Medicare

Florida Tea Party Leader: GOP Medicare Plan A 'Public Policy Nightmare'

Brian Beutler | June 20, 2011, 11:29AM

Tea Party protesters on Capitol Hill

South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson thinks the GOP budget -- and in particular its call to phase out Medicare and replace it with a marketplace for private insurance -- is a total disaster. He's saying that Republicans, including members in his sphere of influence like Rep. Allen West (R-FL), should back away from it.

In an email to fellow Tea Partiers last week, obtained by The Palm Beach Post, Wilkinson called the GOP plan a "public policy nightmare" that could trigger "huge Democratic wins in 2012," and prompt Republicans to blame the Tea Party for their losses.

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Paul Ryan

WATCH: Radio Host Cuts Off GOP Senate Candidate After He Dodges Questions On Ryan Budget

Benjy Sarlin | June 1, 2011, 1:26PM

Senate Candidate Mike Haridopolos (R-FL)

Mike Haridopolos, a Republican running for Senate in Florida, got so tangled up in answering a question the Paul Ryan budget in a radio interview that the host dropped his call mid-show.

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Jim Greer

Greer Apologizes To Obama For GOP Racism, Recants Critique Of Socialist Indoctrination School Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 14, 2010, 11:40AM

Former Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer

Florida's school children are getting a lesson in how the political winds affect the political backbone today. Last year, Jim Greer, then the chair of the Florida Republican Party, was happy to, as he says now, "placate the extremists who dominate" the GOP and publicly accuse President Obama of orchestrating a socialist plot by addressing the nation's public schools via video.

Today, he's apologizing for ever saying any such thing, and calling members of his former party racist.

It seems that after a year which saw Greer get booted from the GOP and disgraced by scandal, he's had a change of heart with it comes to the president using his office to encourage and inspire the nation's pupils. In a statement sent to Florida reporters today, Greer completely apologizes to Obama for slamming his 2009 speech. Greer says the vitriol he threw Obama's way -- and the national kerfuffle it caused -- was part of his efforts to appease the party's extremes. (What's more, Greer suggests that it's now the GOP that's promoting ugliness, saying that "many" Republicans "have racist views.")

Unlike last year, Greer says his kids are excited about hearing Obama's speech to schoolchildren today.

"My children and I look forward to the President's speech," Greer says.

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