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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Sunday, March 27, 2005

Rewriting History

    The claim, underscored below, that "Jeb!" was patiently waiting for "judicial approval" to assume custody of Terri Schiavo is directly at odds with other reports that a snatch and grab mission by "Jeb!"'s FDLE thugs was foiled when "local police got in the way." (see "Constitutional Crisis"). The GOoPer revisionism has begun:
    A Florida Department of Law Enforcement team was standing ready in Clearwater a few days ago to transport Terri Schiavo to a hospital, an FDLE agent said.

    But Gov. Jeb Bush never intended to act without judicial approval, spokeswoman Alia Faraj said.
    "FDLE team was standing ready to seize Schiavo".

    Will the media permit "Jeb!" and his flacks to rewrite the history of this, one of the most sordid events in Florida history?

    Bill Cotterell the Tallahassee Democrat's political editor seems to be buying into the revisionism today in "Bush disappointed by inability to intervene", where he credulously reports how "Jeb!" wishes he could do more, but is simply bound by the rule of law.

    Hopefully, we'll see more like this from the Gainesville Sun:
    Jeb Bush is well known for his disdain of the judiciary. But his last-minute ploy to "save" brain-dead Terri Schiavo borders on contempt of court. ...

    Gov. Bush and President George Bush, as well as other politicians and religious activists who have gone to extremes to run rough- shod over several years of consistent court rulings in the Schiavo case.

    They have taken a dispute among family members that should have been settled long ago on the basis of medical evidence and legal merit and turned it into a three-ring media circus with the Bush brothers presiding as ring masters.
    "Contempt of court" "Jeb!"'s scheme to use FDLE agents to "rescue" Schiavo needs to be thoroughly investigated, and the media should - but probably won't - call for formal review of the executive branch's conduct in this sad affair. What orders were given to the FDLE, and by whom? How far along were the FDLE agents before "local police got in the way", and who made the decision to call them off? Is the FDLE "Jeb!"'s private police force or do they have a modicum of independence?

    As to this latter point, and in connection with "Jeb!"'s crusade against Buddy Dyer, recall the FDLE insider who revealed that "Jeb!"
    regularly inserted himself into ongoing investigations of political or particularly sensitive natures while I worked with FDLE by requesting continuous updates and tacitly pressuring the agency at every level.
    "Witch Hunt".

8:06 AM

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