When you're the standard bearer for a political party, one of your big jobs is to orchestrate wins for that party. It's not clear for whom Florida Governor Rick Scott thinks he's orchestrating wins, but his own Republican Party has recently felt the need to remind him that he's not king.
"The governor doesn't understand there is a State Constitution and that we have three branches of government," Republican State Senator Mike Fasano tells the New York Times. "They are talking about the attitude that he is still the C.E.O. of his former health care corporation, and that is not going to work in this state, in Tallahassee, in my district. The people believe in three branches of government."
Governor Scott won the election in November with his own many millions and a lot of Tea Party love. He has since been busy turning down federal funding for high-speed rail and fighting against health reform. As we noted on the show last night, Mr. Scott's new budget cuts $1.75 billion in funding for education -- the Times attributes the difference to the end of federal stimulus support -- and includes roughly the same amount on corporate and property tax breaks.
"So K through 12 education gets absolutely eviscerated in the state of Florida, and the money that is saved by the state no longer spending the money on the schools doesn't close the state budget gap at all," Rachel Maddow said. "It leaves it roughly exactly as is and instead gives the saved money away in the form of tax cuts. So, you get all of the pain and none of the gain." Who gets the win on that?
(Full segment: The Rick Scott test: Tax cuts for dummies)
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They want to cut education to keep the general public ignorant and pliable. How do you think Rick Scott got elected in the first place? The politicians own need for power & money is helping dumb down America. This is only going to weaken us as a country.
So sad. I wish people would open their eyes and realize what the future holds if we stay on this track.
Rich folk, as always!
I live in Florida and was infuriated when Scott turned down the federal high-speed funding. A lawsuit tried to stop him, but in the end he wins. "He" being Scott alone. The citizens of Florida gain absolutely nothing.
hey.. florida voted him in. they now have to live with it.. maybe next time they will not do this to themselves.. if they survive...
What, and those of us who didn't vote for this lunatic should suffer too? I for one resent the people who cheer when an entire state is held hostage by idiots.
Ha! Love it, you voted for it Fl. and now look what you did. Let's just get down to the nitty gritty, this is about RELIGION. How else do you keep all the dumb rednecks voting for you and your "tax the poor & tax breaks for the rich" views? You have to tell them that God hates gays and that abortion is against God. Take out extremist religious views, and you'll see logic (mostly) prevail.
That is the problem, Smaller, but I must admit it's getting very tempting to look around the country and say "Fine. You idiots want to @!$%# everything up? Go to it-- just don't come running to me for sympathy or more help when it blows up in your face..."
Unfortunately I, and more importantly my nephews and friends, have to live here too...
smaller .... It's unfortunate that you're caught up in the mess Scott's creating. However, it should energize Dems in Florida to work harder in future elections. Too many progressives either chose not to vote or actually voted for people like Scott, Kasich, Walker, Christie, and the other Republican flame throwers. Let's hope people in FL--and elsewhere--learn to understand the costs of voting for conservatives.
Is it just me, or are these "imminent fiscal catastrophes" flipping over from "painful but necessary cuts" into giveaways faster and faster?
Without the giveaways, we wouldn't have the "immanent fiscal catastrophes" or need the "painful but necessary cuts", now would we?
If Rick Scott gets his way, this state will be not unlike a third world country. There will be only poor and uneducated, working in servitude to the rich and privileged. It makes me sick that this guy even got elected. Instead of Nero playing violin, it'll be Rick Scott drinking tea as Florida burns.
It just boggles my mind to think that this guy won the election, and to think that only 40% of registered Democrats voted in the election, now I bet they wish they had voted, Alex Sink would have made a much better choice! As a Florida voter and partner to a teacher who's been in the system for almost 30 years, we are very discouraged with the steps this Governor is taking. We along with many others are doing our part to try to recall this crook from the Governors office, and hopefully Alex Sink would win in a new election! HELP Rachel!! We need your attention!!
