If There Was A Dem
Florida multimillionaire and fraudster Rick Scott, is one of the most disliked men in the Senate— by the members of his own party. At this point, Republican senators probably hate him even more than they hate Ted Cruz. Both are up for reelection next year and neither has a plausible Democratic opponent, at least not yet. In Florida, Democrats are watching the gloves-off-approach another multimillionaire, Melbourne attorney Keith Gross, is taking in his just-launched primary bid against Scott.
Like Scott, Gross is very conservative, so there isn’t much policy he can go after to differentiate himself from Scott— except that Scott proposed a plan to sunset popular programs like Social Security and Medicare— so Gross is going after him as a crooked scam-artist, something Democrats have been afraid to do. Now several are eagerly watching to see if Gross’ low blows will take a toll— and do the dirty work for them… if they find a them. Gross, who always refers to Scott as “untrustworthy,” also notes that he “isn’t getting rich by riding fraud and corruption”— a reference to the $1.7-billion Medicare fraud settlement by the Columbia/HCA hospital chain when Scott was still the CEO.
His launch video doesn’t mention Scott by name, but no one is going to miss who’s he talking about when he says “The people we’re supposed to trust in Washington have forgotten us, the people that sent them there. Our nation is in desperate need of real leadership because, at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: freedom.”
Gross has never run for office before. He seems to be leaning on phrases like “freedom… the Florida way,” rhetoric he got from Gov. Ron DeSantis, no fan of Scott’s. In the rest of the country “freedom… the Florida way” connotes fascism and loss of freedom, but among Florida Republicans and others down there whose brain cells have melted, it sounds good.
His Advancing Florida website features an OpEd he wrote attacking Scott’s position on Social Security, which you might expect to hear from a Democrat— but is also what Trump says about Republicans who want to destroy Social Security and Medicare.
Rick Scott and Social Security
Social Security was enacted to create a safety net for hard working Americans who pay into the Social Security system over their working years. Without Social Security, 37.8% of older adults nationwide would have incomes below the poverty level. Cutting Social Security would directly affect 21.6% of Floridians. Now that many of our aging Americans are approaching the age where they count on Social Security benefits, some in Washington have advocated for sunsetting the program. We need to be doing more for our seniors, not less.
Most Floridians believe in protecting these benefits due to our large senior population, but not Senator Rick Scott. He’s quick to take money from Americans and this is just another instance where he cannot be trusted. While I am in favor of reforming many of the so called “entitlement programs,” it is important to protect programs like Social Security because unlike the other programs, recipients have pre-paid for their benefits. This isn’t a handout, it’s a return on our investment. Social Security is a promise made to workers by our government and our nation must keep its promises. Rick Scott is untrustworthy and I’m not surprised that he is trying to sunset Social Security because this is exactly what you should expect from someone with his history.
Senator Rick Scott has demonstrated that if you put him in charge of something money will go missing and the program will not go well. He has an unfortunate and irrefutable pattern of being irresponsible with other people’s money. One clear example was his fast and loose approach to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). He inherited record-levels of cash and quickly squandered those funds. His “leadership” was so tragic, that the GOP called for an audit to see how he managed to lose the midterm red wave we deserved. Right before the midterms, he released a statement looking to sunset social security. Don’t let his attempts to flip-flop mislead you: “sunset” means to cut the program by setting it for automatic expiration. This statement alone could have cost us several elections. Scott’s plan to cancel social security has become the favorite talking point of President Biden and other leftists. Scott’s irresponsible and out of touch suggestion that we end such a crucial program is a huge error that one could wonder if he intentionally handed the midterms to the Democrats. It is almost unthinkable that I could agree with Biden on anything, but we agree that Rick Scott’s plan to cut social security is a terrible idea.
Even the leadership of our party has reached their limit with Scott. Senator McConnell made clear that Scott’s personal ambitions and in-fighting cost him his role on key committees. How can he do Floridians any good when he is denied a seat at the table?
Republican leadership distanced themselves from Scott, clarifying that cutting social security is not a Republican plan, it is a Rick Scott plan. Our party leadership doesn’t trust him, and with good reason. How can he do Floridians any good when he is denied a seat at the table. You know someone has screwed up when Biden and the Republican leadership all agree that he is incompetent.
Scott has become ineffective and has alienated the party. How will he accomplish anything for Floridians when he is out peacocking, jumping in front of every news camera he sees and shilling for his own ego? He continues pillaging his depleted war chest by buying national ads like he is running for president while trying to take social security benefits from the hardest working among us. He vacations on yachts while drafting plans to cancel retirement benefits for seniors. This is not how a responsible representative of the people behaves. He is always out “demanding answers” in press releases but when the cameras aren’t on, he isn’t working.
We deserve more than someone who only pretends to work, someone who says many of the right things but accomplishes nothing. My grandfather told me that actions speak louder than words. I see Rick Scott’s actions, so do the leaders of our party, and I think everyone knows that Floridians deserve better. It is time we send a message to Washington that we will replace ineffective people. We don’t tolerate poor performance and we have no place for Rick Scott’s destructive policy ideas.
Now that he has been called out by the news, by the president and the GOP leadership, Scott is backtracking as quickly as possible. Initially, he doubled down on his reasoning for canceling Social Security, now he has turned 180 degrees and is pretending like he doesn’t want to touch senior’s retirement plans. Do you trust him? If you collect social security, donated to the NRSC, used an HCA network hospital, or live in Florida, you shouldn’t.
In addition to his extremism & his corruption, Scott is one of the most inarticulate pols at his level I've ever seen. I've never seen him put together more than 3 coherent sentences in a row, and I've seen more of him than I wish to confess in his gubernatorial/senatorial career. I'll further note that he won both of his gov races (in 2 GOP national wave years) and his Senate race by 1% or less each time.
Given that set of facts, the FlaDems should be itching to take Scott on next year. Instead, I see no indication that they even have a proposed candidate. Maybe they're waiting for Schumer to pick 1--his past track record (e.g. Cinema) h…