Very interesting...

Miami - Five Republican presidential candidates are boycotting a proposed Univision debate due to allegations that the Spanish-language media giant tried to strongarm Sen. Marco Rubio, a vice-presidential shortlister, with a controversial story about a relative.

Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann all issued statements saying that Univision needed to make amends before they would appear at the debate, tentatively scheduled for two days before Florida's Jan. 31 primary.

The five made their separate announcements throughout the day at the behest of three Florida Hispanic Republican lawmakers who noted that the senator’s office and Univision insiders said Univision publicized an embarrassing story about Rubio’s brother in law because he wouldn’t sit down for an interview on the show Al Punto, which has espoused a liberal line on the hot-topic of immigration.

Univision has called the allegations of a quid-pro-quo “absurd,” and said that the July story of the 24-year-old drug bust was reported fairly and accurately.

But the five candidates apparently believed the reports from Rubio’s office and the Univision insiders, which were first revealed in a Sunday Miami Herald story. The five other candidates, including Florida straw poll winner Herman Cain, couldn't be reached.

“Governor Perry will not consider participating in the January 29, 2012, Univision debate until your network addresses this ethical breach and takes action to correct it,” Perry’s communications director, Ray Sullivan, wrote Univision on Tuesday.

“With NBC and Telemundo also hosting a debate the same weekend in January 2012, we will have ample opportunity to engage with Spanish-speaking Americans,” Perry wrote.

Late Tuesday, Cain's campaign issued a statement through Longwood state Rep. Scott Plakon who said: "They're out. Until Univision resolves this, he won't participate in the debate like the other candidates."

Huntsman’s campaign manager, Matt David, was more measured in his letter to Univision. But he said the candidate stands firm.

“Unless Univision resolves this issue in a timely and satisfactory manner, Governor Huntsman will not give consideration to your network’s debate currently proposed for January, 2012,” he wrote. “We ask the other Republican candidates to join us in this decision and will work with them to identify another forum to debate issues that are important to Americans of Hispanic descent in Florida and across our nation.”

Romney didn't write a letter to Univision, but issued a statement from spokesman Ryan Williams that said: "We have not received any invitation from Univision for a debate, but we are troubled by these allegations and would not participate in any such debate unless and until Univision satisfactorily addresses this situation."

Bachmann's spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, also issued a statement to the news media.

"This issue was brought to Michele's attention and she has a great deal of respect for Senator Rubio," Stewart wrote. "We reserve our right to participate in the Univision debate pending a positive resolution of this matter by Univision."

Ana Navarro, a top Florida field director with Huntsman’s campaign and friend of Rubio, had contacted Univision in July in an effort to have the station stop the story of the drug arrest of Orlando Cicilia in 1987, when Rubio was 16.

Navarro said the old drug arrest and Cicilia’s subsequent incarceration didn’t merit two days of Univision coverage because it was an old report, had no current news value and involved such a distant relative of Rubio.

Three of Rubio’s friends and political allies – U.S. Rep. David Rivera, state House leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, and Miami-Dade Republican Chairman Erik Fresen – called Monday for the Univision boycott in a letter to the Republican National Committee and the campaigns.

“This attempt at extorting a respected Republican elected official like Senator Rubio, who is also a proud American of Hispanic descent, is offensive and unacceptable,” they wrote.

They called for Univision to apologize and to fire its news president, Isaac Lee, who was accused of offering the quid-pro-quo deal to Rubio. Lee has repeatedly denied the charge.

Read more...

Alberto has the background here.

HT: Instapundit

Once again Eddie practices "cherry-picking" out of context and loose editing to make his point fit an agenda. If you take the time to listen to a Paul Ryan plan, or more specifically to the full context of Rubio's speech you'll find Marco Rubio was saying the complete opposite of what the MSNBC dolt Schultz was pretending to portend ...

SCHULTZ: Florida Senator Marco Rubio got some good press this week for saving Nancy Reagan from a fall at a Reagan Library event. But when it comes to the rest of the American senior citizens, Rubio wants to leave them high and dry. He's coming up in Psycho Talk. Stay with us.
...

SCHULTZ: And in Psycho Talk tonight, Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He's on the attack against the Big Three. Now Rubio is an early favorite to take the number two spot on the Republican presidential ticket next year thanks to his Tea Party ideology and his pretty boy looks. But his policies are downright ugly.

