Sunday, October 31, 2010

Kendrick Meek in Wilton Manors

Yesterday I attended a Get Out The Vote rally at City Hall in Wilton Manors.

I was able to see Kendrick Meek speak on MSNBC and all the local TV stations, and I think he said pretty much exactly what he should have said.

Debbie Wasserman-Shultz on the other hand proved that she doesn't understand Wilton Manors and if she's going to inject herself in local politics she should study who she's supporting...

This was the second Get Out The Vote rally that was held in the early voting season here.   I'm glad that we're finished with Early Voting because from what I've heard around 1/2 of the people who are expected to vote have already done so.  It also means that we won't have any more spectacles like these rallies.

Why I'm calling it a spectacle is that if you watch how it has been called, and who has been called to the rally - it is strictly a partisan event.  It was called by the desperate current Mayor, in order to rally the troops.  

The actuality is that even in a partisan rally, once again Gary Resnick is Unsuitable and showed it in how he seeks reelection.  The first Get Out The Vote Rally was billed as a non partisan affair.  This being South Florida and Wilton Manors, it was almost exclusively a Democratic affair as well as being partially hosted by the Dolphin Democrats, a group that seems to have a purpose of getting gay candidates elected - even if the candidate is not as good a candidate as a straight one who is an ally.  It seems to me that that is skewed, and the Dolphin Dems are doing some very good straight candidates a strong disservice by not supporting them.

I got to see State Senator Chris Smith mishandle the election by supporting the Clueless Gary Resnick in such a rude and diffident manner that I won't be voting for this person in any future elections.  The Imperious manner he brushed off questions of his support proves that he does not care about local elections, and the people who he support left me question his capability to lead.

Had the Tea Party been there, it would have been a more appropriate time than it was yesterday. 

I had arrived to the rally about 15 minutes early to speak with Candidate for the City Commission, Steve Zollo and Current Commissioner Ted Galatis and both people are a pleasure to speak with.  Fascinating individuals, if you ever get a chance to speak with them by all means do.

Up comes the fringe radicals the Tea Party and they start to surround Steve Zollo and myself with their bizarre signs and claims.  These signs were questioning all sorts of things from the legitimacy of the current federal government to what Stephanie Miller would call Shaking Their Puny Fists In Anger At The Sky - undirected anger at everyone and everything.  When one of them tried to set themselves up with a sign behind me, I merely looked down at them and they backed off.  It seems that lunatics don't like being stared at.  Steve Zollo was audibly and visibly disturbed and I said, Loudly, "Don't worry Steve, it won't be the first time I had to work Security at an event!".  At that point the Lunatic Fringe redeployed further away from me and Steve.

Steve decided to go talk to Ted under the tree near where the legitimate candidates set up and called to me to come over.  Saying that I had lived long enough in South Florida to appreciate the shelter of a good shade tree, I relocated next to Mr Zollo and Galatis and continued an engaging conversation as the rest of the people gathered.

The rally got started with Kendrick Meek arriving to one clown with a bullhorn chanting his name, OK, Fine it's a Political Rally but it's a small area, decidedly overkill.  They tried to get Mr Meek and the crowd excited, but the reality was that this being a small town, there really weren't that many people there.  Press outnumbered the locals at least 3 to 1, and the locals that were there were all involved in the elections or like me - volunteers.

None of that dissuaded the affable Kendrick Meek, and the questions started with the inevitable one about whether he should withdraw from the US Senate Race.

If I had seen Kendrick Meek before I had voted, I would have immediately been convinced to vote for Meek.  Assuming that what he had said was completely true, Charlie Crist had called him three times over the last two days to try to convince Meek to remove himself from the race.   The Rumored call from ex President Bill Clinton had not come to try as well.  When Crist finally got to talk to Meek, the conversation was basically Crist saying "If you drop out, I win".   Charlie Crist, that was a call that should have happened before Early Voting had started... at this point not only has the horse already left the barn, but has run a race and won the Kentucky Derby.  

Timing, Mr Crist is everything and you certainly blew that one.

One thing that stuck in my mind said by Kendrick Meek was that Charlie Crist was a Republican for many years, chose not to fight the Ultra Right Leaning Marco Rubio  and declared himself a convenient Independent.  Kendrick Meek declared himself a "True Democrat" and would fight for "Democratic Values" and then said "What exactly does Charlie Crist Stand For?".   After hearing that I was wondering myself.

As disastrous as a Senator Marco Rubio would be for the rights of Floridians with his near Fascist leanings with stated policies of his working to reverse "Roe v. Wade", the other choice would be the moral quicksand that a Charlie Crist would present.   What does he stand for indeed?

After Meek Left, the publicity hound, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz took stage and asked for her own support.  She said basically nothing of what she stood for, put up a wall of sound, muttered some support for Gary Resnick and then left.   I got more of what she stood for after the cameras were off when she offered Kendrick Meek some of her sandwich.  That showed a more endearing side than her public persona.  Debbie, go with it, the warmth will win you more than supporting an unfit Gary Resnick.

After Debbie left the little area, the cameras left, and Gary Resnick was left alone to speak to his shoes and the locals and even the Tea Party radicals left spouting more of their agenda which included homophobia, xenophobia (round up all THOSE people and send them home), and a circle the wagon mentality that left me wondering if I could borrow a flack jacket from the Wilton Manors PD.

Once again, Gary Resnick was left alone as his supporters were nowhere to be seen.  There were more people there supporting the candidates that pledged to co-operate as the weak support that Resnick had melted away like an empty table at a Business Association meeting.  If Mr Resnick gave a speach, it was ineffective with a weak delivery.  I can't honestly say what he had said, as people simply decided to get out of the bright sunlight and move away.

Once finished, true to form, Gary Resnick headed away very quickly with a couple mumbled slams at his competition, Joe Angelo.  The Passive-Aggressive approach does not win friends and is never completely effective, and I've seen this approach from Mr Resnick before, personally. 

Two years ago, I was standing at a door at Wilton Manors Elementary School auditorium where the debates had just finished.   It was a chance to meet the candidates of that day, and this was when Mr Resnick was running for Mayor the last time.   I was holding the door waiting for my partner to arrive so we could leave and he said as he walked past  "I'm surprised you don't support me" and kept moving.  It was a throwaway comment from a throwaway politician.  He hasn't changed from that day.  Hopefully he'll be back to being a private citizen on November 3, we just can't afford to have him reelected - there is just too much work that needs to be done with this ineffective man at the helm.

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