OMG! Really, another interview with predictable Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on Channel 10's TWISF tomorrow? Why? Will there be any mention of the Sun-Sentinel STILL ignoring the Glenn Thrush book's depiction of DWS's unpopularity at Obama HQ in Chicago?; Sun-Sentinel has completely morphed into the Snooze-Sentinel! It's now more of an idea of a newspaper, and a bad one at that, rather than a newspaper you actually look forward to reading

POLITICO video: Debbie Wasserman Schultz disputes POLITICO e-book
http://bcove.me/iysunfmy
Related article at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80465.html

OMG! Really, another interview with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on Channel 10's This Week In South Florida (TWISF) program tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m.? Why?

There are only 66 days until Election Day and they're consciously choosing to put HER on?
What a colossal disappointment!

Not to mention, another missed opportunity to bring viewers up-to-date with someone new or interesting or amusing -three things that DWS no longer is.

I guess this only proves all over again that not every TWISF program with Putney there is going to be a hit, which is what I always think whenever I see certain people on the show as guests that I find bores and quickly flip-over to Fox Soccer Channel to see what the score is in the Premier League game I was watching earlier.
Looks like I will be watching MUCH more of the Manchester United at Southampton match LIVE than I originally thought I would -after the Liverpool at Arsenal at 8:25 a.m..

It's not just that I disagree with DWS, or that she has never had to run from a competitive CD, though I do and she never has, it's also that she's just completely predictable, like Alan Simpson and Richard Lugar and Charlie Crist and Dan Gelber.
Or, even more deadly dull, like watching the Dolphins and Hurricanes offense the past few years -SNOOZE...............

I know when that check-down pass to the running back coming out of the backfield is coming even BEFORE the ball is snapped, even BEFORE the linebacker covering him does, so I'm groaning even BEFORE seeing it painfully come to life -over-and-over again!
And rarely if ever getting the First Down!

There's no need to watch this program tomorrow, no need to tape it, you already know what DWS is going to say before she says it, based on Michael Putney's questions.

Use that time to walk along the beach with your kids or finally change your oil or air filter under the hood, because there will be no news there at all, and besides, next weekend is wall-to-wall NCAA and NFL football again.

Yes, unlike watching a favorite Seinfeld episode for the 100th time -and isn't that about how many times DWS has been on TWISF since I came back here from D.C., 100 times?- watching and listening to DWS say the same exact thing about Romney or Ryan with that unpleasant voice is NOT as enjoyable the 100th time.

It's a bore.


Will there be any mention about the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -almost uniquely among all American newspapers with circulations above a college newspaper- STILL completely ignoring the negative revelations in POLITICO's Glenn Thrush's e-book, and its negative depiction of her and the level of her unpopularity at Obama HQ in Chicago, and the local papers refusing to make any mention of it in-print?

Yes, the very subject I wrote about over a week ago, the only person in South Florida publicly noting its complete absence from the scene?
Yes, this part of my August 22nd post
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-why-he-matters-and-needs-to.html

Here it is again, and nothing has changed since then -still nothing new about the book or its author in the Snooze-Sentinel.


Speaking of DWS, here's another piece you won't be reading in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel if any of her many trained poodles over there have anything to do with it, though logically you should, right?
Supposedly, DWS is on the hot seat! 
Or is it on thin ice? 
She's on one of the other, which ever you find personally worse in the summer.

The Weekly Standard
Book: Wasserman Schultz Most Unpopular Obama Campaign Surrogate
By Daniel Halper
8:33 AM, August 20, 2012

According to a new ebook released today by Politico writer Glenn Thrush, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, is the most unpopular of all surrogates for President Obama's reelection campaign. That finding is the product of polling done by the Obama campaign, according to Thrush.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/book-wasserman-schultz-most-unpopular-obama-campaign-surrogate_650276.html

The Washington Post
Report: Obama campaign has doubts about DNC chair
Posted by Rachel Weiner on August 20, 2012 at 7:36 am

President Obama’s Chicago team is not thrilled with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to a new ebook from Politico’s Glenn Thrush.

Read the rest of the post at:  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/08/20/report-obama-campaign-has-doubts-about-dnc-chair/

Don't believe me?
Okay, check the Sun-Sentinel for yourself: nothing about it as of right now.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=Debbie+Wasserman-Schultz&target=adv_article&date=07%2F23%2F2012-08%2F22%2F2012&range=pre&facet=

As for the author of the book, the last time the Sun-Sentinel ran a piece by Glenn Thrush was April 28, 2012, so it's clear that they have not touched the story, even though it's right there in front of them.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=%22Glenn+Thrush%22&target=adv_article
Hmm-m...

