WTF!! was Florida thinking when they voted this man out of office

[bigdarryl]

If he ran against Obama in a primary or as a 3rd party candidate I would have to seriously look at him over Obama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqQn1_x5C3I&feature=player_embedded#!

[trumad]

1. Florida has become a very right wing state...

and he ran in a very right wing district.

[Lochloosa]

3. Florida has become a gerrymandered right wing state.

That is why the 2 amendments passed overwhelmingly to change the way districts are divided.

Rick Scott only won with about 60,000 votes. And that was in a year when the right's base came out strong. Any other year and Sink would be our Gov.

[polichick]

10. True dat. nt

[midnight]

2. Tax cuts create jobs=mania. The man with the cigar gets

another 2.7 million dollars if bush tax cuts are extended... I think Florida was not thinking...

[jefferson_dem]

4. Grayson is a hoot.

He's fun to listen to and I appreciate his frankness. But the reality is - in the grand scheme of things - he would never amount to anything more than a political gadfly, not to be taken seriously. Maybe he'll start a radio talk show or something. That might be fun.

[MrMickeysMom]

5. They weren't thinking, is the answer.. they weren't even voting-

They were texting while driving without a hands-free phone, carrying a concealed weapon that could be used legally, just in case they started to feel "threatened".

They were not reading newspapers, not showing up for early voting either in the primaries or general election, certainly not for local elections, which determine more about how their taxes are directed.

They were looking for someone on Fox to inform them while being entertained and drinking. They were being led around by the spoilers of the election or Republicans, who have a history of marketing this group of do-nothings with lies, lies, and more lies.

Now, my old Sunshine State must suffer right along with my current Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by enduring what is to take place under a Republican fascist Governor.

Good luck with all things to come out of this. Maybe we'll all get a REALLY good dose of fascism this time. I won't be handing out any tissues because I've cried enough tears already for FL and PA.

Edit: typo

[golddigger]

6. The repukes own the voting machines.

[totodeinhere]

13. If that's true, then why did they let Grayson win in 2008?

If they own the voting machines, then why does any Democrat ever win? I think you need to come up with some other excuse.

[golddigger]

14. The lower the voting turn out, the easier it is to

rigged the machines. What was his total votes for 2008 compared to 2010?

[totodeinhere]

15. If they own the voting machines, what difference does it make?

Whether the voting turn out is high or low, if they control the machines they can make the returns be whatever they want. Right?

[Renew Deal]

7. People that think Grayson would or could challenge Obama and win are delusional.

[ananda]

8. I'd vote for Grayson over Obama any day.

nt

[Enthusiast]

11. Me too. nt

[Renew Deal]

12. Good for you.

:shrug:

[grumgrum]

19. Many would vote Grayson over Obama -- Why? STRENGTH!

[Kaleva]

22. How do you define "Many"?

[Renew Deal]

33. If Grayson doubled Kucinich's vote from 2008 he'd still have 0%.

[stray cat]

9. They clearly had their reasons to get rid of their emplyee

[jenmito]

16. They voted him out after his RW-style deceptive ad against his opponent.

He WAS ahead in the polls until his Taliban Dan ad, where he took words out of context to say exactly the opposite of what was actually meant.

[Ozymanithrax]

17. Here is the ad played and commented on by the Cenk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrnJB_FaDek

Which shows that both Grayson and the Cenk were absolutly wrong.

[jenmito]

18. Thanks for the link...

Cenk kept repeating the "Submit to me" part, saying that's what voters should think of when going into the voting booth, and that was the part taken 180 degrees out of context. I think it was Olbermann who showed the whole clip of the Repub. saying he does NOT think the wife should "submit to me." But then again, Cenk said he thinks Obama is more conservative than Reagan, and other stupid things. Stupid is stupid, whatever side it's on.

[Imajika]

20. Grayson ran that ad as a hail mary...

He only appeared to be ahead in his own internal polls that his campaign team released to influence media cycles - which means he was probably never really ahead.

Grayson is a political bombthrower from the left in a center right district. Of course it was extremely unlikely he would win reelection - especially in a GOP friendly election cycle.

Seriously, Grayson lost by 18 points. It wasn't even close and there was even a TEA Party candidate that got 4% of the vote.

It wasn't that Taliban Dan ad that lost the election. It was a bad ad I agree, but Grayson's reason for running it was just a desperate move to shake up the race. Same type of thing you saw in Kentucky with Conway's Aqua-Buddha ad. You don't run those kind of ads unless you know your going to lose unless you can somehow fundamentally change the dynamics of the race.

Grayson is an effective asset for our side, my guess is he will be a frequent guest on political shows and probably end up with his own radio or TV program at some point.

