Maybe it took seeing him in person to really get the fact that the guy doesn’t get it. And this is the guy in charge of our fate as a state: a man so disconnected, so clueless, so scripted as to need a prepared statement to fill in three of the nine minutes he gave the press, three minutes that added up to something like a public service announcement for third graders about not dropping lit matches on dry forest floors. This is the man allegedly in command of the state’s (and Flagler’s) biggest emergency since the hurricanes of the mid-2000s.
Rick Scott’s parachuting visit through Flagler County today was embarrassing. It was embarrassing to watch the spit-polish obsequiousness surrounding him, embarrassing to be part of it, and worse than embarrassing—worrisome is the better word—to realize that in an emergency, this is the man in charge, a man to whom command of public matters seem as alien as his empathy for the men and women on the front lines of the emergency.
Click On:
- “Saturate Us With Resources,” Fire Commanders Tell Rick Scott in Flagler County
- Gov. Scott Touring Flagler Fires at 4 p.m. After Declaring Emergency and Activating Guard
- Firefighter Hero-Worship and Floridians’ Hypocrisy: When Public Employees Save Lives
Men and women Scott refused to see today. Firemen whose sweat and mud and exhaustion Scott had no time for, except in mention as passing as his stop-over.
Have you visited the fires, governor? “I saw the fires as I was flying in.” Do you intend to visit the fires? “I’m not going to go tour right now any fires locally.” But he’ll be flying to Naples and seeing more fires from the air, hopefully. Have these politicians not learned from George W. Bush’s Katrina fly-over that watching from the plush comforts of the mile-high club doesn’t cut it with the people contending with the misery below? He arrived at 4:08 p.m. His schedule knocks off at 5. He was out at 4:45. Gone. Photo-op over.
His half hour included the time it took to wend his way from Suburban to briefing room to situation room—so fast, so climate-controlled, that he never so much as took a whiff of the acrid smoke the county is living with. His lay-over in the situation room was officially billed as a press conference but was really a camera-ready flattery squad: Scott standing there at the dais with remarks as canned as the lineup of emergency response personnel and the Florida National Guard’s Adjutant General Emmett Titshaw behind him. It would have been nice to see a rank-and-file firefighter next to the governor. No room in that frame. Consider it a 3 percent cut from the photo op.
And there they were, county and city managers, politicians (the entire county commission, I hear, at least two Bunnell commissioners, where a parade is always appreciated), emergency operations personnel, not to mention the rest of us schmucks—reporters, who can almost always be counted on to play into the hand that feeds them fake news—filling that situation room with bated breath as if the man who walked in the door was going to be—imagine that—enlightening, or reassuring, maybe a little inspiring. Isn’t that what we look for from leaders in times like these? Hadn’t this man just declared a statewide emergency? Instead, we got a lesson about hot catalytic converters on dry brush and smoke sightings from 30,000 feet up.
He was incapable of explaining what that state of emergency meant, what it will do by way of relief, what it may do to convince the federal government to step in. Maybe that’s above his pay grade. Every man and woman behind him could probably answer those questions better and more accurately, and several of them have. But a governor could do more. He could convey a sense of certainty that even these men and women can’t, because they don’t control the state’s full capabilities. They’re not the ultimate authority. He is. What we would have liked to hear is that not only is Scott committed to doing (and spending) whatever is necessary to stem this emergency to the degree that it is humanly possible, but that he understands it, that he knows what’s at stake, that he’s involved, that this is the place where he should get to work, and not just for 25 minutes.
Scott didn’t. In Flagler County Tuesday afternoon, he clocked in and out, and made a few local politicians, kindred spirits perhaps, feel like he’d just done Flagler the biggest favor in the world by deigning to take a moment from his 9-to-5ers to drop in.
Meanwhile he set aside three and a half hours for Enterprise Florida’s monthly board meeting this morning, and another hour for lunch with Enterprise Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the latter fresh from its union-busting onslaught against the state’s teachers, firemen and police officers—some of the same public employees he praised in generalities today. No wonder Scott couldn’t spare a moment visiting firemen on the line. He wouldn’t know what to tell them, how to sincerely speak his support anymore than he knew what to say during that synthetic event at the county EOC. And to think that this is the man in command, now and for the next three years.