Yes, her crew over at the newspaper is definitely looking out for her, as per usual. 
Just saying... the facts are the facts.
If this sort of thing had been said about Rep. Allen West at GOP HQ based on some sort of polling, the paper would've had it on the front page ASAP, so what's the Sun-Sentinel's explanation for the complete absence of information in print on this re DWS?

------

Douglas Lyons is the Sun-Sentinel's... well, it depends upon whom you talk to.
Some would say that he's the guy whose job consists largely of cranking out a column once in a while and going around Broward making excuses for the poor and scatter-shot local news coverage they crank out for fewer and fewer readers, but his official title is senior editorial writer. 

Here's a thought -Why don't you ask him why his newspaper refuses to mention a negative story about the most prominent elected official in its coverage area, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

His contact infromation is here:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/sfla-opinion-lyons,0,1403324,bio.columnist

Personally, my days of writing him a serious and fact-filled letter and expecting a reasonable response are over, so if he's on your own email list, you might want to seriously ask yourself why -and then purge him.

Lots of people I know, some of whose names you'd even recognize, have done this the past year or so, something they wouldn't do if this were a more normal American community and they had to engage in some sort of pretense to take him seriously and care what he thought or wrote.
Nope, they've tossed him and others there overboard with no negative effect whatsoever. 
They actually like the idea that they and other people who really know what's going on DON'T communicate with him, and he's less aware of what's going on than ever.
But that just makes him like 99% of the people working there.

They're NOT at all like the competitive reporters I've known and interacted with in Chicago and Washington, and the results are readily apparent to readers when you see the newspaper in print.
It seems more like an idea for a newspaper, NOT an actual newspaper you'd read at the beach or take on a plane ride.
And the less said about their website the better.

Paul Ryan: Why he matters and needs to be unleashed on Obama and the Dems' treasure trove of bad ideas -he connects with smart, reasonable voters who see that under Obama, we're not just going the wrong direction on too many important issues, our margin of error is getting smaller everyday; DWS on thin ice with Obama HQ in Chicago but Sun-Sentinel is ignoring the story

FoxNewsChannel video: Krauthammer: Romney needs to 'unleash Paul Ryan' August 19, 2012. http://youtu.be/lIhciMhZyIY

The Weekly Standard

Why Ryan Matters

William Kristol

August 27, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 46

Vice presidential picks don’t matter. Except when they do. If John Kerry had chosen Dick -Gephardt instead of John Edwards in 2004, and had then parked Gephardt in Ohio during the general election campaign to make the Democratic case to working-class voters, Kerry might well have won the Buckeye State—and the presidency.

Read the rest of the excellent essay, esp. the last two paragraphs at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/why-ryan-matters_650173.html

Another good piece was this on one

The Washington Post

Ryan’s friends have long seen the GOP lightning rod as a leader in waiting

By Michael Leahy

Published: August 19, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ryans-close-colleagues-and-admirers-have-long-seen-him-as-a-leader-in-waiting/2012/08/19/e1a725ee-ea21-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html

So far, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz hasn't gone so far as to ape an Elementary School principal promising to have her head shaved if all her students read ten blooks over the summer and improve their tests scores, or in her case, promising to get her locks clipped completely if Romney-Ryan wins, but we still have 76 days for her to think of it and blurt it out.

Speaking of DWS, here's another piece you won't be reading in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel if any of her many trained poodles over there have anything to do with it, though logically you should, right?
Supposedly, DWS is on the hot seat! 
Or is it on thin ice? 
She's on one of the other, which ever you find personally worse in the summer.


The Weekly Standard
Book: Wasserman Schultz Most Unpopular Obama Campaign Surrogate
By Daniel Halper
8:33 AM, August 20, 2012

According to a new ebook released today by Politico writer Glenn Thrush, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, is the most unpopular of all surrogates for President Obama's reelection campaign. That finding is the product of polling done by the Obama campaign, according to Thrush.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/book-wasserman-schultz-most-unpopular-obama-campaign-surrogate_650276.html


The Washington Post
Report: Obama campaign has doubts about DNC chair
Posted by Rachel Weiner on August 20, 2012 at 7:36 am

President Obama’s Chicago team is not thrilled with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to a new ebook from Politico’s Glenn Thrush.

