The Jeb Bush Nobody Knows: Part 15 -- A Memo to Reno, re: The Old Grey Lady

The New York Times ^ | May 5, 2002 | summer

[summer]

Let's make it "lanes." Why should one senior have to worry about his perishables perishing due to the slowness of five seniors ahead of him?

Good point! (BTW, my post #400 was in response to your post #399)

[patriciaruth]

Read and bookmarked. Good program. Glad I've got Mom and Dad tucked away in a terrific elder residence community near my brother and sister now.

Still got an elder aunt in Florida to figure out how to help as she is not as well off as my parents. Still, even if she wins the lottery, I won't move her out till after the 2002 election as she votes Republican.;-)

[summer]

LOL...thanks so much for your post, patriciaruth. :)!

[eleni121]

It is much harder for liberals especially since their party has been taken over for the most part by socialists. Their end game is state control/management of society and the economy and that would be a hard sell to the progeny of millions of immigrants who arrived in America to escape from precisely that kind of misery.

Republicans for the most part are still supportive of free markets and individual freedom within bounds. This allows for infinite variety of ideas and initiatives in political leadership.

[summer]

I think you make some very valid points there. Thanks for your post. :)

[summer]

Here's one of 15 reasons I suggested the candidate I did for that position. :)

[eleni121]

I'm not sure why the GOP does not seize on the "creative" label for themselves, as that is one they can prove -- and sell to voters who do not now think of the GOP that way.

And thank to you too for your insightful and incisive comments re political strategy. My two cents: Republicans still smart from the label attached to them in the era of big business/monopoly formation in the last (19th century). They have never been able to capture the devoted support of the "common man" and have relegated that vote to the Democrats who cleverly manipulate the symbolism of the supporter of the downtrodden. In fact, it is the Democrats who have over and over again been caught up in the murky waters of corruption and cynically exploited the the American worker.

That said, GWB appears to be -like the great Reagan - leaving the Democrats in the dust as far as domestic and foregn policy matters. And what's left for the Democrats? Obstructionism and attempts at character assassination.

[summer]

bttt. Thank you for that political history mini-lesson; I sincerely appreciate it.

Maybe someone from the GOP strategy office will someday stumble on this thread, and if they do, perhaps they will consider your endorsement of my suggestion they emphasize their own creativity a whole lot more.

As the situation in the Mid East heats up, and more Jewish Dem voters in the US look the GOP for leadership and helping to preserve Israel, attracting and keeping those voters could really be worthwhile -- and, I believe one way to do that is to have like a "Creative GOP" group, just like there are Women GOP groups, etc.

I know others will laugh aloud at the very thought, but when you see all that the GOP has done that is truly innovative, such as this program here and many others, you have to admit their creativity remains one of their best-kept secrets. They should play it up -- I believe their ranks would swell.

Thanks for your encouragement. :)

[goldilucky]

All Janet Reno has ever cared about is HER votes. The reality is that people are sick of outlaws like her. She was solely responsible for that Waco incident and the Elian Gonzalez issue. And Judicial Watch won't go away until she is brought before justice. She made that Dept of Justice reek like a sewer. They still can't get the stench of Reno off of them.

[summer]

goldilucky, I think what you said is why, after FL voters were polled and it was discovered that ever FL voter already had an opinion of Reno: every major union in this state steered clear of Reno -- and endorsed another Dem candidate in this on-going Dem primary. Thanks for your post. :)

[summer]

ever FL voter = every FL voter

[summer]

Hi, I don't know if you had a chance to read this Part 15, but it turned out to be the most popular of the 15 parts so far. And, frankly, that surprised me -- this is about an innovative program to help the elderly. At first I thought maybe no one would care. But, the response was overwhelmingly positive! :)

[summer]

eleni121, I thought you might find this editorial of interest. It's as if FL columnist Mark Silva, a big Reno supporter from the Orlando Sentinel, is writing his own memo to Reno - and, complaining to her, as I did, that she has no positions on any issues.
He is usually cheering her all the way, but this time, he sounds like he's seeing her campaign in a different light:

From The Orlando Sentinel --

Mark Silva

Glitz vs. grit

Published May 12, 2002

The format of this contest has been modified to fit your television screen:

Janet Reno rolls up to the curb in her little red pickup truck. Actor Martin Sheen, riding shotgun, opens his door. He stands smiling, left hand on the half-open window, right hand waving for a cluster of Orlando TV news camera crews crowding around the star.

