scary: Greene takes lead in senate primary

Florida (FL) Poll * July 29, 2010 * 'Outsiders' Lead In Florida Pr - Quinnipiac University ? Hamden, Connecticut

:shock:

Scott is a total fraud. When Floridians find out he turned a blind eye as his company bilked billions from taxpayers over the course of a decade, he will fade and be exposed for the fraud that he is, if he hasn"t already. Then he can put his rifle and Bible down and go in some other direction...

Bill McCollum will win this thing handily.

Scott is a total fraud. When Floridians find out he turned a blind eye as his company bilked billions from taxpayers over the course of a decade, he will fade and be exposed for the fraud that he is, if he hasn"t already. Then he can put his rifle and Bible down and go in some other direction...

Bill McCollum will win this thing handily.

Get your primaries straight. He's talking about the Democrat primary or did you just want to change the subject for lack of something better to do?

Get your primaries straight. He's talking about the Democrat primary or did you just want to change the subject for lack of something better to do?

Excuse me? I have my primaries straight. I wanted to cut to the chase--all Floridians need to know how swarmy and deceitful Rick Scott is.

Excuse me? I have my primaries straight. I wanted to cut to the chase--all Floridians need to know how swarmy and deceitful Rick Scott is.

Crab, you read between the lines quite well on that one. Don't expect the old dogs to learn that trick.

Crab, you read between the lines quite well on that one. Don't expect the old dogs to learn that trick.

The old dogs know considerable tricks and could certainly teach you one or two.

So if Greene and Scott are such scoundrels, why are Floridian's favoring these two candidates? I get Scott's appeal, he's a shrewed business guy. But democrats voting for Greene, the guy who made millions betting on homeowner loss and suffering through the downturn? What's up with that?

I must say the ads Greene is running against Meeks are rather damning - while they still pinged my BS detector with some claims, they also got my attention.

My guess is that Greene is doing well because he is setting himself up as an outsider instead of yet another (dirty) career politician. There are a lot of struggling and frustrated voters out there who IMO will vote the incumbent out even if the challenger is not the better choice.

Alphacrab, you sound like one of those campaign commercials. Anyone of those scoundrels running should do well in politics.

Maybe the name "Greene" helps in today's green-focused world. Or, maybe it will be like in South Carolina where Al Greene is all the rage, probably because the voters think that the Rev. Al Greene is moving to SC to sing.

If you believe the commercials, Bill McCollum is just as bad as Rick Scott. I've yet to see one commercial stating what any candidate has done. Each one gets into slinging mud at the other candidate. Even Meeks is propped up as being under investigation for wrong doing.

Speaking of political races, great timing to focus on John Kerry legally avoiding taxes on his yacht, and Charlie Reingold gets the prize for not reporting $600,000 in perks from lobbyists.

It is going to be a dirty two years of campaigning and politics, and all will make our government worse.

Wouldn't it be easier if every candidate had to wear NASCAR suits, with all their contributor's logos sewn on?

So if Greene and Scott are such scoundrels, why are Floridian's favoring these two candidates? I get Scott's appeal, he's a shrewed business guy. But democrats voting for Greene, the guy who made millions betting on homeowner loss and suffering through the downturn? What's up with that?

so stealing from the government is shrewd, not criminal?

so stealing from the government is shrewd, not criminal?

I honestly don't know the story behind the guy, so I can't really comment.

so stealing from the government is shrewd, not criminal?

Slimey.