There is a state of emergency in Florida. The wildfires are the least of it.
ol'sarge says
Fantastically written…I have nothing to add except kudos
Kendall says
What an a**hole. I still haven’t found anyone that will admit to having voted for him.
Johnny Taxpayer says
Actually it was a Ford Explorer, not a Suburban… but then again you criticize the Governor for a photo-op at the EOC while at the same time saying he should have visited the fire fighters out on the line and visited the fires??? So a photo op on the fire line that disrupts the people who are fighting the fire is okay, but one at the EOC isn’t? What exactly do you want him to do? Dawn a fire suit and hose? He’s the Governor, his job is to make sure the resources are available, which he did earlier by issuing the emergency declaration, his job is not to create a dog and pony show next to the fire, distracting the firefighters and diverting resources from fighting the fire.
Jojo says
Remember in November!!!
concerned says
Kendall, I know lots of folks who admit to voting for him. They’re the same ones who believe Sarah Palin is ‘like a breath of fresh air’, and are praying for her to run so they can make her our next prez, You know, have control of our nuclear weapons and such. What a breath of fresh air that will be, huh!
Well done once again, Pierre! Thanks!!
Nancy N. says
You tell him Pierre! It is absolutely ASTONISHING how we managed to elect this nimcompoop. A complete an utter embarrassment to our state.
Informed 1 says
Thank you for articulately conveying what ALL public safety employees have been saying since before the election! It shouldn’t surprise anyone that this douche bag- and sorry excuse for a “governor”- didn’t give a rat’s a$$ about the firefighters out there.
25 minutes for a bona fide emergency and 4 HOURS for the chamber of commerce meeting.
This guy is clueless, out-of-touch, and on the verge of crashing and burning… all before the next election cycle. And politicians that ask him for help getting elected are just asking to lose their elections; just ask Mike Hogan in Jacksonville’s mayor’s race. Rick Scott buried ANY chance Hogan might have had at winning the mayor’s race by yucking it up with Hogan.
Buddy Harris says
The guy behind him in the picture on the right is a firefighter. Or a JSO officer. Hard to tell the twins apart.
Rob says
Kendall it sounds like we found someone who voted for him.
Johnny Taxpayer.
Um... says
Oh please, a diversion of resources? He was in a vehicle long enough to take him from the aerial unit he was in to the briefing room his driver could have taken a detour to drive as close to the damage as possible without impeding our fire fighters. But I suppose that would mean he would have to care enough to do that, to smell the smoke that I smell every day, to actually demonstrate he has a heart. This guy is not the Grinch, his heart will not grow three times one day… he cares about money, profiting for himself and hurting the people of FL that are not in his tax bracket for the rest of their lives. Making an emergency declaration is a simple directive that he could have done from his cushy pad, this was a photo-op not an act of kindness.
Mario says
Yes, wonderfully written … a masterpiece. My blood is boiling and I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee. I’m thinking about printing this up and framing it. Perhaps Pierre I could get you to autograph it? Keep up the great work! You, my friend, are a true journalist. Sadly, not many of you left.
Jennifer says
I think it’s absolutely stupid when politician show up at an emergency, stop the people who disparately need to be doing their work and say “Hey, take a picture with me and pretend to be happy about it. If you don’t some idiot in the press is going to rip me for being disconnected”. What is wrong with you people? Our firefighters know what they are doing and don’t need him or any other politician slowing them down. After the fact, when the fire is taken care of, that’s the time for the politician to show up and pat the firemen on the back for a job well done. And as for the amount of time he spent with business owners and business organizations – freaking A – WE NEED JOBS people. Maybe he was trying to discuss ways to promote growth in the private sector. Oh but wait I can tell by your writing that you would prefer we all take some sort of government subsidized job and be happy for our handout. Funny that you feel that way and yet have the nerve to use your freedom of speech the way you do. Don’t you realize that when you get what you want and your government does control everything they will control that freedom of speech of yours too???
palmcoaster says
Johnny we didn’t need him here to tell us how not to play with matches and that “he will be monitoring the fires and maybe watch us burn down” before he “decides” to call the help of the federal government as he last pleases, because our President is not a GOP and is a black man, no need for favors from our brother. Do you get it? This bozo will not provide the funds needed for our county and cities to recover the funds used to fight these fires and you will have to pay for it then? But sure he kept in mind to wear a EOC logo shirt, this clown.
