Florida to Rubio: About that ethics thing… nevermind
posted at 4:01 pm on July 28, 2012 by Jazz Shaw
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that Florida Senator and GOP rising star Marco Rubio was facing rocky waters in the Republican veepstakes because of pending ethics charges looming over his head like a 2012 Sword of Damocles. And why would Mitt consider someone as a running mate who is clearly in this much trouble?
The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed a complaint against Sen. Marco Rubio that accused him of breaching the public’s trust and misusing his political position for personal gain.
The complaint, filed in 2010 by Michael Ryan, a Democratic donor from Fort Lauderdale, , charged that while he served as speaker of the Florida House, Rubio misused a state party credit card for personal expenses. Ryan also accused Rubio of using his political position to secure employment at a university and a hospital. Ryan based his claim on a number of newspaper reports.
So… never mind, I guess. Look, Rubio covered all of this during his Senate race. Why we’re going over it again (complete with ABC’s breathless declaration that the charges are “still considered among the controversies that could hurt Rubio’s political stock down the line”) is not much of a mystery, but it still defies reason.
Did Rubio make a mistake while still essentially a newcomer to the bloody battlefield of partisan politics? Yes, and he’s said as much. His major crime can be summed up by this description of his evil mastermind plot. He was so crooked as to believe, on some occasions, that:
… if I happened to charge something to the party card instead of my own, when the bill comes at the end of the month I can pay for it myself and it’s no harm no foul.
What an evil bastard. I can’t imagine how anyone could possibly vote for him after that.
Was it politically tone deaf? Well, after you’ve spent enough time inside the beltway, obviously. Your opponents will absolutely grasp onto a straw like that and try to spin it into gold. And if you want to judge Rubio for not anticipating that half the nation would leap for his throat over the simple act of paying his own bills spread over two accounts, feel free.
In the meantime… charges dismissed. Game on.
Related Posts:
Breaking on Hot Air
North Korea fires three short-range missiles as Japan envoy pays “secret” visit
DC firm shaking down Chevron learns lesson about poking the bear
Burglars lock homeowner in gun closet with predictably hilarious results
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Where did you get ‘the word,’ Harry?
Resist We Much on May 13, 2013 at 8:14 PM
I’m troubled that this alleged pedophile is still in office.
As for the IRS scandal….heads need to roll.
ProfShadow on May 13, 2013 at 8:15 PM
Maybe it is time for the pitchforks in DC. Well,yes it is!
tim c on May 13, 2013 at 8:17 PM
Oh for crying out loud…resignations won’t do a damn thing you a$$hat GOP.
Go for the head of the snake or watch this country sink in record time!!
katy on May 13, 2013 at 8:17 PM
“The words out” that harry red crapped his pants uncontrolably again today.
VegasRick on May 13, 2013 at 8:17 PM
WTF!!! For more than four years we’ve been trying to get these bastards to see what the Obama admin was doing to this country and now he has the balls to say this sh!T???
katy on May 13, 2013 at 8:19 PM
lol, I’m sure you would target you political opponents with everything and anything if you could get away with it.
arnold ziffel on May 13, 2013 at 8:19 PM
Rep. Nancy Pelosi; “how’s the IRS supposed to regulate it all”??
Free Speech that is.
WTF is the IRS doing regulating OUR free Speech??
Scrumpy on May 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM
Me, well, I want a perp walk.
INC on May 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM
His Nevada friend “Tommy.”
arnold ziffel on May 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM
I’m sure there’s a mad scramble at IRS looking for anyplace Reid’s name might be mentioned to possibly attach it to the scandal.
Liam on May 13, 2013 at 8:22 PM
in all likelihood, someone from the mormon church told reid
nonpartisan on May 13, 2013 at 8:22 PM
None of this is a flucking mistake…
I want to smash somthing!~!!!
Scrumpy on May 13, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Hearing clips of the presser today, that I only followed on HA, earlier.
What hit me was that Preezy only repeated the D talking points, today.
Just struck me as very obvious, hearing it.
Sigh.
I miss leadership at the top.
pambi on May 13, 2013 at 8:23 PM
Reid and Baucus are mainly troubled by the IRS being clumsy enough to get caught at it. Now that it’s blown up in the IRS and The One’s faces, they’re in CYA mode, trying to avoid getting hit by the shrapnel.
clear ether
eon
eon on May 13, 2013 at 8:25 PM
It’s nice to see that Rubio is taking a break from his 24/7 push of AMNESTY for ILLEGALS, to spend a few minutes doing his job (even though he has lost all credibility, and cannot be trusted).