Alex's campaign was a JOKE! Florida democrats did not put a viable candidate and Scott's billions is what made him seem viable. His best campaign add was his mother for Christ's sake saying that's "he's a good boy".
Something shady happened in Florida and no one seems to care. I for one was told I wasn't allowed to vote twice. I went to the election's office in my country and DEMANDED my right. (I don't know if it was counted) How many other people did this happen to that didn't put up a fight??
Scott was a "good boy" whose healthcare conglomerate was caught red-handed gouging taxpayers and was forced to pay a massive fine. The "good boy" took the Fifth something like 74 times and then resigned as CEO. Rick Scott should be in prison.
How does it it go... "There jist ain't no fix"in Stupid"?
"You can't fix 'stupid'"
Being a transplant Floridan for the last 7 years from CT, I am embarrassed by this governer. Firstly, he only won the governership by 50,000.00 votes. This gives him no mandate, especially with the population of this state and about 50k in votes. I hope in many respects he over reaches.... It's the old story of give them enough rope. During these last elections, had a higher percentage of the electorate come out and vote, we wouldn't have any of this tomfoolery in WI, OH, IN, and now FL.
There needs to be a recall held in his honor!
Actually, the state legislation is attempting to pass recall legislation. As it stands the Florida constitution and governing laws do not provide a way to remove a person from office.
(Personally I think a crane (to lift) and a foot (to boot) should be plenty) but I guess we have to find a "gentlemanly" way of doing things. duel anybody?? After all, the baggers want austerity right?
I live in Florida and am furious with our State's decision to vote for Rick Scott; I do believe that if more people would have come out to vote that we wouldn't be in this mess. He won only ever so slightly. However, we are in this mess and the only group he's making happy is the Tea Party but not even the entire Florida based Tea Party... he's playing to the money.
Does anyone notice a pattern to all of this. This has been coming for years. They are trying to destroy the two party system, as per Rove, by destroying the American middle class, and the poor get poorer and gain huge numbers. They are creating their own slave class. The fuedal system is alive and well. Keep a people poor, sick, give them toys to play with, scapegoats to hate, and their religious leaders telling them they will all translate out when God comes back and they don't have to worry about anything, and you have the American people. We should alll be so proud.
This includes getting the middle and working classes to fight each other. Hating on public employees is a key part of that strategy. Republicans can't get elected unless they identify one or more subgroups within society to make their divide and conquer strategy work. They've been doing it for decades. Communists, blacks, Vietnam War protesters, welfare recipients, blacks, ACORN, gays, Hispanics and illegal aliens, Muslims, public employees, etc. Only the targets change.
They can't do it without religion and the social issues. For centuries, savvy leaders have used religion to neutralize the masses and cover up their own greed. "You won't have anything in this life, but if you're compliant and obedient, you'll have it better in the next life. Meanwhile, we, your leaders, are getting richer and more powerful." What a crock.
You are absolutely right, they can't do it without religion. Jeff Sherrits books, "The Family," shows just how involved the fundamentalist christian right is in this process. I want to scream from the roof tops, "wake up." But who am I screaming at? The "so called" liberals? The Libertarians? The church goers? We are asleep and no one seems to notice, except maybe, the teachers, and they are fighting for their retirement, their tenure. They sure were'nt out there when these states were passing their so called Right to Work laws. Maybe now with what is going on in Wisconsin and the other states, someone is taking notice.
You don't believe you're gonna get your Pie in the Sky? I just don't wanna wait till then, I'll take my Pie now thank you, (while you eat cake anyways)
GrandmaBarb -
I'm pretty sure you're referring to Jeff Sharlet - "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" - an excellent book (which I learned of from Rachel's interview(s) with the author). I can't recommend this one enough. Last year, he published a follow-up, "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy" which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
You are right, sorry, getting old and memory is going, but you knew what I was talking about. Bravo! Sharlet, next time I will double check. I have the book sitting right here. I can't recommend it enough either. It should be required reading in every freshman college religious studies class.