Butch says
The fact that Scott is clueless is not news for most, only those who were clueless enough to vote for him.
FF says
……………and thanks for the pay cut governor
ol' sarge says
Johnny…true, he declared a stat of emergency, at the same time he literally informed everyone he would not be submitting for release of FEMA funds for said emergency…you represent the worst in partisan close mindedness.
Jennifer…CREATING JOBS?? Are you kidding? He has already proven to EVERYONE (except you, apparently) when he shot down the rail and eliminated THOUSANDS of jobs…
Cheryl says
Ok… What did we expect from a man that is so far out of touch? Take a close look, how SERIOUS can WE take this person…. HE LOOKS LIKE MR BURNS FROM THE SIMPSONS! He is not in touch with the Real World, Nor does He SEEM TO CARE ABOUT REAL PEOPLE.
Kim says
Let’s get to work…and find a new governor come election time. Alex Sink shoul give it another try.
JL says
A wonderfully written column. Finally, a news source that isn’t afraid to speak the truth for fear of having advertisements pulled. Johnny Taxpayer and Jennifer are clueless and obviously voted for Scott. Please do not compare Scott to Palin. You may not like the party she belongs to, but I have family in Alaska, and know first hand what great things she did for Alaska. You cannot compare the two. I’m still questioning how ANYONE could have voted for this thief, but that’s another column to be written.
He should have taken a FIRST hand look at the fires. Not an arial view. That is not disrupting the firefighters. That is CARING about YOUR STATE! But he doesn’t care. He has no clue how to run a state. He should not have been allowed to manage a town the size of Bunnell, much less Florida. And if you idiots want to talk about how he’s going to “create jobs”. Really??? So why give BACK the MILLIONS the federal government gave to Florida for the rail system to create jobs. Hmmm. You know how many states jumped at that opportunity? Other states have written in their papers about Scott’s refusal to take the money and they laugh at him. Yes, laugh at him. He’s a joke in other states. In this time of economic crisis, he gave back the opportunity to put people to work in Florida.
I’m sure the firefighters didn’t miss seeing him. Scott knows he might even have been “accidently” hosed if he showed up. He doesn’t care about them, he’s shown that. But he should have tried to FAKE his concern for the people of his state.
All we can hope for at this point is that more people will turn out to vote next time, and vote this sorry excuse for a Governor OUT OF OFFICE.
Biloxi says
Just a little biased sir… The main focus for Florida is job creation hence (Enterprise) and getting Flagler County out of this stagnant rut were in. The fires are dangerous but what purpose does it serve having the Governor on the fire line slapping backs with the Firefighters. Lets be clear they get paid to fight fires this is what they signed up for. The Governor needs to focus on our economy!!
intheknow says
So he shows up in his Troy Harper issued Emergency Services shirt. People are lined up behind him in the multi-million dollar Emergency Operations Center. He scopes it out, thinks they must have a LOT of money around here to build something like this!
Relax folks. Gov. has issued a declaration that puts the State EOC director in charge! No need to worry. The State EOC director has a LOT of experience with these things. He did the same job for Walmart before he was appointed to head the State EOC. So you can bet you’ll get the cheapest thing available. You can always count on the people of Walmart.
The only federal money he’s interested in is Medicare money that he has a history of getting by fraud. So don’t expect him to ask for anything from the US government.
Dumb Biloxi says
Biloxi…….I suppose the fires are nowhere near your home. And on a side note…you should learn how to spell. “this stagnant rut WERE in”…….let me fix it for you…this stagnant rut WE’RE in. I am assuming you were one of the UNEDUCATED people who voted for this jerk.
Ella says
At least the guy showed up. He could have completely bypassed us and gone on to Volusia or somewhere else. How about a little thanks? The man has a mess to clean up in this state fiscally and I think he is doing the best he can. Give him a chance. And yes, I did vote for him.
Jojo says
…Which begs the question, where is our Congressional representatives when we need them. Where is Congressman Mica? He does represent part of our district right? Sorry, Mica needs to go too. These guys get too comfie being in office. What about Senator Nelson. Where is he? What is Flagler County – chopped liver. When are we going to wake up and exercise our trust in the people we voted for. What are they doing for the citizens of Fagler County lately. There are no jobs. Foreclosures up the wazoo. Mica throws us a couple of transportation buses every other year. Where’s the rest of the pork Congressman. Families are hurting in Flagler County. The Civil Servant is dragged through the mud and politics has run-amok, I thought politicians work for us or is it the other way around? We need to elect citizens from Flagler County that will have our interests at heart.
palmcoaster says
Yes Ella he will clean up….. all our pockets like he did with Medicare while was the Columbia HC System CEO and because went to court while Bush was in DC, he got away with robbery.
