Category: Uncategorized

* Enough of the pettiest of the candidate back-and-forths. Nobody in this field is the next Barack Obama. Get over it.

* “Future former Republicans.”–Pete Buttigieg’s characterization of certain prospective, “Mayor Pete” voters.

* Who were the winners by the time the Iowa-caucus fiasco was finally finished? Obviously, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. But also Mike Bloomberg, an outsider taking a pass on a debacle. Then there’s the Oval Orifice incumbent. Adversaries always love the other side’s unforced errors, like a last-minute Anthony Weiner email. There’s also New Hampshire, which would like to go first in primary season–and Florida, which seems less like “Flori-duh” after the silo vote shared its embarrassing, unvetted-app sausage with everyone.

* It’s likely that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom the Dems chose to answer Trump’s SOTU reality-show riff, will be in the conversation when it comes to the Democratic ticket. She’s the articulate, 40-something female governor of a swing state that the Dems must win back as well as an effective, national-stage spokeswoman for solidifying gains with female voters. She pushed back against Trump’s spiking of the economic football, made the case for affordable and inclusive health care and underscored the need to expedite infrastructure improvements and investments. She also spoke from East Lansing High School–where her two daughters are enrolled. Nice touch.

* “Whoever gets the nomination, we have to rally behind them, no matter who it is.” That was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the uber feisty supporter and campaign surrogate for Bernie Sanders. Here’s hoping the “Bernie or Bust” zealots are on board with AOC’s words. And here’s hoping AOC is too.

* “We are not going to be able to out-divide the divider-in-chief.”–Amy Klobuchar.

Nobody around here has a more direct perspective on the Trump Administration’s priorities and their societal and global impact–as well as the value of fighting the good democratic/constitutional fight–than seven-term, Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

“I know my Tampa neighbors and I will continue to value America’s Constitution, to show that what is right still matters, and demonstrate that we still possess the character essential in ‘keeping our Republic,'” underscores Castor. “The hard fact is President Trump’s behavior and the vote of GOP Senators make it that much harder for us to prove this to the world and to our kids and grandkids.”

* Here’s an out-of-town take we never expected to read; it’s from a column by Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. He’s commenting on a blockbuster trade by the Red Sox that involved two of their highest-priced players, Mookie Betts and David Price, in order, primarily, to save money. “Welcome to Tampa Bay North. Say hello to your Boston Rays,” wrote Shaughnessy, possibly a back-handed compliment to the Rays, who do more than most, with less than almost everybody.

* Whatever your take on what movie should have won this year’s Oscar, it’s worth recalling that “Citizen Kane” never won an Oscar. “How Green Was My Valley,” which is never mentioned in the context of the greatest movies of all time, won it that year (1942).

Ex-Rays update: “Keeping baseball in Tampa Bay” used to mean what it has always meant: A spot-on, Tampa-centric location and modern facility in this asymmetrical market without mass transit or many corporate headquarters. That was the challenge; that was the reality. Now it’s an unprecedented scenario that would have the Rays sharing baseball seasons with Montreal. Tampa is listening.  Among the most prominent believers: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “People continue to believe that the two-city alternative they’re exploring is viable,” says Manfred, “and could be a really good solution for keeping baseball in Tampa Bay.”

* “It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market. What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, students loans or prescription drugs.”–Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in delivering the Democratic response to President Trump’s SOTU speech.

* “Truth matters little to him. What’s right matters even less, and decency matters not at all.” Rep. Adam Schiff, in his closing arguments to the Senate impeachment jury.

* “An appalling abuse of the public trust.”–Sen. Mitt Romney, on casting his vote to convict the president for attempting to extort Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden.

* “I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity.”–Nancy Pelosi.

* “That Marco Rubio is a Republican prince and Romney a Republican pariah tells you all you need to know about how low a once-proud party has sunk.”–Max Boot, Washington Post.

* “Mr. Trump is on a roll, but there are 271 days left before Election Day. His supporters should remember: What happens the first week of February won’t decide what happens the first Tuesday of November.”–Karl Rove, organizer of the American Crossroads PAC and former George W. Bush adviser.