Read the rest of the post at:  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/08/20/report-obama-campaign-has-doubts-about-dnc-chair/

Don't believe me?
Okay, check the Sun-Sentinel for yourself: nothing about it as of right now.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=Debbie+Wasserman-Schultz&target=adv_article&date=07%2F23%2F2012-08%2F22%2F2012&range=pre&facet=

As for the author of the book, the last time the Sun-Sentinel ran a piece by Glenn Thrush was April 28, 2012, so it's clear that they have not touched the story, even though it's right there in front of them.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=%22Glenn+Thrush%22&target=adv_article
Hmm-m...

Yes, her crew over at the newspaper is definitely looking out for her, as per usual. 
Just saying... the facts are the facts.
If this sort of thing had been said about Rep. Allen West at GOP HQ based on some sort of polling, the paper would've had it on the front page ASAP, so what's the Sun-Sentinel's explanation for the complete absence of information in print on this re DWS?

So what exactly happened to John Heilemann?
He used to be right more often than wrong, and would often have something original and interesting to bring to the table for discussion, but at some point over the past few years when I wasn't looking, he seems to have gone into a slump or a funk or tailspin or something, because he's now lost his bearings, keeps repeating the same things things over-and-over instead of saying something original or interesting.

"They think [Ryan] is a gift to them."
Obama Team ‘Could Not Be Happier’ with Paul Ryan Pick
Paul Ryan Was Hardly a ‘Courageous Choice’ for Mitt Romney

Like a once-valuable veteran pitcher on a contending team who has lost his fastball -his judgment has gotten worse and worse. 
Just like his predictions.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/12/Dems-Pretend-to-be-Excited-Over-Ryan-Pick-They-Celebrated-Cheney-Too

Cowardly cipher and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (new FL-24) is a deliberate no-show at Channel 10's 'This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney.' Did her hats refuse to let her go and throw themselves in front of her door because they knew no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up? Another South Florida mystery that will have an unhappy ending!

My screenshot of U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, new FL-24, on the July 31, 2011 episode of WPLG-TV/Channel 10 Miami's This Week in South Florida, with host Michael Putney. She was a no-show this past Sunday morning when she was supposed to meet at the Pembroke Park TV studio with her Democratic Party primary opponent. Surprise! Photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Cowardly cipher and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (new FL-24) is a deliberate no-show at Channel 10's 'This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney.' Did her hats refuse to let her go and throw themselves in front of her door because they knew no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up? Another South Florida mystery that will have an unhappy ending! 

The poverty of Wilson's ideas and her ideals shows themselves once again -absent!

Curious observers, South Florida bloggers and regular voters were left to wonder if perhaps her large collection of hats banded together and refused to let her go, and literally threw themselves in front of her door at home to keep her there once they heard that no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up?

Rudy Moise?
Seriously?
This isn't "Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf?"

No, the real question is whoever is afraid of debating Rudy Moise, whom I rightly bashed four years ago in this space during the 2008 Democratic Party primary that was full of jokers and no aces -or whatever you'd call what actually happens on Sunday morning public policy TV shows- is seriously lacking in both smarts and moxie.

And yet, Wilson was a no-show, echoing recent public remarks of hers that she wasn't being treated fairly by the South Florida news media.
Fairly? 
OMG!

That's rich considering the extent to which the South Florida news media, esp. female reporters, indulge her and treat Wilson, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen like Easter Eggs made of 24-carat gold -with kid gloves.
Yet even that sort of deferential treatment is NOT up to the standards that Wilson thinks she's entitled to -what a delusional woman!

And just as delusional are her Democratic Party allies and acolytes scattered around South Florida who for reasons that are hard to figure, have swallowed the Kool-Aid and never seem to tire of making excuses for her odd words and actions, and her even more frequent absences from the job she was elected to, where Wilson has one of THE highest absentee rates in the entire current Congress, almost four times higher than average.

(For the record, I've never lived in an area of the United States before where the female reporters were so consistently deferential to elected officials, esp. to women officials. Sometimes, if you didn't know better, it's almost like they're auditioning to be press secretary. Jonetta Rose Barras, whom I read and listened to on WAMU-FM's "D.C. Politics Hour" for all 15 years I was in D.C. 1988-2003, would positively lacerate the current crop of pols, male and female, and eat the current wimpy female reporters down here for breakfast -or a late morning snack. Especially at the Herald! Sadly, there's nobody even remotely like her down here, cause boy could we ever use about two dozen of her clones scattered around the area to change the current sleepwalking news ethos down here.)

