Write A Caption: Kendrick Meek

I got so much grief for blogging about Kendrick Meek not having a chance in hell of ever becoming a United States Senator. Progressive bloggers and Florida Democratic establishment. Look at this picture and tell me you are proud that you nominated Meek.

Side note: yes, I know Florida statewide candidates eating possum in a political tradition. That doesn't mean a candidate should be photographed with Mr. Possum Pants.

Kendrick Meek Ethical Lapses Update

Failed U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek lavished his congressional staffers with bonuses before leaving office.

He paid his staff, on average, $220,000 through the first three quarters of 2010.

In the fourth quarter that number jumped to $440,000, thanks to what were, in effect, year-end bonuses for staffers.

Local taypayers aren't thrilled with the news.

"That's what they do, they're totally crooked, that's all there is to it," said Tom Foy of Tampa.

I am sure many of you have seen those sleazy instant check cashing places that overcharge people, who do not have enough money to open a bank account. Take a wild guess which senate candidate received the most campaign contributions from the industry. Hint: he is a self-described "moderate-progressive."

The correct answer is Kendrick Meek.

Former Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) was the largest recipient of payday loan campaign cash, receiving $53,900 from the payday industry in the 2010 election cycle, according to CREW.

I wonder if Meek used Amscot to cash the checks.

Kendrick Meek Update

For the two people besides me wondering what Kendrick Meek has been up to since he badly lost the Florida U.S. Senate race. Either Meek's Twitter account has been hacked or he is losing his mind.



These tweets have been deleted from Meek's account. This tweet has survived the purge.

@dekayon Nope. In it to win it!

"In it to win it" translated into 20 percent of the popular vote. The DNC and FDP should make it clear to Meek and Alex Sink to never run in a statewide race again.

Karen Thurman and Kenneth Quinnell: Losers of the Week

Alex Leary of the St. Petersburg Times has declared Florida Democratic Party chair Karen Thurman one of Florida's political losers of the week. In a galaxy far far away, Kenneth Quinnell writes that Thurman deserves credit for helping Barack Obama win Florida.

What about 2008? Obama won Florida. And I know the Thurman-haters will automatically say that OFA did that and she had nothing to do with it, but I've not actually heard that argument made by any actual OFA insiders, so until I do, I'm going to count that as a victory for Thurman (as well as a victory for OFA).

Steve Schale ran Obama's Florida campaign and worked on Alex Sink's gubernatorial campaign. Schale and Sink had such a lack of confidence in Thurman's GOTV efforts that they started their own GOTV campaign. University of Florida political science professor Danial Smith tweeted me the detail. It slightly edited the tweet to make it more readable.

Word is Florida Democratic Party's coordination campaign was a GOTV disaster, but Sink and Steve Schale worked independent and performed better.

Democrats picked only one seat in the Florida legislature in 2008. I would hardly call one seat a cause for Florida Democrats to be giving each other high fives. If Thurman was so good getting out the vote why was she so unsuccessful getting her state candidates elected in 2008?

Quinnell is doing push back for the Florida Democratic establishment. That is Quinnell's shtick. This is the same blogger who wrote I was "jumping to conclusions" that the White House was willing to let Kendrick Meek dropout was "complete speculation based on no concrete evidence." The Miami Herald confirmed the White House was well aware of the talks between Clinton, Meek and Crist.

A White House official said the administration did not initiate talks between Meek and Clinton but was "aware" and "in a position to let it play out" out of concerns of Rubio winning.

Atlantic Monthly political reporter Marco Ambinder tweeted this message.

Worst kept secret in Florida politics is that WH tried to get Clinton to nudge Meek aside a while ago. Clinton told the WH to shove off then

The White House was so behind Meek that the DSCC and DNC let the candidate's campaign go broke. All this information was available when Quinnell wrote his push back post on me.

Quinnell has no credibility. He is doing push back for Thurman. Quinnell cares about one thing and that is being part of the Florida Democratic establishment. Don't believe me? Quinnell wrote a post on why Meek lost the election. Quinnell lists activists and bloggers as one of the reasons. Quinnell then goes on to "give a shout out" to members of a terrible campaign. Quinnell doesn't actually blame any Meek staffers whom were involved in a campaign that got smoked at the polls. The reason is Quinnell doesn't want to burn his bridges with the Florida Democratic establishment.

