Despite the censure vote on Governor Charlie Crist last week that evenly divided Palm Beach County Republicans (it failed to pass as the group deadlocked at 65 votes apiece), the head of the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee says his membership is united.

They’re ALL disappointed in Governor Crist.

“There was not a single person last night out of 130 votes, and about 30 or 40 speakers, who got up there to tell us what a good job the governor is doing,”  said Sid Dinerstein, the chair of the Palm Beach County REC.

That vote comes a week and a half after the Volusia County GOP voted “overwhelmingly” in a voice vote to censure the governor.  The list of his perceived transgressions is long, including the governor’s enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s stimulus package and his failure to endorse certain GOP Congressional candidates. But for many, the most damning was his selection of liberal Justice James E. C. Perry to the state Supreme Court last March.

From speaking to several conservatives last week, it seems to be the selection of Perry to the high court that rankles most severely.

That was the last of the unprecedented four new Supreme Court Justices that Crist has had the opportunity to select, more than any previous governor in state history.  And after nominating several solidly conservative justices (among them former Polk County-based U.S. Congressman Charles Canady, best known nationally for being one of the 13 House Managers who argued before the Senate for the impeachment of Bill Clinton),  Crist emphasized his centrist credentials by selecting the 65-year-old Perry, only the second black to be named to the Supreme Court.

But Perry’s selection was part of the old Charlie Crist, the raging moderate who debated Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal earlier this year on Meet The Press regarding what philosophy best represented where the GOP should move next in the wake of its shellacking at the polls last November.

The new Charlie Crist is one strongly motivated by the stirrings in the state party for his rival, Marco Rubio.

Although the governor is thoroughly whipping the former House Speaker when it comes to fundraising, it is the 38-year-old Cuban-American from Miami who is turning on the base, not the man who is collecting censure votes from various county political parties.

In recent weeks the guv, celebrated by environmental groups throughout Florida for being in the small vanguard of GOP leaders with a vision regarding global warming, has strongly hinted that he will cancel his climate change summit, and is also backing away from advocating a cap and trade energy policy.

This follows his failure to veto Senate Bill 360, the controversial anti-growth management bill that has engendered the wrath of both liberals and conservatives throughout the Sunshine State, but was strongly supported by the developer community.

And then there’s the strange case of his lack of support for recently appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Last month, while the whole nation was buzzing (pro and con) about the self-proclaimed “wise Latina,” Crist originally told reporters when asked his opinion that he had no opinion about her, even as the Senate Judiciary Committee began their hearings.

Then, after his close ally Mel Martinez spoke movingly in support of her in what was ultimately a valedictory of sorts, the governor aligned himself with the other 31 GOP senators who somehow found her to be outside the mainstream of contemporary American jurisprudence, alienating some Latino groups.

As University of Central Florida Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett said last week, “I found it interesting that when he didn’t really have an actual vote, he took the symbolic gesture of going out of his way to say he would not vote for her if he was in there.  Yet, when he had the chance to put a conservative on the Florida Supreme Court (which he did the first couple of times), the last person was a more liberal judge from Central Florida.  So, it’s interesting to see the Governor maneuver.”

Interesting, indeed. Crist has apparently learned his lesson of appearing to be too close to Barack Obama.  After being one of the few noted Republicans in the country to embrace the federal stimulus package this winter, the Governor is staying far away from any type of endorsement of the health care proposals that the president and Congressional Democrats are stumping for.

No, instead, he is touting his own Cover Florida proposal as a “national model that the feds could be wise to emulate as a private sector alternative.”

One problem, though —  hardly anybody in Florida is on the system.  As the Miami Herald reported last week, in a state with nearly 4 million uninsured people, only 3,757 have signed up (less than 1 percent).

And what about the stimulus plan that the governor has taken so much heat for supporting?  Although conservatives nationally have already declared the bill a failure, most neutral analysts have reasoned that too much of it is designed to kick in later this year and much of next year to give it a final grade.

But it doesn’t help to learn that the state ranks dead last in the country when it comes to spending highway money approved in the program (though Crist and other state officials have denounced that finding, claiming that the state’s spending has been characterized by “integrity, rather than speed”).

Nevertheless, the twisting and turning of positions could expose independents and Democrats to what hardcore Republicans (like PoHo contributor Chris Ingram) have been saying for a while — that Crist’s integrity, if not his overall record, is spotty, and he may not deserve a coronation to the U.S. Senate next year.

