Monday Musings: The New Republic in crisis, LEAD task force, Legislative Special Elections, New DOC chief raises question marks,

Washington was rocked this past week by news that The New Republic, long considered one of the bibles of the left (though at times TNR has drifted to the right but that is a conversation for another day) decided to opted to change directions. This was followed by the resignations of several notable editors and writers including Franklin Foer (whom I have interviewed on multiple occasions) and John Judis one of the most respected left-leaning writers in the country. This is the biggest crisis the magazine has faced since Stephen Glass embellished numerous articles and somehow got them by editors in the mid/late 1990s. At the time I was a religious TNR reader and the scandal soured me on the magazine. I switched to other journals like the American Prospect (which was new at the time) and The Nation. Now, The New Republic is headed to New York and a completely different format it appears. This coming week’s issue was scrapped due to the resignations and I assume that the first post-resignation issue will be cringe-worthy. But it is a new media world and the possibility that TNR will actually be a viable business now, something it evidently wasn’t previously. – KK@kkfla737

Clearly the Florida Democratic Party has opted to hire more hands instead of clean house, which does little to restore faith. With the first meeting of the LEAD committee under their belts, the party put out an announcement for Deputy Executive Director something or another. Meanwhile, the party has once again failed to recruit candidates for the special elections coming up in the spring. While all of these districts are challenging districts, another seat would be a huge win for any Democrat and could signal that they are at least willing to stand up and fight. Fancy committee or not, the result looks like more of the same. While these failed practices are still in place, the party never can move forward. So far, members of the party around the state are still looking for signs of change and coming up empty. – KB@BurnettKaty

Speaking of special elections, there are a couple going on, despite the virtual refusal of the FDP’s legislative committees to participate. In HD 24, Adam Morley – a boat captain/free-lance-recycler/ballroom dance instructor has filed against a full Republican free for all, with at least four Rs trying to angle for votes. In Senate District 6 – where it was well known that Senator John Thrasher was going after the FSU gig for months – David Cox has filed to run. While both candidates are long shots, special elections also leave a lot of room for wild cards. With Republicans looking at very contentious primaries, surely something could be done to give these candidates a boost. With turnout expected to be about ten percent, surely a few other DECs could organize calling banks into the district and try to increase turnout. It wasn’t that long ago in early 2008 when Tony Sasso won a district far more Republican than HD-24 in a Special Election. Of course he was defeated later that year in November despite the Democratic wave. But that is one of multiple examples of Democrats over-performing in legislative special elections in Florida, a list I believe Kartik just might keep. – KB@BurnettKaty

The Miami Herald last week had a very interesting piece on Interim Department of Corrections Chief Timothy Cannon. The new prisons chief has a checkered background and despite being a bureaucratic survivor, he strikers me as likely a male chauvinist that thrives on intimidation and creating a culture of fear. Elections continue to have consequences and these are the types of people that get promoted in Republican administrations. – KK@kkfla737

My Grandfather who turned 99 just three weeks ago, passed away on Thursday. As a former Indian Supreme Court Justice he was given full state honors and just about every media outlet ran a feature on his career and passing. Many politicians including the Prime Minister and the President honored his life work. More touching than all the political accolades was that 60,000 jammed a cricket stadium in Kochi to say goodbye to him. As a devoted socialist, my Grandfather was committed to social and economic justice and was the first judge in India that really put the rights of those less fortunate ahead of the privileged class that had run Indian society since independence. He also was one of the first leaders in the country to make women’s rights and animal rights a real issue. For that, he will always have millions of devotees across India and around the world. – KK@kkfla737

Tags: Franklin Foer, John Judis, New Republic, special elections

10 comments

Blue Dog Dem · December 8, 2014 - 7:31 am ·

The Democrats will have to win a seat like HD-24 if they are ever to get to 50 seats let alone 55 or 60.

Massive FAIL for the House Leadership.

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Tampa Bay Demo · December 8, 2014 - 8:17 am ·

The failure to recruit viable candidates in those seats are a disgrace.

Winning special elections is far easier than regular elections. Obviously Mark Pafford doesn’t realize that and was too busy trying to save his own skin with the assistance of this website rather than recruiting candidates.

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***** · December 8, 2014 - 8:22 am ·

Pafford’s first test after holding off Taylor is an epic fail.

Joyner also could have done better than Cox. Losing. That’s our speciality.

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Fla Dem · December 8, 2014 - 8:31 am ·

The LEAD task force will make a difference. It goes without saying that Bill Nelson knows how to win elections and the top campaign operatives are helping and contributing.

It will be a smashing success.

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1. Katy Burnett · December 8, 2014 - 9:17 am ·
  
  How would you define ‘smashing success’ ?
  
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2. Kartik Krishnaiyer · December 8, 2014 - 10:42 am ·
  
  “smashing success?”
  
  I thought we were the only ones here allowed to do hyperbole! 🙂
  
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Truth Teller · December 8, 2014 - 8:57 am ·

I think the people here making rude comments about the house leadership are wrong. This website has been right all along but now is wrong. We cannot win those seats. Why waste money when we don’t have any the money of the Republicans on those sorts seats? We lost the less this November then the adjoining states. Kartik likes always point out how our record is worse than other Democratic parties but did they win a Gwen Graham. A JJR? A Sachs? A Dudley? A Murphy? By comparison we did well.

The only place where things went really badly was in the Orlando area. But perhaps the publisher of this website might want to explain some of the machinations he was involved in locally there. He might be able to reveal why we did so badly in the Orlando area.

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1. Katy Burnett · December 8, 2014 - 12:29 pm ·
  
  It was not just the Orlando area – Democratic voting was down all over the state. I don’t think handing a super-majority to the Republicans can be lessened to “a few Orlando seats”. There were more mistakes in candidate recruitment than happened on election day and that need to be addressed.
  
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stsmith222 · December 9, 2014 - 7:44 pm ·

I’m sorry about your grandfather, Kartik, but glad you got to celebrate his last birthday with him.

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1. Kartik Krishnaiyer · December 10, 2014 - 9:28 pm ·
  
  Thanks Susan.
  
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