Guest Post By Rick Wilson

Rick Wilson is a political consultant and runs the company Intrepid Media. Wilson produces ads for Republicans campaigns. I don't normally do this. I asked for Wilson's thoughts on the Florida Democratic Party and the Kendrick Meek campaign. Wilson is familiar with Florida elections and I thought it would be interesting getting his perspective.

I have quibbles about Kendrick "moderate progressive" Meek being too liberal. I am not a Rubio fan, but Wilson is. Wilson does get a lot of other things right.

Ya'll had a pretty tough night.

Even if the FDP was a finely-tuned campaign machine, Meek would have lost. The simple reality is, Kendrick was never going to beat Marco in a year like 2010, Crist or not. He's to the left of Obama, and that's not anywhere near the flavor in this political season. (Beyond the savage electoral beat-down your side just took, see the recent FL polling on the stimulus, the health care bill, Obama approval etc.) I'm sure your readers would dispute this, but that's the difference between us: I see the political climate as it is, not how I wish it would be.

Marco is a bold, smart, conservative with a crystal-clear message...and he ran a great campaign. It wasn't just a national wave: Marco's message resonated with Florida voters who are (with a few exceptions in a handful of counties) largely conservative. Florida is not a progressive state. It can be volatile in Presidential elections...but take a look at statewide elections in FL over the last 20 years. See many flaming #pfla-type liberal firebrands there?

Once a cadre of Democrats (Wexler, call your office) decided Crist was a better play to defeat Marco, they injured the Florida Democratic Party's bond of trust with African American voters and progressives. It was low-rent realpolitik: too clever by half, and thus doomed and stupid. Democrats from FL and the White House playing footsie with Charlie Crist left Meek vulnerable to rumors for months, undermining his fundraising and his stature. Think about this: a big chunk of your party decided to betray an affable, decent African American Democrat with a good resume for Charlie Crist. (Combined with what's going to happen to African American representation under your beloved redistricting plan, well, all I can say is "thanks!")

Of course, the FDP also failed to execute basic campaign operations, including candidate recruitment, turnout operations, farm team building, etc. How's that OFA/Union Permanent Campaign working out for ya? Because the GOP has never had the logistical backstop of unions, when we win, it's by hard work, better candidates, a message that works and building good infrastructure. This isn't a secret. The Florida Democratic Party has been very well-funded in the last year, but it's unbelievably poor decision-making with its donors' money pales in comparison to Jim Greer's Amex excesses. They might as well stack up the cash and have a bonfire.

Kendrick Meek Concedes

The Real Dem finally concedes to reality.

"Florida spoke, and spoke overwhelmingly," Meek said, adding that he commended Rubio on how he ran his campaign. "For someone who came from the outside, to come inside and take a commanding lead in the race almost a month ago is to be commended."

"I wish him well, because it's an uphill battle," Meek added.

Meek had this to say about Charlie Crist.

"I think that Crist trying to cross over on issues did bring some confusion to the voters," he added.

Much of the confusion was because of Meek's meek stand on the issues. Meek told the Miami Herald he was a "moderate progressive." I have no idea what the hell a moderate progressive is because it doesn't exist. Meek's hysterical "moderate progressive" is the worst kind of pandering the the Left and center of Democratic voters. Crist was able to do better than Meek because he is a more charismatic politician and went to the left of Meek.

Florida Senate Race Numbers

Here are some numbers for the Florida Senate race. Marco Rubio is kicking Charlie Crist's and Kendrick Meek's collective asses.

Rubio - 49 percent

Crist - 28 percent

Meek - 22 percent

Crist's and Meek's numbers together make the race too close to call. I am possitive if Rubio and Meek was a two man race Meek would not get 50 percent. Crist and Rubio could have been a close contest. The White House should have gone after Crist before the primary and have him become a Democrat. Getting Bill Clinton to press Meek to dropout with less than a month before election day was poorly handled.

