Posted on 08/25/2010 5:51:23 AM PDT by jerry557
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Millionaire businessman Rick Scott’s surprise win in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday left both parties scrambling over how to cope with a candidate who possesses both glaring flaws and considerable assets.
Scott’s three-percentage-point victory over state Attorney General Bill McCollum transforms what would have been a relatively bland general election contest between two establishment politicians into a race that will offer a test of outsider strength in a season of intense voter anger. And it will play out in one of the nation’s largest states—arguably the nation’s most politically pivotal—with consequences that reach well beyond Florida’s borders.
Scott, who will face state CFO Alex Sink, left some Democrats thrilled at the prospect of yet another high-profile candidate whose baggage threatens to weigh down the GOP in an otherwise promising year.
“Florida Republicans nominate for governor a corrupt health care CEO that defrauded taxpayers,” said Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee. “Thank you Tea Party!”
The $1.7 billion that Columbia/HCA hospital chain paid in fines over Medicare and Medicaid fraud under Scott’s tenure as CEO offers Democrats significant fodder for the fall and is partly why the Republican Governors Association issued a tepid statement Tuesday night observing only that the party “now looks forward.”
Republicans are also nervous about how far to the right Scott positioned himself on immigration in a state where Hispanic votes are key and about how the first-time candidate will perform in the more-exacting general election.
A pockmarked past, extreme stances and a political newcomer on the stump – it’s a familiar narrative for numerous GOP nominees in statewide contests this year.
Still, it may ultimately matter less than the political tailwinds blowing at the backs of Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
THAT is what you get with 3rd party candidates in the race!
The Democrats are constantly defrauding all the taxpayers!
Ha! Sink is a worse candidate than Coakly was in Mass. Scott will run rings around her with his anti-big government message. The Republicans better jump on board the train quick or they will go down.
Oh, so Scott’s win makes the GOP corrupt?
These journolistos are so predictable.
..... says Politico, trying to become the online Newsweek.
The problem with Rick Scott is not “how far right” he is, but the fact that he’s apparently corrupt as all get out - re: something about defrauding Medicare through his company or something.
RINOS running for the tall grass......................
Journ0Listas consider the GOP existing to be what makes the GOP corrupt.
The mob banker candidate in IL has a far more shady past than Scott. Yet that’s not a problem for the JournListos. Obama even appears with him.
Calling something a "fact" does not make it so.................
If Bill McCollum wasn’t a RINO, he would have won easily.
If Bill McCollum wasn’t a RINO, he would have won easily.
They just hate the fact that an outsider doesn’t care about power which ultimately corrupts the career politicians which in turn gives the MSM leverage over them...
So the corrupt and treasonous journalists know the gig is up...
The democrats will be forced to make voters decide which is the greater sin. Taking some candy off the store shelf or loading everything in the store, candy, beer, and all into a big truck and driving off.
McCollum was a Congressman for 20 years, and FL Atty General for the last four years. Rick Scott has never held public office.
Rick Scott unabashedly stood by the Arizona law and stated in commercials throughout his campaign that he would sign similar legislation for FL. Bill McCollum came out publicly only in the last month or so for the AZ law.
Scott has been in business while McCollum never had.
The best man won here IMO. Thankfully, the attack ads against each other will finally end. Time to start hammering all Democrats and waking people back up to the way we all felt in March during the Obamacare push in DC. Looking forward to the next couple of months!
Are you a journolister? If not, how about doing your homework?
Tell the rest of us what the "somethings" are! Facts, not repetitions of vague accusations by the left.
No. THAT is what you get with a state GOP establishment that is more in touch with big government and special interests than its own voters.
Rick Scott kicked in the teeth of the big wigs in Tallahassee. The Republican voters in Florida have had enough of the Charlie Crist’s and Jim Greer’s. So Scott’s outsider message that he is going to shake up Tallahassee resonated with Republican voters.
This voter revolt of the Florida Republican party was a long time coming.
Good grief, we know Scott's company got busted for Medicare fraud. That much is a matter of public record. Duh.
McCollum would have been a much better choice, overall. He's quite conservative himself, and doesn't have the baggage that Scott has.
Does he really have dirty hands, or should he get credit for cleaning up a mess??
I don't know, just wondering.
Gee, and the Ford, Dole, McCain, Hasteret, Lott, Crist, Whitman, Romney...regular GOP types have been so great.
Establishment Republicans are every bit the soulless Media puppets as the Democrats. In many cases, Castle, Snowe, Collins, Graham, McCain, etc. even worse, in that they are too pusillanimous to declare what is going on (centralized elitist dress down of the responsible taxpayer in all aspects, financial and moral) and hence are subversive. At least the Democrats declare out front they are Leftists.
We are far far past the point of playing politics, as so many on Free Republic want. It doesn't take a majority, only clear resounding voices in the halls of the DC establishment, and in our society, to re-right the principles upon which the United States was founded: It is your responsibility to live the decisions you have made and the moral discipline that makes that possible for all. It is called Freedom.
Johnny Suntrade
......The Republican voters in Florida have had enough of the Charlie Crist’s......
So, will he be elected to the Senate?
Does he retain enough Republican patina to be elected?