The reality is that in a few short years, all that we are right now continuing to pay into both Social Security and Medicare will be gone for everyone, especially those seniors the MSM and the left/democrats are right now trying to scare against the republicans trying to save the programs.

Anyhow, Ace of Spades hears an ugly racist "dog-whistle" in Ed Schultz's commentary as if trying to convey a similarity of Sen. Marco Rubio to a notorious Hispanic serial killer ... I think it's more Ace's way of playing Eddie's game by Eddie's rules and spiking the ball in Eddie's fat face. To say bloggers such as Ace are taking the gloves off with the leftist and often times vile MSM would be an understatement. Just glad we're on the same team...

I want to drop Ed Schultz into the catagory of communist "useful idots" ... but I just can't seem to give Eddie that much I.Q. credit.

Here's a real look into the American Dream come true for Sen. Marco Rubio and his American exceptionalism ... and from across the pond, no less. Marco Rubio really is an American Hero in the making.

I think Col. West has channeled Gen. McAuliffe in directing CAIR as to where he wants them to 'Bite me!'

What's funny is the TV station had to actually dig around to search for the World War II, General Anthony McAuliffe reference and wasn't aware of it ... and is apparently still clueless as to West's reason for responding to CAIR this way.

John "F-ing" Kerry demands the MSM stop giving equal voice to the TEA Party and opposition to Obama's agenda...

Um, censorship, anyone?

What I find even more disturbing not one person sitting on that MSNBC panel of the Morning Joe program challenged him.

Glenn Beck and Co. analyzes it ...

HT: Glenn Beck

Think he would have made a good POTUS? Huh??? A chill wind...

She is, perhaps, one of the most aggressively and consistently correct Congress members you will find in Washington D.C., and I thank her.

WASHINGTON — A key US lawmaker called Monday for cutting all US aid to Lebanon's new government, in which Hezbollah and its allies hold the majority, and to any Palestinian government in which Hamas is a partner.

"The US should immediately cut off assistance to the Lebanese government as long as any violent extremist group designated by the US as foreign terrorist organizations participates in it," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican and frequent White House critic.

Ros-Lehtinen warned in a statement that "Hezbollah and its cohorts will control the Lebanese government and likely benefit from the years of US assistance, including to the Lebanese military."

"We cannot undo past mistakes, but we can learn from them and safeguard taxpayer dollars going forward," she said.

It is the first time a coalition led by Hezbollah, which fought a deadly summer war with Israel in 2006 and is blacklisted in Washington as a terrorist organization, has dominated a government in Lebanon.

"The US should likewise stop funding the Palestinian Authority, where Hamas appears to be following in Hezbollah's footsteps," said Ros-Lehtinen.

"It is time for US assistance to truly advance our interests, rather than benefit the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas, and their partners," she said.

Marco Rubio’s Commencement Address to Ave Maria Law School

The Marco Shark swimming without a teleprompter.

I had no idea West's voice could go that high.

Starts at 1:33 but, as usual, the entire Rep. Allen West speech is 'both-ears-listen' worthy. "Speaking truth to power"? When the man speaks, truth is power.

Rep. West was attending the 2nd annual 9/12 Project picnic in Lake Worth Florida.

This man is so awesome I'm surprised the US Army had uniforms that fit him.

Building a shiny fast train is just the first step. There is maintaining it beyond the money sent to build it. And there is no guarantee that if you build it they will come and ride it ...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is canceling a proposed high-speed train line between Orlando and Tampa, rejecting more than $2 billion from the federal government in a move echoing decisions by Republican governors in Ohio and Wisconsin.

Scott said Wednesday the proposal is too costly for Florida and could put the state's taxpayers on the hook for roughly $3 billion, while ridership is unlikely to pay for the operating cost, meaning the state would have to pump even more money into the line each year.

"The truth is that this project would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits," the Republican governor said in a press release.

Republican Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin have also rejected high-speed rail plans in a direct affront to one of President Obama's favored causes.

The president's latest budget proposal calls for $53 billion over the next six years for high-speed rail projects across the country. The federal government diverted $342 million to Florida's plan when Ohio and Wisconsin rejected the cash.

Scott criticized the plan, and argued that the president's most recent budget would increase the country's debt.

"Higher taxes and more government spending is a recipe for disaster. Government has become addicted to spending beyond its means and we cannot continue this flawed policy," Scott said.