Crist Voicemail to Meek

This is the voicemail Charlie Crist left on Kendrick Meek's phone. Crist and Meek were both set to speak separately at AIPAC. Crist wanted to set up a time with Meek to ask him to dropout.

Crist Asked Meek To Dropout

Kendrick Meek confirms to the Wall Street Journal that Charlie Crist personally asked him to dropout of the Senate race.

Mr. Meek was scheduled to speak at AIPAC about 8:30 and Mr. Crist at 10, but the governor showed up an hour early in hopes of catching the congressman.

Mr. Meek said he tried to avoid Mr. Crist, but as he left the stage, “there he was, right in front of me.”

“He said, ‘If you were to drop out and work with me and help me we together can beat Marco Rubio,’” Mr. Meek recalled. “I said, ‘Governor, that’s a non-starter.’

“Then he dug down into his pocket and pulled a small cross out,” Mr. Meek continued. “He said his sister gave it to him and he wanted to give it to me so I would think about it.”

Crist has publicly said he didn't ask Meek to quit the race. Everyone seems to be contradicting the story of other players involved in this disaster. The Marco Rubio campaign must be laughing their asses off right now.

Dropout-Gate

CNN video of Bill Clinton, Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist statements on Dropout-Gate. Clinton denies urging Meek to dropout. Clinton said Meek brought up the subject. Meek says he was always in the race. Crist denies trying to initiate any of the camps to force Meek to quit. My question is why should we believe anything said by any of the parties.

Clinton Confirms Talks With Meek

I have a lengthy post on Bill Clinton asking Kendrick Meek to dropout. Dave Hoffman of the Meek campaign originally confirmed the story.

Dave Hoffman said “that was discussed, yeah,” but Hoffman denied that Meek had ever agreed to drop out.

Hoffman said he could not characterize what Clinton said, but then said, “I think ’suggest’ is probably the best … not ’suggest’ … but that (getting out) was discussed yeah.”

Hoffman said the issue was raised as, “Hey, if you want to do this … That was more of the nature of the conversation.”

Hoffman said Meek “never agreed to drop out” and was committed to fighting through Election Day.

Meek and members of his campaign attempted to walk back their own confirmation.

"The president came down to do an event for me in Orlando and St. Petersburg. We talk politics all the time. He said I heard this thing about you getting out. I said, 'I'm not getting out.' I said Charlie Crist needs to get out of the race. And that was that," Meek said.

Clinton confirmed to CNN that he discussed with Meek ending the campaign.

“He was trying to determine what was the best thing for him to do,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN’s Susan Candiotti Thursday. “I knew it was being discussed, people had discussed it on and off… it was no secret.”

Clinton said Meek did not have enough money to break through in the polls.

Clinton confirms the Politico story that he talked with Meek twice about dropping out. The article is a teaser for a CNN interview airing tomorrow.

Clinton's aide Matt McKenna went on-the-record with Politico that Clinton was pressing Meek to dropout. An off-the-record White House official told the Miami Herald said the Obama administration was aware of what was going on.

A White House official said the administration did not initiate talks between Meek and Clinton but was "aware" and ``in the position to let it play out" out of concerns about Rubio winning.

Meek is going to have to deal with the most popular politician in America telling CNN that he is lying about conversations they had. The CNN interview that will air is not going to play well for Meek.

Meek would have never been a Senate candidate if Clinton had not endorsed him. Now Clinton is effectively ending his political career. Is anyone going to take Meek seriously after this atrocious campaign?

Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: Clinton Asked Meek to Drop Out

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to Politico that the former President asked Kendrick Meek to drop out and endorse Charlie Crist. Clinton asked Meek to drop out during October 19 and 20. Another source told Politico that Meek agreed to drop out.

“It was a completely done deal,” one source said.

The Crist, Meek and Clinton camps even set a date for an endorsement rally: the following Tuesday, October 26. Meek was to give Crist his blessing and explain to his disappointed supporters – many of whom deeply distrust the governor, who was elected as a Republican – that their votes could save the Senate for the Democrats and save America from the rise of Rubio, who is viewed both as a hard-line conservative and a potential national figure.