I think that happened when the moderate Bill Halsam won in TN. He had the money, and many dems crossed over to vote for him to be sure that a less than conservative went up against the son of one our former governors Ned McWherter, who gave us TennCare son is Ned lite, but his ads sure sound GOP. (He never even bother to campaign during the primary as he had no challenger.) Left a lot of us conservatives not happy at all. This is the second time this crap has happened and we desperately need to change how TN GOP primaries are done.
How typical. The very first word associated with Scott was ‘millionaire.’
Hey, Politico - how much is Sink worth?
Did they, or was it just a rational decision to pay a fine then pay more in legal fees?
For instance if your computerized billing make a minor error on each bill, times a million, and is accepted by fedgov for a decade.
The law, the administrative law, the computer billing is so complex that no one person can always know what is going on. Heck the Air Force at times could not even tell you the exact number of aircraft it owned. GM in it’s recent IPO statement said it had no faith in it’s internal costs or financial statements.
Basically, any large organization is to some extent not under control.
Another thing. I think anyone other than in a Iron Lung, can be investigated, enough, far back enough that somewhere, some how, some way they are possibly guilty enough to be brought to charge on some failure of law, codes, edicts, admin, regulation, form, filing, permit, license.....
Scott has one positive attribute that neither of the other candidates can match:
He is not a profesional politician.
One major difference between Scott and Crist is that Crist lied to every Florida citizen when he said he would not raise taxes if elected governor. But once in office he proceeded to screw all Florida taxpayers out of money in the form of higher taxes in almost every area of our lives.
And just for the record, Crist also lied when he said he would not pursue the senate election as a 3d party candidate.
As for Alex Sink - she is just another air headed political hack who will line up and vote the party line like all the other socialist lemmings in the democrat party.
The least we can do is keep voting incumbents and professional pols out of office.
the trouble - as always - with the lamestream media’s reporting is that key facts and details are left out of the story...in a nutshell, they were bogus charges from janet reno’s justice department trumped up due to his company’s stance against hillarycare...
Problem with Scott is the same one with Crist: both candidates have no firm, commited base and so can swerve all across the spectrum. Also, Crist vowed to lower property taxes and once he did, Police Fire and EMS Services were cut back. Scott has vowed to do the same thing, in an economy bereft of jobs. Florida is a state populated with elderly citizens who require services. Laying off needed essential services is not a good policy at this time.
see post 31
I won't vote for him, plain and simple.
Crist cut property taxes in such a way that they actually went up for many people. The only reason taxes have gone down recently is because of dramatic drops in assessments.
Granted, I try to minimise my dealings with lawyers as much as possible, but even I find it hard to believe that a company could rack up $1.7 billion in legal fees....
Nevertheless, Scott is the choice, and we need to hope he wins.
Details, please.
Familiar narrative birthed in the biased media.
He went to the right on immigration? Well then, Go Scott....
They can always cut somewhere else if they cut property taxes like their salaries; other non essential government employees.
It’s not set in stone that police, fire and others have to be cut.
When Obama allegedly won; didn’t he go after businesses that didn’t go along with him?
I went to the polls prepared to vote for Mccollum but when I got to that point on my ballot, I chose Scott. The ad that showed Mccollum saying we didn’t need the “far out” Arizona law, and then saying he supported it while claiming he was never against it turned my vote.
If “Brady Bill” McCollum wasn’t a RINO, he wouldn’t have had a challenger at all.
I don’t know, according to the above he came out against the Arizona law. Doesn’t make him very conservative or mainstream in my book.
I really don’t know much about what happened in this race. From what I could tell both candidates dragged it into the gutter. I know a little about McCollum from previous races and I’m not surprised he wasn’t too popular. Typical establishment politician. I just haven’t decided if I believe Scott is corrupt or not.
I do know we need to win that seat because of redistricting in 2012. So all Republicans there had better do the right thing and elect him to the Governor’s mansion. If he is corrupt, put watch dogs on him to keep him in line. If that was just heated partisan rhetoric intensified, exagerated and personalized because of the primary battle then I expect that will become obvious over time. Either way there is no room for second guessing at this point. That seat is too important. Any other year these feuds could be allowed to carry out but not this one.
“Good grief, we know Scott’s company got busted for Medicare fraud. That much is a matter of public record. Duh.”
I’ve read recently that all these fraud investigations in the 90s were because Hilary and the Clinton admin was trying to force Hilarycare on the county. Every medical provider was hit with countless fines. McCollum even fought side-by-side with Columbia (Scott’s firm) against the feds in the 90s on this whole matter.
You give journalists too much credit. They're not very bright. They just write what they think their cronies will like.
100% GRADE A BRAVO SIERRA
Columbia HCA pleaded guilty to defrauding the Federal Government. If the charges were bogus why would they have done that? Gimme a break.
That's ridiculous. Columbia HCA, Scott's hospital chain, pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding the Federal Government. If they were innocent businessmen they wouldn't have done that.
Yes. The Republicans and Democrats have done such a good job running the country to date that we should not mess with a winning formula.
You do agree that the Republicans and Democrats are doing a good job, don't you?
Do you have any complaints about minor things, such as run-away taxation & regulation, lack of immigration enforcement, endless wars, etc.?
Why would anyone want to change the direction our country is headed?
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