SEN. MARCO RUBIO IS IN THE 2016 GOP RACE!

Not exactly the world's best kept secret, but Florida senator Marco Rubio is officially a candidate for the Republican nomination for president as announced earlier today in his hometown of Miami, Florida.
Anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows that I have been on the Rubio bandwagon since he launched his seemingly quiotix run against the then Republican Charlie Christ in 2009. The establishment GOP rallied behind Mr. Christ, who for now claims to be a Democrat, as the only candidate who could defeat any Democrat.
Where have we heard such things before?!
You can watch Sen. Rubio's announcement right here:

And Sen. Rubio, more than anyone else who has formally announced has the most to lose as he is giving up his Florida senate seat to run for president. Already shows that he is someone that is willing to take a risk. The senate seat probably was his for reelection. Sen Ted Cruz is not up for reelection until 2018. Sen. Rand Paul was able to get a change in Kentucky law so he could both run for president and his senate seat, also up in 2016.  But we will have to see how that turns out.
Yes, I know the most obvious thought out there is that why would another first-term senator, like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Kt.) make a run after in one way or another have used the current occupant of the White House, the Dear Leader, President Obama, inexperience (also a first-term senator).
The only defense, and I admit that it is lame but true.
The Dear Leader, President Obama, set the bar low enough that others could do what he did. Thus the three current GOP announced presidential candidates are first-term senators. All have positives and negatives. But Sen. Rubio has the least negatives over Sens. Cruz and Paul.
Rather than bore you with such details at this writing, let me just get you to this link to Five Thirty Eight and this article by Harry Enten as to the fact that the Republicans have a serious contender for the nomination in Sen. Rubio.
Some highlights from the speech, courtesy of Bloomberg News.

For almost all of human history, power and wealth belonged only to a select few. Most people who have ever lived were trapped by the circumstances of their birth, destined to live the life their parents had. But America is different. Here, we are the children and grandchildren of people who refused to accept this.
Both of my parents were born to poor families in Cuba. After his mother died when he was nine, my father left school to go work. My mother was one of seven girls raised by a disabled father who struggled to provide for his family.
When they were young, my parents had big dreams for themselves. But because they were not born into wealth or power, their future was destined to be defined by their past. So in 1956 they came here, to the one place on earth where the aspirations of people like them could be more than just dreams.
My father became a bartender. My mother a cashier, a maid and a Kmart stock clerk. They never made it big. But they were successful. Two immigrants with little money or education found stable jobs, owned a home, retired with security and gave all four of their children a life far better than their own.

A powerful personal story and a clear respect and love for America and what it offered not just his parents but their children, including Marco.

If we reform our tax code, reduce regulations, control spending, modernize our immigration laws and repeal and replace ObamaCare, the American people will create millions of better-paying modern jobs.

Short, to the point, concise. One thing that will bore the American people is an overly detailed plan explained in such fashion by the candidate. It is the general theme on which Sen. Rubio is basing his whole candidacy.

Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday.
But yesterday is over, and we are never going back. We Americans are proud of our history, but our country has always been about the future. Before us now is the opportunity to author the greatest chapter yet in the amazing story of America.
We can’t do that by going back to the leaders and ideas of the past. We must change the decisions we are making by changing the people who are making them.

Yes, that is a direct hit at the presumptive and now official Democrat candidate, former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. And a little jab at potential Republican candidate, former Florida governor, Jeb Bush. And the following is a more direct jab on Mr. Bush:

My candidacy might seem improbable to some watching from abroad. In many countries, the highest office in the land is reserved for the rich and powerful. But I live in an exceptional country where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege.

Although it is clear it is anti-Bush, it is another assault on the Clinton candidacy as well.
As I write this, I realize that there are some who will not forgive Sen. Rubio for trying to work with the so-called Gang of Eight in pursing so-called "comprehensive" immigration reform. I can't fault him for the effort. But Sen. Rubio clearly realized that the so-called Gang of Eight had no desire and want of a strong border security aspect of the plan and he bailed out. A leader does sometimes make mistakes. This was a mistake and we should be glad that when it came down to voting on it, Sen. Rubio pulled his support and is going to pursue border security first, then what to do with the millions of illegal aliens here.
People underestimate Sen. Rubio at their own peril. Remember as I noted earlier, the whole of the GOP establishment in Washington and Florida were lining up behind Mr. Christ for the senate seat. When Mr. Christ lost the nomination to Mr. Rubio, a rather large margin of victory, the spoiled-sport Christ mounted an "independent" challenge in the general election and all that did was put the Democrat candidate, Kendrick Meek, in third place. Mr. Rubio almost won a three-way race with 50% of the vote.
Not bad for a candidate with no chance of even getting the GOP nomination.
And now, the giant killer, Marco Antonio Rubio, is officially in for the Republican nomination for president. Can Sen. Rubio kill some more GOP folks and be the 2016 presidential nominee? I think that is a very real possibility.