But the maxim in state politics for the past couple of years in Florida has been that Charlie Crist is untouchable. Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek certainly don’t think so.  The question is whether the rest of the Florida electorate will follow them.

By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

“Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American” - Nancy Pelosi

Madam Speaker, I could not agree more. Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished rights as American citizens. So, too, is the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government without fear of punishment or reprisal. These rights are the foundation for Western Civilization as we know it.

Why then, Madam Speaker, do these rights only apply to citizens who share your ideological views? It seems to be the very definition of irony and a text book example of hypocrisy. The political Left in the US has been working diligently to silence opposition, not only with the current health care debate, but in numerous instances in the past.

I have personally experienced such measures. Just this past semester, while at Florida State University, I helped organize an effort to protest Bill Ayers, the self-proclaimed Communist and admitted terrorist of the Weather Underground, from coming to speak on the school’s dime. When the opposition was peacefully organized outside the event, the campus police forced us to back off into a “free speech zone“. This Orwellian sounding abomination is a slap in the face to the Constitution and the rights we hold dear as Americans.

“Danger lies not in some speaker’s ideas. Danger lies in teaching students that ideas they don’t agree with
are not important”, proclaimed FSU President TK Wetherell upon hearing that the event would be protested. Very true, Mr. Wetherell. Again, I agree. Which is why I am, to this day, perplexed that police were called in to silence the ideas that opposed Mr. Ayers.

Recently, at a town hall meeting on health care reform in, members of the community group ACORN commanded police to remove, from a public street, those demonstrating against the bill. A small group having a polite discussion on the issue (on a public sidewalk, no less) were told that they had to stop conversing, and move to another location.

“When a police officer tells you to do something, and you don’t do it, you’re actually resisting. So you have to listen to him” said a representative of ACORN, regarding the officer’s actions. Really? So then what was the outrage of the Henry Gates incident at Harvard recently? Was he not “resisting” as well?

Democrats and the political left have been characterizing their opposition as thugs and mouthpieces for the insurance lobby, but all evidence points to the contrary. A recent Rasmussen poll puts opposition to the health care bill at 53 percent, the highest it has ever been. Forty-four percent of voters strongly oppose the bill, while a meager 26 percent strongly support it.

Mike Sola, a man who recently had a heated confrontation with Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), has been bullied with threats and harassment ever since he voiced his opinion of the bill. At a town hall debate in Tampa, a Democratic Party official slapped a man in the face. Tell me again who the thugs are?

This of course says nothing about the “snitch” program that the White House has created. The administration has encouraged proponents of the bill to flag those who are speaking out against it, by reporting them to flag@whitehouse.gov. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has openly criticized this program, suggesting that it is merely an attempt to intimidate political opponents. It is certainly reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s enemies list, and it may be illegal under the Privacy Act of 1974.

Individual rights were trampled during the Bush year, say the Democrats, so why is there outrage from the Right now? I would respond by simply citing the age-old philosophy: two wrongs don’t make a right. The hypocrisy of some does not excuse the hypocrisy of others, and the suppression of ideas is wrong no matter which political party is in power.

You are correct, Madam Speaker. Silencing opposing views is, indeed, un-American. Including when you do it.

Tom Bortnyk is a student at Florida State University.

By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has every intention in the world of running for higher office. You could see it in her twinkling eye as she made the announcement that she was stepping down as governor of Alaska.

Will she host her own talk show? Will she get a book deal? Speculation has run rampant, but the consensus among the political news commentators seems to be that she is gearing up for a run for president in 2012.

Oddly enough, this news is exciting for many Republicans. To quite a large sect of the conservative base, Palin is a rock star. She is the answer to their prayers, and the savior of the Party.

Such an analysis is misguided, at best. More accurately, it could be described as delusional.

The media went out in full force to destroy any credibility she had at the beginning of the race. They successfully painted her as dumb and uninformed, with limited oratory skills; certainly a stark comparison to the smooth-talking Obama, whom the media worked hard to characterize as a godsend.

Some of it was propaganda, and some of it was not. Facts were distorted and myths were created, and it didn’t help that Palin’s gaffes ingrained her buffoonery into the minds of the average voter.

But Palin’s problems aren’t all rooted in the malpractice of the media; to the contrary, Palin herself has done more than enough to destroy her own electability. One of the most notable problems is her Peggy Hill persona that she can’t seem to shed. Americans have trouble viewing her as the leader of the free world when all they see in front of them is a slightly dim hockey mom. Her “Joe Six-Pack” rhetoric may have earned her a few fans among the red-state working class, but most people just roll their eyes; Americans don’t want to be patronized.