In the 19 months that she has been in office, Wilson's said nothing and done nothing of substance, and if she had health problems again, her staff would function just as well and hardly anyone would be the wiser.

To me, having grown-up down here and having been intimately involved with the Democratic Party in Dade County starting in 1976, and having lived and worked in the Washington, D.C,. area for 15 years and having come to know many congressman and their staffs very well, practically knowing the House and Senate buildings like the palm of my hand, Wilson, sadly, is, in part, the logical result of years of declining news standards and so many experiences reporters leaving.

People with institutional knowledge of people, places and things who wouldn't put up with BS from anyone, much less, elected officials like her who think they can skate.
In short, the old-fashioned reporters who would do many stories in a day, even if you only saw one actually air on the local evening newscast.

Compared to many other large cities where TV reporters and their investigative mind-set literally infuse a station's DNA despite the normal staff turnover that occurs, because, for better or worse, this has been a launching pad for careers, we have a very small number of reporters who don't need to be asked to set people straight on the facts and the history of the area when someone starts dissembling.

(It's the news version of the unfortunate phenomenon we've seen in sports coverage and sports radio in the Miami area the past twenty years, where there are simply far too many people from New York and New Jersey running things and getting air-time who came down here after Hurricane Andrew, and whose knowledge of South Florida sports history comes almost entirely second-hand thru ESPN or Sunday or Monday Night NFL telecasts. Not that this wasn't always a second-tier sports town, though, because it was, but the Herald's sports section decline for the past 15 years sure hasn't helped things, and is just one of the more tangible signs of the decline. So much technology to make things better for readers, yet so much backwardness and lack of feel for the area. And the four English language local TV sports coverage for a typical week, collectively, is worse than what the old WTVJ-TV Channel 4 of sports director Bernie Rosen would produce on a single 6 p.m. Friday night telecast before a big Dolphins game, when the tension and excitement around town was palpable. Now, well, no thanks! It's worse than awful!)

If this no-show by Wilson were actually surprising news, I'd have posted this Sunday afternoon after the show aired and her craven refusal to show-up and be subjected to some scrutiny would get the good once-over it deserves.
But it was no surprise that she was a no-show, since she's one of the biggest no-shows in Congress when it comes to votes, as I've mentioned here previously, as well as in the Herald.

It's really a damn shame that the City of Aventura in Northeast Miami-County isn't part of her new FL-24/old FL-17 Congressional District like it ought to be, and is instead, like before the recent redistricting, part of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's.

Then we could see what happens when some of the many, many people in Aventura who have the smarts, political savvy and financial means to put their money where their mouth is -and then some!- could blitz the area with deadly precise commercials detailing Wilson's many failures and deconstruct the fact that in Washington, she is a nobody with no influence and no knowledge that anybody else in Congress respects or admires.

She's a walking, talking cliche and seemingly afraid of having smart people ask hard questions where she can't weasel her way out with preposterous statements.
Very sad.

IF she had shown-up, and I never thought she would once I heard Michael Putney say on Saturday night's telecast -or was it Friday's?- that he'd have Wilson and Moise in studio for his Sunday show, I'd have posted screen grabs and given you the link to watch the show yourself, wherever you are in the world.

Citizens in the new FL-24 with low social mobility and with bleak economic prospects deserve better than Wilson in Congress, and at least deserved an opponent who could bring home the fact how unsuccessful and unpersuasive Frederica Wilson is in Washington, D.C. 
Chronicle her career arc in Washington this far as Congresswoman as circus clown...
If only...

Now, after her win Tuesday night, they are stuck with one of the least-effective members of Congress for another two years.
My condolences,

I used to be you, but now that I'm in the new FL-23, I can vote against DWS for the first time in 83 days, and vote against her I will.
With enthusiasm.
----------

Some recent -but not all- past posts about Rep. Frederica Wilson are here:


TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2011
NOT Breaking News: Rep. Frederica Wilson still holds common sense, FL-17 constituents & taxpayers 'hostage': Spend, spend, spend and MORE TAXES!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Biggest journalistic scandal re Rep. Andre Carson's comments in Miami is So. FL reporters snoozing while news 'breaks' right in front of them!; Rep. Frederica Wilson, outlier at her own meeting, lets jobs meeting degenerate

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

Ten days after Obama's speech, no Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored Obama Jobs Bill -Wilson, DWS, Deutsch, Hastings, Castor...

