 | Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177 |
After tweeting my way through The Associated Press Legislative Preview yesterday, let me say this: Good Lord, my head hurt.
Please understand what this event is. The Legislative Preview is an annual conference hosted by the AP that brings together the political leadership of the state to talk about what's going to happen during the upcoming session. It's like a series of press confrences one after another after another after another.
It draws lots of media to the 22nd Floor of the Capitol Building for a discussion of the big issues.
Or that's the intent. I decided when I read today's Tallahassee Democrat that what I really pay Bill Cotterell to do is to translate, not report. For the life of me, what I heard was the language of Gobbledygook, which Cotterell -- God bless him -- managed somehow to put into English.
At one point, I actually started tracking each time a politician found a new way to not say a darn thing. Some for instances:
In explaining why Florida must further reduce spending on important state programs, Senate President Jeff Atwater spoke at length and eloquently on the federal budget.
Asked if he agrees with Gov. Charlie Crist’s rosy projections for state revenues, House Speaker Larry Cretul smiled and said: The reality is we deal with the budget numbers we have.
At one point he began talking about the film "Seabiscuit," which I never saw but learned from the Internet is “True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.”
I tweeted ????
At another point just Grrr.
Then this: “Not sure why (he’s saying this).”
Let me repeat that: ???? then Grrr followed by not sure why.
That about sums up my feelings.
My head hurt.
Oh, there were a few things that made sense.
I understood completely what it meant when President Atwater said he was not sure if they could get throughout the budget process this year without reducing the state’s workforce or cutting wages. If you are a state worker, you know that that means, too. You’re getting slapped. Again.
Not that the Democrats were any better or more clear, except for one sentence by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson. Asked what he thought of Crist’s proposal to cut corporate income taxes, the senator from Tallahassee said: “It’s insane.”
That's plain enough. It is almost shocking when someone says aloud exactly what he’s thinking in those situations, if only because it almost never happens.
House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands said that some tax cuts and some tax increases are good and it is a matter of who we are taking money from and who we are giving it to and that he’s proud of the work of Floridians in Haiti and the media does an important job in keeping a watch on government and there needs to be transparency in the budget process and he’s a small businessman and knows they need a tax break.
Or at least that’s how it sounded to me: just one big long run-on sentence of scattered thoughts.
But it could have been just me, I don’t know: My head was really hurting by then.
And it wasn’t just them hurting my head; it was us, too -- that is the media.
First up was Crist who was charming as usual. Next was former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who was straightforward and on point, as usual. He was late getting there though, saying he was locked out of the 22nd floor elevator and that only a few people have a key to that elevator.
The governor said he was not there as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, but as governor, although he is both. Rubio said he was there not to answer questions about the Florida Legislature or state issues, but about his campaign for the U.S. Senate, though he got both.
Following me so far?
They behaved exactly as expected.
But the tone of the two sessions was different and I blame the media for that. I thought we were too cozy with Crist, too accepting of his dodges. Not so much with Rubio. It’s just the comparison to the two sessions left me feeling we cut Crist a break.
I heard lots of explanations on why the media would treat these two differently. Rubio is now the frontrunner in the race and he has to expect tougher questions; Rubio’s personality makes things feel combative; and Rubio is dismissive of questions he doesn’t want to answer.
All true, but none a good reason.
And Crist, well, he’s just hard to dislike. At one point a reporter sneezed off to the side. Without missing a beat in midsentence he looked over and said “God bless you” and continued on. It was so smooth and natural that I’d bet half of the crowd missed, but not the sneezer. He calls reporters by name. Knows where they are from and asks about their family.
He is genuinely a nice man and gets treated that way in return, which is something I think we have to think about as the campaign moves forward.
On Rubio’s personality, well, let's just say he'd better hope nice guys really do finish last. He's not a bad person either, and in full disclosure my daughter is engaged to marry a relative of Rubio's wife, a cousin, I think.
It's just that he's different and dismissive of questions he doesn't want to answer. Plus, he uses big words to talk about things like “fundamental issues of our time” and “untenable economics.”
He’d better learn that with just 140 characters, that’s a lot to Tweet.
And enough to make my head hurt.
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