More Of The Nanny State Gone Wild

O.K., I really, really don't think on the surface, this really constitutes child abuse in the true sense. Well, the Florida authorities charged Patricia Denault with child neglect, not child abuse per se. But just a little more investigating and I am sure that will be the end result.
Look, I'm 50 years old and back in my childhood, it was not all that unusual for parents to let their children try, usually, wine. I personally would not start my child at the top of the heap of spirits such as Cinnamon Fireball, but hey, if I did I would start more like at, well wine.
The real mistake, and the only reason I think that the authorities got involved in the first place is Mrs. Denault's lack of restraint and posting a photo of her letting not one, but two of her children taking a sip of the said Devil's urine on Facebook.
Of course a busy-body saw the said photo on Mrs. Denault's Facebook page and called the coppers.
So, your humble blogger did a little investigating, and this may be the photo's in question that set off the busy-body. To see the rest, one would have to ask Mrs. Denault to be her Facebook friend. I do not want to bother her but more or less defend her.
Here's something interesting. The ages of the children are never mentioned. Yet all one has to do is go over to Mrs. Denault's Facebook page and It appears that the Denault's have six children and the the oldest is 16 years old. It appears that the youngest is probably about three years old.
Now I am somewhat with Allahpundit over at HotAir and the age and amount and reason of consumption have to be taken into account.
The real crime, if there is one, is that Mrs. Denault thought it would be cool to put any photo of such things of Facebook.
Now, when I was young and stupid, I imbibed adult beverage. I remember sneaking homemade wine coolers at a nephew's birthday party. I was damn good at sneaking and drinking WAY TOOOO MANY and well, you know the rest of the story.
In high school, my best friends parents would let us consume adult beverage at their home. But we were hostages and could NOT leave until the next day no matter how much anyone consumed.
Was that a good thing to do?
Mrs. Denault said that she thought it was better that any of her children would consume any adult beverage at home in a controlled setting.
My friends parents knew the occasions that alcohol would be consumed and figured it was going to be done so do it somewhere safe. Sure, we were all under 21-the legal age even then in California. And it should be noted that this was when states determined their own minimum drinking age. But on our graduation night from high school, I'm glad we did not go out and get drunk and very possibly killed. In that case, my friends' parents were right.
So was Mrs. Denault trying to show her kids that maybe adult beverage is not all that good a thing? Or was she just maybe herself in an altered state of mind and figured, why the hell not?! HA! It's pretty funny seeing the kid's reaction. Especially to that Fireball.
Nothing indicates that Mrs. Denault has any history of child neglect and or child abuse. Nor is there any history that Mr. Denault, Patrick Denault, has any neglect or abuse on his record. This appears to be a first time happening. I'm not saying that Mrs. Denault should be hoisted up as mother of the year, but come on?  At worst, it showed a lapse of parental judgement. Maybe her real crime is trying to be too much of a friend to her children rather than a parent. It really is not a crime to be not the best parent. And maybe people could just mind their own business.
See, what might have been a good idea is if the person who ratted Mrs. Denault out tried to contact her and point out that it wasn't a good idea to post photos of that nature online, it may have avoided what could be a process that may end up with serious consequences.
Is it possible that children would be taken from the Denault family? Stranger things have happened once cases are put into the system. The ready willingness of the authorities to see abuse and neglect everywhere clouds logic and often times simple cases of parental lapses of judgement become cases of the century.
Another thought is that, as I suspect but do not have knowledge of, a Facebook friend called the coppers, was there some revenge being played out over some other issues? Think about that for a moment.
When people become front line soldiers of the excesses of the Nanny State and rat out others, it does lead to the Nanny State going wild and maybe do more harm than good.
Does letting kids have a sip of alcohol at home constitute child neglect? I do not think so but it is now up to the state of Florida to decide.