I’m rather surprised that more Republicans haven’t turned against Palin. The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of ideas and innovation, yet Palin supporters seem content listening to her regurgitated rhetoric.

Another disturbing trend is Palin’s constant pandering to the base. Republicans should reject pandering and start listening to new ideas, or better yet, returning to tried-and-true conservative principles. Rovian politics may have worked wonders in the past, but Obama’s campaign victory was a game changer. In order to win, Republicans have to adopt new tactics and leave liabilities like Palin behind. Don’t worry about social conservatives and the “family values” voters; they’ll vote Republican anyway, even if they do so begrudgingly.

In the end, however, it doesn’t matter if Palin were as brilliant as Milton Friedman and as charismatic as Reagan; at this point, she has become a toxic asset. If the GOP wants to win, they’re going to need to do better. It’s nothing personal; she’s a very nice lady. Americans just can’t shake that image of Tina Fey whimsically saying “I can see Russia from my house!”

Tom Bortnyk is a student at Florida State University.

By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

The notorious Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara spent his entire life fighting the evils of capitalism and murdered anyone who did not agree with his socialist agenda. Yet here we are today, in 21st century America, where any hipster can walk into a Target super-store and buy a Che T-shirt and a “Yes We Can” poster. Apparently the college students wearing the shirts missed the chapter on irony in English 101; they must have been attending a “hope & change” rally. Politics, it seems, has become just as much of a battle of commercialism as PC vs. Mac or Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi.

There is no doubt that this is a distinctly 21st century phenomenon. Mass media and explosion of the internet into every household has only fueled America’s consumer culture, to the point where even our political candidates must be marketed and sold. If Billy Mays were still around, and the Sham-Wow guy didn’t beat up a hooker, odds are good we’d see them recruited for campaign ads in 2012.

In the ’60s and ’70s, student activism may have meant something. At the very least, it was a genuine movement for change. It is difficult to say the same for Obama. The campaign strategy was devised with the utmost attention to appeal to idealistic young people. The power of “cool” took hold and attracted more idealistic young people, spreading through college campuses like a disease. I may disagree with Obama on the issues, but I admire his tactical brilliance. Not since Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness have we seen such a massive and mindless army of zombies rallied to a cause.

It looks like Obama’s team and Apple’s Steve Jobs compared notes. The Left managed to sell Obama to the American public as if they were selling the newest iPhone. From the “O” graphic to the “Hope” poster, it seems that the campaign had just as much attention to detail as a corporation marketing its new product. Obama has taken such tactics to new heights, and as Andrew Romano of Newsweek writes, “is the first presidential candidate to be marketed like a high-end consumer brand.”

In the past, it was easy enough to ignore the younger demographics, considering their exceptionally low voter turnout. But in today’s tech-savvy world, having energetic worker-bees at your disposal is the difference between winning and losing. The same determined youth that built Facebook and Twitter into billion-dollar enterprises built a foundation for Obama’s electoral landslide.

Obama is the same substance of the Democratic Party with a shiny new exterior; he managed to take old ideas and repackage them for easy consumption by young people. The campaign promised “change”, but the administration itself has yet to come up with anything new; instead, it relies on the policies of the past. At the same time, they’ve managed to convince an entire generation that their policies are radically new methods for tackling the issues.

Thus far, it has served them well, as it has given Obama and the Congressional Democrat majority the political capital they need to fulfill their agenda. It would be wise, however, for them to tread carefully. One day, they may get too comfortable with being in charge and jeopardize the public’s trust, or worse: discover that they are no longer “cool”.

Tom Bortnyk is a student at Florida State University. This is his first post as a new PoHo contributor.

This week’s HoCast marks a revamp of my format. While I will continue to do long-form interviews with political figures as podcasts, the PoHo brand will feature a fairly regular cast and a quick, funny format that looks at the top political and media issues, the Quotable soundbite and the Political Whore of the Week.

Joining me are Scott Farrell of The Farrell Files on 10 Connects and Creative Loafing Film & Television editor Joe Bardi.

