Facing criticism that his voter reforms and refusal to extend early voting hours lead to Florida's election debacle on Tuesday, Rick Scott told a radio station today, "Well, I'm very comfortable that the right thing happened."
Hmm, let's just check the definitions of "right" from Merriam-Webster.
Well, here's the first definition:
being in accordance with what is just, good, or properConsidering some Floridians waited for hours in line just to cast a ballot, and voting continued into the early hours of the next morning, that can't be what Scott means at all. Only a sociopath would think that's "just, good, or proper."
Let's try another definition:
of, adhering to, or constituted by the Right especially in politicsHmm, maybe that's what he means.
Granted, the results weren't very Right: Obama likely won the state, Bill Nelson was reelected to the Senate, two of the most controversial Republican congressmen in the state were ousted, Democrats gained seats in both houses of the Florida legislature, and most of amendments placed on the ballot by Republican legislators were shot down.
But Scott and those same Republican legislators were responsible for passing a law that cut the number of early voting days from 14 to 8. Those additional voting days could have eased congestion at the polls on voting day, and the decision was attacked as an attempt at "voter suppression" by Democrats since their party tends to dominate early voting.
Scott could have extended early voting hours, as Charlie Crist did in 2008, but refused to do so.
So in essence the Right thing happened. It just didn't quite have the effects the Right wanted. (Though, we imagine a few Republicans who won in close state legislator races could still be thankful.)
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