A Note for Jim Webb

MEMORANDUM

To: Fmr. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)

re: About that presidential campaign

Just so we’re clear, sir, you probably shouldn’t be wondering why your Democratic presidential nomination bid drew so little support.

• msnbc: “Former Dem. candidate: I won’t vote Clinton” (4 March 2016)

• Politico: “Jim Webb: I won’t vote for Clinton, but I may for Trump” (4 March 2016)

No, really. Don’t wonder.

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Image notes: Top ― Former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), during the Democratic presidential candidates debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, 13 October 2015. (Detail of photo by Joe Raedle.) Bottom ― “.@JimWebbUSA: ‘No,’ I won’t vote for @HillaryClinton, but I’m ‘not sure yet’ on Trump”; msnbc’s Morning Joe program, via Twitter, 4 March 2016.

Collins, Ezra. “Jim Webb: I won’t vote for Clinton, but I may for Trump”. Politico. 4 March 2016.

msnbc. “Former Dem. candidate: I won’t vote Clinton”. Morning Joe. 4 March 2016.

Florida, on Reality

The thing about the “America’s Wang” joke is that Florida seems to revel in it:

The state of Florida is the region most susceptible to the effects of global warming in this country, according to scientists. Sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of the state’s beaches over the next 85 years.

But you would not know that by talking to officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency on the front lines of studying and planning for these changes.

DEP officials have been ordered not to use the term “climate change” or “global warming” in any official communications, emails, or reports, according to former DEP employees, consultants, volunteers and records obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.

(Korten)

Perhaps the only thing left to say is the obvious: When your only way to win the argument is to prohibit the other side from speaking, you’ve already lost.

But, hey, this is Florida, right? Why expect principle, decency, or reality to apply?

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Image note: MIAMI, FL – FEBRUARY 22: Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks to the media during a visit to the Advanced Pharma to kick-off the grand opening of their new facility that hopes to create 60 new jobs by 2014 on February 21, 2013, in Miami, Florida. Flordia Gov. Rick Scott reversed himself on February 20, 2013 and is now calling for an expansion of Medicaid to Flordia residents under the federal Affordable Care Act. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Korten, Tristram. “In Florida, officials ban term ‘climate change'”. Miami Herald. 8 March 2015.

Very Possibly the Defining Stupidity of the 2014 Electoral Cycle

Maybe monumental stupidity in reckless lying is more of a Republican thing in general, instead of merely a foible of a small-time Republican calling for an American coup. The current stupidity comes out of Florida, where, as many of us have already heard and watched, incumbent Gov. Rick Scott (R) refused to take the stage for nearly seven minutes at the beginning of the debate, apparently complaining that former Gov. Charlie Crist (D, fmr. I, fmr. R) had an electric fan under his podium.

Yes, really.

Reporter Marc Caputo tweeted last night:

Privately, Republicans/Rick Scott loyalists are telling me the moment he didn’t go onstage over fangate was the moment he lost the election

Maybe so, but Gov. Scott and even surrogate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) decided to drive a couple more nails just to make sure.

Consider, please, the answer from Gov. Scott:

Well I waited to see if he—’til we figured out if we figured out if he was going to show up. He said he was going to come to the, uh—uh, he said he was going to come to the debate. So why come out until he’s ready?

And then there was Sen. Rubio to back him up:

Well, as you saw Governor Scott say, it wasn’t clear he was even going to show up. When I got here today for this debate, I was told that Charlie Crist was going to cancel the debate. Because unless there was a fan on that stage he would not come out. So I think that Governor Scott was waiting to see if Charlie would actually pull it off or not.

And, of course, there is a punch line: While Gov. Scott was apparently waiting to see if Crist showed up, Mr. Crist was standing onstage waiting for the incumbent to emerge.