The Water Cooler: Atwater’s Hypocrisy; Readers Not Happy with Marco
An occasional look at what people are talking about in politics.
By Chris Ingram
Atwater’s Hypocrisy
Kudos to the St. Petersburg Times for its editorial in today’s paper exposing the two faces of Florida State Senate President (and candidate for CFO) Jeff Atwater. The Times may be a little slow catching on (Irreverent View exposed Atwater’s hypocrisy in columns on Dec. 12th and again on Dec. 31st) but better late than never.
The Times piece points out that candidate for CFO Atwater is running as a fiscal conservative who seeks to control government spending, but legislator Atwater has no problem with mounting up the debt. Most of us learn about actions speaking louder than words early on in life. Apparently little Jeffrey missed that lesson in second grade — or he thinks we did.
Out of one side of his mouth Atwater says, “Unfunded mandates, insurmountable debt, and unconscionable spending are mortgaging our children and grandchildren’s future.” (I think he stole this line from me by the way).
Meanwhile Jeff “I think voters are stupid” Atwater supported the boondoggle “high speed rail” proposal which includes billions in federal aid borrowed with money from China. And he had no problem mortgaging our children’s future by accepting billions in federal stimulus money (thanks again China!) so long as it meant he and his brethren in the legislature didn’t have to make spending cuts or raise taxes to balance the state budget last year.
My friends this is what I call leadership by bankruptcy. It’s also called “how incumbents get re-elected.” Because the lube-job people like Atwater are giving voters can only be accomplished because…voters are, well, stupid.
Personally I will be voting for Atwater’s Democratic opponent to send a message to the G.O.P. that so long as you continue electing empty suits who talk out of both sides of their mouths you cannot count on my vote. I’m also going to get one of those Rosetta Stone CDs to learn how to speak Mandarin (Crib sheet for those of you who went to Florida public schools: that’s the language spoken in China).
Reader Comments on Marco’s Amex Charges
There were lots of posts in response to my column last week about Marco Rubio’s American Express card charges. Bad news for Rubio is most of them were not favorable toward him. See them all here.
Creative Loafing Interview
Mitch Perry of Creative Loafing interviewed me about Florida politics on Friday. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.
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March 1st, 2010 at 10:06 am
Did I hear correctly on Florida Weekly that Rubio has almost a $1M in liabilities? If so, I’m going to lose a lot of respect for Marco. I consider a $1M in liabilities to hardly be “fiscally responsible”. If they can’t be conservative in their personal lives, how do I expect them to do the same in Washington?
March 1st, 2010 at 10:24 am
Response to Jim:
I don’t know. For me it would depend on what those liabilities are. Is it mostly a home mortgage? A million dollar mortgage doesn’t make a guy who made $400K last year a poor fiscal steward. If it’s a million in speculative land deals and credit card or other sub-prime debt that is a different story.
Chris
March 1st, 2010 at 10:40 am
The St. Pete times is very bias and does not tell the whole truth on any story political or otherwise.
March 1st, 2010 at 11:18 am
To Anonymous:
No newspaper is perfect, and no reporting is completely free of bias. But I find the SPT to have excellent reporting that is mostly objective. The paper’s editorial pages tend to lean to the left, but still the paper as a whole is the best in the state of Florida. Furthermore, I would add that while you have questioned the Times’ leanings/biases, you have not refuted the evidence presented. That evidence (Atwater’s own words) proves he’s a double-talking, career politician/empty-suit. That the Times is/may be bias is an insignificant point.
Chris Ingram
March 1st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I hope it’s not a $1M mortgage on his house! According to the Dade County Property appraiser, he only paid $500K for his house in 2005. Unfortunately because of imcompatibility errors with my computer, I can’t view the online documents from the Clerk of the Court to see what the listed mortgages are all about.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Atwater has always been a slimy guy.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:06 am
“I find the SPT to have excellent reporting that is mostly objective.” I mostly disagree on this statement. While the reporting about Atwater is spot-on, it is clear that the Times is biased in it’s reporting on the Governor’s race and other races. While I am not a fan of Rubio, Charlie Crist brings nothing to the table except a failed term at Governor, yet the Times is quick to support him.
It’s sad that all the candidates offered by the Republican Party are typical career politicians that have no idea of the daily lives of you or I. I long for a “regular guy” to some out of the woodwork…but since he wouldn’t have a lot of campaign cash, the voters will never support him. How sad.
http://www.scottfactor.com