Primary Pooh slinging!

Per the usual, Monday morning's Good Morning America  and accompanying local adverts and news provided grist for the blogosphere's mill.

        We in Florida have been "blessed?" with a cast of Senate wannabees worthy of a Tarantino flick. Let's start with little Marco (I only show up for work 7% of the time) Rubio.  This guy, while rarely there to do his job during the last 5 years, did actually make an effort to craft some meaningful legislation re: immigration reform.  His reward for this was to be thrust under the bus by fellow Tea Partiers. Of course, in his own right he has criticized Mrs. Clinton's endorsement of "The disastrous Iran Deal," even though the term is simply an opinion based on ???(nothing)" Running against Rubio for the Republican  nomination we have one Carlos Beruff.  Beruff apparently assumed he was the sole candidate when Rubio announced he wouldn't run for Senate again in 2016, but little Marco,  seemingly touched by the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando and driven by a deep (albeit tragically brief) sense of compassion for the LGBT community, which he has, up until very recently, disdained, disrespected and legally opposed in the quest for equality under the law, decided to run again.

Now in TV ads, these two primates have recommenced hurling verbal feces at one another. Follow this next closely, because it amazes me.  Beruff actually supported former Florida Governor, Charlie Crist (Republican turned Democrat) in the gubernatorial race of 2010 against Rick (Voldemort) Scott, our current governor. A current Rubio TV spot charges Beruff with being a "Charlie Crist Republican,"  which would imply a moderate point of view ascribed to Beruff.  Rubio, apparently in an epic case of crossed wires, is portraying  Beruff as a "soft" moderate.

        Meanwhile, Rubio, a Tea Party darling until he actually acted like an adult on the immigration reform issue, has come out directly anti-Trump in new TV spots, even though he had sworn to support Trump after dropping out of the Primary Presidential race, which would make him (I guess) more a centrist than Tea Bagger, while Beruff, in his own ads, has strongly endorsed Trump.

        It is a bit interesting that they disagree on so much even though their backgrounds are almost identical, in that they are both the sons of  Cuban immigrants. Their current status, is another story.  Beruff is rich, possibly because Beruff, who vows to cut taxes if elected (as any good Republican always does) , avoided paying $235,000 in  taxes in 2015 alone for his business holdings. He did it by claiming that 1,884 acres his companies bought to develop in the future are agricultural land because they are leased to cattle companies or have planted pine trees or other crops. 

      Rubio, on the other hand has lost a house to foreclosure and, if not for his slavish and misguided support of Big Sugar, in the personage of the Fanjul family and Norman Braman, Miami auto billionaire, would probably be broke. Braman is a supporter of Rubio, and was ready  to spend anywhere between $10 million to $25 million in support of his 2016 presidential campaign. During Rubio's financial woes,  Braman has employed Marco Rubio's wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, at Braman Family Charitable Foundation. I have documented Rubio's love affair with Big Sugar and the Fanjuls here: definitely worth a read!

 (http://bubblehead1026.blogspot.com/2016/07/tis-pity-hes-whore.html)

      So Rubio, after initially vowing to support Trump, now has abandoned him, while "softy" Beruff, a Charlie Crist Republican, remember) has embraced him. Politics makes such strange bedfellows.

       On the other side of the aisle we have lantern jawed, bigamist (yeah, really, he recently divorced his previous wife who, it turns out had never been divorced from her first meal ticket) Alan (Hulk) Grayson. Grayson's claim to fame may well be his propensity for raving,  a la Trump, from time to time during his tenure in the US House. One of his best quotes,  elegant in its simplicity, was a heartfelt "STFU"(Shut the F**k Up!)  leveled against former  VP Cheny during an appearance  on MSNBC's "Hardball."   Grayson's other claim to fame may well be as winner in the "Who can name their kids worse than Sarah Palin?" contest. Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow and Piper Palin,  meet Sage, Skye, Star, Stone and Storm Grayson. Really?

       Grayson's opponent is Congressman Patrick Murphy, who ousted accused war criminal Alan West in 2011. West,  a true legend in his own mind, was "allowed" to resign his Army commission after doing things in Iraq which would probably have seen an enlisted man face a court martial. West was criminally charged with violating the uniform code of military justice, found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault, and relieved of his command. The final Army report: West "'performed illegal acts, merited court martial." Instead, West was allowed to resign as a  LtCol  on a pension for life of $58,000 annually, plus healthcare!

        Murphy, has been savaged in Republican sponsored  TV spots of equally questionable nature. One example would be the statement that Murphy "claims to be a CPA , but was never licensed in Florida" which implies, of course that Murphy lied. In truth, he was licensed and practiced in Colorado, before moving to Florida, where for a time he continued working  as an auditor !  Another example of "selective quoting." Accuses Murphy of lying about his role in Gulf Spill cleanups, stating that Murphy's company "never had a contract for Gulf cleanup" which is true, but omits the rest, which is that they subcontracted to a larger company which did have those contracts and eventually bought that company out, effectively owning the contracts. The last claim the Murphy "never owned a small business" is equally misleading, in that Murphy was a co-director and stockholder of several companies, which technically he didn't "own" -  but never claimed to own, simply characterizing himself as a "small businessman."   

        Of course, as always in our fair state, there is also in the case of both Grayson and Murphy, the allegations that they supported  the current President.  So good luck sorting this mess out,  come primary time.