You voted for him so be ready to heavily fund the firefight bills spent already plus the incoming one’s as he does not want to ask Fema’s help from Obama. The past dirty delinquent facts of a Bush pardoned crook:
http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/200905120006
http://www.whatisrickscotthiding.com/depositions/
You take pride to vote for thugs! Maybe you work for his Solantic.
Jennifer says
If the light rail was such a good idea private investors would have jumped at the chance to invest. Why on GODS GREEN EARTH would we want to start a project that will without question cost us taxpayers for the rest of our lives and our children’s lives for a completely unnecessary service. Short term gain for long term loss is just stupid. My governor is quite obviously a heck of a lot smarter than most of you.
Layla says
Yes, there are no jobs and foreclosures are everywhere. And how many will continue to vote the way they have, for incumbents, everytime they go to the polls to vote?
How about Mr. Hope and Change? I don’t know about you, but this was not what I had in mind.
I admire this Governor for running for office. The rest of you sit back and complain instead of getting involved. It’s easy to slam people and a lot tougher to step up to the plate to take responsibility for this stuff.
To Governor Scott: Thank you for coming to Flagler County. Please come again.
Johnny Taxpayer says
“This bozo will not provide the funds needed for our county and cities to recover the funds used to fight these fires and you will have to pay for it then? ”
This logic right here is why we have trillion dollar deficits. Where exactly do you think the state and federal money comes from?
Beachbum says
I just recently started reading articles here on FlaglerLive. I really enjoy the good information that is presented without the usual bias.
Those of you that want to comment, if you don’t know how to spell something, or which tense to use, try typing your comment in a word processing program first, or your email server. Both should have a spell checker for you to use to correct your mistakes. Comments with errors, no matter what your point, make the writer look stupid.
Keep up the good reporting!!
Flaglerlive says
Beachbum, in fairness to the quick typists out there, we’re known here to have more than our fair share of typos in articles, because the staff–enormous though it is–doesn’t between one story and another always get around to proofreading as it should. But any copy editors out there are welcome to call in or email fix-ups (and many do). We depend on them.
nanci whitley says
I have a “Pink Slip Rick Scott” bumper sticker on my car. I suggest everyone get one.
The One says
This is the IDIOT that the citizen of Florida elected.
More Amazed Every Day says
I am trying to understand why everyone is so set on the fact that when people are talking about him going out to the line, that it would be for photo ops. OBVIOUSLY, we want him out there to see what is actually going on and how bad it is. We could care less if he took photos out there with anyone. We want him to see how bad things really are and as previously mentioned, you can’t do that by an ariel view! It drives me nuts how a simple statement of possibly an actual firefighter being in the picture and how he needs to actually go in person to assess it, gets turned into we want him to go to the line to take pictures. Seriously, just look at the facts, they speak for themselves.
This article is amazingly written, It’s takes all the bs out that they try to sugar coat us with (and this is with any politician, not just him), it conveys the motto that is at the top of the page:
No Bull. No Fluff. No Smudges.
Your news source for
Flagler Florida and Beyond.
palmcoaster says
Johnny, is less painful to get federal funds to get refunded as taxes shared by all in our country, than footing the huge bill only by the taxpayers of Flagler and its cities. Also the trillion of dollars deficits are due to 10 years of wars @ 2 billions a month at least, started by Bush. To the fact that since Regan and Bush, the elite multinationals (BP, Exxon, etc) and other large corporations (GE, Cruise Lines etc) do not pay proper taxes, furthermore we fund their subsidies and exemptions.The wealthy also do not contribute at the same rate we middle society do and we have over 40 million unemployed not contributing income and payroll taxes and furthermore, to many of them we are funding their unemployment checks.
What else did I forget to add to the trillions debt? Don’t blame SS or Medicare that so far have been suffering the pillage of crooks like Scott and others, beside the hands of congress in that cookie jar to transfer our saved funds to the federal operating for years and yet did not refund it. Stop bashing and blaming our workers,unions, the poor and our middle class for the thievery that cost us trillions in debt.
