The only good Republican is a dead Republican. Or, if living, a Republican willing to attack another Republican.
That continues to be the position of some members of the Tallahassee press "corpse," who pine away for the likes of Charlie Crist and Jim King.
A veteran Capitol scribe recently waxed nostalgic about King, the late state Senate president who was never so revered as he is now. The posthumous send-up of the Jacksonville Republican harked back to the good ol' days, when the Senate was so much more "civil."
The kinder, gentler comparison has long been a staple of left-leaning pundits and politicians, who ritually declare that the current generation of Republicans is so much more venal than the one that preceded it.
This game is played nationally by President Barack Obama, who has shamelessly taken to channeling Ronald Reagan.
But even as liberal and progressive elites bemoan today's "mean-spirited" GOP, the rank-and-file rabble is spewing spittle.
The Capitol in Madison, Wisc., sustained damage at the hands of unionists and other demonstrators who occupied the building while Democratic lawmakers went AWOL -- all in an attempt to throw a wrench into the gears of a democratically elected government.
Here in Florida, progressives go off the leash virtually. Social-media postings before and after the recent "Awake the State" protests were strewn with obscenities directed at the governor. One hyperactive Twitter account, posting some 1,600 tweets, is actually named "F--k Rick Scott" (obscenity edited).
The senior scribe mentioned above didn't resort to vulgarities in print -- just wouldn't be right in a family newspaper -- but the collective/progressive mission is clear: Take down leading conservatives by any means necessary.
One of the old media's favored tactics is to showcase "maverick" Republicans.
This year's useful tools include Sens. Thad Altman, Paula Dockery and J.D. Alexander. Over the past two months, each has assailed Gov. Scott. In the case of Dockery, a Scott adviser who got sidetracked in her enthusiasm for high-speed rail, other GOP leaders have been subjected to her intra-party scolding, as well. Mike Fasano and Jack Latvala also have fired a few shots.
GOP infighting makes for good headlines in the liberal (aka mainstream) press. So, naturally, one of the state's larger dailies was delighted to quote, at length, an Altman outburst about Scott's rejection of federal stimulus money. An excerpt:
Hes clearly violating his executive authority and at some point thats going to have be checked because hes doing a lot of damage. Harrumph!
That Altman is a contractor, not a lawyer, is of little consequence to press outlets. That the Florida Supreme Court -- hardly a bastion of ideological conservatism -- unanimously upheld Scott's action and summarily tossed Altman's lawsuit also appears to have had no effect on the media's narrative.
Had the roles been reversed, you can bet the old media would be screaming about a "frivolous" suit and demanding reimbursement of legal fees. And yet the liberal lament drones on.
As Altman is lined up for a Jim King Memorial Award, the establishment press corps gets misty-eyed over the departure and demise of Charlie Crist. "The People's Governor," ever ready with the cute quip and soft liberalism, had reporters eating out of his hand -- even as he was imploding politically.
Sunshine State News was launched partly because so few reporters saw Crist's fall coming. Just as the Republican-turned-independent collapsed, his enablers in the media are steadily losing credibility in the marketplace of public opinion. Note: Scott calculated that he could win the governorship without a single editorial-page endorsement -- and he was right.
In the wake of the 2010 election and the increasing irrelevance of the Florida Democratic Party, statist journalists cling to the delusion that they are "independent." But fewer and fewer people are buying that line, or their copy. Hence, the rise of new media sites that do not dispense the aging, bitter brew of liberal Kool-Aid.
James O'Keefe, the enterprising young "conservative activist" who recently punked National Public Radio, is helping to fill the void left by once-ferocious news hounds.
"Frankly, there aren't really any journalists today I can look to. Most self-described journalists are either pundits or stenographers," he told the New York Post on Sunday.
"If the media were doing their job and telling the truth about our public officials, we'd live in a much better world. [Today] the media have become so vulgar and silly."
By the way, the Capitol Press Corps Skits go on stage Tuesday night at The Moon in Tallahassee. Let's hope that the scholarship recipients who benefit from the show's proceeds will pursue a career in journalism, not stenography.
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Columnist Kenric Ward can be contacted at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
