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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
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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 Tuesday, June 07, 2005

"How's that again, Governor?"

    Bill Cotterell takes "Jeb!" to task for contending that Mark
    Felt should have taken his information to the proper authorities instead of skulking around parking decks with Bob Woodward. That's a haughty attitude toward the public's right to know, one that's sadly prevalent in his and his brother's administrations.
    "Jeb!" apparently doesn't read much history, and perhaps he was too young to understand that the "proper authorities" were up to their necks in the conspiracy; as to the latter, Cotterell notes that
    ["Jeb!"] was only 19 to 22 years old back then, but we can assume that, in the Republican National Committee chairman's family, the political discussion was pretty sophisticated. Young Jeb and George probably learned early the importance of message control.

    We see it in an ironclad order in state government: Don't talk to the press. That's what our public information office is for. "Accountability" means we type up the FCAT or Convergys or school-voucher numbers and decide what data to release. ...

    Gov. Bush probably really thinks the public would have been better served if Felt dutifully took what he knew to his bosses - that is, the co-conspirators. He and the president have probably convinced themselves that the Post should have received its Watergate information from the Justice Department press office and the White House press secretary, Ron ("third-rate burglary") Zeigler, who coined the term "inoperative" for alibis that kept turning into lies.

    Maybe in revising the Patriot Act, they [the Bushes] can punish reporters who won't stick to rewriting handouts. Before the Bush era is over, they should create a special penitentiary for those who get illegal tips from men like Mark Felt.
    "Governor's views on Felt are troubling".

    I can't resist Cotterell's line that, "Maybe in revising the Patriot Act, they [the Bushes] can punish reporters who won't stick to rewriting handouts." Hmmm, "reporters who won't stick to rewriting handouts" ... well, that wouldn't be too many in the local (state) media who, by and large have given "Jeb!" a free ride since he appeared on the political scene.

    Note: Perhaps I am being unfair to the reporters with this last comment; our ink stained wrettches no doubt have felt pressure either directly (Fox News style) or indirectly with respect to coverage of "Jeb!". And, to be sure, there are certain reporters, columnists, editors and newspapers who have been even-handed.

6:24 AM

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