VIDEO: Waffle, Baby, Waffle a la Rubio

By GottaLaff

First:

Please note that posting could be light today. Paddy is gone for a few hours, I'm on no sleep and have a huge video project ahead of me that got a bigger response than I ever expected, and that's a good thing. Between editing and Paddy's absence, things will be a little slower today.


With that, join me in watching Marco Rubio partake in the new GOP dance craze that I call the McCain Flip Flop:

The oil rig disaster has caused problems for the Republican candidate Marco Rubio, a drilling proponent. In 2008, Rubio told Newt Gingrich’s big oil front group American Solutions for Winning the Future that he was proud to join the “drill here, drill now, pay less effort.” (Rubio also promoted drilling In a spanish-language endorsement.)

Now, Rubio is waffling on drilling.

If this disaster makes proponents of drilling think twice, then there is a silver lining. The cost was way too steep, but playing the Glad Game can at least help us cope.

Poll-itics: Crist Grabs Lead in Early Poll

By GottaLaff

The Tea Tantrumers will start their whining in 5...4..3...2...:

A new McLaughlin & Associates poll in Florida shows Gov. Charlie Crist (I) leading the U.S. Senate race with 33%, followed by Marco Rubio (R) at 29% and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) at 15%.

Interestingly, the poll shows Crist taking more votes from Meek than Rubio. Crist actually does better with Democrats than Meek, with 41% of them saying they would vote for him compared to 31% for Meek.

However, the Dems will whine, too. Okay, Kendrick, start kicking some serious butt, stat!

U.S. attorney, IRS, FBI investigating Florida GOP, including Marco Rubio

By GottaLaff

Mmm, I love the smell of corruption in the morning.

Back in March, I posted about Marco Rubio's Code Red status. Let's reminisce:

Code Red:

Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny.

About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife.

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald did a blow-by-blow analysis of Rubio's expenses and wow. A must-read. Here's a teaser:

• Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses — including $7,000 he paid himself — for one of the committees in 2003 and 2004, as required by state law.

• One committee paid relatives nearly $14,000 for what was incorrectly described to the IRS as "courier fees" and listed a nonexistent address for one of them. Another committee paid $5,700 to his wife, who was listed as the treasurer, much of it for "gas and meals."

• He billed more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses'' to three different credit cards — nearly one-quarter of the committee's entire haul.

Now it seems it's Code Scarlet. The U.S. Attorney's office, the FBI, and the IRS are involved:

Federal law enforcement agencies have launched a criminal investigation into the use of American Express cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida to elected officials and staff, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tallahassee, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are all involved in the inquiry, which grew out of the state investigation into former House Speaker Ray Sansom.

Oh, but it gets more interesting. Let's play a game. I shout, "Marco!", you answer, "Rubio!" every time you smell a scandal. Ready? Marco!

The IRS opened the so-called "primary'' investigation into Rubio, the leading Republican candidate for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat, and the two former state GOP officials to see if there's enough evidence to support a full-fledged criminal inquiry, according to a source familiar with the IRS examination.

Rubio!

One more time... Marco!

At this stage of the IRS investigation, agents are looking at federal tax records, state financial disclosure forms and other documents to see whether Rubio, Greer and Johnson may have personally benefited from using their GOP American Express cards without reporting or paying taxes on additional income.

Rubio!

Between Crist and Rubio, Florida's getting all kinds of free publicity.

H/t: Markos

Rubio's "special interest donations & political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny"

By GottaLaff

Why what have we here? Marco! Polo! Keep waving that flag!

Ahem, calling all Marco Rubio opponents: Code Red:

Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny.

About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife.

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald did a blow-by-blow analysis of Rubio's expenses and wow. A must-read. Here's a teaser:

• Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses — including $7,000 he paid himself — for one of the committees in 2003 and 2004, as required by state law.

• One committee paid relatives nearly $14,000 for what was incorrectly described to the IRS as "courier fees" and listed a nonexistent address for one of them. Another committee paid $5,700 to his wife, who was listed as the treasurer, much of it for "gas and meals."

• He billed more than $51,000 in unidentified "travel expenses'' to three different credit cards — nearly one-quarter of the committee's entire haul.

Ouch, this is painful. But in a good way.

Rubio's high-roller political spending belies his image as an outsider riding a wave of antiestablishment fervor and gunning to knock off Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. A Times/Herald review of other legislators' committees shows they typically contributed far more to other candidates and reported vastly fewer credit card payments.

This can't end well, I just know it.

Campaign adviser Todd Harris:

"Marco put his on a credit card and the other guys put theirs on a debit card. So sue us."

Don't tempt us.

Um, not so sure he can. Not any more.

No back wax for Rubio

By GottaLaff

See? Now this is whatcha call "real news":

Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio never charged a back wax to his Republican Party of Florida credit card, his campaign spokesman told CNN Tuesday, rebutting Gov. Charlie Crist's curious allegation about his Republican primary rival's grooming habits.

HairGate solved! Or is it BackGate? Or WaxGate? GateGate? WaxWax? Oh stop...

Rubio's spokesman Alex Burgos has the details:

"Marco paid $20 for a haircut with a razor on the neck, and he bought some items that went into a silent auction, including gift certificates," he said.

Whew! What would we have done had we not known that?!

I think what we need is a good old fashioned suh-nap! Why, here comes one now!

As for the back wax claim: "Charlie Crist's obsession with making up things about other people's grooming habits is bizarre for anyone, especially the sitting governor of Florida," Burgos said.

"It's also a shame he cares more about what's in Marco's personal bills than what's in the stimulus bill he supported."

VIDEO: Rubio mocks Obama’s teleprompter…while in front of a teleprompter

By GottaLaff

Rushpublic Hypocrisy gone wild:

Dave Weigel, attending the conference, doesn’t think Rubio was reading from the TelePrompters, but at least in this clip, he seems to be moving his head from side-to-side as if he were looking at them.

Plus, one is visible.

Anyone see anything written on his hand?



Dee-lish! CPAC is so much fun.

It’s War: Conservative Candidate Uses Image Of Obama To Attack Moderate GOPer

The Republican cannibalism has started! Nummy. Via Greg.