One person who should be pleased Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine is US Senator Rick Scott, whose “Back to the Future” plan unveiled last week was a complete flop, giving a gift to Democrats whose messaging has thus far this cycle been completely muddled.

As noted,  Rick Scott released an 11-point roadmap for the GOP to “Save America” assuming the win back both houses Congress next year, as expected. However, one of the key provisions of his plan is to raise taxes on more than 50% of Americans. 

This gives Democrats a shot to really reshape the narrative in an election season where they are underdogs. The national media have raked Scott over the coals on his moves.

• The Hill: Democrats hit Scott over agenda in new ads: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is out with a new set of ads knocking Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) over a recently released memo laying out what he thinks the GOP agenda should be if Republicans recapture control of the Senate this year.
• Miami Herald: Rick Scott’s income tax plan may ‘rescue’ Democratic campaigns, give GOP a problem: “This is now the Republican plan,” said Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “This is the official plan of the party. And I believe every Republican has to answer for it. And if they disagree with it, they need to say so.”

• Salon: Rick Scott shows why McConnell didn’t want to release platform as GOP calls to hike taxes on poor: Even Republicans like former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore, who support Scott’s proposal, warned that saying the Republican position out loud could damage their election chances. “It has sort of raised a lot of people’s eyebrows. … There’s been a buzz about: Is this the smart thing to say right now, given that we have Democrats on the run?” he told the Post. “I’ve said for 30 years everybody should pay some income tax, if you’re going to vote and have government benefits. But is it the smartest time to be saying that right now? No.”
• Bloomberg: The New Republican Plan to Raise Taxes: The bigger question is why a senator from Florida seems unaware that a large (and rising) share of Americans are retired and thus tend not to pay income tax.
• CBS News: Democrats seize on GOP Senator Rick Scott’s plan to tax more Americans: One day after the plan was unveiled, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it would start running new radio ads highlighting the Scott tax plan. The five-figure ad buy would target voters on streaming radio including Pandora and iHeart radio stations and podcasts.
• PolitiFact: Sen. Rick Scott says his GOP agenda didn’t call for a tax increase. Experts think it did.: Scott’s spokesperson said the senator was not proposing a tax increase but was mum on what he was proposing. Experts said that with the limited information provided, it wasn’t clear what else Scott could have meant.