You've got it GrandmaBarb! Besides which, "FOLLOW THE MONEY". If state and federal leaders keep going with these lame proposals and the middle class lies down and lets corporate America run over the top of us, the U.S. dollar will be worth $.25. That's not too much of a problem if you have billions of U.S. dollars, but if not... Oh well, " If we're going to die, let us die and reduce the surplus population! The corporate types will take care of the congress, state or federal, until they get everything they want and don't need them anymore! Then "SURPRISE...!
What is with this new trend of turning down federal money and the opportunity for jobs and a new industry in the states, since when is high speed rail "the devil", this isnt the first time I heard a Gov. doing this in a time of unemployment I just dont see the sense in this. Does anyone else???
I can't figure out why Republicans are against high speed rail. My guess is that since it is popular in Europe, just like affordable health care, and they just can't admit that socialist countries invest more in their infrastructure than our capitalist republic. That would blow a hole in their "blame socialism" strategy for the 21st century.
I think the simplest explanation is the most likely - the Rape-Public-CON party "plan" is to ensure that President Obama serves for one term only (many of them have said so in as many words - it seems like one of the few honest things I've heard them say).
Thus, turn down the Federal money and the jobs it would create (and the "stimulus" ripple effect those jobs would have had on their local economies) and when things stay bad (or even get worse) you can blame it on Obama and (cue Charlie Sheen).... WINNER! Hey, it worked in 2010, right?
:(
Hey pretzel good point wat part of philly you live in, im from west philly but now live on Camp Lejeune, NC, i miss real cheese steaks ....
"wat part of philly you live in"?
for the last decade or so, South Philly. Before that U.City (West Philly). Before that... (when thunderturkeys roamed the earth) the Delco suburbs...
;-)
How the people of Florida let this guy win still shocks me. I live in Florida and I just have been sick over this crook being elected our governor! It's elections like this 2010 why we are falling behind other countries.
I am a native of the state of Florida. Our economy is based on the ponzi scheme of development. We have no real economy here. We have service industries, but little manufacturing. We have agriculture but but agriculture has been eroded by development because without unbridled development our state has no economy. The state has always been awash with crooks and scam artists, so Scott is the perfect man for the job. He is a carpetbagger. He is an unindicted co-conspirator who had little respect for how much of the Country's tax money he was bilking from the system as a CEO... There is a perfection here. There is no Fix.
Ding, ding, ding. You hit the nail on the head.
It is time to get mad. Thank the unions for finally standing up to these Constitution haters. I don't care about appropriate rhetoric anymore. The GOP power mongers created an environment that the only way we can break even is by "fighting" back. Wake up. It is time. We need to not only fight back, we need to win. I have grandkids that deserve "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." These people really want to take it away from them. The banks and the credit rating corps have all been working with them for years. Keep America buying and in debt, cut their wages, keep telling them their are the "best" in the world and train them to bend to authority, what is next? The State govenors declaring "martial law." Watch it happen.
Its Christmas for Republicans. The question is will the apathetic stand up? The Republicans bet not. If there was ever a time for the left side of the political spectrum to stop behaving like cats it is now. Liberals, Progressives, & Socialists need to all paddle in the same direction. There is one thing money can't actually buy: Votes. But will the apathetic stand up?
Rachel, I live in Texas. It seems to me that what Texas, Florida, Wisconsin etc all have in common, is that the people who would have been expected to vote Democratic, did not bother to vote in the same numbers as those voting GOP. To me, this is the 800 lb. gorilla.
How are we going to get beyond lame, cornball MTV "Rock the vote." inducements to vote "because it's hip, because it's 'really important, hello', " and get into some old school agressive efforts to get everyone voting. "Hey, you gotta do it, unless you're a lame-a()() worm, a pathetic shell of a human being, a self confessed non-adult. Gedouddaheah."
"Fuggeddaboudit."
