Can Kossacks Handle Truths Re: MI & FL?
Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 11:13:00 PM PDT
So, this blog's fearless leader goes to not-so-great-lengths pulling a 30-second sound bite made by Florida State Senate Minority Leader Geller
completely out of context. It generates over 400 comments from this community, adding insult to injury. (The
truth being what was injured here, nothing else.)
If you care about the truth and actual facts, regardless of whom you support in the Primary, on this "reality-based blog," read Barrett's piece. If you don't, then rant based upon a 30-second, out-of-context sound bite which serves as almost the entire content for Kos' post earlier today.
Here are just three graphs from Barrett's amazing story that dispels Kos' post, virtually in its entirety. The rest of the Barrett article is nothing short of amazing.
For the record, Barrett's the real deal--perhaps the best political investigative reporter of our time--he gives Woodward, Bernstein and Hersh a run for their money.
"Another factor attracting Democratic votes in the legislature for the bill was one the DNC should certainly appreciate. Governor Crist threw a reform long sought by Florida Democrats into the bill: a mandatory paper trail for all votes cast in future elections. "The Democrats have been fighting for a paper trail bill since 2000," said State Senator Nan Rich, "and Governor Bush never would support it. So finally we got a governor who was willing to support it and it ended up connected to the early primary bill. That was unfortunate. If the paper trail hadn't been there, I believe we Democrats would've all voted no. Still, if all the Republicans had voted one way and all the Democrats had voted another way, the bill would've passed." (This Christmas tree bill -- whose title alone was 154 lines long -- had something special for everyone. It would even enable Crist to run as John McCain's vice presidential candidate, revoking a ban against state officials running for federal office.)
<SNIP>
Martin Kiar and Mary Brandenburg, House Democrats who were cosponsors of the bill, tried to amend it. "We offered an amendment on the floor shifting the date to one within the Democratic party rules," said Brandenburg. "The Democrats all voted for it, and Republicans all voted against it." Actually, the Kiar/Brandenburg proposal did not completely comply with DNC directives, but it was a signal of the concerns Florida Dems had about the move-up legislation. Said Kiar: "No matter what, whether we supported it or cosponsored it, the Republican majority was going to push it through."
When the DNC sanctioned Florida, it critiqued the efforts of the Democratic leaders in both houses, suggesting that they'd merely gone through the motions of feigned opposition. But the House cosponsor of the bill, David Rivera, literally laughed on the floor at the Democratic amendment, according to the House Democrats. Going through the motions was all the outgunned Democrats could do. A DNC critic of Florida Democrats was reduced in a recent New York Times op-ed to citing remarks supporting the early primary made by state leaders after it was a fait accompli, likely because she couldn't make a case about their conduct before the Republican legislature set the date."
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