Why the hell do you think the wealthy has gotten wealthier in the last decade? By sweating it…? , NO for sure, most done it by stealing with a green light from speakers like you.
One example: how Rick Scott made his millions In Columbia HCA and was exempted in the 2,000’s from serving time in jail and give back his illegally acquired gains.
Frances says
Excellent article Pierre. Your coverage of the fires is excellent. I wonder how long the Governor will wait to get the necessary resources in here for our firefighters? They must be exhausted and need relief. I don’t know how they are doing what they are doing. Maybe the voters can remember that we need firefighters, teachers, and policeman the next time there is an election. You can’t fix our economy on the backs of these people. They are not millionaires as some seem to think. They work for very modest incomes and their pensions which are equally modest are all in jeopardy. Maybe if they earned huge incomes they too could have investment portfolios. Their incomes don’t allow for a lot of savings or investments. A huge thanks to all the firefighters out there who are trying so hard to keep our county from burning.
palmcoaster says
Beachbum are you a college graduate and in how many languages do you write perfectly? Because in this county and country the big majority as per statistics barely have their GED’s (for economic reasons) and millions are naturalized citizens with English as a second language and all trying to make a living now with no spare time for further perfecting their writing. Giving my own misspellings, I sure appreciate our residents time, spent writing here even with errors. At least we try to fix with words what is wrong by exercising our freedom of speech, given the alternative.
Michael says
The reason we have trillions of dollars in debt is because Wall Street (Gov Scott’s pals) blew up the economy by treating it like a Casino. The government then socialized the trillions of dollars of debt in order to save the economy and thus turned PRIVATE DEBT into public debt.
Had they (both Democratic and Republican admins., btw) we would have had a depression. If the current GOP leaders have their way we will end up in a depression yet. Scott is a great example of the thinking: turning down federal dollars during the worst downturns since the 30’s.
We need more stimulus, target tax cuts for businesses, we need to restore the Bush tax cits fro the welathy to fil up the deficit hole (the rich don’t spend money anyway) and get the middle and working classes spending money so the Biz community will get off their 1.5 trillion they are sitting on to invest.
Way to go Pierre, great work as always!
rickg says
In this era of corporate butt licking it is not surprising to hear that Gov. Scott spent more time with business reps than with the people of Flagler County. It is also ironic that in the NJ there is a photo of Scott on the front page with a park ranger yet no mention that he spent less than an hour on the ground. How about some more tax cuts for corporations Governor…. Yeah that’s the ticket!!!
Ella says
Does it really matter what tense I use? As long as you GOT my point. Quit complaining. You call yourself a beachbum what does that say? If you have what it takes, put YOUR money where your mouth is and GO DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR COMMUNITY. Quit complaining and make a difference.
NortonSmitty says
Hey Johnny Taxpayer (show me the 1040 or 1099 before I believe you) , I would like to personally school your ass on where the fucking money comes from. And more importantly where it goes.
You have been indoctrinated every day not only on the radio, TV and print media, but by the Bubba’s you work with who are constantly repeating the talking points they heard from their Uncle or neighbor who is really up on this shit because he listens to Rush and watches Fox and has the facts fer’ shure that we are all getting screwed by the Guvvamint who is takin’ all our money we work so hard fer and givin’ it all to the Welfare Queens (nudge, nudge, NIGRA’s) and Messicans an’ Union Thug teachers who retire at 40 on $80,000 a year and donate half of it to keep the Demmocraps in power so they keep abortin’ our babies and give FurrenAids to support Muzlims that wanna’ kill us all and it gotta’ be true cause every month my paycheckzrgittin’ smaller an’ me and Heather a be runnin’ outta’ bucks way before Payday earlier alla time especially with Beckie’s Ritalin deductible doublin’ last month so I am absolutely positive that me an’ ALL the Bubba’s r’gettin fucked summwhere fer sure and…. STOP RIGHT THERE!!!
Right fuckin’ there! Finally, you said it. YOU ARE CORRECT, SIR! We’re getting screwed! Me and You and everyone we know and work with! I KNOW IT IN MY BONES! So do you. Somebody is not only fucking us up our working class ass, but they work hard at figuring out a way to come back and do it again, and then again, and leaving me, you and our families asses stretched to the max, with just enough to keep us alive and working. And if I do start to gain some ground, BOOM! Insurance goes up, BOOM, Gas costs $40 more a week, WTFmy Bank just charged me $97 damn Dollars for a bounced check that cascaded! And so it goes, forever and ever, Amen.