As someone else on this blog has already speculated, perhaps part of the problem is who gets to "count" the votes. Where the voting is being done on electronic ballots with no paper trail... ? Why have the exit polls (when and where they even bother to do them anymore) been so often "inaccurate" as compared to the official tallies? Certainly memory isn't perfect, but I know I don't remember the exit polling ever being thatfar off in the "distant" pre-2000 past. Hey... maybe the Y2K was the "end of the world as we knew it"?
Anybody ever see the older movie with Robin Williams playing a late night TV show host that decides to run for president (AND WINS!!)??
Remember the computer glitch that caused his win?? Well, ScoTT (has doubles) but Sink (does not....)
As a Floridian, even my republican friends deny voting for him so I wonder how he won, but me thinks they may just be covering it up out of guilt......
The Movie was called "Man of the Year"
I EXPECT this from right wingers... has there ever been ONE platform they've supported that put the NEEDS of the middle class ahead of the GREED of the rich?
and the morons vote for these guys... because they come up with dopey, empty slogans and come off as "regular people" I don;t want regular people leading us... I want EXCEPTIONAL people leading us....
The right wing is more dangerous to America then the Taliban could ever be...
"I want EXCEPTIONAL people leading us" - now that's"American Exceptionalism" that I can really get behind!
Our country is quickly moving from a democracy to an aristocracy. Soon only the aristocrats' children will have a good education. Why do the great unwashed need an education anyway? I'm afraid Mr. Obama and the Democratic party will become weaker over the next two-four years as the Republican party becomes stronger. However, I predict that within five years, anarchy and revolt will happen in this country, as it’s now happening in the middle east, forcing a return to a democracy.
Scott should be in prison.
This is the same repub game that has been played since the days of Reagan, carried to the next level. In Reagan's day, the supply siders honestly believed that if you cut taxes, it would produce more revenue, (voodoo economics, as George H.W. Bush called it), but you could at least excuse it because it hadn't really been tried before. However, today, after 30 years of proof from here and other places around the globe that it just plain doesn't work, that excuse just doesn't fly any more, and I doubt if many who espouse those ideas really believe in them either. What they are doing is using supply side economic arguments to hide their true agenda: "starving the beast" of government in order to have a justification to eliminate social programs they have always opposed, under the guise of dealing with a fiscal emergency, (that they themselves created). Rick Scott is just the latest example of voters thinking that a businessman will make government work properly. Where is the logic in that, folks? Rick Scott himself is a criminal, guilty of the biggest fraud against the federal government in all of US history! It is businessmen on Wall Street that created the subprime mortgage scam to purposely implode. It is businessmen that gave us Enron, Tyco and more. Their history shows pretty conclusively that the ONLY thing they know is how to scam and manipulate, and that actual people are nothing more to them than marks to be fleeced and discarded.
Florida already has one of the worst education systems in the country. Pretty scary what is happening in our once great country.
Out in CA Arnold came in and started acting like a CEO. People do get it once they see the nonsense in action.
Voters want to believe that their votes mean the politician will do what they voted him/her to do. When these rich, arrogant guys get elected the voters realizes that what they want doesn't matter. The rich kids are in charge and they will do as they please.
Meg Whitman lost because she had to much money and could not be controlled by the voters. She ran to be Boss not Leader. There is a difference.
Walker is showing the same thing. He is not a leader who listens but a boss who is just going to tell you what to do without input from his people.
Business people have a very difficult time trying to understand the difference between running a business and running a government. Ross Perot is a great example. He always talked about how if he were president, he would tell this person to do this, another group to do that, etc, etc, etc. He acted as if he could make the presidency into a dictatorship, telling everyone the way HE wanted it done, and when to do it, rather than recognizing that outside of a totalitarian regime, government is an exercise in consensus-building and compromise. No one person or group is ever going to agree with you 100% of the time. It's what you do when you run into opposition that defines how successfully you can be a true leader. Any megalomaniac can be a dictator, tossing down orders to be followed under threat of death. A true leader is one that can deal with opposition in a constructive manner and come up with well-informed decisions that everyone, or at least most, can live with and support.