Category: Media Watch

What to make of this week’s Monmouth University poll showing Donald Trump tied with Ben Carsonat 23 percent in a sampling of likely Iowa caucus goers? Here’s one theory, once you get beyond questioning the validity of any poll in the silly season of summer politicking.

Where would serious, concerned anti-establishment Republicans go, if not to the anger-frustration-and-political-correctness channeling Trump? Well, why not somebody, a retired neurosurgeon, who is even more of a consummate non-politician–but not somebody who has given establishment candidates money and endorsements? And not somebody who has been, in effect, part of the same celebrity milieu?

Dr. Carson is smart enough to overcome frame-of-reference deficits and too measured to appeal to the pro-wrestling crowd. And, for what it’s worth, he also comes across as a nice guy with meaningful, real-world accomplishment in a field of preening wannabes. Imagine, somebody as smart as a neurosurgeon actually wants to be president. Perhaps it’s Iowans’ way of saying, “Thanks for running.”

But it’s still summer.

The unsolicited mail you receive is, as we know, often age-related. Get enough seniority in life, for example, and all of a sudden you’re hearing about AARP cruises and Fred Thompson waxing on about the merits of reverse mortgages. I get my share.

Then there’s the Neptune Society with its mortality reminder. Affordably scatter your ashes, not your widow’s finances.

Only with me, there’s an added reminder.

While a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal, I once did a piece on the Neptune Society and the niche it was carving out of the funeral-arrangement business since its 1973 founding. I talked with traditional funeral-home directors as well as Neptune founder Charles Denning, who was typically featured in TV and print ads in jaunty nautical raiment. He also had a silver goatee and mustache, not unlike a certain fried chicken icon.

The competition, less than pleased with the growing popularity of the cremation alternative, invariably referenced him as the self-promoting “Col. Cinders.”

I worked that reference into the piece–of course, I did–and for the first time there was an audible reaction around the office that even included the sales staff. They were used to my bad puns infiltrating copy but “Col. Cinders,” which wasn’t even my creation, became TBBJ lore for years.

* So, ESPN suspends baseball analyst Curt Shilling for his Muslim/Nazi comment. For the record, this is what Shilling tweeted: “Only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How’d that go?” What’s ironic is had that been, say, a Donald Trump tweet, it would have been just another day at the orifice.

But the baseball commentator is suspended, while the leading GOP presidential candidate would have received a societal pass because he’s channeling anti-establishment, politically incorrect anger. One is a regular, roundtable participant on Sunday Night Baseball with advertisers and viewers to be concerned about, while the other is merely auditioning for the most powerful position in the world with party officials and voters to be mindful of.

* It’s that time of year. Hurricane season means, among other things, a major media staple. Dangerous surfing off the coast of Guinea-Bissau? Could it become Hurricane Henri? Stay tuned. We know the routine.

Coverage, of course, will include the inevitable, unpredictable track forecast cone and accompanying spaghetti strands. Something else that is inevitable: Wherever you are, it’s not all bad to be in an early Cone of Armageddon cross hairs. Ultimately it will spiral elsewhere.

* “Beijing can signal all it likes when it comes to the stock market, but it can only cause prices to rise if it purchases large amounts of stocks; signaling no longer works.”–Michael Pettis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and finance professor at Peking University.

* “The U.S. economy entered the current market turbulence with momentum, which will help it to shrug off the drag from China and other developing economies.”–Diane Swonk, Mesirow Financial chief economist.

* “We have been for some time clamoring about our nation’s lack of capacity to sustain any meaningful presence in the arctic.”–Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft.

* “It’s a matter of time. It’ll be lifted and we’ll have normal relations. We should have done it a long time ago.”–John Block, former agriculture secretary under Ronald Reagan, on the trade embargo that still remains between the U.S. and Cuba.

* “The party of Lincoln has become the party of Trump.”–Hillary Clinton.

* “I don’t need his endorsement. I certainly wouldn’t want his endorsement. I don’t need anybody’s endorsement.”–Donald Trump’s response to praise from former Ku Klu Klan grand wizard David Duke.

* “Trump’s the only one who can make Biden seem disciplined.”–Matthew Dowd, former campaign strategist for George W. Bush.

* “The political establishment is still rigging the game to keep Carly off the main debate stage next month.”–Carly Fiorina deputy campaign manager Sarah Isgur Flores, in insinuating that CNN and the RNC will try to keep Fiorina off the candidate debate stage on Sept. 16.