Doug Band served as the intermediary between Meek and Crist, and Clinton. It seems Stephen Moore's Wall Street Journal article may have been closer to the truth than expected by many. (Including myself.) The date of Moore's article is 11 days before Clinton first asked Meek to drop out.Team Meek would not respond to Politico's request for an interview. That is a clear sign they do not want to go on-the-record refuting a story that is true.

Obviously, Meek changed his mind. What is interesting is Clinton's endorsement cleared the path for Meek nomination and thereby killing any chance of Democratics picking up the Senate seat. Even Clinton came to the conclusion that Meek's campaign was hopeless. I wish Clinton realized this before endorsing Meek.

Update: Crist Crist campaign spokesman Danny Kanner confirmed to Joy-Ann Reid that the Politico story is true.

“While this story is accurate, the Governor’s focus is on uniting common-sense Democrats, independents, and Republicans behind his campaign because he is the one candidate who can defeat Tea Party extremist Marco Rubio and deliver bipartisan results for Florida in Washington.”

Update: Eric Jotkoff of the Florida Democratic Party released this statement.

“Kendrick Meek is the only candidate who has fought for middle class families, he is the only candidate who stood up to George W. Bush’s attempts to privatize Social Security, and is the only one who has always showed up to defend our Democratic values by standing up to the extremist Republicans. Because Kendrick Meek is the leader we need in the U.S. Senate to fight for us, the Florida Democratic Party is proud to continue fighting to elect Kendrick Meek to the U.S. Senate so he can continue working for everyday Floridians and to bring jobs to the Sunshine State,” said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman.

The press release doesn't mention the Politico article. It is pointless to do push back against factual statements. It appears the D.C. establishment is torpedoing Meek in the hopes of holding onto the Senate majority. The internal polling numbers must be horrible for the Senate races.

Update: RNC chairman Michael Steele is suddenly a Kendrick Meek fan.

"One can only imagine the response if GOP leadership tried to force out...a qualified black candidate like Kendrick Meek”

Steele will find out when the Republican establishment won't let him have a second term at the RNC.

Update: Dave Hoffman from the Meek campaign confirmed part of the Politico story. Hoffman contends that Meek never agreed to drop out. Hoffman does confirm Clinton brought up the subject of Meek dropping out.

Dave Hoffman said “that was discussed, yeah,” but Hoffman denied that Meek had ever agreed to drop out.

Hoffman said he could not characterize what Clinton said, but then said, “I think ’suggest’ is probably the best … not ’suggest’ … but that (getting out) was discussed yeah.”

Hoffman said the issue was raised as, “Hey, if you want to do this … That was more of the nature of the conversation.”

Hoffman said Meek “never agreed to drop out” and was committed to fighting through Election Day.

Update: Peter Schorsch tweeted this.

Kendrick Meek to hold, um, emergency press conference tonight at 9:30.

I am not a Charlie Crist fan. That being said, the best chance to keep Marco Rubio from gaining a Senate seat is for Meek to drop out. I'm not counting on it. Meek seems content on burning his bridges with the Democratic establishment. I have said this repeatedly and said by it. Meek does not have the support of the Democratic establishment and voters. The Politico leak was designed to force Meek out of the race. Democrats don't love Crist. They are terrified of Rubio becoming a major political star.

Update: Joy-Ann Reid blogs that Meek is denying Hoffman's confirmation that Clinton discussed dropping with him. McKenna and the Crist campaign have gone on-the-record on this. So has Meek's own campaign. Meek is denying conversations with Clinton that his campaign confirmed. If you want proof that the entire Meek campaign has been amateur hour then look no further than this. This shitty campaign's confusing message during the entire cycle can be blamed on a man who has no business running in a statewide race.

Update: Meek statement to CNN.

"The president came down to do an event for me in Orlando and St. Petersburg. We talk politics all the time. He said I heard this thing about you getting out. I said, 'I'm not getting out.' I said Charlie Crist needs to get out of the race. And that was that," Meek said.

That doesn't sound like an actual conversation. That sounds like Meek's increasingly passive aggressive campaign rhetoric. Remember Meek yelling during a debate that he is 6'4 and Senators would have to go through him in order to change Social Security. Is Meek going to challenge Chuck Grassley to a fight? The guy has a temper as bad as John McCain's.

