Call it the “October Unsurprise.” Florida media are starting to release endorsements, and they’re not breaking for the GOP.
Trilingual newspaper La Gaceta not only endorses Charlie Crist, but is so angry with Marco Rubio from when he “turned his back on his Hispanic family,” that the newspaper strips the final vowels off of his name as punishment. Tolerance at its finest!
Former Florida Speaker of the House Marc Rub (we have stripped Marco Rubio of his Hispanicness and the vowels from his name) is the Republican nominee and faces Congressman Kendrick Meek, who is the Democratic nominee, and both are being challenged by Governor Charlie Crist, who is no party’s nominee. … In his search for power, prestige and money, Marc Rub has turned his back on those who brought him to the dance – his family, the Hispanic community – and we won’t forgive him for it. His political career must be stopped.
The state’s largest paper, the St. Petersburg Times also endorses Crist, celebrating gubernatorial accomplishments like his veto of an “assault on abortion rights.”
Democrats attack Crist for being too conservative, and Republicans attack him for being too liberal. Both sides accuse him of shifting positions to please everyone, and there is some truth in that. But it was his willingness to stand on conviction that left Crist so at odds with the Republican Party that he had to run for the Senate as an independent.
The Palm Beach Post, not only denounces Allen West’s bid in the 22nd district, but goes so far to call him a “demagogue.”
Responsible does not describe Rep. Klein’s opponent, Republican Allen West. He calls the TARP and stimulus failures. He opposes property insurance reform and wants to repeal health care reform. In fact, he wants to repeal the progressive income tax and replace it with a flat tax that would tax the wealthy at the same rate as the middle class.
And the Orlando Sentinel just plain doesn’t like Sandy Adams’s 24th district tea.
In Tallahassee, she sponsored a toothless resolution calling for Congress to be bound by term limits. She backed a constitutional amendment that pretended Florida could ignore federal law on health care. In an interview with the Sentinel editorial board, Ms. Adams questioned whether the federal departments of education, energy and interior were authorized under the Constitution. She said she couldn’t vouch for the constitutionality of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air acts without reading them.
The good news is that, taken together, candidates can learn something from this: In order to win endorsements from state media, they must buy into monolithic racial rules, suddenly shift positions on key issues, temper criticism of unsuccessful policies, and affirm the constitutionality of bills they haven’t read. What a Congress that would be.