Mitch Perry
Amy Schumer isn’t the only major comic whose liberal schtick ended up alienating some Tampa residents who coughed up big money for a night’s entertainment.
In 2003 Bill Maher gave an eviscerating takedown of George W. Bush at the Straz Theatre (still known then simply as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center). It was just months after the “successful” invasion of Iraq. It was well before things went truly south for the U.S. and western forces there, and in our popular culture, seldom was heard a discouraging word about the fight, sold in part as addressing the wounds of 9/11.
A dozen or so people left the theater during Maher’s takedown. Although his attack on Bush wasn’t really anything new, it definitely alienated some of the citizens who had come out on a Friday night for a few laughs. Apparently they didn’t get HBO.
Meanwhile, Patrick Murphy and Marco Rubio finally engaged in their first one-on-one debate last night from Orlando. It was pretty good stuff, after moderator Jonathan Karl got finished asking all of his nationally based questions about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Actually, it wasn’t Karl’s fault. Like so many Democrats in Tampa Bay, Florida and around the nation, Murphy is trying to conflate Rubio with Trump on a daily basis.
So Murphy kept on bringing up Rubio’s refusal to disassociate himself from the GOP presidential nominee, though Rubio was certainly critical of him.
Some reporters say the “news” out of the debate was that, for the first time, Rubio said he would serve a full, six-year term, “God willing.” I’d argue Rubio’s declaration that the Florida presidential election results will not be “rigged,” was pretty newsworthy, since it’s important for fellow Republicans to denounce the idea that the general election results are already fixed.
I mean, if that’s going to happen, why even campaign for another three weeks?
In other news …
Retired Army general Stanley McChrystal was in Tampa yesterday, where he said the No. 1 vulnerability of the U.S. government in terms of international relations is our political divisions at home.
Tampa Republican state Rep. Dana Young is calling for the FDLE to investigate the Hillsborough County PTC, following revelations of questionable moves made last week by embattled executive director Kyle Cockream.
And the DCCC is rubbing it in when it comes to that whole dubious ad they produced where they photoshopped David Jolly into appearing with Donald Trump.
With three weeks to go, the majority of those polled in the Tampa City Council District 7 area admit to having no clue, but Republican Jim Davison is blowing away the field among those who can name a candidate in that race.
Tampa Bay area religious leaders are calling on Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober and Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe to stop prosecuting death penalty cases.