* “The central fact of America today is not its economic vigor but its profound inequity.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.

* “Suburban women is where he has a challenge. I think the biggest problem that he has with suburban women is the part that so many in his base like about him. His rhetoric. His punching down at his opponents. It’s so different than anything they’ve seen.”–Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

* “This (voting) fiasco means the end of the caucuses as a significant American political event. The rest of the country was already losing patience with Iowa anyway and this cooks Iowa’s goose. Frankly, it should.”–David Yepsen, Des Moines Register.

* “Let’s be glad in Florida we have professional election administrators running primaries and not party volunteers running a caucus.”–Michael McDonald, University of Florida political science professor.

* “If we are losing our national identity, it is not because we are becoming browner or speak in more languages than we once did. It is because we are losing our sense of the common good. ‘We’re better than anyone else’ nationalism, tinged with racism, typically emerges in countries where demagogues build their base of power by fueling fears of others outside the nation’s borders.”–Robert Reich, former secretary of labor and author of “The Common Good.”

* “Trump is utterly irreplaceable as the living id of the American right, an existentially satisfying demagogue who has proven himself capable of lashing out at the elements of American society they despise as much in deed as in word.”–Osita Nwanevu, New Republic.

* “The market can only ever provide what is profitable. It is utterly indifferent to human needs.”–Leigh Phillips, Jacobin.

* “A game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”–Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of the NFL.

* “We want this to be known as one of the top startup cities in the country, and we will get there. I think a reasonable time frame is five to 10 years.”–Jeff Vinik, the developer of Embarc Collective, a former downtown warehouse that is now home to dozens of startup companies.

* “The most effective way to combat hate is to build bridges within our greater Tampa community, especially between the Jewish and African-American communities, through dialogue and education. The more we know and understand about each other and our histories, the less likely vitriolic rhetoric will be tolerated.”–Joseph A. Probasco, president of the board of directors of the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation.

* “I think there’s going to be a very big push for these (‘attainable housing’) types of projects in the next two years. We (architects) need to be in the forefront in leading the community discussion.”–Mickey Cohen, principal of the Design Studio at BDG Architects.

* “The old adage that you get what you pay for is true in education as well. It’s hard to recruit and keep good teachers if you are not paying them.”–Craig Richard, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council.

* “I think the Water Department is acting in a rogue fashion.”–Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson on the city’s intentions about its Tampa Augmentation Project, which would convert highly-treated wastewater to drinking water.

* Trump and history: Donald Trump will be the first impeached president to run for re-election. Alas, given his character and track record, we likely haven’t seen the last of “impeachable” acts from this impulsive, historically unprecedented occupant of the Oval Orifice.

* In all likelihood Trump will be further emboldened by his impeachment acquittal. Ironically, had it not been for the Bidens and Burisma, however mischaracterized, there would have been no impeachment at all. 

* Retiring GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, a key “no” vote on witnesses, finally had his moment of equivocal discernment on acquittal. What Trump did was, indeed, “inappropriate,” conceded Alexander. But “The Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are ‘inappropriate.'”

His head should go, appropriately enough, on a pike anyhow. Rhetorically speaking, of course.

* The Bolton book, (“The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir”): Do we wait for the retitled movie, “Nondisclosure Agreement Be Damned”?

* For those Republican senators who keep enabling Trump’s democratic devolution, two points. First, country and conscience first. How quaint. Second, you are part of a representative–not direct–democracy. Your role, whatever your label and fealty, doesn’t mandate being a rubber stamp for constituents, no matter their number or vociferance.

* “Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office.” Even a self-serving, disingenuous GOPster such as Marco Rubio should be able to make a better argument against conviction than that.

* “I’m going to take my cues from the president’s lawyers.”–That was vintage Mitch McConnell before the impeachment hearings and the witness-free “trial” began. Being a “man of your word” has never seemed so dishonorable.   

* When is a trial not a trial? When the jury is the judge.

* Nobody is thwarting U.S. sanction plans for regime change in Venezuela more than Russia, which has extended a life line of crude oil purchases and currency to help prop up Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. But it would likely be even more problematic if Donald Trump and Vlad Putin weren’t such good friends.

