This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.
No, You Can't Change Your Vote
Don't say you weren't warned about early voting.
Eleven days before the General Election, along comes a bombshell. The FBI is assessing more uncovered emails "pertinent" to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's server and the bureau claims it's taking “appropriate investigative steps.”
The statement from FBI Director James Comey was delivered to Congress Friday -- but not before more than 12 million, and perhaps as many as 20 million, early votes had been cast.
We don't know what "pertinent" means. We may never know before Nov. 8 if anybody is any more guilty of bad judgment Friday than they were on Thursday. But what a stunning move -- the kind you had to know would happen in an election year like this one -- with the two most unpopular presidential candidates in my lifetime, Clinton and Donald Trump.
If you were one of the millions who already voted and now have buyer's remorse, maybe you learned something. I have no idea how many of you there are. But if the election gets tighter in the stretch, if we have a result anything like the one in 2000 when Florida decided the presidency for George W. Bush, those hasty early votes could change history.
And consider how this latest news could affect down-ballot races across the country. It could be a particularly big factor in which party controls the Senate, a battle where each party’s fortunes have been tied closely to the White House race.
Trump used the news Friday to buttress his case that Clinton was guilty of “corruption ... on a scale we have never seen before.” When the GOP nominee told a crowd at a rally in Manchester, N.H., about the breaking news, he was almost drowned out by raucous cheers.
Aides to Trump were jubilant, too. Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted, “A great day for our campaign just got better.”
So, expectations in the Trump camp are high for a reversal of fortunes. And I worry. In an atmosphere where as many as a third of the electorate believes the election is "rigged" before it's even happened, if the FBI still doesn't tell us what's going on, if Trump loses by a close vote -- if either candidate loses by a whisker -- I smell Big Trouble ahead.
Please. If you still haven't voted, hang on till the bitter end. Don't let either party manipulate you. There yet may be another twist in this magical mystery ride that is Election 2016, and on Nov. 8 at least you can cast your vote as a fully informed voter.
Randy Perkins' CNN Dodge
Democrats have as much trouble as Republicans vouching for their party's standard bearer.
Interviewed on CNN Friday morning, Randy Parker, er, Perkins was asked about the news that the Clintons appear to have personally profited from their work through the Clinton Foundation.
Despite dodging repeatedly on the topic, the Democratic candidate for CD 18 -- the seat Patrick Murphy is vacating -- did say during the interview he believes Hillary Clinton is "honest."
Strange, considering his opinion doesn't jibe with the 67 percent of Floridians who believe Clinton is neither honest nor trustworthy.
As America Rising PAC pointed out, "Unfortunately for Perkins, loyalty to his party’s scandal-plagued standard bearer has gone totally unnoticed, as Clinton called Perkins the wrong name on the stump this week, referring to him as 'Randy Parker.'"
Actually, Republican Marco Rubio had the same problem as Perkins earlier in the month when CNN asked him if Donald Trump is fit to be president. What does he do, defend Trump's honor and get kisses from the party, or does he show his backbone and deliver the answer in his heart? Actually, Rubio pivoted to Clinton, walking the line with the deftness of a Ringling Bros. high-wire artist.
Oh, yes, and speaking of Rubio: CNN also asked Perkins Friday morning if he thought Democratic Senate candidate Patrick Murphy would beat incumbent Rubio in November. Perkins answered with a long eulogy on Murphy. CNN repeated the question. Finally, Perkins replied, "Absolutely, Patrick Murphy will win Nov. 8." Not really the answer he wanted to give while polls are tanking on Murphy, you could tell. But Perkins is the DCCC's boy. He did his duty.
The Other Side of Eminent Domain
J.P. Sasser, former mayor of Pahokee and activist in the interest of the Glades communities, shared an observation this week on his Facebook page.
He commented on the Standing Rock Tribe's protests going on in the Dakotas against the oil pipeline.
"You may notice that a large majority of people oppose the pipeline being built there AND the one being built in Florida as well," writes Sasser. "They continuously post how government is out of control and is stepping on the rights of the American people and the land they own."
Then he notes the irony, that the government overreach they so strongly oppose is Eminent Domain.
"So, why," he asks, "is it unacceptable to use Eminent Domain to get a pipeline built, yet it's perfectly acceptable to use it to take privately owned land to FLOOD?"
Sasser is responding to comments from environmentalists and some Treasure Coast residents who want the government to "take" land south of Lake Okeechobee, flow water south and flood out the agricultural way of life of four communities.
I don't think it's going to happen, but J.P. Sasser still makes an excellent point.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