Scott said he informed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday that he didn't want the state to bear the brunt of responsibility for repaying the $2.4 billion invested by the federal government if it all fell apart.

"My background is in business, not politics. But you don't have to be an economics expert to understand that if you spend more money than you take in, your business will fail," Scott said.

The Florida Democratic Party responded by calling Scott a "one-man wrecking crew for Florida's economy." [...]

That last quote is pretty much hobo-speak.

Aren't you glad Bill Nelson is up for reelection in 2012?

At first I thought that the outrageous thing that Bill Nelson had said in this interview with Rick Klein of ABC News was that the Senator wasn’t sure whether or not ObamaCare was unconstitutional (good safety tip for legislators: if you don’t know whether or not a law violates the Constitution, don’t vote for it). But what Nelson was actually saying was that he considers ObamaCare Constitutional, but that the courts might disagree. That’s fine. He’s wrong for thinking that it’s Constitutional, but it is consistent with his vote.

But then Senator Nelson said this:

“But there is at the end of it what is called a severability clause, that says if parts are stuck down, that doesn’t strike down the whole law.”

Wait. What?

How do I put this: NO, THERE IS NO SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AT THE END. There was one in the first draft; it was later removed; the version that you voted for, Senator Nelson, had no severability clause; and the government used as part of its argument for keeping the individual mandate that the mandate could not be separated out from the rest of Obamacare. All of which is immediately obvious to anybody who took the time to read Judge Vinson’s decision in the first place… which apparently does not include Senator Bill Nelson.

Although, to be fair: Bill Nelson obviously didn’t read the original bill, either. In that, at least, this indicates a certain consistency.

This salient issue -- the lack of a severability clause in the law -- has eluded the brain-trust (ahem) of the libs who have excoriated Judge Vinson's brilliant decision. We all know, of course, that when faced with reality, libs pull out their blankies, start sucking on it and repeat, "Look mommie, unicorns!" to make them feel better about the mean old world.

Ugh.

Congressman Allen West (R - THANK YOU, Fla) takes no prisoners in his ongoing verbal battle with the Muslim organization CAIR . Apparently the freshman Congressman's chastising of Rep. Keith Ellison's support of the terror-supporting group has the group screaming foul and demanding an apology. But West is calling him out for supporting CAIR ... not Ellison's religion (but with CAIR that's just so anti-Islam):

In a letter sent today to Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, national religious leaders called on West to apologize for saying that Muslim congressman Keith Ellison represents the “antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.” [...]

In a recent interview with the “Shalom Show,” you underscored that your mission is to represent and uphold the values of your constituents; this is an unquestionably noble goal. However, your subsequent statement that Representative Keith Ellison, one of your colleagues in the House of Representatives, is the “antithesis of the principles on which this country was established” because he is Muslim, shows a frightening lack of understanding for these values. Regardless of the specific “principles” you intended to reference, it is an indisputable fact that one of those principles is religious freedom for all, memorialized in the United States Constitution—including, of course, Article VI’s prohibition on any religious test for public office. Your remarks disrespect not only your Muslim colleagues in the Congress, but also all of your constituents of the Muslim faith. This is neither appropriate, nor true to the American values that you reference.

Regrettably, this is just the latest example of your tendency to offer intemperate comments about Islam. At a town hall meeting during your campaign, you characterized Islam as America’s enemy and asserted, “Islam is a totalitarian, theocratic political ideology; it is not a religion.” Such untrue and inflammatory remarks intensify an unsettling trend of anti-Muslim rhetoric and fear in our country. [...]

Unphased, the retired Army Lt. Colonel and Iraq War veteran, and now Congressman wrote back:

“I am neither anti-Muslim nor anti-Islam. I respect every religion, and the Constitutionally-protected right to practice that faith in a peaceful manner.”

[...]

“My comments in regards to my colleague, Representative Keith Ellison, are not about his Islamic faith, but about his continued support of CAIR." [...]

But not satisfied with Rep. West's letter, Nezar Hamze, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Miami figures he should go 'toe-to-toe' (so to speak) with the Congressman in public at a townhall ... filled with Allen West supporters:

Freshman Republican Congressman Allen West clashed with an advocate for Muslim-American civil rights at a sometimes-rowdy town hall meeting Monday night.

The tense exchange drew boos from a standing room only, largely Republican crowd.