When if you would actually look at where we all should aim all of our Righteous Anger, you would run into these pesky undeniable facts about our draconian current tax code. Like that in 1960, when America was leading the World, corporations paid 36% of all Federal taxes collected. Today, less than 5%. The top tax rate for only the top 5% of the wealthiest American millionaire families, the REALLY rich, was over 80%, today, 35% less generous deductions. Capital gains, the tax on income you didn’t actually earn from your labor, but on the money you already inheireted or made by investments, was around 75%, today about 25% and dropping. Of all of these stats I have quoted, the only stat you may be familiar with that has been spoon-fed to all of us the last thirty years, is that the top 2% of the wealthy pay about 60% of the Federal taxes, the poor saps. But somehow you never hear that this same megarich motherfuckers actually control about 85% of the wealth in this land of the free and Home of the Brave we claim to be so protective of. In other words, there are 1,500,000 (2%) people in this country that own 85% of the money, leaving theother 300,000,000 (300 Million) of us to fight over the rest of the crumbs. Of the total pie that is the US economy, the portion we are arguing over is 15% of the GDP spread out over 300,000,000 people vs. 85% spread out over 150,000 people. I would like to have the exact numbers to put in front of you, but all of the websites that I have been trying to look up the exact figures on seem to be out of order or just load forever. This is another much scarier rant, that we can’t get basic statistics on income distribution on the ‘net today, but see for yourself:http://www.google.com/search?q=us+gdp+2010+capita+distribution&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a or this one: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s0695.pdf
And who is behind this TaxBoy? Of course! Union Pensions and them fuckin’ Nigra’s! You angry self-centered Poltroon!
NortonSmitty says
I’m not done here! My computer locked up trying to post a link to a site that doesn’t seem to want accessed. I promised not only the supply side rant about our tax paying inequities we need to get furious over, but where our tax money goes that should piss us all off too! Out of steam tonight, will sleep on it and finish class tomorrow.
But all of you angry whiny Teabaggers out there think we give most of our taxes collected to welfare, foreign aid social security and to Planned Parenthood to abort all of the white babies they can. Surprise! The real breakdown of our federal expenditures manana.
Val Jaffee says
Maybe the thinking behind letting mother nature take her course is to reduce the number of foreclosed and underwater properties hampering economic development: which would probably explain why the press was barred from further meetings, and the governor’s five hour meeting with Enterprise Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Of course this is just speculation on my part and I am prone to conspiracy theories.
palmcoaster says
Well said Norton. Most speak our of ignorance and are even brainwashed to the point that religiously believe that the 1-2% of the wealthy make their gains “the good old fashion and honest way, earn it”
BS! most of them steal it or get free loans never repaid or pay zero taxes or profit from freebies given on the backs of the middle class taxes. Example Rick Scott and his fraud against Medicare while head of Columbia HCA one of the largest “private” Health Care organizations in this country.
Unless that the long fingers of special interest are at the keyboards in this site as well.
Outsider says
I don’t give a rat’s ass if he did or didn’t show up ina Smokey the Bear outfit. Scott is NOT a politician; that’s why I voted for him. (Save it, I’m not interested.) He is a man with a record of accomplishment, who knows how to get things done. He’s not interested in a dog and pony show. His time was better spent working on ways to create jobs in Flagler County. All you people bashing business have yet to make the connection between healthy, yes profitable businesses and your own job prospects. You can’t have it both ways destroying business AND expecting to have a good job. And I’m sorry people had to take a pay cut. At my company, 500 of my UNION cohorts were laid off; then, 15% of the administrative staff was walked to the door one Friday morning. Finally, all 401k matching contributions were halted. This was a year and a half ago. So, welcome to the “reality sucks” party; better late than never.
Jojo says
Outsider, the only record of accomplishment Rick Scott has as far as I’m concerned is a criminal record.
NortonSmitty says
Outsider you’re right, he’s not a politician, or at least he wasn’t before he got elected. But no matter how much it frosts the nuts of you and your Teabaggin’ buddies, the fact that he ran for office and got elected pretty much does make him a Politician by definition. But if it makes your right-wing little head feel any better, he is way ahead of the curve for the breed. After all he was indited and stepped down even before he was elected to office; which makes him sort of an overachieving Republican Fuckstick.