At a recent GOP breakfast in Tampa, Scott was confronted -- not for the first time -- about his role in the scandals at Columbia/HCA, the massive healthcare company that Scott ran for 10 years. Scott resigned in 1997 amid an FBI probe that ultimately led to the company paying a record $1.7 billion in criminal and civil fines for Medicare fraud.
It's the paradox of Scott's upstart campaign: The novice candidate has touted his stature and experience as the get-things-done CEO of what was once the nation's largest for-profit healthcare company, while also trying to distance himself from Columbia/HCA's notorious legacy of fraud.
The strategy has worked so far. Thanks largely to a $16 million advertising blitz he financed himself, Scott -- who moved to Florida seven years ago -- now leads in the polls over fellow Republican Bill McCollum, the state attorney general and former congressman.
``As I have said repeatedly, Columbia/HCA made mistakes, and I take responsibility for what happened on my watch as CEO,'' Scott said in a written statement Friday. He has denied knowing frauds were taking place while he was there, and he was never charged with any crimes.
However, federal investigators found that Scott took part in business practices at Columbia/HCA that were later found to be illegal -- specifically, that Scott and other executives offered financial incentives to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, in violation of federal law, according to lawsuits the Justice Department filed against the company in 2001.
The doctor payments were among 10 different kinds of fraud identified by the Justice Department in its 10-year probe of the company, records show. Three years after Scott left Columbia/HCA, the company admitted wrongdoing, pleading guilty to 14 felonies -- most committed during Scott's tenure -- in addition to paying two sets of fines totaling $1.7 billion.

All I got to say about politics right now is I HATE POLITICAL SIGNS and consider them a BLIGHT on the landscape.

Off topic I know, but I just HATE them. When I was a scouting leader we had to go around after elections and take them all down. Well, we didn't have to but I thought it was a good community service project.

I wish they were banned. They cost energy and $$ to make, energy and $$ to drive around putting them out, and to retrieve them (that's a laugh) PLUS they are ugly, they fall down, get blown down and well, I just can't say anything good about them.

Carry on - just had to throw that in.....

Jeff Greene's path to Senate campaign shows he is uncompromising, sometimes to a fault - St. Petersburg Times

All about Jeff Greene - democrats presumptive senate nominee.

Gidget, how else are the 90% uninformed and could care less suppose to know whose running?

All I got to say about politics right now is I HATE POLITICAL SIGNS and consider them a BLIGHT on the landscape.

Off topic I know, but I just HATE them. When I was a scouting leader we had to go around after elections and take them all down. Well, we didn't have to but I thought it was a good community service project.

I wish they were banned. They cost energy and $$ to make, energy and $$ to drive around putting them out, and to retrieve them (that's a laugh) PLUS they are ugly, they fall down, get blown down and well, I just can't say anything good about them.

Carry on - just had to throw that in.....

I have to give props to the firefighters on this one -- after the last election they were kind enough to call the DEC headquarters and offer to go and pick up signs. The signs are expensive -- especially the wire part that holds up the sign. The firefighters reuse the wire parts to save money on their endorsement signs in the next election cycle, and decluttter the landscape pretty quickly after the election is over.

Not to get off topic or anything. To redirect --

Jeff Greene told reporters that political parties don't matter anymore. With the recent Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United v. FEC and the Republican filibuster of the proposed bill to prevent corporations from having total control of elections, maybe he's right.

One thing is for sure, both Greene's candidacy and Rick Scott's raise questions about how important broad agendas and message and building grassroots support will be in future elections. Why build strong support within the party when you can buy soft support from the many with the use of well produced commercials on heavy rotation? Both men have gone outside the old party system, and are leading polls going into the primaries, despite the fact that an argument could be made that both made their money in ways that could be describe as not completely honorable.

Having worked in contracting for BCBS when Rick Scott was CEO of HCA, I can assure you the company he ran was constantly looking to use government regulation to their advantage, creating hospital monopolies in strategic regions, and defrauding private insurers and Medicare alike, and balance billing patients in violation of contracts as a matter of course.

I have to give props to the firefighters on this one -- after the last election they were kind enough to call the DEC headquarters and offer to go and pick up signs. The signs are expensive -- especially the wire part that holds up the sign. The firefighters reuse the wire parts to save money on their endorsement signs in the next election cycle, and decluttter the landscape pretty quickly after the election is over.

.

Excellent!