The confrontation came as West, an Iraq War veteran who was backed by the Tea Party in last November’s election, took questions from constituents. Nezar Hamze, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Miami, stepped to the microphone and accused West of making anti-Muslim comments in the past.

“Me and my children choose to follow the faith of Islam. You consistently insult it. How can we expect you to defend our right and practice Islam as far as the Constitution is concerned?” Hamze asked.

“I will always defend your right to practice a free religion under the First Amendment,” West said. “But what you must understand, if I am speaking the truth, I am not going to stop speaking the truth. The truth is not subjective,” he continued to loud applause.

West’s comments on Islam have stirred controversy in the past. He recently said Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, represents “the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”

The new GOP congressman pulled no punches commenting on the political crisis in Egypt, drawing parallels between the chaos in that country and the 1979 revolution in Iran. West said the U.S. must stop the Egyptian militant group, the Muslim Brotherhood, from seizing power.

“President Carter, President Obama, Iran, Egypt, the Shah, Mubarak, the Ayatollah, the Muslim Brotherhood. It is a scary parallel. We cannot allow the Muslim Brotherhood to fill the void of leadership that can occur in Egypt,” West said.

Monday night’s event was one of the country’s first town hall meetings since the near assassination of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a constituent event in Tucson, Arizona, in January. The tragedy was followed by calls from Republicans and Democrats to tone down political rhetoric.

Determined to meet with his constituents once a month, West says he is taking his own precautions to stay safe. West, who has a permit to carry concealed weapons in Florida, also suggested to reporters he will be armed at some of his events.

The man will NOT be ambushed ...

From Bridget Johnson @ The Hill:

A key House Republican is quickly pressing forward with her goals to scale back U.S. funding for the United Nations.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) that is "a waste of taxpayer dollars."

"I'd like to make sure that we once and for all kill all U.S. funding for that beast," she said last month. "Because I don't think that it advances U.S. interests, I don't think that that's a pro-democracy group, it's a rogue's gallery, pariah states, they belong there because they don't want to be sanctioned."

Supporters of continued U.S. support of and participation on the HRC say that it's essential that Washington have leverage on the panel, renowned for including countries that have their own records of human-rights violations.

On Tuesday, Ros-Lehtinen will host a panel of U.N. critics and advocates that was originally scheduled for the week that the House suspended most activity in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

The 10 a.m. briefing before the full committee is titled, "The United Nations: Urgent Problems that Need Congressional Action."

One of those scheduled to testify, Peter Yeo, represents the United Nations Foundation/Better World Campaign, which at the start of President Obama's term urged the commander in chief to "mount a campaign" to secure a place on the HRC, which the Bush administration had boycotted.

U.N. critics set to appear include Claudia Rosett, who unveiled the oil-for-food scandal in 2004 and 2005 in The Wall Street Journal; Brett Schaefer, who regularly takes on the U.N. at the conservative Heritage Foundation; and Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, which monitors the controversial HRC.

Neuer told The Hill that UN Watch is going to release new data at the briefing on how the HRC has been run since then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan dissolved the Human Rights Commission in 2006. Annan called the commission "politicized" at the time, but the commission's replacement, the HRC, has attracted many critics as well.

[...]

Ros-Lehtinen, one of many lawmakers critical of Obama for that 2009 decision, led the charge against the United Nations in the 111th Congress, introducing bills urging transparency and accountability as well as the withholding of funding.

But the first bill in this Congress taking on the U.N., introduced on the first day the House was in session, came from a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, not from Ros-Lehtinen's panel.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) introduced a measure to ensure that no federal funds may be used for the "design, renovation, construction, or rental of any headquarters for the United Nations in any location in the United States" unless Obama "transmits to Congress a certification that the United Nations has adopted internationally recognized best practices in contracting and procurement."

“During the Bush administration, it was learned from internal U.N. auditors that 43 percent of $1.4 billion in procurement contracts investigated involved fraud," Stearns said in a statement to The Hill.

"In addition, U.N. peacekeeping operations are plagued with numerous cases of abuse and sexual exploitation," he added. "The U.N. is in desperate need of reform from top to bottom, and my bill is designed to have the world body take the simple step of adopting internationally recognized best practices in contracting and procurement, which includes taking the bid representing the best value.”

The U.N. is also included in a broad-reaching budget-slashing bill by Ways and Means Committee member Kevin Brady (R-Texas).