* “…The person who might as well wear a sign that says ‘perfect Republican vice-presidential candidate.’ I mean Marco Rubio, who can seem too green for the top job but not for the No. 2 spot.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.

* “I know how to do this. Because I was a reform-minded governor who got things done in a very purple state. … Making a commitment to reach out, to be able to get people who don’t share every view you have, to build consensus, is something that I had experience doing.”–Jeb Bush.

* “His (Bush) problem is that his idea of governing is you have to agree with him 100 percent of the time. As long as everybody agrees with him, he’ll forge consensus.”–Former Republican state Senator and Florida Senate majority leader  Alex Villalobos.

* “It (presidential nomination process) shouldn’t be decided by a few votes in Iowa or New Hampshire. Nothing against them–I know they take the race very seriously.”–Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

* “Disagreement is not a reason to stop talking. Truth to tell, it’s a reason to start.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.

* “There are important benefits, even to the employer, from paying (minimum-wage employees) more: better morale, lower turnover, increased productivity. These benefits largely offset the direct effect of higher labor costs, so that raising the minimum wage needn’t cost jobs after all.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.

* “It is almost impossible to comprehend how a human being is capable of such acts. … Sheriff, get the defendant out of my courtroom, please.”–Judge Carlos A. Samour, in sentencing convicted mass murderer James Holmes to 12 consecutive life terms without parole.

* “Obama, Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders are out to fundamentally destroy America. I believe that in my heart.”–Defense contractor Todd Wilcox, one of the four Republicans running to succeed Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate.

* “I would go so far as to call it an epidemic.”–National Association of  Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard, on the state of construction-job shortages in Florida that are driving up new home prices.

* “We think Florida is an attractive state. People definitely want to live there. And particularly in Tampa, we think there’s a strong talent pool in the area. We found the site to be very attractive.”–Ernie Knewitz, Johnson & Johnson vice president for global media relations, on J&J choosing Tampa for its North American shared-services headquarters.

* “I will tell you one of the lessons from this is how powerful one success can be. I know that when Bristol-Myers Squibb put their North American Capability Center here, it made a big impression on Johnson & Johnson.”–Rick Homans, CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

* “My responsibility is to the broader community, not to the loudest members of the community.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on the creation of a Citizens Review Board that will recommend ways to improve police relationships with the community it serves.

* “He wants people to love to read.”–Jan Gruetzmacher, on the legacy of her late father, John Germany.

* “They will never see the inside of a courtroom again as lawyers. They are finished.”–John Fitzgibbons, attorney for C. Philip Campbell, on Pinellas Senior Judge Douglas Baird’s recommendation of permanent disbarment against DUI-setup attorneys Stephen Diaco, Robert Adams and Adam Filthaut.

* “Irish and Brits spend a lot of money here, invest a lot in real estate particularly in our waterfront communities and are our trading partners. We want to continue to grow those relationships.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, before leaving on a trade mission to Dublin, Ireland.

* “What we need to see to calm investors is positive economic data points out of China and only when we see that will the rallies be sustainable.”–Xavier Smith, investment director at Center Asset Management.

* “Most people understand these are not (financial) times to panic. If you’re stuck, you’re stuck, and you just wait it out.”–Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board.

* “The potential for more frequent and deadlier breakdowns in public order is plain, especially now that (President Nicolas) Maduro has stepped up military raids on ‘hoarders’ who amass ‘contraband’ goods.”–Bloomberg View, on the growing “danger of a Venezuelan implosion.”

* “Today’s ceremony marks the end of one phase in the relationship between our two countries and the start of a new one–one that I believe offers the promise of better.”–British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, in Iran for the reopening of the British embassy in Tehran.

* “By a wide margin, ordinary Americans want to see Social Security expanded. But by an even wider margin, Americans in the top 1 percent want it cut. And guess whose preferences are prevailing among Republican candidates?”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.

* “Peoples of European descent, everywhere they live, have birth rates below replacement levels. Yet, most live in the world’s most desirable neighborhoods.”–Pat Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “I hope we can defeat it, but the procedure is obviously stacked in the president’s favor.”–Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the hotly contested nuclear deal with Iran.

* “Donald Trump confounds me. I thought he’d be out of it by now. But he’s in the catbird seat for the time being.”–Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and Democratic National chairman.

* “Normal politics can’t explain Trump. For that you need Freud.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.

* “What Trump is missing here is that this is a relationship that is a mutually beneficial one for both countries. At the end of the day, Mexico and the United States will either fail or succeed together, and that a rising tide will lift boats on both sides of the border.”–Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican ambassador to the U.S.