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Obama Isn't Working: Florida; When is FL-17's Wilson signing-on as a sponsor of Obama's doomed jobs bill to at least be consistent in her bad choices?

SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

By any reasonable measure, FL-17's Frederica Wilson is ineffective in Washington, D.C. -except for drawing negative attention to herself for her silly hat fixation, which renders her a cartoon. Why does the South Florida news media continue to give Wilson a "hall pass" and never PRESS her to answer serious questions? Mutuality of interests! Wilson doesn't want to be asked tough questions and the press corps DOESN'T want to ask them!

Where are all the South Florida reporters? As of 9:48 p.m., the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel are STILL completely ignoring Debbie Wasserman Schultz income tax/hypocrisy story. She'll always be their Little Debbie who can do no wrong! Drudge Report publicizes stories while Herald & Sun-Sentinel say "What story?" They are NOT watchdogs, they are lapdogs!

http://youtu.be/lGKurJs40bo

Where are all the South Florida reporters? As of 9:48 p.m., the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel are STILL completely ignoring Debbie Wasserman Schultz income tax/hypocrisy story.  She'll always be their 'Little Debbie" who can do no wrong! Drudge Report publicizes stories while Herald & Sun-Sentinel say "What story?" They are not watchdogs, they are lapdogs!

Both newspapers slide further into irrelevancy, as if there was any way they could slide deeper, further alienating their declining number of loyal readers by their clear lack of focus and attention to detail, as they snooze the summer away.

I was actually going to mention this story yesterday afternoon, but got side-tracked.

The Weekly Standard

Blog

Dem. Chair Invested in Swiss Banks, Foreign Drug Companies, and the State Bank of India 

BY DANIEL HALPER

11:55 AM, JUL 10, 2012

Disclosure forms reveal that Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, previously held funds with investments in Swiss banks, foreign drug companies, and the state bank of India. This revelation comes mere days after the Democratic chair attacked presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for holding money in Swiss bank accounts in the past.

Read the rest of the story at"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/dem-chair-invested-swiss-banks-foreign-drug-companies-and-state-bank-india_648350.html 

Real Clear Politics

Wasserman Schultz: "It Would Be Nice If We Had A Candidate for President Who Was Committed To America"

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/10/wasserman_schultz_it_would_be_nice_if_we_had_a_candidate_for_president_who_was_committed_to_america.html

What we can expect is that the South Florida news media that has treated DWS with kid gloves for years as I've previously and frequently noted here, and done almost no original reporting on her, merely accepting what she says as fact, will probably NOT report on this until they have her side of the story, a situation they wouldn't do with more than a few other people.

We all know that if this were Allen West, they'd already have the fire-breathing editorials in print!

The two largest newspapers in South Florida and Miami's TV stations don't want to get on her bad list, so we can expect that they will tread very, very lightly with her on this.

Should we expect her press people to generate another banal story planted in the news media soon about cancer?

Don't be surprised.

See for yourself what a search for any news about this high-profile Democratic Party spokesperson gets you- nothing about her own refusal to release her most recent income tax form or her investments overseas..

All day today I wondered if this would get some mention before I was half-way thru a post on it during a commercial break during USA Network's White Collar.

Nope.

As of 9:47 p.m. there is nothing on the Herald or Sun-Sentinel's websites.

Surprise, this is where you live, folks, the tropical boondocks!

154 results for "debbie wasserman schultz"

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=debbie+wasserman+schultz

91 search results for "Debbie Wasserman Schultz"

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=%22Debbie+Wasserman+Schultz%22&target=adv_article 

Roll Call's Joshua Miller throws some cold water on Dem's rose-colored view of Florida 2012 as a target-rich environment

2012 Redistricting Process: 100 Map Milestone

http://youtu.be/ZV9cjAypnqg

Roll Call's Joshua Miller throws some cold water on Dem's rose-colored view of Florida 2012 as a target-rich environment.

One 2009 study from professors at Stanford University and the University of Michigan found that because of the nature of the geographic distribution of Democratic voters in Florida, the GOP would have a natural edge in a purely nonpartisan Congressional map.

Roll Call

Democrats Betting Big on Florida Redistricting

New Fair Districts Law Will Prevent Major GOP Gerrymander, but Huge Gains Are Not Likely

By Joshua Miller, Roll Call Staff

Nov. 8, 2011, Midnight

Florida is a state where, as millions of Disney World-bound children know, dreams come true.