Our topics this week:

1. The shameful Today Show coverage of the Obama health care newser

2. The firing of the town manager of Fort Myers Beach for marrying a porn actress (shown above)

3. The Barack Obama-as-Witch Doctor e-mail flap

4. ESPN’s multi-problems with censorship (the Ben Rothlisberger story)

5. Mary Mulhern uses tax dollars to go to Cuba

This week’s PoHo Award nominees are:

New York stripper Christy Yamanaka, who was involved in the Judge Thomas Stringer scandal. He pleaded guilty this week to one count of mortgage fraud in connection with a house the two bought in Hawaii.

And, via txt message from an anonymous politician, this nomination:
“The Jersey 44, that’s lookin’ like a real political gangbang! Even by Jersey’s standards.”

Listen to the HoCast after the jump to find out who won:

Download Episode 15.

I have had a very hard day. When you stand up and fight effectively for freedom and to protect the rights of patients from control by the government and insurance companies – you develop powerful enemies. They have used the opportunity of a lapse in judgment to try to discredit me since they can’t discredit my arguments. I am proud of my accomplishments in this fight. I am more proud of the hundreds of thousands of Americans I have come to know who feel as I do and are willing to stand up for freedom. The next few days will be difficult, and I ask for your support.

DR. DAVID MCKALIP SENDS APOLOGY DIRECTLY TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

McKalip apologizes for sending insensitive image via e-mail

St. Petersburg, FL (July 23, 2009) – David McKalip, M.D., brain and spine neurosurgeon of St. Petersburg has never been shy in expressing where he stands regarding President Barack Obama’s health-care reform. Despite McKalip’s position on health system reform, he sends a sincere apology for a forwarded image of President Obama in an e-mail depicting the president in Papua New Guinean tribal garb with a logo beneath it saying, “Obama Care.”

“I genuinely regret the decision I made in passing this e-mail message along. Directly to President Obama, I sincerely apologize for offending him. This was, in no way whatsoever, my intention. The image has nothing to do with my feelings or thoughts on any race or culture. I recognize that this image is offensive and hope that the nation refocuses on assuring all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care with no party interfering in the patient-physician relationship. My intention is to focus directly on the issue at hand, which is putting financial and decision-making power into the hands of patients and taking it from government and insurance companies,” said McKalip.

The image forwarded was from a long chain of e-mails and not created by McKalip.

Talking Points Memo is breaking the story that well known local brain surgeon and anti-tax crusader David McKalip forwarded this photoshopped illustration of President Barack Obama to a Tea Party e-mail group:

TPMuckraker calls it the latest example of online anti-Obama racism on behalf of conservatives. And McKalip told TPMuckraker:

McKalip said he believes that by depicting the president as an African witch doctor, the “artist” who created the image “was expressing concerns that the health-care proposals [made by President Obama] would make the quality of medical care worse in our country.” McKalip said he didn’t know who created it.

But pressed on what was funny about an image that plays on racist stereotypes about Africans, McKalip declined to say, instead offering to talk about why he opposes Obama’s health-care proposals.

“I have a busy day,” he said eventually, before ending the call.

McKalip is also against spending tax dollars on the homeless, as you may recall from earlier CL coverage.

A few weeks ago I announced to my wife that I would not be watching The Today Show in the mornings any more. I just got fed up with its growing tabloid style and insistence on flogging non-stories to death. Like this week’s “exclusive” multi-day interview with Susan Boyle. Or the dude trying to get his kid back from Brazil who is interviewed at least twice a week. Or the latest family with a loved one attacked by a critter/rescued from a certain death/dying from a disease/etc.

But this morning, I broke my rule and paid the price for it. Meredith, Matt, Al and the rest of the formerly great NBC morning news show led the broadcast with this top story: Barack Obama had ruined his newser on health care last night by criticizing the wrongful arrest of prominent Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week.

ABC’s Good Morning America apparently did the same thing.

St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans noticed, too, writing this AM:

…[W]hy did the Today show — by far TV’s most-watched morning show — spend its first segment this morning discussing what the president said about the arrest of a black scholar in Cambridge, Mass.?

Here is how the “journalists” left at NBC played the president’s desperate attempt to pull out his health care victory on the website this AM:

It reflects the online priorities of Today as shown by this screen grab:

So if you, like me, don’t give a shit about Susan Boyle and the rest of her life in the UK and want instead to help be part of the most important discussion going on this week, on health care reform, here are some links to help you out:

NYT — Obama Moves to Reclaim the Debate on Health Care

NPR/TNR: Straight Talk on Health Care

WSJ — Live-Blogging Obama’s News Conference