The Cut Unsustainable and Top-Heavy Spending Act of 2011, introduced Jan. 7, calls for a 10 percent reduction in voluntary contributions to the United Nations -- monies the U.S. is not required to give by law -- for fiscal year 2011.

Total U.S. contributions to the U.N. system were more than $6.347 billion in FY 2009, an all-time high. Brady said his bill targets $3.5 billion in voluntary funds, slashing that in line with the recommendation of the president's deficit-reduction commission.

[...]

Ros-Lehtinen sounded another warning shot at the U.N. on Friday, criticizing the "irony" of the director of the investigations division of the U.N.’s internal oversight office, Michael Dudley, being investigated for retaliating against whistleblowers.

"The fact that the U.S. continues to contribute billions of taxpayer dollars every year to an unaccountable, unreformed U.N. is no laughing matter," she said in a statement. “These allegations reinforce the need for expanded and effective oversight of the U.N. Next week, our committee will lead the way by holding the first of several briefings and hearings on UN reform."

Also addressing the committee at the briefing will be former federal prosecutor Robert Appleton, who headed the U.N.’s Procurement Task Force and whose nomination to the position currently held by Dudley in an acting capacity was blocked by the U.N. Secretariat.

Neuer said he'll be advocating at the briefing that the U.S. use its position on the U.N. Human Rights Council to take advantage of the tools at its disposal to call out offenders.

[...]

Oh no ... It could ... happen:

In spite of assertions made to the contrary by Vice President Joe Biden, speculation continues to swirl around the possibility that President Obama will replace Biden on the 2012 Presidential ticket for someone with less of a propensity for gaffes as well as for a younger and more ‘moderate’ candidate in order to appeal to the thousands of disenfranchised ‘Independents’ across the country. If Obama really is intent on throwing Biden under the bus, I would not be surprised if he chooses none other than the tanned and ‘Independent’ one himself, Charlie Crist. Many will no doubt think that this would be an unlikely move by Obama, especially after Crist was trounced by Senator-elect Marco Rubio in this past November’s general election. Others seem to think that Crist will run as an Independent, or maybe even a Democrat in one of the upcoming Congressional races, but I think that’s unlikely.

Let’s analyze this potentially savvy move by the President.

(continue reading)

Well, they do have a lot in common ...

I've hit Alan Grayson with the "Out with a whimper" card a couple times ... But at least Grayson is somewhat tangled up in something relevant with his petering-out rantings. Unlike soon-to-be-gone Gov. Charlie "The Flip-Flopping Tuna" Crist:

The Charlie Crist era in Florida politics is stumbling to an end. And it's a pretty pathetic business. As his governorship has been and his political prospects are.

After losing a bizarre race for U.S. Senate in which Governor Crist abandoned the Republican Party to run as an independent, changed most of his positions on issues by 180-degrees, and enlisted a former Democratic President and serial groper to try to bully the Democratic Senate candidate into dropping out of the race, Crist gave a gracious concession speech where he promised to work hard for Florida's interests in the final two months of his term as governor.

Well, maybe not so hard. In his final cabinet meeting Tuesday, Crist and Florida's governing board approved a biomass energy plant to be constructed near Gainesville and honored a Labrador retriever named Ace on his retirement from the state fire marshal's office after a long and distinguished career sniffing out accelerants.

[...]

Crist's final days as governor have not just been aimless, as much of his four-year term has been, but downright goofy as well. While doing less than nothing to help breath life into Florida's flaccid economy -- he called President Obama's reinstituting of his job-killing ban on offshore oil drilling "wonderful news" -- Crist's final days in office have taken on a quixotic tone. Crist has devoted a good deal of post-Nov. 2 time to agitating for a pardon for the late rocker Jim Morrison of the Doors who was convicted in 1969 of indecent exposure and profanity at a Miami concert in March of that year. [...]

The 1969 jury agreed that Morrison had shown the crowd, to use a contemporary term, his junk, at the concert (it is nowhere recorded what this rated on the applause meter). Crist says he doesn't think it happened that way, but doesn't say why his take, 41 years out, is superior to that of the 1969 jury's, or why the chief executive officer of the nation's fourth largest state, which is struggling with all manner of real problems, should be frittering his time away on such a trifle. [...]

Read the whole thing @ The American Spectator.

Actually, I think this was Alan Grayson's way of making an audition tape for MSNBC ...