Even Newt, DeLay and the rest of the gold standard of corporatist nutsack-licking toady heroes of yours are kicking themselves in the ass for never understanding the possibility that there are enough brainwashed ignoramuses out there like you to actually elect them AFTER they stole billions from the taxpaying fools! Who knew?
The old school way of Conservative wisdom was that you suffered and sacrificed to get elected, groveling and going down for corporate campaign funds, promising that if they give you enough of their money for TV ads to brainwash the ‘proles into voting against their best interest, you promise to suffer through for a few years on only your $150k gov’t salary. Oh, and the $500k they will slip you for “Speaking Fees”. And of course hiring your wife or brother as a “Consultant” for maybe a $mil a year at most. While always doing the dance to remain unindicted and untainted by scandal. Paying your dues for the cause.
For these hideous deprivations, after a few years of scraping by making a few million by passing laws and earmarks letting your Masters steal billions, you will be allowed to “retire” from public service and cash in big time! Board of Directors, Senior Partner at Lobbyist/Law firms, Think Tanks! The sky is not the limit to your greed! You are Tony Montana’s wet dream, in pinstripes! And it’s so safe and easy, even the nutless Democrats have learned to cash in too so you can hardly tell the difference. Well except the have to put on and act to show their constituents that while they are doing the same thing, they are somehow not pandering to the real powers, something we don’t even have to worry about.
But here comes Governor Gollum, Ricky boy. He made his Billions first, ducked out before the shit came down, spent millions to stay unconvicted and still had Billions left stashed to not only get himself elected, but put himself in position he can not only steal enough to show a profit, but he gets to appoint the people who are paid to watch him and prosecute him for violations of the anti-corporate corruption laws! Is that a knee-slapper or what! It’s gonna be a toss up who gets the Biggest Stud award at the Koch brothers party, Scott or Walker, but RickyBoy is a shoo in for the From Outta’ Nowhere Award. Plus showing the masters of corruption an entirely new way to do the shuffle and STILL have a lot of his brain-dead constituents support him while he breaks it off up their stupid working-class asses has to gain him bonus points for next year!
Outsider, must feel good to be appreciated by the big boys. You must be so proud.
Becky says
Wow, the writer perfectly describes our President.
Becky says
And Palm Coaster…don’t forget the Billions of $$$ of borrowed money thrown at the financial crisis that was totally wasted. The only thing accomplished was saving some Federal and State programs from falling further into debt, and postponing their demise. Oh, some new Federal job hires. Borrowed money. If our elect4ed officials keep on playing the ‘blame the other party’ game, and don’t start telling the truth about the mess we’re in, we are going to go the way of Greece and other country’s that have followed the same path to financial ruin.
BW says
Scott is another example of exactly what Pierre stated “out of touch”. Interestingly enough he also brings out the rest of the out of touch and the arrogant ignorant in society. Tea Partiers and people like Outsider and Johnny on here that also do not get it. Scott devotes time to Enterprise Flagler in regards to “creating jobs” and one thinks this is positive? Here’s a money saver . . . cut all ties with Enterprise Florida and all of it’s local offices throughout the state because they do nothing.
Outsider, here’s the real reality . . . those cuts at your company most likely saw absolutely no cuts at the top. You and those clueless like you have been sold on protect the rich guy and he’ll create jobs. He ain’t by the way. And he’s not going to. He’s getting richer at your expense and the expense of others. Scott is not about bettering Florida. Scott is about Scott and only those very close to him. Him and those like him are actually burying companies to benefit themselves and themselves alone. The slave owner always sold the slave on the idea that slavery was best for them. The difference today is that the slave didn’t have access to being educated. Interestingly enough, the educated today buy into this junk propaganda that the rich are the solution to all. In fact, the GOP wanted proptection and extension of the unfunded Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while they are now rallying for the ending of the Obama payroll tax cuts. Go figure. See a theme yet? I’m sure you are a “smart” person so you might want to wake up.
Joe says
I don’t understand how 3% less take home pay in state employee pockets is going to help business, correct me if i’m wrong but thats 3% less state employees now have to spend and spending stimulates the economy.