Update: Campaign manager Abe Dyk is now walking back Hoffman's confirmation. This is like watch a car crash in slow motion.

"The article is not true. Kendrick Meek was never dropping out of this race, is never dropping out of this race, and will never drop out of this race. Kendrick Meek will always stand up for the middle class and will not leave Floridians a choice between two lifelong conservative Republicans who only stand with the special interests. Kendrick is the Democratic nominee so if anyone should drop out, it's Charlie Crist,” said Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk.

The problem for Dyk and the Meek campaign is two sources confirmed to Jake Tapper of ABC News that Clinton asked Meek to drop out. It is hard for Team Meek to do push back when people within the Democratic Party are telling the media the story is true.

From Beth Reinhard of the Miami Herald.

"I am running. The press report was inaccurate at best."

And he's losing in the polls.

Meek is already a zombie candidate. I didn't think it could get worse. Boy, was I wrong.

Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: More Crist Democratic Endorsements

Two more Democrats abandon the sinking ship known that is the Kendrick Meek campaign. Palm Beach County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Shelley Vana have officially endorsed Charlie Crist. The Crist campaign released this statement.

“I am honored by the courageous and generous support of Palm Beach County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Shelley Vana. The priority of common sense Democrats, Republicans, and independents must be stopping Tea Party extremist Marco Rubio from taking his anti-senior, anti-woman, anti-teacher agenda to the United States Senate, and these two fine leaders understand that. Florida has a once in a lifetime opportunity to change our nation’s capital forever by sending an independent to Washington, and it’s critical we not let that pass us by.”

Earlier this month Aaronson attempted to ask Kendrick Meek to quit the Senate race. Meek caught wind that Palm Beach Democratic clubs were going to ask him to quit. The Real Dem ducked the meeting.

It is hard to be the Real Dem when Democratic elected official are endorsing the NPA candidate. State Representatives Yolly Roberson, Rep. Luis Garcia, Maria Sachs, and Darryl Rouson have endorsed Crist.

Florida Sen. Minority leader Al Lawson's endorsement was big news.

Former Florida Democratic Party chairman Charles Whitehead, Congressman Robert Wexler, the Palm Beach County Democrats and Robert Kennedy Jr have also endorsed Crist.

Immigration Equality and the Florida Pipe Trades have endorsed Crist over Meek. The Sierra Club endorsed both Crist and Meek. The latter refused to accept the endorsement. Team Meek can't say Crist endorsements don't mean anything and then behave childishly when they have to share an endorsement.

The Florida Democratic establishment should study the Meek campaign as an example of how not to run a statewide race. Republicans want Democrats to keep running candidates like Meek. It makes it easier the the GOP to win elections. If you don't believe me then find Republican establishment member that feared a Meek candidacy in 2009. Ask a GOP operative if Republicans feared the Democratic All-Star team of Jim Davis, Skip Campbell or Eric Copeland in 2006. The most likely answer will be laughter.

Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: Real DEM Says Bye to DEM Voters

I wrote a post on Democratic voters leaving Kendrick Meek. Kenneth Quinnell decided to fact-check my post.

"

"Also, your post says "Democrats Flee the Real Dem," despite the fact that Meek's numbers are about as high as they've been in the entire election cycle."

State of Sunshine blogger Jim Johnson had fun putting Quinnell's nonsense to rest.

"Ummm... polling shows that Meek is getting around 40% of Dems. That is not "as high as they've been" since he did win the primary."

You're referring to his apallingly low overall vote numbers. Marco Rubio has to be quite pleased that Meek is staying in this race. I have as much change of winning the Senate seat as Kendrick Meek."

Quinnell also maintains that Marco Rubio "beat" Crist even though the latter never ran in the Republican primary.

When I parse words, it's for the sake of more clarity and accuracy, which isn't quite what you did here. While it may be technically true that Rubio didn't beat Crist, in reality he did beat him, since the fact that Rubio was winning is why Crist left the party and went indy.

Kenneth, when you parse words is because you want to them to fit your own narrative. The truth is the latest Zogby poll is evidence that Democrats are leaving Meek.