* More irony in that the two countries actively seeking to undermine European security, Turkey and Russia, are run by two of Trump’s favorite authoritarians, Recep Erdogan and Trump’s aforementioned bromantic buddy.

* You say you want a devolution: Partisan political banter has always had its off-putting side. But new lows are practically a daily occurrence in the era of Trump. Here’s the rhetorician-in-chief’s recent put-down of Michael Bloomberg, a potential opponent: “I just think of ‘little.’ You know, now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. OK, it’s OK. There’s nothing wrong. You can be short.”

That resulted in this retort from Bloomberg’s spokesperson, Julie Wood. “(Trump) is a pathological liar, who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity and his spray-on tan.”

Nobody looks good, but we know who started it. Just ask Marco Rubio.

* “Normalization of lawlessness.” Adam Schiff’s analogy of the Nixon and Trump Administrations.

* “This is not a banana republic.” That was the response of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in rejecting the White House counsel’s suggestion there was nothing wrong with seeking foreign election interference. Problem was he was admonishing Banana Republicans.

* “Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs … You represented the great state of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our country is proud of you.” Whatever.

* Regardless of those embarrassingly slow Iowa caucus results and the punditocracy’s take on what the silo vote might actually mean, the bottom line is–as it always is: Demographically-challenged, peer-pressuring-caucus Iowa should not be first among unequals when it comes to presidential primaries. It’s as relevant as the Electoral College.

* How ironic that in the unfettered, back-in-the-day, white nationalist era of Trump, there is a viable gay candidate for president. There is actually more focus on Pete Buttigieg’s age (38), inexperience and seeming disconnection with African-American voters than his sexual orientation. Maybe we are progressing. Maybe.

* “TURN THE PAGE.” That’s what’s spelled out in large blue letters behind Pete Buttigieg during his campaign stops. It moves on a lot of levels, as Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders well know.

* “Not Left. Not Right. Forward.” That’s a prominent Andrew Yang campaign sign. Speaking of, Yang’s candidacy continues on–via impressive fund-raising and a major podcast presence. A lot of his followers were smitten in an early debate when he sounded so unlike a political debater. “We’re up here with make-up on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines, playing roles in this reality TV show,” he pointed out. Such refreshing candor worked for a candidate most voters had never heard of.

* Joe Biden could have helped out a lot more on impeachment. He personally could have put Burisma and his son’s understandably controversial, ill-advised, over-compensated board position into proper, however awkward, context.     

* Who would have thought that the female-electability question would still be posed less than four years removed from a female candidate getting the most votes in a presidential election?

* Gun violence–and implicit control–might not have been the best Michael Bloomberg ($11 million) ad message to resonate with Super Bowl viewers. Preaching, to no small degree, to the un-convertible, even while still sober. Perhaps climate change–sans the cute penguins and a teenage activist–that focuses on economic upheaval and population relocations (massive immigrations) as the costs of doing nothing could resonate.  

* “The greatest living justice.” That was part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ predictably immodest introduction of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the recent Federalist Society conference in Orlando. Few other legal venues would have been forums for such Thomas hyperbole.

* Who else but this Florida Supreme Court could make the Republican Legislature seem so deliberative and fair-minded. That’s an upshot of the major Court ruling that it wasn’t mandatory for a jury to be unanimous for a death-penalty verdict. To its credit,  the Legislature seems adamant that a unanimous jury should remain a requirement to sentence someone to death. But, no, the Supreme Court did not weigh in on bringing back “Old Sparky.”

* Presidential candidates have always needed outlets to the public–beyond ads–for their messages. That typically means rallies and interviews–both print and television. But dating back to JFK going on the “Tonight Show” with Jack Paar and Richard Nixon with Steve Allen, it also means non-traditional forums. One such is the HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a liberal-oriented combination of political satire, commentary and crude humor. Context matters for those with image priorities, but a wider audience is always appealing.  

Pete Buttigieg recently put in an appearance with Maher a couple of days before the Iowa caucus. He did it via video–so the optics of a comedian’s show weren’t an issue and he deftly pivoted from a couple of friendly-fire questions–such as Mayor Pete’s poor polling among black voters–to broader themes. He sounded, as always, smart and eloquent, regardless of venue.

