Politicians being assholes is nothing new. In fact, at this point we’ve pretty much come to expect it. ‘Asshole’ is almost a term of endearment. If our politicians are just assholes and not also war criminals and corrupt corporatists, it’s actually a rare surprise.
In America, there seems to be a kind of paralysis when it comes to publicly heckling and lambasting elected officials. When the population of Iceland learned from the Panama Papers that its Prime Minister was involved in shady bank dealings, they feverishly protested in massive numbers until he resigned in disgrace. Now they want the entire government to resign. We have protests in America, of course, and some people get pretty worked up — but, by and large, Americans don’t verbally abuse their elected officials in a public space. Once someone gets in office, we leave the pitchforks at home — except for Cara Jennings.
Last week, Jennings became a working class hero when a video of her screaming at Florida Governor Rick Scott went viral.
In the video, Cara is seen at Starbucks, minding her own business. Then Rick Scott enters and Cara lets loose.
“You cut Medicaid, so I couldn’t get Obamacare,” Jennings yelled, silencing everyone in the coffee shop. “You’re an asshole! You don’t care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here.”
Scott tries to be magnanimous, responding that he created a million jobs.
Cara retorts, “Where? Who here has a great job?”
“You should,” Scott responds.
“You stripped women of access to public healthcare,” Jennings continues. Then, as Scott and his coterie flee the coffee shop, she yells, “We depend on those services. Rich people like you don’t know what to do! When poorer people like us need services you cut them. Shame on you Rick Scott! You’re an embarrassment to our state!”
The video spread across the internet like wildfire. Perhaps as a result, the Scott administration felt like they needed to respond and control the fire. For some inexplicable reason, their response was to pour more gasoline on the fire.
On Friday, the Rick Scott political action committee released a 60 second attack ad assassinating Cara Jenning’s character and defending Scott’s record.
The video calls her a “terribly rude person” who “clearly has a problem,” and then claims Jennings is a former government official who refused to recite the pledge of allegiance and identifies as an anarchist.
The video displays a Google graphic of the area surrounding the Starbucks and asserts Governor Scott is responsible for the creation of 9,300 jobs there. It concludes by answering Cara’s question regarding who has a job.
“Everybody,” the video says, “except those who are sitting around coffee shops, demanding public assistance, surfing the Internet and cursing at customers who come in.”
But Jennings had the last word. In an MSNBC interview, she explained her anger as simply as possible:
“He had a very politician, typical politician reaction. He lied.”
We tip our hats to you, Cara Jennings. Hopefully, your actions will inspire others to speak loudly and forcefully against corrupt politicians.
This article (Florida Governor Uses Office To Bully Constituent For Calling Him A**hole) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Jake Anderson and theAntiMedia.org
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