It’s Friday the thirteenth and just be glad that you don’t live in Florida or Texas where the governors of those states seem intent on a headlong race to the bottom. Meanwhile Mitt Romney went to the NAACP convention and managed to damn near get booed off the stage. But supposed that was his plan all along? And speaking of Magic Mitt, the more we learn about his secret business and money dealings, the less we know. And we sure won’t get any help from Magic Mitt.

Texas and Florida and the Race to the Bottom

A couple of weeks ago, Florida Governor Rick Scott took some time off from the ethnic cleansing of that state’s voting rolls to announce that Florida would “opt out” of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. That would mean that there are literally millions of Floridians who may not receive healthcare coverage or will be socked with bankrupting invoices should a catastrophic illness occur.

This would be the same Governor Scott who actually returned close to $2 billion in federal transportation money that was to be used to build a high speed rail system in Florida. Once again, if you live in Florida, you lose.

Not to be outdone, Governor Rick “Oops” Perry of Texas also announced that Texas would also opt out of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This is particularly bizarre given that Texas has the highest number of uninsured children in the entire country. But then again, bizarre is what Rick Perry does best.

Maya Angelou once said “if you listen long enough people will tell you who they are”. Rick Perry and Rick Scott are Teapublican darlings and they act in accordance with who they are and what their vision for this country would be if they could only seize full control.

Listen and learn.

Boo Mitt!

Mitt Romney spoke at the NAACP annual convention this week and pushed all the right buttons in his playbook. He announced that he would seek the repeal of the Affordable Care Act in his opening statements and managed to alienate even black Republicans by the time he was finished. Needless to say, his oration was met with multiple choruses of boos, hoots and catcalls.

Some commentators attributed this less than stellar performance by Magic Mitt as another sign of his being “tone deaf”. But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi may have gotten it right when she suggested that Mr. Romney intended to get booed.

On further thought, this might have been Mitt Romney’s “Sister Souljah” moment. Just as then candidate Bill Clinton thought that it was important to show that he could “stand up” to black people, Mitt Romney may have wanted to demonstrate to his Teapublican base that he could go into an entire arena full of black people and tell them what they needed to be told – whether they liked it or not.

This may not have exactly been an Academy Award winning performance. But it sure seems that Mitt got the job done.

Where in the World is Mitt’s Money?

During this past week Mitt Romney has continued to fend off questions about his millions that seem to be stashed all over the world, particularly in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Where else? We don’t know and we won’t know because being secretive is just one more squirrelly aspect of the Teapublican presumptive presidential candidate.

Now we learn that Magic Mitt remained as CEO of Bain Capital two years after he has asserted he left to “rescue” the Winter Olympics. “Rescue” is in quotes because the Winter Olympics in Utah were only successful due to a huge infusion of federal dollars, something that Mr. Romney would most certainly oppose today.

At the end of the day it probably doesn’t matter if he was engaged in day to day decisions during the two years that he said he was already in his emeritus post-Bain phase. But Mitt Romney and the truth seem to have only a nodding acquaintance at best.

When it comes to Mitt Romney, what we don’t know may be more important than what we know.

Have a great weekend!