroll: Rick Scott's "Good Ol' Boy System" Is Bad For Minorities

Rick Scott And Jennifer Carroll In Briefly Happier Times

Former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has come out swinging against Rick Scott, and she's hardly mincing words. Even though she promises a tell-all book later in the year, she's letting some tidbits fly now, and they're not going to help stem the tide of damage he's already done for himself with minorities.

You'll recall that Carroll was forced to resign amid a criminal investigation of the company she was formerly a consultant for, Allied Veterans Of The World, resulting in 57 arrests for charges of illegal activities linked to a $300 million conspiracy. Carroll wasn't among those arrested.

In spite of that, as she left, she was praised by the Florida Republican Party for her "military advocacy," and even praised by Scott himself as he tossed her out. 

Carroll was never a fan of Scott's until he picked her, saying previously that “we do not need someone in that seat who is learning” and is “in that seat for personal gain.” as she supported his opponent.

Her latest criticisms are much more detailed. Among them, that he employs a "good ol' boys system" that is bad for minorities:

When In Doubt, BENGHAZI!

Republicans are not only politicizing Benghazi, but they're fundraising at the expense of the victims and their families, just as they've done with 9-11. The same Republicans that lied us into Iraq. 

The only thing worse would be if Democrats joined them, and seven spineless Democrats did just that by voting along with the GOP to impanel a select committee to "investigate" Benghazi, including Florida's own Patrick Murphy.

Even when the rest of the party gets it, there are a few who value their jobs more than they value...well, their own values.

 

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