There’s just one problem: no one stands to “make” any money from extending Bush tax cuts. Extending tax cuts is simply not taking away money that’s already been made. It’s not a gain or an income. That‘s like a robber deciding not to rob a bank and then accusing the bank of taking in extra income because he didn’t rob it. Sorry, Al, it doesn’t work that way.

For decades the republicans have fallen into that trap set by the liberal/leftist democrats that if they play to people's strengths instead of their weaknesses they will be seen as mean-spirited and racist and coldhearted. This is something the GOP needs to understand. If they run with a conservative platform they always win.

The conventional wisdom has already settled like a blanket over Washington. Allegedly, Hispanics flocked to the polls to punish Republicans for the Arizona immigration law. They "saved" the Senate for Democrats. And on and on. The conventional wisdom, however, is wrong. The 2010 election actually paints a very bright picture of the Republican Party's relations with this country's growing Hispanic population.

Exit polls reported by CNN and updated this week reveal that a historically robust 38 percent of Hispanic voters cast ballots for House Republican candidates in 2010 - more than in 2006 (30 percent) and 2008 (29 percent). In fact, since 1984, Republican House candidates have only won a higher percentage of the Hispanic vote in one election: 2004. This level of Hispanic support for Republican candidates came despite widespread pre-election claims by advocates for illegal immigration that the Arizona law and a pro-rule-of-law stand would undercut Hispanic support for Republicans.

Journalist Shikha Dalmia admitted in Forbes that the 2010 election "casts severe doubts" on the assumption that Hispanics will necessarily be advocates for illegal immigration. "Anti-immigration sentiment," she wrote, is "driven by economic and other fears that have to be addressed anew for every generation regardless of its ethnic make-up."

[...]

Many Hispanics indeed voted for the very Republican candidates most identified as having a pro-enforcement or anti-amnesty stance. And these Republicans generally did as well as, or better than, the Republicans running for the same positions in the previous election. According to exit polls reported by CNN:

l 55 percent of Hispanic voters in Florida voted for Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek (compared with 41 percent for the Republican Senate candidate in 2006);

l 50 percent voted for Rick Scott over Alex Sink for governor (compared with 49 percent voting for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006);

l 38 percent voted for Rick Perry over Bill White for governor of Texas (up from 31 percent voting for Perry in 2006);

l 30 percent voted for Sharron Angle over Harry Reid in the Nevada Senate race (compared with 27 percent voting for the Republican candidate against Reid in 2004);

l 29 percent voted for Carly Fiorina over Barbara Boxer in the California Senate race (up from 23 percent for the Republican candidate against Boxer in 2004).

l 28 percent voted for Jan Brewer over Terry Goddard for governor of Arizona (compared with 26 percent voting for the Republican candidate in the 2006 governor's race)

[...]

There was a story in the 2010 midterms that many in the media missed. Dalmia found that "one of the hugely under-reported stories of this election is that Republicans fielded far more minority candidates than Democrats - and they won by touting a restrictionist agenda, proof positive that skin color - and even immigration status - are not always correlated with [illegal] immigration views."

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, one of the most trusted commentators on Spanish-language television, concluded that "the United States moved to the right, and Latino politicians did so too - among them, a new generation of Hispanic Republicans who support policies that are essentially opposed to the undocumented immigrants in this country."

Who are these pro-rule-of-law Hispanic rising stars in the Republican Party? Voters elected Susana Martinez governor of New Mexico, Brian Sandoval governor of Nevada and Florida's Marco Rubio to the U.S. Senate. Bill Flores, Francisco Canseco, Jaime Herrera, Raul Labrador and David Rivera went to the U.S. House of Representatives. [...]

Continue reading in full

More @ HotAir

Marco brings the Florida sunshine ...

Sen.-elect Marco Rubio, R-Fla., talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010, after a meeting with Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell of Ky. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

Lt.Col. West brings the ruck for the mission ...

Rep.-elect Allen West (R-FL) holds a military helmet bag as he speaks to the media prior to a new member orientation November 15, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. New members of the House of Representatives have arrived to the Capitol for the five-day orientation which held by the House Administration Committee.

West, BTW, intends to shake things up by joining the Congressional Black Caucus. Seems the good Colonel thinks the CBC needs a bit of a differing point of view injected into it. Wonder if he'd suggest another trip to Cuba so he can have a chat with a certain pair of brothers?

