Tuesday, October 25, 2022

What's The Matter With Florida?

Aside from thinking DeSantis is never going to rise above the political swamp of Florida any more than Chris Christie surmounted New Jersey (he was a creature of the BosWash media, nothing more. Bridgegate didn't bring him down, he was never up.  Likewise, the only interest in DeSantis is among Washington pundits who know he's a mini-Trump in Trump's backyard.  They're in it for the Mean Girls factor, nothing more.), I don't have a dog in this fight.  I don't care who the governor of Florida is.  But I wonder about the wisdom of the persistence of economics as the only deciding factor in elections.

I think it's because a whole generation of pundits (and their parents) were raised on "It's the economy, stupid," which wasn't a bad campaign motif in 1992, but that was a time of several recessions (practically one after another) and an extreme "bubble" economy (Inflation, running at double digits, was fueling booms and busts for a decade, and then Volcker took the economy by the neck and nearly strangled it to get inflation under control.  It was the national economic equivalent of someone blocking your mouth and pinching your nose until your hiccups were cured.).  Things didn't get magically better after that, so the country was rather tired of the roller coaster ride (and the image of Poppy staring in awe and wonder at a grocery store scanner, as if it were a marvel of American ingenuity.  All that showed was that Poppy never bought his own socks.)  But Carville's idee fixe was meant only to focus the Clinton campaign staff.  It was never meant to be the ultimate explanation of American politics.

So I ask the question:  whither the power of the economy in Florida?

"Look, he's running for president," the Democrat added. "I think we all know that. He wouldn't admit it last night but that's what's happening. And when you do that and you're traveling all over the country in the way that he is, raising money and doing other things to try to promote that '24 race, you don't pay attention to our property taxes, our property insurance that are going up, that I brought down when I was governor the first time."

I don't know if that's a slam dunk, but it seems to be a pretty compelling reason to vote for Crist.  He also pointed out that DeSantis is attacking Disney and cruise lines (for covid protective measures back in the day) and how the fuck does any of that make sense?  It would be as if Greg Abbott attacked oil and gas in Texas (which is not the economic engine it once was, but it's still the Disney World of the Texas economy.  Not decisive, but nothing to sneeze at, either.)  And yet?  Crickets.  Even Crist recognized his takeaway from the night was DeSantis staring dumb and blind when Crist asked if DeSantis would pledge to be governor for four more years, rather than bailing almost immediately after January to run for POTUS:

"You needed a knockout and that did not happen," Hemmer said.

"I think it did," Christ laughed. "What happened was I asked whether or not Gov. DeSantis, if reelected, would serve a full four-year term. He was like a deer in the headlights, Bill. He wouldn't answer the question. He couldn't answer the question. And he wasn't going to be honest with the people of Florida."
I don't know that this debate is going to change anything in Florida.  It does tell me DeSantis is not ready for prime-time, and if Crist can get the voters who are not DeSantis mouth-breathers to turn out, he has a chance.  But what do I know about Florida politics?  All I can tell you is, that debate proved DeSantis is not ready for prime-time on the national stage:
Forget Trump in the primaries; imagine what Biden (or any other Democrat) would do to DeSantis in a general campaign.

Meanwhile, we're supposed to be afraid of the power of this woman:
Really?
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