Charlie Crist A Most Loathsome Politician

The former Florida governor, Charlie Crist, is quite possibly the most loathsome politician in the United States today.
In this short piece in The Daily Caller, Mr. Crist, a former Republican, Independent and now a Democrat, claims that the real reason he left the Republican party in 2010 is . . .get ready for it . . .raaaaaacists!
Remember, there are five a's in raaaaacists.
Yes, astonishingly, Mr. Crist, now running for governor of Florida again as a Democrat, blames Republican "activists" and their sheer hatred of the Dear Leader, President Obama, as the reason he could not take it anymore being a Republican.
So let me take you back to the 2010 Florida senate campaign.
Then Gov. Crist was the Republican governor of Florida and decided that he was bored with that position and announced that he was going to run for the Republican nomination for the federal senate. No problem. He has that right. That was in May, 2009. And in the same month, Marco Rubio announced he too was going to run for the senate seat being vacated by then-Sen. Bob Martinez. And I totally endorsed Mr. Rubio's candidacy. The reasons are at the link. As it turned out, it was providential to support Mr. Rubio for once he gained steam and overtook Mr. Christ in polls, once it became clear that Mr. Rubio was going to win, Mr. Crist saw the light, the error of his ways and announced that he was running for the seat as an Independent. Mr. Crist began a clear left turn by doing so. One big issue I noted here. But as The Daily Caller notes in this link to Buzzfeed, not exactly right-wing central, ol' Charlie has spent much of his political career flip-flopping on issues to suit where the wind was blowing in the Republican party. And he gained the support of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2010. Of course until it became clear that the rank and file supported Mr. Rubio. Mr. Rubio won the nomination handily, Mr. Crist became an independent and suddenly realized, no I am not a conservative but a "Barack Obama Democrat".
May I note here that all of those raaaaacist activists were pounding the pavement and working hard to vote for and nominate the Hispanic candidate, Mr. Rubio. Why those dasterly raaaaacist Republicans!
I guess that what it was is that they saved all the venom in their cold hearts for Barack Obama. Only because he was Black. Not that many, no most, no all his policies sucked.
It would be one thing if Mr. Crist was a moderate or even liberal Republican during his tenure as Florida attorney general and governor. But he wasn't. He ran as and governed as a conservative Republican and only began the left turn while running for senate. Because he had to contrast himself somehow with Mr. Rubio. And once he lost that election, he eventually made the transition complete and is now running as a left-wing Democrat for his old office. He has changed on every position that he once had as a Republican.
And he now is totally Barack Obama's homeboy.
The complete interview with Mr. Crist is here.
Here is a quote from Mr. Crist that is, well just so fake as he is:

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I’ll just go there. was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me.”

Oh, please!
Running for office as a Republican, he sure as hell did not mind trying to win these raaaaacist activists over. And more than once. And he sure as hell did not mind taking campaign money for the raaaaacist activists.
There are many other politicians that have changed parties. Ronald Reagan is a pretty famous one. The current governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chaffee, is another who was a liberal Republican senator, ran for governor of Rhode Island as an Independent and became a Democrat as governor.
A former Vermont senator, the last Republican one, Jim Jeffords, also was a liberal Republican and became an Independent that caucused with the Democrats. The other way was former congressman and Texas senator Phil Graham who went from Democrat to Republican. A slew of mostly Southern Democrats switched parties in 1994 after their party went down in electoral flames. One of those still in office is Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama).
I don't mind honest people seeing that they no longer are comfortable in the party they once belonged to. Most of the time voters make the right judgement when they run for reelection or election to another office.
But Mr. Crist, he is just totally special. And he makes his real reason for getting out of the Republican party is because some activists, supposedly, are raaaaacists.
One only hopes that Florida Democrats see that Mr. Crist will turn on them if the political winds demand it. One hopes that the Florida Democrats will not put all their eggs in the Crist basket in an attempt to wrest the governor's office from the current Republican occupant, Rick Scott. If not, and the Florida Democrat voters nominate ol' Floppin'Charlie in their primary, they deserve what they get. A political opportunist who knows no bounds of being a worthless, loathsome politician.