* “As long as Republicans throw rocks at Obama foreign policy, they can score points. But if they offer any solutions that even imply boots on the ground, they are in trouble.”–Political analyst Charlie Cook, founder of the Cook Political Report.

* “I promise you, if I’m elected president of the United States, I will restore the traditional role of the United States as a leader for peace and security.”–Jeb Bush.

* “Conservative but not scary.”–Assessment of Marco Rubio by Terry Sullivan, Rubio’s campaign manager.

* “George W. Bush has started fundraising for his brother Jeb. Apparently he is raising money by promising he will not be one of his brother’s policy advisers.”–Political humor blogger Jim Barach.

* “Folks under 45 did not come of political age during the Cold War. Millennials, I think, vaguely associate socialism more with Nordic social democracy than with authoritarian communism.”–Joseph Schwartz, Temple University political theorist.

* “I am printing money, I don’t deny it. That’s what happens when you build a taboo-focused business.”–Noel Biderman, founder of the adultery site Ashley Madison.

* “Safety is always a concern to international travelers. We always rank very high in surveys when we ask visitors if they feel safe here.”–Paul Phipps, Visit Florida’s marketing director.

* “Reapportionment has redefined Florida a couple of times and, historically, the court has been the catalyst.”–Jon Mills, University of Florida law professor and former House speaker, who helped draft the language for the Fair Districts amendments.

* “Pretty sure the Democrats on the Supreme Court will be delighted to draw the map.”–Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City.

* “The best thing to happen to Jeff Vinik is this project. And the best thing for this project is Jeff Vinik.”–Luis Ajamil, project partner with Port Tampa Bay on its plans for the $1.7 billion redevelopment of 45 acres of waterfront property near the Channel District.

* “I think it will add credibility to everything that’s going on here, which is why we’re focusing on it.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on the recruiting of a Fortune 500 headquarters for downtown.

* “The county government needs to figure out exactly what they want to do. Until we’re told otherwise, right now they’re operating and functioning and we’re going to continue to work with them.”–Epicurean Hotel general manager Tom Haines, on the hotel’s working relationship with Uber.

* “Show me a neighborhood that doesn’t get any flooding, and I can find somewhere nearby where they need to use a street that gets some flooding. We’ve got enough flooding to go around for everybody.”–Brad Baird, Tampa public works and utility services administrator.

* “If we don’t have the amount of money we need for the ferry project, we’ll have to look at scaling it back to one boat or a pilot program. … I just want to keep moving forward to get it going.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman.

Not to dwell overly on that Republican presidential debate, but there was an ominously tell-tale reference made before the official 9:00 starting time by Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly. She feigned looking at her watch and gave a heads-up to pre-debate viewers that “the show” would begin in less than a minute right after a commercial break.

Whether it was brutal honesty or the TV version of Freudian slippage, it proved true. That wasn’t a debate. That was a casting call. That was speed-dating. That was, indeed, show time. Pointed questions and references to actual issues prompted lip-service responses and pivots to prepared agenda points. Fox, under the guise of some leading, adversarial questions, helped make sure Donald Trump, an actual TV celebrity and Exhibit A for narcissistic personality disorder, was not spotlight challenged. He merely played his assigned, carnival-barker-cartoon role.

It was, in part, entertaining. Also frustrating. And, in part, self-revealing and embarrassing. Aren’t we, the country ostensibly seeking to regain “greatness,” better than a reality TV show masquerading as presidential-campaign stop? Or is this a presidential campaign masquerading as a reality show?

We all remember “The Blair Witch Project,” the controversial, overhyped, uber-popular, no-budget, indie-horror, cult flick from 1999. Some called it a “hoax.” Others–ok, me–labeled it the “cinematic version of Piltdown Man.”

Anyway, in an effort to gin up more interest in its annual Howl-O-Scream fright fest, Busch Gardens has brought in the producer of “The Blair Witch Project,” Robin Cowie, to produce this year’s Howl-O-Scream. Enlisting a filmmaker is new for the parent (SeaWorld Entertainment) company, and a lot of the details haven’t been divulged. But word is that Cowie and a crew of cinematographers have been laying out its Howl-O-Scream tale on a fake website since June. But no word on how big a role hand-held cameras and scriptless, profanity-riddled dialogue will play.

*”Merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.”–President Harry Truman, on the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

* “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”–J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who played a major role in developing the A-bomb.

* “I remind everybody that us leaving at the end of 2011 was negotiated in 2008 by the Bush administration. And that was always the plan.” Gen. Ray Odierno, outgoing Army chief of staff, on the Iraq exit plan.