But for national Democrats who hope a new redistricting law will help them pick up five or six House seats — and boost their prospects for winning back the House — the Sunshine State reality won’t be so warm.

-----

Steve Schale's infrequent blog is at http://www.stevenschale.com/ and is subtitled, Observations on the Land of 29 from one of its leading political strategists.

Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/

Stuart Rothenberg http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyFloridaHouse

Ten days after Obama's speech, no Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored Obama Jobs Bill -Wilson, DWS, Deutsch, Hastings, Castor...

Ten days after President Obama's speech -"pass this bill now"- no South Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored his American Jobs Act -Wilson, DWS, Hastings, Deutsch, Castor...

In fact, not a single Democratic House member from Florida has done that.

Though I'm against it, you'd think the fact that some of South Florida's biggest big-mouths are playing coy thus far might be something that someone at the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel might've noticed, or maybe someone at one of the local TV stations.

FL-17's Frederica Wilson, who, unfortunately, is my rep in Washington, says she supports it,

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/08/congresswoman-frederica-wilson-supports-american-jobs-act yet despite all her bombast about wanting jobs at those Congressional Black Caucus sponsored events that got so much attention, even while she did NOT, she STILL hasn't bothered to sign up as a sponsor.

Hmm-m... guess she's too busy.

Or something.

But while Rep. Wilson and her local pro-Big Government pals in Congress were doing whatever they were doing -NFL Fantasy Drafts?- since nobody else was using it, Texas Republican Louis Gohmert decided to fill the vacuum and is using use the title American Jobs Act of 2011 for his own bill, HR 2911.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c112:4:./temp/~c112B2JeW9::

Yes, the early bird does indeed get the worm.

But then this lack of enterprise journalism is hardly surprising, given where we live.

Weeks after the fact, NONE of those same news entities have yet seen fit to mention publicly that Wilson's trip to Israel a month ago came courtesy of AIPAC.

Something I told you here back on August 11th in my post titled , "Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents,

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/next-year-in-jerusalem-is-right-now-for.html

Yes, that's where we live... the outer edge of the news universe: South Florida.

"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents

"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents.

The very constituents that she ought to be meeting with in-person right now during the summer recess. In places like ocean-side Hallandale Beach, for instance.

A city in the FL-17 CD that she never had a public event at before last August's primary.

Some of you out there in the South Florida part of the blogosphere may've seen this telling little bombshell in the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog earlier in the week:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in Israel

By Anthony Man August 8, 2011 01:25 PM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/congresswoman_frederica_wilson_3.html

Notice what it doesn't say?

Correct, who's paying for Wilson's trip.

Only THE most obvious and important question one could ask.

Somehow, and for whatever reason, THAT answer didn't seem important enough for Anthony Man to include in the small post, that over 72 hours later, still has not drawn a single reader comment.

Assuming he didn't first find out about it from a press release from her office, which is entirely likely given how rarely Rep. Wilson's name ever appears in the Broward Politics blog, this is par for the course here in South Florida as far as the press digging for information goes, and Man in particular.

Actually, her own press release about the trip neglects to mention AIPAC also:

http://wilson.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&sectiontree=6,49&itemid=155

Somehow I have a strong feeling that the source of the trip's funding would've come up in the blog post if it had something to do with an oil company PAC for instance, or one representing almost any other corporate interest.

(For the record, I disregard almost everything Anthony Man writes, in large part because over the years I've found so much of what he has written or said on public policy TV shows to be factually incorrect, lacking crucial context, completely unpersuasive, or, as if that wasn't enough, when it comes to the dreaded Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, he's seemed like her trained pet poodle.

Her Boswell.

What Man has written about this FL-20 House member -who has never run in a non-gerrymandered CD and never faced a competitive opponent in a general election, a most-charmed situation!- seems so over-the-top that it was embarrassing to read.

Not unlike Alex Leary's recent story in the St. Pete Times that I commented on recently.)

I first learned about the departure of nearly one-fifth of the U.S. Congress for Israel in The Washington Post on Tuesday and wondered how in the world that could possibly be a good idea for either American public policy, esp. foreign policy, or, their own constituents suffering the slings and arrows of Obama's economic malaise.

Does Rep. Wilson really think going to Israel for the first time is more important than meeting with her constituents?

"Asked and answered, your honor."

Washington Post

House members travel to Israel, courtesy of AIPAC lobby, not taxpayers

By Al Kamen

Published: August 9, 2011

A record 81 House members, about a fifth of the chamber, are spending a week in Israel this month, courtesy of a foundation set up by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby.

