Senator LeMieux Talks Politics over Chicken Wings

If you live in South Florida, you witnessed first-hand a nasty bit of weather today.  After the morning rain subsided, I made my way up to Coral Springs to say hello to my ole buddy Senator George LeMieux, who was having lunch at a popular wings eatery.  Senator LeMieux has just recently been appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to fill out the remainder of  former Senator Mel Martinez’s term   LeMieux moved to Coral Springs in the 1970’s and attended Coral Springs High School- which also happens to be the alma mater of your humble and lovable correspondent. Yes the Senator and I are fellow Colts, but Sen. LeMieux graduated a few years before I did.

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Scripted Crist speaks at the Broward GOP

The long awaited appearance of Governor Charlie Crist at the Broward Republican Executive Committee finally came to pass last night. In front of a crowd of about 300 people (Yes, 300-including press, security and the BREC board) the Governor gave another one of his not-so-memorable speeches.  Just another speech, just another day, in the life of the sitting Governor of the state of Florida, right?

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Bob Smith- Dodging Interviews AND Telling Fibs

The Republican Senate Primary race in Florida between Governor Charlie Crist and Speaker Marco Rubio will be one of the widely-watched primary contests leading up to the 2010 mid-term elections.  In addition to the front-runners, there are also several lesser-known candidates that are campaigning for the Republican nomination as well.  One of those is former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, who relocated to Florida after an eighteen year stint in Congress as both a Congressman and Senator. In a recent poll, Crist’s lead over Rubio, which once had been 43 percentage points, has now shrunk to 10.  Senator Smith has yet to show up in any poll that has been conducted thus far.

Several weeks ago, I attempted to set up an interview with Smith regarding his candidacy. After several emails and phone calls to his communications director, I finally received a response from Senator Bob Smith’s Deputy Campaign Manager, Chuck Winn. Winn directed my inquiry back to the communications director.   After speaking the campaign’s Communications Director, last Sunday, she asked me to formally request an interview with the Senator via email.

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Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner- Exclusive Interview

FireDogLake is FullaHotAir about Marco Rubio

One of the things we like to do here in the Tank is juxtapose left or “progresssive” thinking/perspectives vs. right or conservative thinking/perspectives from the blogosphere up close and personal and completely in context, so that you, dear reader, can make the determination whose logic, ideas, and conclusions closer approximates the truth.  Over at one the left’s most influential communities of part-time pundits, a fellow going by the handle of “BlueTexan” has identified what he thinks is some clear cut “hypocrisy” of the part of Marco Rubio. In it he states that Rubio is “strongly against amnesty for immigrants who are not his parents” because his parents were “granted amnesty”, and also that Rubio “thinks we should forcibly deport 14 million people from the country.”

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Exclusive Interview: Gubernatorial candidate Senator Paula Dockery

Charlie’s plumbers get flushed

Well, the battle is joined in the quest for the title of “True Conservative” in Florida’s Republican Senate primary.  Charlie Crist, stung by recent criticism concerning his opportunism, lack of conservatism, and man-hug of President Obama, has sent his supporters forth to cast Marco Rubio, Crist’s primary opponent, in the image and likeness of Crist himself- as a dreaded “Republican In Name Only”-  and someone who is much more of a convenient conservative than a consistent one.   But are the accusations made by Crist’s boosters true?  A piece in this Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times – Rubio record diverges from campaign rhetoric quotes several Crist supporters who have plumbed the depths of the public record to supposedly prove that Rubio’s conservatism isn’t nearly as consistent as Rubio claims that it is.  But had the writers of the Times’ piece simply taken the time to read their own newspaper and do a little fact-checking of their own, they’d find that each of the points made by Crist’s supporters have been explicitly contradicted by facts that were previously been published in – you guessed it- the St. Petersburg Times.

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Governor Crist dives in The Shark Tank

What’s Right is Wrong- Kingsley Guy’s clouded notion of conservatism

Kingsley Guy’s recent analysis of and admonition to Republicans – “Rubio’s Dilemma- Moving too far right can be dangerous” is certainly worth a read.  While Mr. Guy’s article makes some salient points about the divisions that exist within the Political Right, it misidentifies who those factions are, and also what “true conservatives” believe.  Since the terminology he uses in his article only clouds the political landscape, let’s attempt to clear the air and offer an alternative opinion of just who is who, and who thinks what on the Right.

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