FOX's Eric Bolling interviews Rep. Alan Grayson ... Well, tries to.

Upside: Florida deserves a medal for voting this Bozo out.

Downside: He'll be roaming the streets of Florida now that he's unemployed

Does Grayson remind anyone else of Vincent D’Onofrio’s character “Edgar” in “Men In Black” … AFTER the alien takes over his ’skin’???

ADDED: From comments in YouTube ...

IRONMANAustralia: I've got two things to say to you Grayson:
1. You're an insufferable, arrogant c***sucker.

2. I have a theory why as to why you lost: See 1.

Typical disingenuous c***sucker, feigning offence when his obvious BS is challenged. Nobody gives a sh*t about your butthurt pal - fake or genuine.

I would have gone O'Reilly on his stupid arse.

And that ladies and gentlemen is what you'll inevitably see when you get a peek behind the holier-than-thou public image of your average Socialist.

(H/T and OKed by George)

This was published last Thursday in The Weekly Standard but it's well worth the read: "It Was Rubio’s Tuesday."

Within hours of Crist’s announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee pledged its backing. “While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate,” said NRSC chairman Senator John Cornyn. “Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the NRSC will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States senator from Florida.”

It was a big blow. “The senatorial committee endorsed him within minutes of his announcement,” Rubio recalled recently. “Followed by a flood of other people.” They included former Florida senator Mel Martinez, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, Senator John McCain, and Representatives Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who are, like Rubio, Cuban-Americans. Dozens of Florida Republicans jumped aboard the Crist bandwagon, eager to be on the winning team. Rubio won the endorsement of Mike Huckabee, but most people dismissed it as payback; Rubio had endorsed Huckabee in 2007.

Rubio had known the NRSC endorsement was coming. Cornyn had reached out to Jeb Bush the previous night to give him a heads up, and, coincidentally, Rubio had a meeting scheduled with Cornyn in Washington on the day that Crist announced. “I went over to the senatorial committee, and Senator Cornyn was gracious enough to come over from the Capitol to the senatorial committee to explain to me their decision and their rationale. It was a very respectful meeting. I told them they were wrong. I told them that I was going to win and that they would be shocked in a year.”

That's why he's the Senator-elect and Crist is not.

There's a saying our troops like to use regarding the enemy who think they can outrun or evade the inevitable: "You can run, but you'll only die tired".

It pretty much describes what happened to democrats in Tuesday's elections ...

In the wake of the party’s worst election drubbing since 1994, the deep frustration felt by many centrist Democrats toward the White House and the national party is now out in the open. And it’s being aired in the battleground state that’s the biggest prize in presidential politics.

Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink pointed an accusatory finger Friday at what she called a “tone-deaf” Obama White House to explain why she narrowly lost her campaign.

In an interview with POLITICO, Sink said the administration mishandled the response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, doesn’t appreciate the political damage done by healthcare reform and argued that her GOP opponent’s strategy of tying her to the president did grave damage to her candidacy in the state’s conservative Panhandle.

“They got a huge wake-up call two days ago, but unfortunately they took a lot of Democrats down with them,” said Sink of the White House.

She added: “They just need to be better listeners and be better at reaching out to people who are on the ground to hear about the realities of their policies as well as politics.”

Sink’s complaint can, of course, be chalked up in part to sour grapes on the part of a candidate fresh off a tough loss looking for an explanation. She lost her race by a single percentage point.

But Sink's pointed critique expressed the sentiments of other Florida Democrats after an election in which the party lost four U.S. House seats and every statewide contest Tuesday, not to mention statehouse losses that left Democrats facing GOP legislative supermajorities in one of the largest states in the nation.

[...]

“I faced headwinds from Washington that I liken to a tsunami and was going up against a guy who had unlimited resources,” Sink said. “I could have overcome either one but not both.”

Sink even had the advantage of facing a GOP opponent who was a first-time candidate who had previously run a company slapped with the largest Medicare fraud fine ever issued. But Scott countered that liability with a massive ad campaign linking Sink to Obama, a very unpopular figure in the more conservative parts of the sprawling state.

[...]

Sink said there is a disconnect between the White House and the rest of the country.

"I think they were tone-deaf,” she said. “They weren't interested in hearing my opinion on what was happening on the ground with the oil spill. And they never acknowledged that they had problems with the acceptance of health care reform.”

[...]