Rubio - 39.6 percent

Crist - 33.3 percent

Meek - 18.1 percent

During this campaign cycle, I noticed one can tell if Team Meek is concerned by how stupid they sound.

“This race is ... not about polls, and the Democrats will come home making Kendrick Meek the next U.S. senator,” Dyk said.

Actually, Democrats may decide Meek doesn't have a chance and instead vote for Crist. The latest Public Policy Polling numbers (a Democratic firm) show Crist pulling away from Meek.

Rubio - 44 percent

Crist - 33 percent

Meek - 21 percent

The Quinnell narrative is bogus. Meek is losing Democratic support. A Mason-Dixon poll from earlier this month shows Meek with 42 percent to Crist's 37 percent support with Democratic voters. The difference narrowed from 9 percent to 5 percent. It is a joke when the "Real Dem" cannot pull over 80 percent of Democratic voters.

Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: Meek is 'Surging' Talking Point

Sen. Bill Nelson plays pollster. Nelson predicts Kendrick Meek will leapfrog over Charlie Crist in the polls.

"Absolutely not, because I think Kendrick is surging and I think this is going to end up being a race between Kendrick and Marco."

The only thing working against Nelson's prediction is this pesky thing called reality. The TPM Poll Tracker averages out the major polls. Meek is 23.4 percent behind Rubio. Meek has never been in second place in the TPM Poll Tracker. This is a Rubio and Crist race.



New York Times pollster and blogger Nate Silver recently gave Meek 0.6 percent chance of winning. These numbers can hardly be described as "surging."



Not even Gen. David Petraeus could make this surge work. A Public Policy Polling poll show if Crist dropped out Meek would still trail by 7 percent. We could let this Senate race go on another year and Meek still couldn't make his case to voters.

If Meek dropped out Crist and Rubio would be even. Meek will lose no matter what the scenario is. Democrats made a horrible mistake running a candidate who never had a hard race. Running a Congressman with little name recognition against the star power of Rubio and Crist is insanity. Florida Democrats should stop letting Bill Clinton pick cronies for failed Senate runs. Democrats need to field better candidates or will continue to lose.

Quote of the Day

"On one hand, Kendrick Meek is costing Democrats any shot at keeping Florida’s US Senate seat from falling into Marco Rubio’s hands. Not only is he blocking Charlie Crist from winning enough Democrats to compete with Rubio, but, let’s remember, Meek forced Dan Gelber, who at this point would have been a much better statewide candidate than Meek, out of the Senate race."

Peter Schorsch

Conservative blogger Jim Johnson and I both have said Gelber would have been the better Senate candidate. Schorsch is adding his name to the chorus.

Florida Senate Debate Liveblogging

7:04 Rubio bashes the stimulus. Offers no alternative.

7:05 Crist makes good case for stimulus.

7:07 Meek floundering talking about Bush tax cuts. Meek is a horrible public speaker.

7:09 Crist asked would he raise taxes to cut the deficit. Crist wants more tax cuts. Crist is in economic fantasyland.

7:10 Crist can keep a straight face by saying education wasn't hurt by Florida budget cuts. It is B.S. but Crist delivers it with conviction.

7:12 Meek is really off to a bad start.

7:13 Moderator calls Crist and Meek for ducking question on what to do on Social Security. Meek talks about not shipping jobs overseas. WTF.

7:14 Seniors should be scared of what Marco Rubio would do for Social Security.

7:15 Is Rubio proposing a Social Security lockbox?

7:18 Meek is rambling. Meek is overcoached on talking points.

7:19 Rubio's "unemployment should be paid for" stance is dishonest. He doesn't feel that way about the Bush tax cuts. Rubio blames Obama for the entire deficit. Most of it is from Bush's two terms.

7:23 Rubio actually brags about the plan on his web site. Get the fuck out of her!

7:27 Crist brags about the failure known as Cover Florida.

7:29 Meek finally finds his voice talking about health care reform. Meek goes downright irate.

7:33 Why is the moderator talking about bats?

7:34 Crist nails Rubio on social issues. Good.