Grayson's crushing defeat in Florida 8 should open some eyes and make some people realize all this bluster you see on DU about all it taking to win election/reelection almost anywhere is go hard left/populist is just utter nonsense. Many people were holding Grayson up as an example as how Democrats should run for election/reelection. They should maybe reconsider considering he lost by 18 points and only got 38% of the vote.

[jenmito]

23. Thanks for this post...

very informative and I agree with your conclusions.

[mikekohr]

38. Outstanding summary

I love Allan Grayson, but we need to remember RFK's quote, "You don't need to be smart to be successful in politics, but you do need to be able to count."

[Union Scribe]

29. Weren't you just in another thread complaining about people bashing Democrats?

Hmm.

[jenmito]

31. No. I complain about people unrec'ing threads which show Obama's accomplishments

without leaving reasons why. Grayson put out a totally misleading ad. I didn't just unrec this thread with no reason why. You got a problem with what I said?

[Union Scribe]

32. Oh, my mistake. It's Obama-bashing you don't like.

Other Dems are fair game. Especially those lefties.

[jenmito]

34. Your mistake AGAIN. I said nothing about "bashing." I said I don't get why people

unrec threads without leaving any comments about WHY they unrec threads that are positive about Obama.

[onenote]

21. What I suspect FL's 8th District was thinking was that Grayson didn't represents their views

Grayson first entered electoral politics in 2006 and he lost the Democratic primary to a center right Democrat (who lost the general). In 2008, Grayson got less than 50 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, but won over three or four other candidates who split the vote. He defeated the incumbent repub (who had barely survived a tough primary battle) by around 13,500 votes. His district simply isn't as liberal as he is and he paid the price in 2010.

[Imajika]

24. Yup, it's just not a liberal district...

Yet so many people here were saying the way to win for Democrat is go hard left and be a real progressive. The result was an 18 point loss.

To win, a candidate can't be too far outside of the views of his/her district or state. Period. While I like Grayson quite a bit for his blunt, in your face style, he was just way too liberal for his Florida 8 district.

People who think all one has to do is be a bold populist/progressive should learn a lesson from this race. The only people that were shocked Grayson lost were partisans on the left living in a echo chamber. Virtually all actual political strategists who understand how these races work accurately predicted Grayson was going to lose and lose badly.

[littlewolf]

26. true remember this district was GOP for what 12 years ...

or something like that .... Grayson rode Obama's coattails ... and since President Obama wasn't on the ballot ...
there were no coattails .... and people went back to where they were .... a conservative GOP district ...

[BluegrassDem]

25. Grayson loses in his own district

And somehow you guys think he'll win the presidency?!? :eyes:

[CakeGrrl]

27. Yeah yeah...and then watch all the dismay here when he'd meet the reality of D.C.

and would have to GOVERN with the presence of stalwart Republican opposition.

[hack89]

28. "He doesn't represent our views."? nt

[Sancho]

30. I don't think elections in Florida count the votes...

It was clear to me in 2004, and I see it in every election since. We really don't know who wins the actual election here. You can flame me, or say there is not proof, or whatever you want...I've seen it in person when machines swapped a vote in front of me, I've seen it in "lost" mail in ballots, I've seen it in butterfly ballots, I've seen it in "undervote" impossibilities, I've seen it in amendments that pass while candidates representing those ideas lose, and I've seen it in close elections over and over.

[quaker bill]

35. Grayson misread central florida

Central Florida is not a good place for showboat politicians. We like our local pols to be bland and a bit dim if at all possible. The only reason Grayson beat Rick Keller was the Obama led surge in new voters in 2008, and he did not even get all of them (his margin of victory was smaller). Keller was the typical Cent. FL politician, bland, a bit dim, and with almost no accomplishments. Barack pulled an additional 80,000 votes out of local youth and minority communities. Had he not done so, Grayson would have been an also ran, like the last half dozen Dem challengers. The Barack voters from 2008 did not show in 2010, so the seat went back to another bland repug by the typical margin we have seen for nearly 30 years.

If Charley Stewart had won the primary against Grayson, he probably would have won the seat in 2008 just the same and likely have held the seat in 2010, but almost none of you would have known or cared. Charley Stewart is many things and a fairly decent guy, but exciting/interesting he is decidedly not. He would have been a far better fit for this District, but you would have missed Grayson's many colorful moments. My buck is on Buddy Dyer or Bill Segal giving it a go against Webster in 2012.

[okieinpain]

36. from all the stuff I've read dems didn't vote and repugs did.

so I think you would have to ask why did dems vote him out.

[boppers]

37. They didn't vote him out...

They didn't vote him back in.

Slight difference, there.

[okieinpain]

39. if people don't vote for you, to me it's the same as not voting for

you. I'm not sure about his area, but the reports I've seen there was no great big turnout for the mid-terms there was just more repugs then dems.

[KingFlorez]

40. The district is a Republican gerrymander