* It’s not often that palindrome turns up in the news cycle, but there it was recently because last Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, was a prime–and rare–example. A palindrome, as you might know, is a sequence that reads the same forward as it does backward: hence, 02/02/2020. And that, of course, got me thinking about some other palindromes. Here’s what came to mind: “Madam, I’m Adam” and “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.” And just to be cute: “Able was I, ‘ere I saw Elba.”

* “The risk of infection for Americans remains low, and with these and our previous actions we are working to keep the risk low.”–Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, in announcing that America will be temporarily barring entry to the U.S. of foreign nationals believed to be a risk of transmitting the coronavirus. Americans returning from China’s Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

* “While we still have to be enormously vigilant about terror, there are still challenges all across the world, the Chinese Communist Party presents the central threat of our times. … China wants to be the dominant economic and military power of the world, spreading its authoritarian vision for society and its corrupt practices worldwide.”–Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

* “Russia in my view has become the most important partner of Maduro. A multilateral approach on sanctions is critical.”–Carlos Vecchio, the Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S. for Juan Guaido.

* “It’s worth remembering that liberalism is not just struggling in America, with our Electoral College and right-tilting Senate; it is struggling all around the world. Which, again, suggests that American liberals are fortunate to have Trump as their Great Foe. If he were merely as disciplined and competent  as (the UK’s) Boris Johnson or (Hungary’s)Viktor Orban, to choose leaders with whom he has a few things in common, he would be coasting to re-election.”–Ross Douthat, New York Times.

* “In constructing their defense, the president’s supporters essentially tried to have it both ways in the Ukraine case: They insisted there was no quid pro quo demand for Biden investigations made while withholding aid from Ukraine, and that it would have been entirely proper even if there were.”–Gerald F. Seib, Wall Street Journal.

* “The spectacle of White House censors deciding, without any real constraint, whether to permit a former government official to publish a manuscript critical of the president should provoke alarm.”–Jameel Jaffer and Ramya Krishan, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

* “(The framers of the Constitution) put their faith in checks and balances. We are left with a president unchecked and a system dangerously unbalanced.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post.

* “It was exactly what Nancy Pelosi feared would happen before she was reluctantly drawn into the show trial.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “Support for the president remains rock solid in small-county and rural America. … cultural values and class are big, if not bigger, factors than the economy in determining political attitudes. Trump supporters are supporters as much because of the president’s anti-elite rhetoric, his fight against undocumented immigrants and what they see as defense of traditional values as any substantive achievement.”–Gerald F. Seib, Wall Street Journal.

* “We perceive Donald Trump and his corruption to be an existential threat to the county. (Republicans) perceive the deep state and the liberal media to be an existential threat to the country.”–U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

* “In 1992, partisanship was much more elastic than it is now.”–Bill Clinton campaign adviser James Carville.

* “One of the things that has happened in the last, almost four decades in public life is you watch people make a gargoyle of your life.”–Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

* “I haven’t had chips in about10 1/2 months.”–NASA astronaut Christina Koch, on what she craves on her Feb. 6 return from the International Space Station, where she’s been since March.

* “There is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated.”–Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

* “Our marketing has become about how unique and how different we are. We don’t want to compete against beach destinations or theme park destinations.”–Santiago C. Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, on the ripple effects of “Gasparilla season.”

* “The heart of the experience around Super Bowl will be in downtown Tampa along the Riverwalk … taking advantage of all the great venues we have.”–Rob Higgins, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee. The Super Bowl will be played at Raymond James Stadium next year.

* “I think this is noble, worthy and long overdue.”–Tampa City Council member Guido Maniscalco, on the need for a ban on one-use plastics.

* “I often say, our city is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in my entire lifetime, not only above ground but below, and it’s our commitment to financial excellence that will help carve the path.”–Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

* “Our focus is on the Sister City concept, and we will work with all those who believe it is an idea that merits exploration and consideration.”–Statement from the Tampa Bay Rays to the city of St. Petersburg.