Pork-Chop on May 13, 2013 at 8:27 PM
I like it when you talk rough you little firecracker.
arnold ziffel on May 13, 2013 at 8:29 PM
WOW.
Until MKH mentioned it above, I had totally forgotten how big of a deal Team Barry made of Romney’s taxes.
Now I want ha special prosecutor and everyone under oath, starting with Rahm.
You know Emanuel will end up being the catalyst of this tactic.
budfox on May 13, 2013 at 8:30 PM
Lamont, you big dummy.
RickB on May 13, 2013 at 8:30 PM
You do realize that it turned out to be a lie don’t you? So option 1) “someone from the mormon church” had access to Romney’s tax returns for the last 10 years and called harry red and told him a lie that harry red repeated or 2) harry red just outright lied about Romney like he does about most issues. Take a choice genius
VegasRick on May 13, 2013 at 8:30 PM
Not a frigging thing will come of Benghazi or the IRS crap other than a few low level bureaucrats will lose their gubmint gravy
Rio Linda Refugee on May 13, 2013 at 8:31 PM
Uh, that was Reid’s original answer when he was finally pressed. He then flipped it over to some Dem who worked for Bain.
And that guy denied it.
So, whoever sent the info to ProPublica took a look at Romney’s taxes, saw he paid something, but Team Barry decided to play a bluff game so it would force him to expose all of his other holdings.
You should give up and find something constructive to do.
budfox on May 13, 2013 at 8:33 PM
I was listening to the local talk show on the way home and the host (Michael Berry who sometimes pinch hits for Levin) was interviewing the lady who started True the Vote here in Houston. Once she filed for a 5013(c) designation in 2010, she and her husband both got audited as well as their business. The FBI talked to her 6 times about the people in the group, the ATF came out several times, serialized their guns and the EPA and OSHA also got involved in their company business. She said that had never happened until she filed for the tax exempt status. And to think the IRS will have access to our bank account and financial records via Obamacare. Any other president would have been impeached by now.
TxAnn56 on May 13, 2013 at 8:34 PM
I have it from a VERY RELIABLE source that Harry Reid is a pedophile. But I have to honor the request of the source that he/she remain anonymous.
GarandFan on May 13, 2013 at 8:35 PM
“according to our records..
You have been donating to Pro-Traditional Marriage groups instead of Same-Sex Marriage Groups…
Here’s what you are qualified for with Health Insurance…
Have a nice day” – IRS.
Electrongod on May 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM
Why is it that Hot Air and most conservatives are taking a partisan viewpoint on this topic. What should be discussed is:
a) Taxation is theft
b) The power to tax is the power to destroy
Discussing the Feds targeting right wing groups don’t get at the root of the problem. The problem is that the Federal government has the unlimited power to take what it wants from whom it wants. It would be nice if the right wing would, for once, make itself useful and begin to attack the premise of state power.
antifederalist on May 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM
In all likelihood, someone from the Mormon Church told you that.
Curtiss on May 13, 2013 at 8:41 PM
Now that’s funny. I don’t care who you are. Didn’t know Mormons filed their taxes with the church.
chewmeister on May 13, 2013 at 8:42 PM
So. Harry is troubled.
Well, there…
ted c on May 13, 2013 at 8:43 PM
antifederalist on May 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM
I said somewhere today DEFUND the IRS and get rid of it!
Still want to smash somthing!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
Scrumpy on May 13, 2013 at 8:45 PM
arnold ziffel on May 13, 2013 at 8:29 PM
;-D
Scrumpy on May 13, 2013 at 8:45 PM
It’s a fact that all Mormons file their taxes through the church, someone from Bain Capital might or might not have told me that.
VegasRick on May 13, 2013 at 8:46 PM
One can only pull their pud so much you know, so then he wanders in here like Mr. Hankey.
arnold ziffel on May 13, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Special Prosecutor needs to put Dingy Harry on his list of people to interview.
slickwillie2001 on May 13, 2013 at 8:47 PM
Yeah, us folks on the right have never attacked taxation. And bigfoot is real too.
xblade on May 13, 2013 at 8:47 PM
Stop giving McCain and Rubio all this face time. They are both liars that can’t be trusted. I wouldn’t vote for either in a primary or general election.
