The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Florida Conservative to Limbaugh: ‘I Don’t Think That I’ve Ever Been Accused of Being an Establishment Republican!’

Posted on | February 2, 2012 | 33 Comments

As I said this morning, everybody’s gone crazy, and it seems that even Rush Limbaugh drank the kooky Kool-Aid, inspiring a paranoid outburst that Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon felt obliged to correct:

As a longtime fan and admirer of Rush Limbaugh, I was disappointed to hear his comments regarding the work of the Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee on which I am honored to serve. His suggestions that we “rigged” the maps to force Allen West out of Congress are simply ludicrous. I was there…it didn’t happen…I know. It is especially surprising to see Mr. Limbaugh join with the chorus of left wing groups that are attacking our work.
I can only presume that Mr. Limbaugh’s lack of knowledge of our process, laws and constitution would lead him to make such statements and would lead him to take these kind of cheap shots at Representative Will Weatherford and the work of our committee. . . .
I was the only Florida legislator to endorse Herman Cain (when he was at 5% in the polls) before September 24th, the day he won Presidency 5 and started his climb in the polls. Last week I endorsed Rick Santorum. I’ve filed and/or passed the Health Care Freedom Amendment, the red-light camera repeal, the cap and trade repeal, etc., etc. I don’t think that I’ve ever been accused of being an “establishment Republican”!

Read the whole thing. People need to chill out.

Comments

33 Responses to “Florida Conservative to Limbaugh: ‘I Don’t Think That I’ve Ever Been Accused of Being an Establishment Republican!’”

  1. chuck coffer
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 3:46 pm

    Rush really seems to be digging the smell of his own farts lately.

  2. smitty
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

    People need to chill out.

    I’ve been looking for the appropriate intro phrase to that conversation with you, Stacy. . .
    I’m not Nathan; you’re not David; there is no dead Uriah in sight. Nevertheless, I commend to you a healthy dose of rest, forgiveness, and the eschewing of digging a pit into which you might fall.
    Just sayin’.

  3. Mass Insanity « Catholic Bandita
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 4:24 pm

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  4. CO
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 4:27 pm

    Yeah, you followed all the rules and accidentally managed to cause and internal upheaval.  Right.

  5. tranquil.night
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 5:17 pm

    Thank you. Nothing to see here rubes, all is normal. Now finish your turd sandwich lunch or get another patronizing lecture. Dinner will be ready soon.

  6. Sarah Rumpf
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

    What everyone is missing is the giant cluster-you-know-what caused by Amendments 5 & 6. Our Florida Legislature is tying itself in knots to preserve the minority districts required by the Voting Rights Act to keep the DOJ from interfering with us, and also comply with the new “Fair Districts” requirements for compact districts that follow city and county lines, to make it harder for the Democrats to sue and get unelected judges appointed by Charlie Crist drawing the lines.

    It is a giant, complicated mess and they really are doing the best they can. Screwing over Allen West was never their goal, and a deal has been worked out to get West into a new district anyway.

    For the record, West’s “new” district still includes a large section of his current district, and is more R than that one too. So he is now in a BETTER district with an EASIER shot at reelection. Some conspiracy!

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  8. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 6:29 pm

    This is a strange year. So desperately do conservatives want to defeat Obama, many of them are taking strange stances, like backing Newt Gingrich — Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. (Of course they aren’t ready to admit it, but you can tell.) Some are doing the more strange act of supporting Mitt Romney and defending government mandates — Ann Coulter.

    Gingrich has a poor chance in November because he has again and again gone off the rails — predicting he would take it all before Iowa, suggesting Luna as the 51st state, proposing what can be construed as a war on judges, and making a whole lot of easily-uncovered lying statements.

    Romney’s chances are poor simply because he is a bad campaigner. He has bought victory in a few cases, but without his vast store of funds, and the backing rich men tend to give to other rich men, he couldn’t win the mayor’s job in Pontiac, Michigan.

    These are facts. What are also facts is that Newt is a big-government guy, and Romney almost daily shows he doesn’t think like a conservative. Yet with all this, Scott Plakon and Michelle Malkin are among the few big names to support Rick Santorum, who week by week improves his presentation. And look at his ratings during sixteen years in Congress:-
     
    American Conservative Union — 88%
    National Right to Life Committee — 100%
    Americans for Tax Reform — 95%
    National Tax Limitation Committee — 92%
    U.S. Chamber of Commerce — 88%
    League of Private Property Voters — 94%

    Not perfect but far from shabby.

  9. Garym
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 6:37 pm

    Actually Rush hinted yesterday, that he voted for Santorum in the primary.

  10. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 6:47 pm

    Really? I missed that.  I thought he voted for Newt.

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  12. Garym
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 7:04 pm

    He’s been defending Newt from the Romney attacks, but he would not defend Newt on the Newt’s Bain Capital attacks. He hinted at the end of his show on Tuesday that he voted for the man who has consistantly has preached conservative values on the stump. That could only mean Santorum.

