39 Comments

I've got to agree with most of the other commenters. Scott failed on this subject. He showed fear to the powers that be instead of being true to himself. I have to lower my opinion of him now.

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The lesson to be learned here is that Republicans can be fooled by the American Pravda as much as anyone else. Always, my first inclination is to disbelieve them. Anything political will be lies, distortions, or propaganda.

I don't believe them, I surely don't.

I'll never believe them; I won't, I won't. (In the spirit of Dr. Suess.)

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If DeSantis is not the nominee this at best is one of 10,000 paper cut.

If he is the nominee no one will remember this, especially any Republican who said something negative because they will be 100 percent supporting him.

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“I don’t think it is a productive path to blast black Republicans for disagreeing with education standards in Florida.” But they aren’t actually disagreeing with policy, that’s what’s so aggravating about it. They’re disagreeing with the straw man that the Democrats created, which makes it appear to be validated. What the Democrats have done here is not remotely an honest mistake, it’s a deliberate and poisonous twisting of the curriculum to stir up trouble, a clumsy swing of the club at DeSantis. Republican candidates should not be going along with it. They should be doing what the rest of us have been doing: Pointing out the dishonesty of the attack and rejecting it outright.

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Watching how easily Scott jumped on the same bandwagon as Kamala Harris, I watched any thoughts of him as president fly right out of my head on to Neverland. It had nothing to do about being woke for Scott--it was all about opportunity to stick it to a political opponent. But he did it using flawed info being touted by Harris. The educational material was worded just fine and co-developed by African Americans, not DeSantis. Scott may be an overall nice guy but when the pressure is on that's when the real character emerges--good and bad.

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Listen all you Republican candidates, My mother said don’t believe everything you read and only half of what you see and you will be right most of the time. Maybe they should attempt to do some research before inserting their foot in the mouth it makes you more credible

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The institution of Slavery and the impact on the former slaves and their descendants have been continually addressed for decades. Unfortunately, there are still some on left and right that want to judge people by the color of their skin. I believe that most Blacks are progressive and far to the left. They believe that government (local, state and federal) must balance the socio-economic systems in this country to overcome the impact of slavery. Given the impact of Jim Crow and segregation, I would tend to agree with their point of view. I would also emphasize that many current government programs continue the legacy of segregation. For example, public education is continuing to trap black kids in a low opportunity illiterate community. This is why school choice is important. Even though black parents may have a lower education attainment than me, that does not mean they want less for their kids. Parents will see the advantage of taking the voucher and entering the market place to find a better option than the local public school. As long as the Federal government continues to use money and regulations to impose government solutions that control access to socio-economic opportunities, we will always be faced with "The US is systemically racist" argument.

Here is another way to view my point of view. Southerns called the civil war the war of northern aggression. Some people in this country wonder why we are supporting Ukraine and talk in terms similar to the old south arguments about the lost cause and the war of northern aggression. People are trapped by their perspective and lack enough discipline to say wait a minute, while what you say may have had merit 100 years ago, the basis of your belief system is absurd. Russia invades a sovereign nation and is systematically destroying the country to impose their tyranny. While you may think the US should not arm the Ukrainains, you cannot stand there and argue that America is at fault and the Russians are defending their nation.

The policies enacted by FDR and the New Deal, the policies enacted my LBJ and the Great Society, and Obamacare solved some problems but the ones targeted to solve the legacy of Slavery have served their purpose and are now counterproductive. I beleive the nation has yet to make a definitive choice to embrace liberty (low taxes and low regulations--why do we have a US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management?). If and when we do (Federal School Vouchers) these new policies will signify a reversal of the compulsory power of the Federal Government limiting the opportunities for poor people to pursue socio-economic parity. If every kid in this country attains the educational equivalent of a rigorous high school education (They can read, write, speak, do math understand science history, etc. at a 12-grade level), then it is easy to look at that kid at age 18 and say, while you are free to have your say, you are also free to build a life. So quit complaining and get to it.

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That republican politicians can't stand together is the party's kryptonite. Democrats know this.

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the economy stupid...

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Maybe this instead: "I'm not running for governor of Florida, I'm running for President of the United States. Next question."

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We should be cordial in our disagreements and I'd agree with Erick's caution in not calling the black Republicans like Tim Scott woke for disagreeing with the standards. However, these congressmen are not immune from criticism for uncritically parroting Democratic talking points. If white Republicans were doing the same (like Trump has done against DeSantis) they would be roundly condemned. In this case, a simple look at the Florida standards and the interview with the African American academics who put it together should put an end to the debate.

On another note, I'm surprised that conservative opininion writers give Kamala Harris a pass for issuing a smear like this at the opening of a monument for Emmitt Til. Is the use of a memorial for a lynching victim something everyone is ok with? Why don't Scott and the other black Republican colleagues criticizing DeSantis not call out Harris for misusing civil rights history? Instead, the GOP rolls over and takes it.

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Jul 31, 2023·edited Jul 31, 2023

I just wish the Repubs would heed Ronald Reagan's '11th Commandment" ' "Thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow Republican."

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11th Commandment. I'm pretty sure we already have 10.

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Jul 31, 2023·edited Jul 31, 2023

Typo/fat fingers/brain fart.

Will fix.

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Primaries resemble a Tour de France stage, where contestants jockey for position until some magical moment where all brains go “click” and they race like hell for the finish. CLICK is June 1, 2024 (ideally) or maybe a bit earlier, but not this year. What happens now in the press has no legs. Beyond the first clicks, it’s quickly forgotten.

Spontaneous utterances come from the heart and reveal the truer nature of a person. Carefully prepared remarks are an indication of “how” a candidate wants to be framed. Both inform me as I try to decide who to vote for.

Nobody will probably admit this, but this season, for the first time ever, a candidate will take their prepared talking points and feed them into AI, asking for a lib response and a conservative response. There is plenty of data out there from all the online press to know what their spin will be. Enter. Rinse. Repeat. And after a few cycles you get an impactful non offensive message, but unfortunately not a true indication of the real candidate.

Cheers

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GREAT point, Jim! I remember in 2013 watching "Your BLEEPED Up Brain," a four-part miniseries that explored how the human brain is susceptible to deception and often confuses fact with fiction. I realized that this "common knowledge" about our brain was almost certainly known and exploited by many or most of our politicians. Your comment is just the natural evolution of that exploitation.

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To paraphrase:

"I don’t think it is a productive path to blast WHITE Republicans for disagreeing with education standards in Florida.

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They took inaccurate press reports - their accusations were inaccurate - but you "understand where they are coming from". Unacceptable! Tim Scott is WOKE. He used his skin color to attack a fellow Republican - insinuating racist intent against DeSantis, a good man. He bowed to the Leftist mob. Terrible judgement!! He could have called DeSantis, no? But he didn't. The Left loves this. Look! The black man said DeSantis is bad!! He would do this time and time again as President, in the McCain/Romney mold. Like Nikki Haley, he's an Establishment sellout - both Scott and Haley use their race as a tool to win political debates, no different from black and "brown" politicians on the Democrat Left. Nikki Haley when she announced "I grew up brown, in a black & white world" Please!! Hard pass.

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And the also rans be-clown themselve over an issue the majority of Americans think is stupid and a waste of time.

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