This is not fiction. This picture is coming to a political theater near you in early June.

The Reno campaign, running the risk of making a Hollywood stuntwoman of its really quite-serious candidate for governor, is obsessed with opportunistic pictures like these:

Reno, seen with the leading man from TV's The West Wing, the one who plays President Bartlet -- whoever that is. Reno, seen in Burbank trading punch lines with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

Fact, fiction and fantasy combined to create a play within a play on Leno: Reno joking about how she should have stood up the night she fainted on a college stage and proclaimed, "It's Saturday Night Live." Reno, of course, has played SNL too.

In her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida, Reno has gone out of state for nearly half her money. Barbra Streisand has pitched in $500. So has actor Michael Douglas.

The problem with these celebrity-studded pictures is that none of the props stands for anything but themselves.

Only Rosie O'Donnell, the TV comedian who hosted a fund-raiser for Reno in Miami just before New Year's Eve, has a real cause. O'Donnell is campaigning to overturn Florida's ban against adoption by gays and lesbians. And Reno supports the cause, saying plainly that Florida's restriction "makes no sense."

So who is using whom in most of these photo-ops? What is a voter to learn about Reno's credentials for the governor's office from her tour -- and, oh, yes, fund-raising -- with Sheen in Orlando and South Florida next month? And what is Republican Gov. Jeb Bush left to say but: Gee, that make-believe president is really cool, but I usually bring the real one here.

The irony of all this is that Reno is the real deal.

There is nothing manufactured about this native Miamian who lives in an unpainted cypress house that her mother built by hand in 1949. Her brother, Mark, sleeps out in the yard in a chickee. Peacocks parade across Reno's rooftop. They're all called Horace, easy to remember that way.

The screens on this un-air-conditioned cottage have holes the size of golf balls. Jim Smith, the former state attorney general, calls the place "a lean-to."

In the words of Bo Diddley, the aging rhythm-and-blues legend who played for Reno's red-truck tour in Gainesville with an impromptu little rap routine: "Janet Reno, Janet Reno. She ain't no Miss Cleo."

The reason the Reno campaign is busy booking talent for the contest is simple: Having failed to advance a single substantive campaign proposal, the campaign turns to "photo-opportunities" for coverage.

Reno hasn't had a really good opportunity since the red-truck tour, a rolling photo-op that ended March 12.

The purpose of the 15-day, 2,796-mile odyssey through Florida's 11 TV media markets was crystallized in one appearance at a vocational school in Bartow. Reno was ready to leave, but a late-arriving TV news crew asked her to drive up to the curb one more time.

They got the shot.

You get the picture.

Mark Silva can be reached at msilva@orlandosentinel.com

Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel

I thought he strayed a bit in the middle there, on the "real deal" part -- because the examples he cited tell me nothing except that Reno can not even keep her own home in shape, let alone the state of FL.

[summer]

Oops! I didn't meant to write my comments above in italics. I meant to format it like this:

I thought he strayed a bit in the middle there, on the "real deal" part -- because the examples he cited tell me nothing except that Reno can not even keep her own home in shape, let alone the state of FL.

[nicmarlo]

Well, summer, I'm a little slow in reading and responding......but, even a slow turtle can complete a race, lol. Thanks for the ping and sorry for my tardiness. This is a very good program. Besides being elder-friendly, what is happening, too, is bringing respect and honor back to our elders. This program is more than including them, but doing things for them, appreciating their value in our society "today." I would be interested in what the future effects of how that community was enhanced via a long-distance study, as no doubt will be done by some group, showing comparisons such as the quality of life, crime statistics, benefits to children, etc., for the community as a whole and for the individual seniors.

[summer]

Thanks so much for your post here, nicmarlo. I wish I had some brilliant remark to add to your very thoughtful comments, but I will just sy: THANKS! :)

[summer]

Make that: I will just say THANKS!

[summer]

Please forgive my indulgence here, as I am pinging my JEB! list to all 25 threads JUST THIS ONE TIME, on this ONE day so close to the end of Campaign 2002.

I did so in the hope you will simply bump your FAVORITE thread!

I read somewhere that positive news about a candidate at the very last minute will sway an undecided voter to vote for that candidate.

Consequently, this is a one-time, last minute, push -- so please do bump a thread.

Who knows, your bump may be the one that an undecided lurker sees! And, every vote does count.

Thanks for your help here! :)

[kinganamort]

ELECTION BUMP
GO JEB

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