  13. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 7:46 pm

    OK, thanks.  I didn’t catch that last bit …  and heard a small portion of that sentence.  Now, it makes sense.

  14. Finrod Felagund
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 9:06 pm

    Wake me when Santorum gets to 25 percent in the national GOP polls for the first time (on realclearpolitics, his peak was 21, right after Iowa).  If he can’t get at least 25 percent in a 4-man race, that’s a pretty clear image that the voters don’t want him.
     

  15. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 9:14 pm

    If polls were all that counted we wouldn’t need the hard work of voting.

  16. Finrod Felagund
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 9:15 pm

    There’s been so much weird crap going on, I really can’t blame people for misidentifying coincidence as enemy action.  Who would have thought we’d see Nikki Haley endorsing Mitt Romney and Ann Coulter defending RomneyCare?
     

  17. Finrod Felagund
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 9:41 pm

    Santorum hasn’t gotten to 25 percent in any of the voting, either, not even in Iowa.

  18. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 9:58 pm

    Santorum started out with the least national name recognition. With four rounds of a fifty-round fight completed, it might be early to count him out.

  19. Sarah Rumpf
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 10:28 pm

    It’s one thing to be suspicious that there might be some shenanigans happening out there…it’s an entirely different thing altogether to directly accuse another Republican of evil intent, which is what happened here.

    With no proof, no facts, not even any “off the record” sources pointing fingers, far too many people have been blaming Rep. Weatherford and others. It’s ridiculous.

  20. ThePaganTemple
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 10:51 pm

     Damn, I’m glad to read that. West is probably my favorite Congressman. He’s only pissed me off once.

  21. K-Bob
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 10:52 pm

    Yeah, but it also includes a town, Port St. Lucie,  that appears on Rush’s show almost as frequently as Rio Linda, CA.

    Are your sure it’ll be easier?

    Or will being removed by one district from Congress-member-for-life Wasserman_Shultz’ district make it easier?

  22. ThePaganTemple
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 10:56 pm

     People’s nerves are frayed, and they’re on edge. When people get like that, the least little thing makes them go to pieces.

  23. richard mcenroe
    February 2nd, 2012 @ 11:22 pm

    Well, yeah. but what’s Scott done for us LATELY?

    (old Hollywood joke)

  24. Adjoran
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:27 am

     Obviously you didn’t read the memo.

    In the debate over whether or not “Alan West is being screwed by the establishment,”  sanity, facts, and sober reflection are strongly discouraged. 

  25. Adjoran
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:35 am

     By party registration it is – but it is built from parts of Tooney’s old district (the other Republican whose new district is tougher than the old), and Tooney is running in another district, I forget the new number.  West’s old District was D+1 on registration but had been held by Clay Shaw for a decade or more before he stepped in it a few years ago.  Revised I think it was going to be D+4.

    West would probably have won pretty handily.  He has achieved good name recognition and positive approval, and has a national fundraising network already in what should be a Republican year.  But it’s up to him, you only have to live in the state, not the district.

  26. Adjoran
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:37 am

     Not perfect, but there aren’t any perfect ratings across all those measures and if there were someone to do it he would be thoroughly unelectable.

  27. K-Bob
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:46 am

    I was mostly busting the chops of Port St. Lucie.  But that’s good to know, thanks!

  28. Adjoran
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:49 am

     Unfortunately, this cycle it only takes a rumor or someone posting a theory on a blog to create a mob mentality.  Once it starts going, any chance of calm examination of the facts is just gone.

    West didn’t seem to discourage such wild speculation, though, which is the first time I’ve seen him do anything like that, but I can see how it looks different when it is your district being queered.

  29. shawn S
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 3:25 am

    Someone’s drank the KoolAid and it’s not Rush.

    Scott Plankon is an idiot, as you could see by his comments.  Endorsing Cain when he had no chance to win means you got conservative creds??LOL Thats Romney logic.

  30. Anonymous
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 9:48 am

    OK, Sarah, next time the guy in a Hell’s Angels jacket asks you out, let us know how the date went. When a group of people has a well proven track record of screwing conservatives over, the default position is not trust.

    It’s up to the Vichy Republicans to prove they aren’t selling out and sucking up.

  31. Tennwriter
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 11:02 am

    Exactimundo.  Office holders and party officials have to prove they are trustworthy.  Triggerhappy suspicion of them is a fairly rational point of view.

  32. Javier Manjarres
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 12:36 pm

    Sarah is clueless with her rant-She is out of the loop on this one. The deal to screw West was done along time ago-Let this go Sarah before you step in it more, and the ugly backing for the story comes out to bite all parties involved in the arse.

  33. Allen West’s Enemy: Mike Haridopolos? : The Other McCain
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