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ICYMI: Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board: Rick Scott Disgraces Himself and Embarrasses Florida
This week, after a violent insurrection at the US Capitol that was incited by the president and his followers, Rick Scott made the disgraceful decision to vote against certifying Pennsylvania’s election results. In response, the Tampa Bay Times editorial board published a piece that highlighted this and noted that his vote along with 6 other Republican Senators “was a craven, self-serving exercise by Republican extremists,” and “showed how far out of whack Scott is with mainstream America and its democratic ideals.”
Tampa Bay Times: Sen. Rick Scott Disgraces Himself and Embarrasses Florida
Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board | January 7, 2020
KEY EXCERPTS:
- In a disgusting though unsurprising move, Scott was one of only seven senators Thursday to vote against certifying Pennsylvania’s election results. It was a craven, self-serving exercise by Republican extremists. Coming only hours after an armed, pro-Trump mob stormed and ransacked the Capitol, it showed how far out of whack Scott is with mainstream America and its democratic ideals.
Congressional Republicans had no legitimate reason or legal grounds to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and certainly no constitutional role in stealing the election after-the-fact. - The objections that Republicans manufactured in advance of Wednesday’s joint session of Congress were as dangerous as they were dubious.
- In all, Trump and his allies filed 62 lawsuits in state and federal courts seeking to overturn results in states the president lost. The obvious lack of evidence made this entire congressional escapade a farce.
- Even South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a reliable Trump supporter, called the move to delay certification “a uniquely bad idea” and dismissed the conspiracy theory that thousands of people had voted illegally. “They said 66,000 people in Georgia under 18 voted. I said, ‘(Show) me 10.’ I hadn’t gotten one,”… “I don’t buy this,” Graham said. “Enough is enough.”
- Scott and the 12 Florida Republicans in the House disgraced the Sunshine State with a vote that inspires a violent fringe and treats their own constituents as fools.