Wigglesworth on May 13, 2013 at 8:47 PM
But, of course, nobrain!
Resist We Much on May 13, 2013 at 8:48 PM
Heh. Good one.
Curtiss on May 13, 2013 at 8:48 PM
So,its safe to assume,that Pelosium never did get
her DemaCratCorrupto House,cleaned and cleared!!
canopfor on May 13, 2013 at 8:48 PM
You have to graduate from Harvard Law to learn such things.
xblade on May 13, 2013 at 8:49 PM
WaPo’s now reporting that “Washington officials” were involved in ordering the Tea Party harrassment. I’m on my phone, otherwise I’d post the link.
steebo77 on May 13, 2013 at 8:49 PM
The leak on Romney’s IRS information is the cherry on top of this sundae. That leak affected a presidential election, possibly deciding the outcome. If we can find evidence of that, we can burn down the IRS.
That’s what Republicans in Congress should dog on.
slickwillie2001 on May 13, 2013 at 8:49 PM
Does Harry Reid tithe ten percent of his earnings to charity?
birdwatcher on May 13, 2013 at 8:50 PM
I don’t think NP can “capish” that.
slickwillie2001 on May 13, 2013 at 8:50 PM
This^^^^
chewmeister on May 13, 2013 at 8:52 PM
How about fines and prison terms.
WisCon on May 13, 2013 at 8:54 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-denounces-reported-irs-targeting-of-conservative-groups/2013/05/13/a0185644-bbdf-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html?hpid=z1
What steebo was talking about….
Scrumpy on May 13, 2013 at 8:54 PM
Maybe it is time for the pitchforks and torches in DC. Well,yes it is!
FIFY!
belad on May 13, 2013 at 8:55 PM
He’s like Five O’clock Charlie — some little old guy near a base in Nam who would bring out a musket, take a shot at a helicopter coming in for the night, then scoot off until the next day.
nobrainpartisanliberalhack is doing his bit for Uncle O like that old man was doing his for Uncle Ho.
Liam on May 13, 2013 at 8:55 PM
Don’t leave the media out of this bonfire.
Cleombrotus on May 13, 2013 at 8:57 PM
Dingy tweeting?
I think I saw that episode on Ghost Adventures a few weeks ago. Terrifying.
SickofLibs on May 13, 2013 at 9:10 PM
In other words, then, there is in fact one resignation that would be worthwhile.
C’mon Barky. I’d say celebrate the 40th anniversary in style, but I see no reason to wait until August of ’14 for you to GTFO.
Gingotts on May 13, 2013 at 9:10 PM
Yeah, he’s troubled by this alright. Because he never thought anyone would find out how he got Romney’s tax records. Now it’s time to cover your ass and all bets are off. I say he was involved.
phatfawzi on May 13, 2013 at 9:19 PM
Agree!!!!
earlgrey133 on May 13, 2013 at 9:25 PM
The big question I would like answered is, “Did someone at the IRS give Harry Reid information regarding Mitt Romney’s tax returns?”
djaymick on May 13, 2013 at 10:29 PM
“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” -GKC
StubbleSpark on May 13, 2013 at 10:53 PM
Harry Reid is “Troubled” all right, troubled that this may lead back to him. As for Rubio and McConnel wanting resignations…well they would. Me, I want indictments, floggings and maybe some hangings.
Oldnuke on May 13, 2013 at 11:13 PM
JAIL TIME is what is needed! This IRS and wire tap thing is crap. Was and is illegal.
These were people directed by those in high places! Eric Holder must NEVER be put in charge of any investigation. He and his pal Obama are neck deep in the slime.
They need to go!
Delsa on May 13, 2013 at 11:53 PM
I don’t want just IRS heads to roll–I want the whole thing gone. Abolish this useless outta control gubmint travesty.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
Abolish the IRS NOW.
stukinIL4now on May 14, 2013 at 1:09 AM
Yeah, that oughta narrow it down…
Of course, how would someone “from the mormon church” know anything about Romney’s personal tax returns unless they were either leaking it or had it leaked to them.
So basically, you’re telling us nothing at all. “In all likelihood”
Well, I guess some things never really change.
There Goes the Neighborhood on May 14, 2013 at 10:42 AM
Resignations? Uh no, criminal indictments! Arrest the lying sobs.
oryguncon on May 14, 2013 at 1:02 PM