* “To be honest, no one has a clue where the economy is, and I don’t think that it’s properly measured. Definitely, there is a slow down. You can have an argument about what level it is.”–Viktor Szabo, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, on the Chinese economy.

* “The desire for immigration sovereignty is behind Britain’s possible referendum on a ‘Brexit’ from the European Union.”–Russ Douthat, New York Times.

* “These perverse ideologues, warped theocrats, they may be able to inspire a single lone wolf to commit a savage act, but they can never, never threaten who we are. When this perverted jihadist struck, everyone responded.”–Vice President Joe Biden, at a memorial for the five servicemen killed in a Chattanooga shooting rampage.

* “We want leaders who can resolve a Cuban missile crisis, not those who will stumble confusedly through a Hurricane Katrina disaster.”–Lee Drutman, author and senior fellow at New America, a political reform program.

* “I don’t think I’ve made mistakes. Every time somebody said I made a mistake, they do the polls and my numbers go up. … I’m sure I will at some point. But so far you have to say, hasn’t worked out badly, right?”–Donald Trump.

* “Hillary is lucky that she faces a crowded, absurdist Republican field cowering in the shadow of the megalomaniacal showman Donald Trump.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “(Bernie) Sanders, meanwhile, is attracting huge crowds on the West Coast–much larger than Clinton’s or any Republican’s. … He has clearly struck a chord with a high-education, all-white constituency.”–Michael Barone, Washington Examiner.

* “They (Republican presidential field) brag about slashing women’s health care funding. They say they would force women who have been raped to carry their rapist’s child, and we don’t hear any of them supporting raising the minimum wage, paid leave for new parents, access to quality child care, equal pay for women or anything else that will help to give women a chance to get ahead.”–Hillary Clinton.

* “It’s time we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being.”–Mike Huckabee.

* “A failed former chief executive officer, Carly Fiorina, having fired 30,000 employees and driven her company’s stock price into the ground, feels more qualified than ever to be president. She’s never held elective office and rarely voted while living in California.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.

* “We are certain that the time is now to reach out to one another, as two peoples who are no longer enemies or rivals, but neighbors. It’s time to unfurl our flags, raise them up, and let the world know that we wish each other well.”–Secretary of State John Kerry, in Havana for the flag-raising at the U.S. Embassy.

* “We need an American president who will work in solidarity with a free Cuban people. If I am elected president, I will reverse Obama’s strategy of accommodation and appeasement.”–Jeb Bush.

* “He (President Obama) has been quick to deal with the oppressors but slow to deal with the oppressed.”–Sen. Marco Rubio.

* “Justice and equality was the mission that spanned his life. Julian Bond helped change this country for the better.”–President Barack Obama.

* “Human beings are fairly good at calculating costs into their decision-making–saving for a rainy day, buying car insurance–if the time horizon is a few months or a few years. They are not as good at assuming burdens, as in environmental policy, when the time horizon is a few decades or centuries.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.

* “Target has removed gender labels from its kids’ sections after getting complaints. It’s still behind Walmart, which for years has sold unisex overalls, flannel shirts and shotguns.”–Humorist blogger Jim Barach.

* “We are under direction by a court that continues, over and over again, to exceed their constitutional authority. When one branch goes deep into other areas, the people lose. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”–Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Trinity, on the Florida Supreme Court’s role in the redoing of congressional district boundaries.

* “People want to invest in this community because the urban core is turning a page and the port is turning a page. This is keeping with the port mission but realizing there are better uses for this property.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on the unveiling of Port Tampa Bay’s elaborate, multi-use development plan for 45 Channel District acres.

* “We are very optimistic that we will see new service within the next six to twelve months. At the same time, we are very fortunate to have Allegiant as our dominant carrier.”–Tom Jewsbury, executive director, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.

* “Tampa is a small big town. It’s a small town that’s big in its own way. Everyone knows each other. My job is not to embarrass this organization, family or teammate.”–Bucs’ quarterback Jameis Winston.

Rhetorically, sometimes less is more. As in more appropriate. Watergate brought down a president; “Deflategate” brought down the weight of a football. It’s well beyond media overkill. Call it Clichégate.

And speaking of rhetorical overkill, how about “Giuliani moments?”

We certainly get it when public officials are front and center amid a crisis–and are consequently scrutinized for their performance under fire. Comes with the territory. But nothing compares to being mayor of New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, the horrific day that changed our world. That would include how Mayor Bob Buckhorn comported himself in the midst of recent local flooding.

