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Though voting was made deliberately more difficult in many states in 2012, Florida stood out in its disgracefulness. Thanks in large part to a narrower early-voting window and fewer voting precincts, Republican-imposed changes to Florida's voting process led to indefensibly long lines.
It's understandable that Gov. Rick Scott (R) would be embarrassed by this, but the defense he's come up with isn't going to help.
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."
So, let me get this straight. Rick Scott's allies in the legislature passed bills that made it harder for Floridians to vote. Rick Scott then signed those bills into law. Rick Scott then spent more than $500,000 in legal fees to beat back court challenges to the anti-voting measures he adopted and enforced. Immediately after the election fiasco, Rick Scott defended his actions, declaring, "We did the right thing."
And now Rick Scott's defense is, "Who, me?"
Please.
Update: This afternoon Scott formally endorsed "the three major changes to election procedures recommended by state election supervisors," including increasing the early-voting window from 8 to 14 days (thanks to Tricia Mckinney for the heads-up).
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When he was questioned about the documents he signed as CEO of Columbia/HCA which basically resulted in the company committing the largest documented Medicare fraud in history, his excuse was "I don't remember signing them. They put a lot of things in front of me to sign, I can't read them all."
So he still hasn't really learned what it means when he signs things.
His JOB is to read each and every one! It seems that there is a lot of that in Congress too.
Gerrymandering in FL local politics will make it harder to oust this governor. The Republican Party is working on gerrymandering on the federal level (presidential politics) by splitting the electoral votes for each party, instead of giving all electoral votes to the winner, as the state does now. Floridians, your job did not stop @ the voting booth. You need to start fighting for your voting rights now. This is happening in a majority of Republican (red) states...Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, etc.
Is there any chance to recall him earlier than the election?
It is said that "the eyes are the window to the soul", anyone else see Gollum?
pRick Scott...
Must be the time outs as a child, a old fashioned butt beating would have been more effective. To actually think the people of Florida are dumb is an insult. Liars seem to what to put the blame on other people or situation, a true leader will take responsibility. One thing is clear, a leader he is not but as a liar he is on point.
You sign it, you own it.
You own it, you defend it.
And now you want a do over? Too late.
I feel like this guy is answering to someone/something else. He has got to know that he can't be so blatantly asshat and expect to walk without repercussion. I feel like he's in it for some huge payback. Like do the Koch bros own him? Ted Nugent? Norquist? And if this guy is not owned, then he needs to be on meds, take his guns away, and send him off to federal prison.
C'mon -- you don't actually expect this guy to take responsibility for his actions, do you? That could mean jail time in some jurisdictions.
EVERY bill a governor (or president) signs into law becomes HIS bill as much as it is that of the legislature that passed it and and sent it to him.
You want to disown the bill, Rick? Then you should have refused to sign it. Vetoed it. Let it die. It was YOUR bill, all right, and now you have to learn to live with its political and moral consequences.
Best Little Whorehouse Governor since Texas.
Dude's just a troll. He's all bad and that's his job. I just feel sorry for the people that have to share air space with him.
The shenanigans the republicans pulled in the election were reprehensible . It wasn't just florida , they tried to supress the vote in Ohio, Pennsylvinia, Wisconsin and Virgina. They obviously think they can't win on a level playing field . I used to respectfully dissagree with them but now I despise them
Ummm ... is restricting the early voting window in order to minimise the votes for a political opponent the sort of government tyranny that the pro-gun lobby uses to justify an armed populace?
Irony?
There used to be a term for this in the American lexicon: it was called being a G**D**** liar. A person told a lie - and if it happened to be a big one - we said "you know something? That's a G** D*** lie! And we made them eat their words. Now all this corporate cheese media niceness. Let's be nice, let's be easy on them, let's compliment them on "spin", their ability to spin. Back when I was a kid, some storky kid like Rick Scott came into my neighborhood and he told one whopper after another, we'd say "you know something, kid? YOU, are a G** D*** LIAR. Whatever happened to that? America became a more crummy place, when sleazebags stopped being called on it. I hope Rachel Maddow's bosses, and all the other smart boys in big media are happy. Thanks a yahoo.
This is simply political posturing. The whole discussion is absurd. You can always absentee vote. Its not any harder to vote than is reasonable. You could have picked up an absentee ballot at the election office at almost any time and turn it in, at a polling place, on election day, SKIPPING the line. Its procrastinators who are complaining. Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Every heard this before? and yes, Im a DEMOCRAT.
Jamessf - you are absolutely correct. I live here and had no problem voting. This is all garbage. It reminds me of commercials you see on TV trying to sell a product. They turn the circumstance into a huge problem that it really is not. The man is doing what he was voted into office to do, and what few unions we have, such as the teachers union, do not like it. To bad, so sad.