7:35 Meek asked about his positions being similar to Nancy Pelosi. Meek has never been accused of thinking outside the caucus box.

7:36 Rubio's platform is anti-immigration. Rubio knows he has to be anti-immigration to be in GOP.

7:38 William March questions Meek on Dennis Stackhouse controversy. Meek's response is he was a state trooper. WTF.

7:40 Meek makes me have a greater appreciation for the orator skills of Bob Dole.

7:41 Rubio: "I never had expenses paid for by the Republican Party." Bullshit.

7:42 Crist asked about Jim Greer. Not one of your best decisions, Charlie.

&;44 Short answer: Crist, Meek and Rubio have horrible ethics.

7:45 Ouch. Rubio calls Crist out on Crist changing parties because of his pollster.

7:47 If Rubio thinks Afghanistan is going to become a stable gov then he lives in la la land.

7;47 Rubio doesn't support an Afghanistan timetable. That timetable worked so badly for Iraq. Oh wait...

Tas tweeted this great comment on Crist, Meek and Rubio arguing who has the better ethics.

That's like a whore accusing another whore of fucking for money.

7:51 Meek is going to solve our border problems by being a junior senator with no say.

7:53 Rubio says this election about the future. I thought it was about Rubio getting a job. Government does create employment.

7:55 Shorter Charlie Crist: I defend everything that will get me elected.

7:56 Meek talking about "having a clear vision." No one would know what Meek's vision is based on rambling performance.

Kendrick Meek Hulk Smash

Should Meek Withdraw?
- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

The Senate race is taking its toll on Kendrick Meek. You can see Meek is visibly upset when debate moderator asks if Meek plans on quitting the race. Joy-Ann Reid noticed another moment of Meek losing his cool.

“His number one talking point is that he wants to defeat Marco Rubio,” Meek said. “I want to become the next United States senator. If he’s so concerned about defeating Marco Rubio and he thinks someone needs to get out, then he should take his own advice and get out.”

HULK SMASH!

Meek Fought to Restrict Abortion Funding

I about puked when I saw a Facebook friend (who actually is someone I don't know) describe Kendrick Meek as a progressive. Let us flashback to July of 2009 when Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting that no pro-abortion language be placed in the health care bill.

[W]e believe that a common ground solution is to include language in the final legislation that makes clear that no insurance company will be required to pay for an abortion except in extraordinary circumstances -- nor will they be prohibited from paying for an abortion, so long as health insurance plans offered in the exchange that choose to provide abortion coverage pay for those services with funds that are separate and distinct from any federal subsidies.

This solution maintains the current status quo in the private market – where insurance companies can choose whether to include this coverage in their plans and individuals can choose which plan (and what sort of coverage) fits their individual needs and values while ensuring that no federal funds are used to pay for abortions.

Lastly, we believe that health reform legislation should not preempt constitutionally permissible state laws that establish pre-requisites that a patient must satisfy before obtaining an abortion, such as parental consent and waiting period laws.

The letter was also signed by Democratic Congressional members Dale Kildee, James Langevin, Artur Davis, and (drum roll please) Kendrick Meek.

The Hyde Amendment already restricts federal money from abortions. What Obama's executive order later did was prevent any federal dollars in the health care bill from funding abortion. Even if the Hyde Amendment is repealed or changed through the legislative and executive branches the executive order would still stand. A future president could sign an executive order repealing Obama's order.

Meek fought to make abortions harder for women to obtain. Calling Meek a progressive is a joke.

Kendrick Meek Releases the Kraken

Democrat Kendrick Meek has released the final message he will use in his attempt to be elected to the United States Senate. This is the message Meek will repeat in the final days of the election.

"I will not drop out of this race for any reason," Meek said. "I am nominated by the Democrats of the state of Florida. I am in this race to run to be the next United States senator. And no, I am not running for second."

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!



The previous campaign message of Meek, Abe Dyk, Adam Sharon and Kenneth Quinnell has been the political equivalent of Chip Diller in Animal House shouting, "Remain calm. All is well." The message now is no longer being the "Real Dem" since real Democrats are asking Meek to quit the race. The message is Meek is not going to quit even though members of his own party want him to. Release the Kraken.