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-members-travel-to-israel-courtesy-of-aipac-lobby-not-taxpayers/2011/08/09/gIQA8xOU5I_story.html

I hadn't had time to read the Broward Politics blog on Monday due to being so busy, but even if I had, which article tells you more?

The Post didn't neglect to discover the source of the funding, they put it right there in the headline so nobody could miss it.

As I have here, too.

The next day, my daily Morning Brief email from Foreign Policy magazine arrived and one of the posts there made all the points I made in my head and planned on sharing here -better than me.

Foreign Policy

How the World Is Really Run blog

The congress is in session, it turns out … in Israel

Posted By David Rothkopf

Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:44 AM

This week's reports that 20 percent of the U.S. Congress will be visiting Israel this month are stunning. Eighty-one members of Congress -- two thirds of them Republicans, 47 of them freshmen -- apparently think it is more important to be visiting Israel than it is to be at home dealing with the worst economic crisis in modern memory. America's economy is in flames and these guys are taking lobbyist-funded trips to what, watch Israelis take to the streets to protest the high-cost of living in that country?

Read the rest of the post at:

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/10/the_congress_is_in_session_

it_turns_out_in_israel

I acknowledge that it sounds petty but I'd love for someone with a TV camera rolling to ask Rep. Wilson what she thinks of the success or failure so far of Operation New Dawn.

No, it's true, I don't think very highly of Rep. Wilson, and I don't think this cipher in Congress that represents the people in my part of Hallandale Beach would know what that operation is, that is, without prompting.

But it hardly matters.

Frederica Wilson will fight tooth-and-nail over the next year to make sure that she can keep this cushy, no heavy-lifting (or thinking) job of hers that pays $174k a year, and will do anything she can to make sure that the FL-17 congressional district remains nice and gerrymandered so that she NEVER has to run against a competitive candidate in a general election and can stay in office as long as SHE wants.

More soon on what's happening with congressional redistricting and whom I'd love to see run against Wilson next year in a new, more logically-drawn CD that more accurately represents the interests of this area of south Broward and northeast Miami-Dade counties.

And while I'm at it, let me just state that it sure would be nice if a single legitimate reporter or columnist in South Florida reported on what group former City of Miami City Manager Tony Crapp, Jr. is working for now in the redistricting battle on behalf of his new bosses at

GrayRobinson, P.A.

Why is nobody asking or reporting on this?

I feel like I'm pulling teeth sometimes.

-----

See also:

Foreign Policy magazine: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

The Crespo-Gram Report: http://www.crespogram.com/

Give the devil her due: nobody in Florida demagogues & obfuscates like the dreaded DWS; Politico: "Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks ‘dictatorship..."

Give the devil her due, nobody in Florida demagogues & obfuscates like the dreaded Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) -Politico: "Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks ‘dictatorship..."

POLITICO

Debbie Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks ‘dictatorship … spark panic'

By Mike Allen

July 27, 2011 5:52 PM EDT

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Wednesday that House Republicans are trying to impose “dictatorship” through their tactics in the debt-ceiling negotiations. She said the GOP rhetoric could “spark panic and chaos,” which she called “potentially devastating” to the economy.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60080.html

Meanwhile, north of here in the Panhandle part of Florida I've never ventured into, Tallahassee Democrat Senior Political Writer Bill Cotterell weighs in on the recent contretemps between DWS and Allen West that I wisely avoided writing about since it was everywhere you looked, and you could only NOT know about it if you lived in... well, no, you'd know about it there, too.

Tallahassee Democrat

The art of the political insult

Today's lack elegance, but they get the job done

By Bill Cotterell

6:33 PM, Jul. 27, 2011

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110728/COLUMNIST03/107280310/Bill-Cotterell-art-political-insult?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

The above piece by the very insightful Bill Cotterell, is an exception to what I've often written here of the hagiography that goes on in the Florida press corps with regard to DWS, esp. at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and local Miami TV stations.

The female reporters in South Florida are especially reluctant to ask DWS questions that are either hard or original, just the same softballs, year-after-year.

It's monotonous with a capital "M."

But then that's why so many female reporters here are simply not taken seriously by well-informed people regardless of gender.

Simply put, too many of the reporters are personally shallow AND happily uninformed and really ought to be in much smaller media markets.

But like DWS -and most of the female sideline reporters at ESPN- they are gerrymandered into their current positions.

