My first time meeting current senatorial and failed presidential candidate Marco Rubio was at a princess party. It was 2008, we were in the upstairs area of the legislature where people come to be actual people, and we shook hands while his daughter’s friends leapt around in pink taffeta. Rubio, who is just one year younger than me by a week, was playing dad, and all of that was fine, as it should be.
I watched Rubio when he led the House floor, gavel in hand. I looked into his eyes as he made it certain that he really didn’t care about what wrath he was enabling from the far right, about what women he was ignoring, about what princesses would never be real princesses according to his flight of Floridian fancy. Rubio, a linchpin for the Republican Party if only for his looks and his connection to Hispanic voters, came off as a fraud. And, yes, these are mere observations. But sometimes staring someone in the eyes is the shortest distance between speculation and fact. Rubio, as a U.S. Senator, has been widely reported as a derelict to the justice he was elected to embody. Sift the records all you want; Rubio missed 41 percent of the votes he was elected to oversee. Rubio is not qualified for his job. Rubio is a plant.
But even after speaking with Rubio when he was promoting his ghost-written book at a big-box retail outlet near the Mall at Millenia, even after staring beyond his cadre of analysts, speechwriters and fans, the emptiness was all that shone through. I took to referring to him as Patrick Bateman from the novel American Psycho. Easy leaps are easier to do, after all. Rubio is a puppet for a party that has lost its mind.
Rubio and Democratic competitor Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, obviously, met to talk it out on Oct. 17. Much of the focus was on the news of the day: Rubio was supporting Trump (albeit tacitly); Murphy was having none of it.
And herein lies the problem. Let’s be clear: If anyone has ever played the game of career politician, it’s Marco Rubio. Though he may be seasoned in the dither and wither of his explanations – politics will do that to someone, especially when your echo chamber is lined with editors – he is a man with no mission, a man with a questionable history (inasmuch as his autobiographical accounts have been challenged by historians), he is a Cuban immigrant (or child of; or whatever; or allegedly) and he is smug about issues surrounding immigration. And that resonates. It really does. If you were an immigrant, an “illegal” as they say, how would you feel about your accomplishments being diminished by a man who so easily turns on his own dime? If you’ve met Rubio, you would know the answer. You would feel nothing.
Down the line
Considering the uproar that followed Donald Trump’s hands-y approach to becoming a respected public figure, it must be difficult for those residing in Hillary Clinton’s headquarters to even consider his hands running across America. Well, it’s about to get less difficult. The Clinton campaign is doing just what it promised by running its trickle-down finance into downticket races that will secure some sense of fairness for a nation that is running on empty.
“I don’t’ think [voters are] looking at this through the prism so much of checks and balances,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said, according to the Miami Herald. “I think voters want their president and their members of congress to get something done, and I think it’s concerning to them to see there [are] Republican Seante and House and in some cases gubernatorial candidate [making] thes political calculations.”
The Clinton campaign is expecting to send $6 million down the ticket-rope over the next few weeks leading to Nov. 8. Hello, Patrick Murphy. Your check is in the mail!
Waging a war
The race toward an increase in the minimum wage has taken on a new flavor in Florida, particularly among Republicans in redistricted areas populated by independent voters. Long a topic of conservative chambercrats who don’t want to inflate pay with increasing costs of living, the fight for 15 battle has made enough noise in Florida to inspire another political plank.
“Increasing the minimum wage is good not only for the worker, it is good for those companies that employ them,” Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said, according to the Miami Herald. “We’ve got to focus on all levels of government so we can restore the American Dream, so that everyone can have a shot at it, and that’s why Florida needs $15.”
Even state Sen. Anita Flores scoffed at minimal increases. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity suggested a five-cent increase in wages.
“A whopping five cents an hour,” Flores said, according to the Herald. “It makes sense for the minimum wage to be increased. The state of Florida has prided itself on increasing jobs for the last several years.. However, we have to ensure that these are high-paying jobs.”
Death becomes no one
So, in a state that seems to be best friends with the death penalty and all things terrible, it looks like there might be some light shining through the electric chairs and syringes. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court stated that it would require a unanimous decision in cases involving capital punishment.
Naturally, there is some confusion on the matter, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The fear is that approximately 400 murderers in limbo. The state legislature will have to solve the quagmire.
“With Friday’s ruling, imposing the death sentence will require a unanimous verdict with or without legislative action,” the office of future Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, told the Times. “In the past, the Senate has been supportive of the unanimous verdict requirement.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi has been expectedly vague on the issue. Her office has said that it is “reviewing” the decision in the Hurst v. Florida case that sparked the debate. Bondi will likely seek a rehearing.
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