Posted on 10/11/2002 11:23:49 AM PDT by windchime
McBride's platforms still a few nails short
TROXLER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: Click here --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist © St. Petersburg Times published October 11, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While taking a pleasant stroll through a warehouse district the other day, I heard a great ruckus and the sound of hammering and sawing coming from behind a half-open garage door.
I peeked inside and saw a number of Democrats. They were huddled in a circle around a work table, obviously laboring hard and as fast as they could. Now and then one of them would bang a thumb with a hammer and yelp in pain.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked.
"We're building Bill McBride's environmental platform," their leader offered. "We have to have one by Saturday.
I expressed mild surprise.
"Wait a minute. Didn't just this week, three statewide environmental groups endorse McBride already? Didn't they put their own names and reputations and credibility on the line, declaring to millions of Floridians that Bill McBride the Democrat would be a better environmental governor than Jeb Bush the Republican?"
Everybody looked down at their shoes.
An older, bearded member of the group stepped forward.
"I'll tell you his environmental platform," he snorted, nostrils flying. "He's not Jeb $%^$ Bush. That's his environmental platform."
But the others tried to hush him up, and assured me there really, really was one.
I asked if I could see the environmental platform, and they stepped aside. Of course, it was still a work in progress, not even nailed down all the way around, and they hadn't put any finish on it yet. Also, there were a few stray wires sticking out.
I pointed to at a couple of planks on the back side, halfway hidden from view. "Excuse me," I said, "but aren't these left over from Bill's law firm?"
I pointed to a label that read, in fine print: LOBBYING IN TALLAHASSEE FOR BAD-GUY CLIENTS, INCLUDING POLLUTERS.
Everybody shrieked in dismay. The bearded guy turned and started slapping a younger assistant with his cap. "I told you only to use the good planks from the law firm!" he shouted.
"Other than that, what do you think?" they asked.
"Well, I'm not sure," I answered. "Something about it seems sort of . . . familiar. What say you turn it on?"
Somebody flipped a switch and the McBride Environmental Platform jerked to life. It shuddered a few times before settling into a putt-putt rhythm. A light on the side of the box flickered on and off several times. A little bell rang and a piece of paper spit out.
"Bill McBride's education policy will improve all aspects of life for Floridians," the paper said.
"I think you made a mistake," I pointed out. "It's talking about education policy, not environmental policy."
"But that is the McBride environmental platform," Bearded Guy replied. "Same as his economic platform, his criminal justice platform and his everything-else platform. Better schools will make them all better."
"Okay, okay," I said. "Let me see his education platform then." Eagerly, they ran over to a closet and pulled out another little box that was almost identical, except that it appeared well-worn. After the same warm-up and rigamarole, it produced another slip of paper, which they handed to me proudly.
"On the topic of better schools," it said, "Bill McBride is in favor of them. And, by the way, he is not Jeb $#$% Bush."
In a gentle way, I suggested to the Democrats that being Not-Jeb-Bush might not be enough to beat Jeb Bush, especially since the election would be decided by a fairly slim margin of undecided voters who would not be moved by -- in fact, might even be turned off by -- a campaign based on personal dislike of Bush, instead of hitting him hard on issues.
"There are lots of legitimate issues," I said, "and I'm surprised you haven't really worked on them. Besides, how come you let him up off the mat after that day he got caught on tape bragging about being "devious'?"
"Look, buster," Bearded Guy said. "People like you are what's wrong with politics."
"People like ME?" I asked. "What's wrong with me?"
"You're all talk," Bearded Guy said, "but no specifics."
I posted this over at my dup. thread (before I hit the abuse button on myself, hah!):
This author nails McBride on his "record." Even though Jeb supported the envirals, stopped off-shore drilling, pushed the Everglades restoration - the enviral groups proved their real agenda by endorsing McBride for nothing more than his Big "D" loyalty.
About that tax-free status....?
This one's a keeper. It's so unlike the whitewashed puff pieces we usually see from the McBride-DNC Fla. press corps.
Another insightful article: Why Bill McBride - Dr. Sidney Wallace - SATIRE (nah, true).
Three cheers for sptimes.com trashing McBride - going against their own mission statement to trash liberals.
When a liberal beefs about a lack of specifics in a Democrat's campaign it's ususally because he's not hearing the candidate say the things he wants to hear. I suspect McBride knows that if he tells the liberals what they want to hear it'll kill him in North Florida and the Panhandle. So far McBride's run a smart campaign. That's a lot more than I can say for Bush.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.