Sandra Reynolds says
FlaglerLive: Thanks for a great website to read and hear what is “really” going on in our community. No more fluff like we get from our local papers. I appreciate the opportunity to read good journalism reporting and hear what my fellow citizens think and the chance to also express my thoughts.
palmcoaster says
Becky the stimulus started with Bush and Paulson remember? The biggest stimulus was given to AIG in the form of 180 billion..by the last GOP administration. What you need to is ask the the wealthy (are you one?), multinationals and large corporation pay their fare share of the taxes as now they don’t. The mess we are in was originated by Bush that handed Obama a box of rotten eggs to bake this cake. No matter how much sugar you add to it , still rotten. Not going the way of Greece, if we end these costly useless special interest profiteering wars, tax all at the same rate as the middle class and tax imports.
No lies, no more cover ups. Please do some educated research, Becky.
Don’t just go for whatever your party is, or distorting pundits “brainwashing rhetoric”.
Thanks to Flagler Live for this site and the realistic, timely reporting.
Outsider says
Well Norton, I gotta say the Dems are are far more sophisticated in their selection process than the Republicans: “Hey, look at this guy running for president! He’s young! He’s exciting! He has great pecs! He plays BASKETBALL! Oh my God! He speaks well; and…..and….and…..he’s BLACK…..with NO NEGRO DIALECT!!!! Barack Obama for PRESIDENT!!!!! WOOOOHOOO!” Never mind he couldn’t balance his own checkbook. And BW, once again you’re wrong on most points. The founder and president of my company (who sold a decade prior) were shown the door. Of course, they “resigned to spend more time with their families.” And those rich people certainly do create jobs; I meet them every day and they certainly are responsible for paying my comfortable salary. They are not getting richer at my expense; whatever I make comes out of their bottom line. So, I would make sure you have a little more knowledge before you run around calling
Outsider says
others ignorant. And BTW, the Florida budget is balanced. That wasn’t so hard now, was it??
NortonSmitty says
Outdoor, after 8 years of Bush, anybody with a shred of common sense would have pulled the lever for a syphilitic baboon instead of whoever the Republicans put on the ballot.
Outsider says
Outdoor, after 8 years of Bush, anybody with a shred of common sense would have pulled the lever for a syphilitic baboon instead of whoever the Republicans put on the ballot
They certainly would have…..
palmcoaster says
Talking about helping the GOP Outsider….?
Here goes another racist, prejudice accusation of a GOP dude, this time good old McCain blaming the Arizona biggest wildfires in its history, on the Latino illegal’s of course with no substantiated proof at all of his accusation. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/john-mccain-illegal-immigration-arizona-wildfires_n_880145.html?ncid=webmail3\.
If we let him he will probably even plant evidence from his Sedona properties to justify his words. Better watch this dude.
Hey out there, are any Latinos except Cubans, voting GOP ever again, just like Senator Majority Leader Mr. Reid, very correctly said last year?
NortonSmitty says
OS, as someone who thought he was voting for a 21st century FDR and got George W. Bush in blackface instead, I’m not too fond of him either, regardless of his background or ethnicity. Don’t matter what color he is, next time I vote for a so-called “Liberal” I’m personally do a package check on him to make sure he has the balls to fight for his convictions and his country. I don’t think the lauded Harvard grad would have passed that bar.
Outsider says
I hear you Norton….no matter; if he actually did fight for his convictions he would have been accused of being “stubborn.”
NortonSmitty says
We’ never know.
mara says
Well, since we’ve gone OT ;)
It has nothing to do with “balls” and everything to do with “control”.
Candidate Big O the Constitutional Scholar meant every word he said–particularly the words “What George W Bush And Richard Cheney did” re: illegal war in Iraq “does not rise to the level of impeachment”.The interview containing those exact words appeared in a (I think July) 2007 USA Today article called “Obama: Impeachment Unacceptable”.
When I saw that, my dislike for this alleged Democrat increased a thousand-fold, because I knew right then and there that he was gonna be acceptable to the plutocrats if he won.
That being said, the *only* reason I voted for him anyway is that by voting for McCain, it put Sarah Palin waaaaaaay too close to the White House. I absolutely believe that woman is a danger to our people, our democracy and our sovereignty, and anyone who votes for her or supports her in 2012 is a major-league fool who is putting the rest of us at grave risk.