Ferrablog

No, the title is not a typo. Yesterday, Jeb Bush vetoed $349 in pork barrel projects passed by Florida's Republican legislature. Again, just as their belief in state's rights is a sham as detailed in the post below, many Republicans' belief in limited government is illusory as well. The Republicans running the Florida legislature went beyond the caricature they like to invoke of free-spending Democrats with most of these projects, including medical facilities bearing the names of the House speaker (the loathsome Johnny Byrd, futilely running for US Senate), and the Senate President. I don't have much use for Jeb, but I have to give him his due here for doing the right thing.

When he's not busy issuing questionable terror alerts designed to beef up President Bush's sagging poll numbers, Attorney General John Ashcroft spends his time meddling in state affairs when he doesn't like what a state's voters decide as to matters of law and order. He's overriden medicinal marijuana laws in California, and most recently tried to run roughshod on Oregon's Death With Dignity Act. This week, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in so many words, "Butt out, Ashcroft", ruling that Oregon's law was not subject to federal pre-emption.

By now, Ashcroft's actions, and the actions of many other Republicans, should give the lie to the notion that they ever truly cared about "state's rights". They only support state's rights when states act in a manner consistent with their ideology. This administration was born from a disregard of state's rights, when they weren't content to allow Florida courts to interpret Florida election law in the recount debacle of 2000.

If anything, giving Ashcroft the boot is one more compelling reason to vote for John Kerry.

Then vote for a Democrat.

Jeb Bush was booed (see last item) last night at the St. Pete Times Forum when introduced during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. If the Bush name is unpopular with the sports fan demographic in the area one political observer deemed decisive in the upcoming election, then W is definitely in trouble:

David Beattie, a Democratic pollster based in Florida, is keeping his eye on the Tampa area. The Tampa media market is the state's largest, bigger even than Miami. It's located on the Interstate 4 corridor in central Florida that represents the state's key political battleground. In the past six presidential elections, whoever carried the Tampa county of Hillsborough has claimed the state. The area's population in many ways mirrors that of the country.

"Whoever wins Tampa is going to be president of the United States," Beattie predicts.

This sounds like a good idea. Let them have their own state if they'll butt out of the other 49.

...he picks McCain to be VP. While I like John McCain the man, I don't agree with many of his positions (including his "liberal" position on campaign finance reform). So I'm not so sure that I want to see John Kerry go outside the party and make McCain the choice (assuming, of course, that McCain would take it). Nevertheless, a recent CBS/NY Times poll shows a Kerry/McCain ticket trouncing Bush/Cheney 53-39. The better choice, in my humble opinion, would be John Edwards; the same poll shows a Kerry/Edwards ticket ahead 50-40. I think Kerry will win anyway; it'll be better to do so with another Democrat on the ticket. McCain would be a good "Hail Mary" choice if Kerry were down 5-10 points, but that doesn't look like it'll be the case between now and the convention.

Well, the Republicans love to blame Clinton and the Democrats for everything bad that's happened on their watch, so it's no surprise that big business has decided to jump on the blame/excuse bandwagon. First, we had Krispy Kreme blaming the Atkins diet for lower sales, and now today, the International Council of Shopping Centers is blaming the release of Shrek 2 for poor retail sales last week. Next thing you know, we'll hear that trees cause pollution.

...that I never thought I'd see:

* The Florida Gator basketball team in the Final Four (twice as it turns out).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl (and winning it).

and

* The Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I guess that leaves the Devil Rays in the World Series, although I'm first and foremost a Yankees fan.

More thoughts to follow.