This dude is a clown.

I once sent him a critical email, using my Mom’s Florida address. They simply put me on their mailing list and started pitching me for money.

And this clown may well be one of my senators next year.

Looks like another “Fiscal Conservative in Name Only”.

I assume the Republican Party of Florida gets taxpayer dollars? Otherwise this post doesn’t really make sense.

Might make sense for the IRS to inquire as to whether he reported this stuff as income. Maybe I’ll pass this along.

I think it’s pointing out that Rubio is willing to scam bucks from the R party, why wouldn’t he be just as willing to scam the taxpayers?

He talks the good game but refuses to practice it in an area where he could actually have gotten some positive mileage

“What will he tell his grandchildren?”

“Let’s work on the apphabet: I O K I Y A R”?

WTF? This young, reich-wing punk was ‘speaker of the house’ for the state legislature? We have a serious problem in America: good people with many years of experience and wisdom are not stepping up to take political office and take hold of government. The authoritarians have far too much power (as usual), but it’s obviously really out of control in many parts of the country.

“Rubio said Wednesday that he paid for all personal expenses billed to an American Express card given to him by the party to use from 2005 to 2008 when he left public office. The rest of the charges, he said, were legitimate party expenses.”

Though I am sure it is enjoyable to foam at the mouth, the situation the article describes is not uncommon as everyone that works knows. Sometimes companies ride on your credit, hence expense reports, and sometimes you ride on a companies credit, like company credit cards.

This is nothing, and if you looked at any political party that has corporate credit cards you will have the same story.

The only way this is a story is if he did not reimburse for the charges something the story does not charge.

Why am I not surprised? Pigs at the trough, one & all. If he’s willing to scam the Rs, then he’s got his trotter out for the corporatists to stuff his gob with lotsa $$$$$.

This is where I lose patience with the Tea Partiers. Why they are willing to countenance this unscrupulous behavior in “their own” really takes away their credibility.

These clowns are only “fiscal conservatives” when it comes down to ripping off the middle and lower classes. Otherwise, they’re quite willing to spend lavishly on themselves using someone else’s money… just ask Sarah Palin, oh she of the lavish shopping sprees, which Tea Partiers found some foolish way to justify. BAH

So what kind of car did he rent a Humvee Limo?

So did he pay the sales tax at the Apple Store? If not, did he pay the Use tax that most states say their residents owe them for purchasing goods out of state?

The avoidance of the sales tax could be bigger than Nanny-gate or Turbo Timmy.

Go Gettem Blue.

Yes Blackwater or another GOP company gets a government contract then Blackwater or another GOP company donates money to the GOP but there is no Quid for the Pro/s

Isn’t he an anti tax tea bagger? Given his spending habits isn’t he a bad Tea Bagger?

IOKYAR. What else is new?

How can you expect a self important person like Rubio to ride in a Cobalt. My God, the humanity!

Yes. Why yes, he is.

Bad Tea Bagger Bad Bad Tea Bagger!

The only way this is a story is if he did not reimburse for the charges something the story does not charge.

Wrong. This is a story because (a) the expenses were incurred while he was still in public office (i.e., was not an employee of the GOP) as the post says in the first part of the quoted matter; (2) he spent $2,000 more party money to rent a car for five weeks than was necessary, and (z) he doesn’t WORK FOR the party, he works for the people, and should be covering his expenses with the salary the people pay.

I wonder how happy donors to the GOP are when it comes to how loose the party is with their money!

Good point, Staggerlee.

A non-story leaked by Crist, who Rubio has ran out of the party. Basically, Rubio spent a little over $100,000 to raise over $12,000,000 for the GOP…

I think you are over looking the key point. He paid the money back on the personal items, not when the story broke but on a regular basis, and it was considered ok to do so. Do you really think that relationship is limited to the Florida GOP? If he failed to do that then it is unclaimed income and deserves all sorts of bad press. When that point is taken into account your points mean slightly less.

(a) If he incurred expenses for the GOP then the GOP should cover the expenses.

(2) Valid point, frugality is something businesses, governments, and most organizations are not known for.

(z) All politicians do political work for their parties, saying they all should cover the expenses of that work with their personal income would allow only the rich to server in public office.

I don’t know Rubio, he could be a saint or a felon for all I know, just this does not prove either. Your points have some validity to them, and it is similar to the house banking scandal of the early 1990.

Rubio said today that 89% of his card charges were for official business of the FL Rethug Party, which means only 11% was for his personal use. The next week or so is going to be interesting.

All politicians do political work for their parties, saying they all should cover the expenses of that work with their personal income would allow only the rich to server in public office.

I must disagree. It is one thing to raise money for a political campaign and draw money from those donations to support oneself and cover expenses while campaigning. It is something else entirely to ask (or expect, or allow) the party to pay for typical daily expenses (let alone exorbitant ones) after you’ve got the job – especially one that is, officially in Florida, listed as “part time.” Do you seriously believe the car he rented for five weeks was not used for personal as well as state business?

Yes, these are primarily ethical questions, rather than legal ones. But as Crist has today said:

“The people have a right to know how people spend their money, how they comport themselves, how they conduct themselves before they put themselves up for public office. That’s happened to the speaker. He apparently doesn’t like it. That’s too bad. Welcome to the NFL.”

Well, I’d like to say: “I’m shocked, shocked and dismayed!” But nothing, absolutely nothing, these hypocritical douche-bags do anymore generates more than a roll of my eyes….And a small roll at that. America needs to wake the fuck up and crush these brown shirt assholes like bugs or we get what we deserve.

But that’s always the problem. The man is running on a campaign that basically says the personal ethics of all other parties and candidates is insufficient and nonexistent, particularly when it comes to fiscal issues like spending and use of public money or money other than your OWN PERSONAL INCOME. And then he goes and highlights his OWN ethics iniquities by doing this?

It’s exactly the issue. If you don’t hold YOURSELF to higher ethical standards than you hold the people you claim to be better than, why should anyone have the faith in you to vote for you to execute the very ethical commitment you run on?

It’s like any person that campaigns on ‘family values’ and then ends up in a sex scandal three months later. If you want to claim a mantle of superiority by quality of action in ethical government behavior, YOU CAN’T COMMIT THE VERY ETHICAL FAILURES YOU DECRY IN OTHERS.

In short, if you want to be better than your opponent? You actually have to BE better than your opponent. You can’t simply be DIFFERENT than your opponent.

Those rhinestone-encrusted truck nuts are an expensive add-on at Hertz.