Ron DeSantis didn’t learn from Roseanne Barr

by Lenny Cohen | Posted on

There are just 69 days until the midterm elections (for those of you who really explored all around this all-around great blog to see what’s new and what it has offered for so long, like relevant countdowns) and Florida held its primary yesterday. The ballot was packed and perhaps the biggest race was for Democratic nomination for governor.

Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) defeated former Rep. Gwen Graham (D)

governor democrat
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Andrew Gillum defeated Gwen Graham for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. It was an upset for the 39-year-old Gillum, who has been mayor of state capital Tallahassee for the past four years. He beat Graham, a former congresswoman who had name recognition all over the Sunshine State as daughter of former U.S. senator and Florida Gov. Bob Graham. Gillum could now become the first black Florida governor ever.
ron desantis adam putnam

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R) beat Comm. Adam Putnam (R)

governor republican
I’ve written about the Republican side before, here and here. Congressman Ron DeSantis beat state Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Adam Putnam by a wide margin. Things to note: DeSantis – a military man (Navy) and also 39, coincidentally – has President Donald Trump’s support; DeSantis appeared on Fox News many times while Putnam wasn’t given chances to be seen by Florida Republicans before the primary, except for a debate; DeSantis’ job as congressman has had him in Washington as chairman of the National Security subcommittee and member of committees on foreign affairs, the judiciary, and oversight and government reform; while Putnam was already in Tallahassee dealing with Florida issues.


Keep in mind, Wikipedia notes,

“A Democratic candidate has not won a gubernatorial election in Florida since 1994 when Governor Lawton Chiles was elected to a second term.”

Of course, this year, Trump is president and Gillum could become Florida’s first black governor so this will become an unusual election.


What’s not unusual is that DeSantis said on Fox News (again) how well Gillum performs in debates, but that he has far-left views and problems governing Tallahassee – and how the state needs to continue building off its success of the past eight years.
What’s unusual is the way he put it, in this 45-second clip:

“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.”   – Rep. Ron DeSantis

Later, Fox News returned with a clarification from DeSantis’ campaign and also an apology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUwxoikvzU8
This afternoon, on Fox with Shepard Smith, Gillum accused DeSantis of

“taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump”

and said he believes Florida voters are “sick” of the division from DeSantis.
Gillum also said,

“Well, in the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do (racist) whistle calls. They are now using full bullhorns.”


For his part, President Trump said he didn’t hear the remark.


Gillum does have the support of democratic socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and others on the left.


There’s no excuse for what DeSantis said, whether racial or not, and I’m not making that claim. I will say it was pretty dumb.
You would expect DeSantis – whose House biography website says he graduated magna cum laude from Yale, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, earned a commission as a JAG officer in the Navy, and deployed to Iraq during the 2007 troop surge as an adviser to a U.S. Navy SEAL commander in support of the SEAL mission in Iraq and also served at the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – would be more disciplined.

DeSantis – a lieutenant commander in the reserve component of the Navy who has won the Bronze Star Medal (meritorious service), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (gold star in lieu of second award), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal – must not have been aware of the TV show that starred his supporter Trump’s big supporter Roseanne Barr.


ABC and its parent company, Disney, quickly pulled the plug on the new, highly-anticipated Roseanne after Barr wrote a series of derogatory tweets. One equated President Obama’s adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape.

Roseanne logo ABC
ABC


Most of the cast and support staff publicly condemned Barr and quit the show. She lost a lot of entertainment industry friends.


Of course, not everybody condemned her.


But Monday, CNN reported co-star John Goodman said he was “broken-hearted” by what happened in the aftermath.
TV husband Goodman defended Barr, saying he knows

“for a fact that she’s not a racist.”

John Goodman Wikipedia-Gage Skidmore
Wikipedia-Gage Skidmore

Since then, ABC picked up a spin-off called The Connors that’ll focus on the rest of the family.
Yesterday, TVLine confirmed grandkids Emma Kenney (Harris), Ames McNamara (Mark) and Jayden Rey (DJ’s daughter Mary) agreed to be series regulars. It’ll be a promotion for Rey, who had been just a recurring guest star.
They follow Goodman (Dan), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Lecy Goranson (Becky) and Michael Fishman (DJ), who will also be returning in October.
According to CNN, Goodman seemed to either confirm or speculate the rumor the new show would kill off Barr’s character could be true.

“I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead,”

Goodman guessed about his own character’s future.
Roseanne has reportedly settled with and separated from ABC, and now has her own YouTube show.


Rep. DeSantis, was it worth it?
Two more election notes from Florida:
rick scott bill nelson

Gov. Rick Scott (R) will try to knock off incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) in November

senate republican
Two-term Gov. Rick Scott easily won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. He’ll face three-term incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Wikipedia notes Nelson is the only Democratic statewide elected official in Florida.
house Shalala
Also, Donna Shalala, 77, won her Democratic primary for Congress in the 27th District to replace retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R). Shalala was President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years and then president of the University of Miami for 14. Notably, the Miami Herald wrote Shalala

“knows how to ‘win friends and influence people’ — and raise money. All vital skills.”

But at the same time, it said she’s too close to

“the establishment political machine” and her “long-time friend Hillary Clinton(’s)” … “sometimes maligned foundation hired Shalala after she left UM.”

Regrettably, The Herald’s anti-endorsement explanation did not note what the Miami New Times reported in May: As University of Miami president, Shalala sold

“88 acres of critically endangered Miami pine rocklands”

to a Palm Beach County-based developer

“for $22 million — a complete steal for the developer in light of the relative worth of nearby property.”

Now,

“One of the last shreds of an ecosystem that does not exist anywhere else on Earth will soon become an apartment complex with a Chili’s, LA Fitness, and Walmart attached.”

Instead of endorsing Shalala, who The New Times wrote

“hopes to paint herself as a progressive, environmentally conscious Democrat,”

The Herald endorsed state Rep. David Richardson.
It said, among other good things, Richardson “made an impact … as a Democrat outnumbered in the Republican-majority state House .. reforming Florida’s broken prison system.”
Too bad Florida Democrats didn’t agree.
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