In some cases by virtue of this area's low-pay and need to have a certain demographic group represented on TV, regardless of how unappealing they are -dopey women who really do think stories on plastic surgery ARE imp0rtant, and ought to be on within the first ten minutes of a newscast- but nothing short of video of them shooting someone will get them off the air or off the newspaper beat.

The joke is on us, the readers and viewers who have to tolerate the towering mediocrity.

Here's a recent example of the sort of hagiography I meant, which actually compelled me to write in and comment because it sounded so much like a puff piece from her own paid govt. flack.

St. Petersburg Times

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz uses her resolve to fight cancer, lead DNC.

By Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Sunday, July 17, 2011

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article1180722.ece

Back on the 16th I wrote:

Is there no end in sight to the number of articles that can be written about this woman and cancer? Are there so few compelling political or government stories in the fourth-largest state in the country that this sort of filler must continue to be churned out, over-and-over? Simply put, there is nothing here that hasn't been written a dozen times before -and better.
And I surmise THAT is something that both liberals and conservatives can agree on.

For instance, how about writing about the number of State House and Senate members that DON'T live at the addresses they claim they do, both before and after the election, and how the legislature just looks the other way, despite the fact that it's illegal?
There are three of them in just South Florida alone!
Just saying...

Alex, what happened to you? You used to show such promise.
Is this how it ends, with a banal whimper?

ZERO: Number of times this year that Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL-17) has been written about in the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes regarding her job in D.C.

So, did you see the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes stories on what Reps. Alcee Hastings (FL-23) and Frederica Wilson (FL-17) are up to with congressional redistricting, with those State Senate meetings in Broward and Miami-Dade just a few weeks away?

Or, who they're using as consultants? (Is it Tony Crapp, Jr., the recent fomer City of Miami city manager?)

Or the articles on the same subject in the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel?

Actually, there hasn't been one.

Back on June 4th, in a post titled, Still waiting for South Florida news media to mention that Frederica Wilson was only FL Rep. to vote YES to increase debt limit?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/still-waiting-for-south-florida-news.html

I reminded some of you all over again what sort of short shrift anyone in DC not named Debbie Wasserman-Schultz gets in terms of media coverage in South Florida, even though most of hers is almost entirely too flattering -almost sycophantic- as many prior posts of mine over the years have pointed out.

So today, with that same federal debt limit still in the news and nobody down here other than yours truly even publicly mentioning Frederica Wilson's seeming disconnection to the country and her district and her very dubious achievement, could you tell me the number of times this year that she's been written about in the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes regarding her job in DC?

The answer is that the Miami-based congresswoman -who, unfortunately, represents me here in my part of Hallandale Beach - has been mentioned in that regard in the South Florida alternative news weekly ZERO times.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22Frederica+Wilson%22/sort:dateDesc/

Here's the scoreboard for the MiamiNewTimes

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22Frederica+Wilson%22/sort:dateDesc/

Number of times this year that Rep. Allen West (FL-22 ), who represents north Broward and south Palm Beach counties has been mentioned in the Miami NewTimes?

Do you even have to ask?

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22allen+west%22/sort:dateDesc/

Those of you who think that the BrowardPalmBeach or Miami NewTimes are going to do anything of substance to fill-in the gigantic information gap caused by the self-evident retreat on local news coverage of the rapidly-declining Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, need to wake-up from your sleepwalking before you hurt yourself -or others.

Your false hope and naivete is going to costs you someday when you least expect it.

And have you seen some of the online pieces in the Broward NewTimes the past few months?

To call them paltry is to overstate the number of character spaces.

Really.

Oh, and you recall my blog post of last year in which I noted for the record that despite the generally poor-to-below average job done by the Herald and the Sun-Sentinel reporters, columnists and editors, they at least have their media email addresses in their pieces or on the company website, so they can be contacted diirectly -but don't count on replies, per Herald ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos- but the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes management team doesn't.

They still don't.

And just as an aside, why are South Florida's overwhelmingly White and Cuban-American press corps so deathly afraid to ask Black elected officials, local, state and national, hard questions about budgets and govt. funding?

It's very, very patronizing.

Instead, almost every article about Wilson after she was elected was about her f-ing hats.

Hats, hats, hats!

And since then, nothing about any of her votes to continue funding unsuccesful programs and policies.

As I've stated previously, I hope under the new redistricting plan drawn up under the Florida legislature, she can represent just Miami-Dade voters, so get familiar with her, Aventura!

She may soon be yours!