Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 10.14.21

  By Peter Schorsch

Good Thursday morning.

Just as most of you are reading this, my wife, Michelle, will be heading into the operating room for a third — and hopefully final — surgery to, as she says, make her whole again.

Given the life-threatening ordeal she went through during previous surgeries, she is frightened. But she continues to put her faith in God that everything will turn out for the best.

It was the prayers from so many of you who helped her through the previous crisis that I am asking, one more time, that you lift her in prayer.

Thank you for your consideration, and God bless.

There is A LOT of content on FloridaPolitics.com right now and here in Sunburn. Also, here are three stories that really stood out to me.

 — Not all Democrats: 2020 was a decent, if not good, year for Democrats. They took back the White House, maintained, albeit narrowly, an advantage in the U.S. House and split the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris offering the decisive tiebreaking vote. But not every Democrat is singing the new administration’s praises, and it’s in South Florida where the case can be made that progressives aren’t exactly thrilled with the Joe Biden administration. Washington Post author David Weigel makes the case in his deep-dive analysis of the South Florida Special Election in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, where Democrats have lined up to put a progressive in office to fill the vacancy left by the late Alcee Hastings. As Weigel notes, the bevy of candidates are lining up to criticize Biden administration policies on migrants and asylum-seekers. Read his analysis here.

 — Are overeducated youngsters crashing the Democratic Party?: That’s the question raised in a thought-provoking Politico analysis poking fun at the young Dem staffer “tools of the trade” — laptop stickers, hipster apparel, coffee-to-go and campaign swag. The piece, by writer Ian Ward, questions whether that image is trampling the Party’s broader message. The problem raised: Young staffer-types are more likely to be further left than the coveted median voter, yet hold an outsized impact on Party messaging. Read more about it here.

 — Mockery is the sincerest form of flattery?: It’s no secret that there’s no love lost between Gov. Ron DeSantis and his predecessor, now U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. Yet Florida’s current Governor is taking a page from Scott’s playbook as he eyes reelection and, eventually, a possible bid for President in 2024. How? DeSantis’ campaign is less about his Democratic rivals seeking to dethrone him — Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist — than it is the current occupant of the White House. Scott used the same strategy in 2010 when he first made his mark in the political sphere, attacking then-President Barack Obama and his administration’s policies. That’s reporter Noah Pransky‘s take-away in his analysis for NBC’s new platform, LX, where he draws the correlation between national politics and statewide campaigns.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@DalaiLama: I don’t like formality. There’s no formality when we’re born and none when we die. In between, we should treat each other as brothers and sisters because we all want to live a happy life. This is our common purpose and our right.

Tweet, tweet:

—@Jon_bois: people can criticize Kyrie Irving all they want. all I’ll say is this: after I got the vaccine, I found I was completely unable to play basketball at the NBA level

Tweet, tweet:

—@Phillip_germain: Not voting in elections to own the libs

—@GovRonDeSantis: The U.S. Navy has kept the rounds on target, and the sea lanes open in defense of our nation. I’m proud to be a Navy veteran, and I thank all who are serving and those who have served in the best sea service in history.

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

—@Independent: North Korea says it loves Squid Game because it reflects ‘beastly’ capitalist society