Communications Breakdown

This afternoon, I fell asleep while reading Craig Shirley's new book, Rendezvous With Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America.

When I woke up, Glenn Beck was on TV, talking about this New York Times story that I blogged about yesterday. In his opening monologue, Beck explained that a key part of this story -- about the massive interest payments required by federal deficit spending -- was actually in his own Common Sense book, published five months ago.

Think about that. Today's front-page news for the New York Times was reported five months ago by a radio/TV talk-show host. Meanwhile, we're discovering that scientists have fudged the global warming data. And Florida Gov. Charlie Closet Crist is calling Marco Rubio a liar? Does Charlie's beard wife know about this?

"Communication Breakdown, it's always the same . . ."

Charlie Crist going negative on Rubio

This is what the National Republican Senatorial Committee is endorsing:

Buffeted by weeks of negative press and a newly threatening rival from the right, FL Gov. Charlie Crist's (R) campaign will step up direct engagements with his opponent, insiders tell OnCall.
Crist will attack former FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), citing his rival's failure to advance some conservative causes while leading the state House, for spending excessively while in the Speaker's office and for dragging his feet on immigration legislation that many Republicans favored.
"We're now running a campaign, and it's one where this campaign will aggressively talk about the governor and his record and his vision heading to Washington as a candidate for the Senate, and we will aggressively talk to voters about our opponent's record, a record that was eight years in the state legislature, a record that has not been discussed to date," said Eric Eikenberg, Crist's new campaign manager.

So this is what your NRSC donations are paying for: Republican attacks on Marco Rubio, one of the most promising young Republican leaders in Florida.

NOT ONE RED CENT!

UPDATE: Pat Austin notes that Crist's new campaign manager has a predictable habit:

According to The Buzz, Rubio isn't worried about the addition of Eikenberg to the Crist team. Rubio supporters point to his work on the campaigns for both Clay Shaw and George LeMieux. They both lost.

More at Memeorandum.

Rebellion in Florida GOP?

Here in Orlando for today's last stop of the Tea Party Express, I find some interesting local news:

The rebellion against Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer appears to be coming to a head. As first reported by Gary Fineout of The Fine Print, a number of GOP leaders Florida are demanding a "special emergency closed meeting'' of the state party's executive board.

Notice that the St. Petersburg Times is forced to admit they got beat by a blog. Gary Fineout reports:

Greer, the state GOP chairman since 2007 and an ally of Gov. Charlie Crist, has been accused of everything from playing favorites, turning his back to dirty tricks by party operatives and failing to properly supervise the use of party credit cards. While some have characterized Greer’s critics as a small minority, the call for the meeting shows that recent incidents are beginning to worry party leaders.

Part of the controversy involves the Florida GOP's relationship with accused Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. No wonder Charlie Crist is starting to panic.