Reminding locals to use common sense and showing leadership and reassurance by literally being on the scene is appropriate and something Mayor Bob can be counted on to do. And he did it; it’s in his mayoral DNA. But enough of the “Giuliani-moment” hyperbole. It’s not fair to the searing context of 9/11. I suspect Mayor Bob would agree.

* “Let’s not mince words: The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some sort of war–maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon. How can we in good conscience justify war before we’ve tested a diplomatic agreement that achieves our objectives?”–President Barack Obama, in urging support of the Iran nuclear deal.

* “I don’t oppose this deal because I want war, I oppose this deal because I want to prevent war, and this deal will bring war.”–Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a webcast urging rejection of the Iran nuclear deal.

* “We will have the votes to sustain a veto.”–Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on the White House’s confidence that it will prevail in the battle over the Iran nuclear deal.

* “If the U.S. walks away from this multi-national agreement, I believe we would find ourselves alone in the world with little credibility.”–Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

* “Before the early 1970s, wages and productivity were both rising. Now most gains from productivity go to shareholders, not employees.”–Peter Georgescu, chairman emeritus of the marketing and communications company Young & Rubicam.

* “I went to the (University of Pennsylvania) Wharton School of Finance. I was an excellent student. I’m a smart person. I built a tremendous company. You think I’d make a stupid statement like that?”–Donald Trump’s response to those accusing him of a tasteless, sexist attack on Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly.

* “Trump only hurts Republicans among women if he becomes the nominee, which he won’t.”–Republican pollster Whit Ayers.

* “Not sure that they vote in great numbers, but they like blood sport.”–Joseph McQuaid, publisher of New Hampshire’s Union Leader newspaper, on Donald Trump’s base.

* “If this guy ever gets into open water, he’s going to cause Democrats a lot of heartburn.”–Democratic pundit Van Jones, on the debate performance of Sen. Marco Rubio.

* “It’s important to be qualified, but if this election is going to be a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton’s going to be the next president.”–Marco Rubio.

* “Sure, there are center-right (GOP) candidates–like Jeb Bush and John Kasich. But can they run, win and govern from the center-right when the base of their party and so many of its billionaire donors reflect the angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the tea party and its media enforcer, Fox News?”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

* “Election polling is in near crisis, and we pollsters know it. Two trends are driving the increasing unreliability of election and other polling in the United States: the growth of cellphones and the decline in people willing to answer surveys.”–Cliff Zukin, professor of public policy and political science at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.

* “The world is demonstrably worse than when I started. Have I caused this?”–Jon Stewart.

* “What’s the natural market for nautical tourism in Cuba? The United States of America–the No.1 country in the international yachting market. We’re talking about tens of thousands of yachts that might come.”–José Miguel Díaz Eserich, commodore of the International Hemingway Nautical Club of Cuba.

* “We’ve gotten pretty explicit instructions from the court. We’ve had our hand slapped, so let’s get the job done and do it right. I wish we’d done this two years ago.”–Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, on being back to work on redistricting via special legislative session.

* “As pediatricians, we know the research and statistics about guns and children. They don’t mix. We also know how to speak to families about safety issues in the home. This is our job and obligation. It would be irresponsible not to discuss it.”–David Berman, M.D., pediatric infectious disease specialist and member of Doctors for America.

* “If you’re the last guy to build in Florida, you usually lose your shirt and your underwear.”–Developer Larry Feldman, who has submitted plans for a 52-story, mixed-use tower on the waterfront site where the Trump Tower was once planned.

* “There are no plans at this time.”–Florida Lottery spokeswoman Connie Barnes, on the possibility of selling lottery tickets through the Internet.

* “We have strong demand from our guests to sail from Tampa and are excited to offer a variety of itineraries next fall.”–Andy Stuart, president and COO of Norweigan Cruise line, in announcing plans to bring a new cruise ship to Tampa next year.

* “I’ve heard the community. I understand their concerns. But it’s not something that I’m going to jump into or rush into.”–Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward, on the idea of a citizens review board to scrutinize police actions.

* “That says a lot to somebody from out of town. They think: ‘How innovative can you be if you can’t be innovative about transportation.'”–Daniel James Scott, executive director of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum, on a perception of recent failed transit initiatives.

* “I want this settlement to have generational impact.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in explaining that he wants the city’s BP-settlement funds ($27.4 million) to be used for “legacy projects.”

* “TBX (Tampa Bay Express) is short-sighted, too costly, and solely focused on highway widening to the detriment of urban core historic neighborhoods in the heart of our city.”–Michelle Cookson, secretary of Sunshine Citizens, an anti-TBX group.