Can Marijuana Help Rid American Politics Of Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

When she was a state Senator, Debbie Wasserman Schultz made a deal with the Republicans to gerrymander Florida in a way that was extremely advantageous to the GOP and gave them control of far more congressional seats than the statewide voting patterns would have predicted. But it was also very advantageous to-- you guessed it-- Debbie Wasserman Schultz (and some of her crooked cronies from both sides of the aisle in the state legislature). She drew her own district in southeastern Broward County and the northern Biscayne Bay shoreland of Miami Dade. This is how the D+18 FL-20 was described by non-partisan Almanac of American Politics:

Precinct by precinct, it's computer generated borders are drawn to include heavily Democratic and Jewish areas; while its large gay and lesbian community, Wilton Manors, trails only Provincetown, Massachusetts and Guerneville, California in its proportion of same-sex households.

One thing everyone who knows Wasserman Schultz's political career beyond the spin is that she has always been the ultimate political k'az'r, a crude Yiddish word for a greedy self-absorbed pig. By gobbling up so many more Democratic voters than she needed to even have a totally safe seat, she made neighboring Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18, R+4), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21, R+6), Clay Shaw (FL-22, D+4), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25, R+4) and Mark Foley (FL-16, R+2) much safer in seats that could have had far more Democratic voters-- voters Wasserman Schultz was hogging for herself.

Today, a decade later, another redistricting has altered the contours of her district. Now, FL-23, it is still a very safe blue seat with a PVI of D+8. Obama won it in 2012 with 62%. Wasserman Schultz won 63% against her own Republican opponent. Still Democratic, the district is now a minority-majority district and it's probably just a matter of time until Wasserman Schultz starts worrying about serious primary opponents. Some say she's considering a Senate run, which is pretty laughable since most Floridians outside her own district and outside the proverbial "smoke-filled back rooms" she operates in don't have any idea who she is. Yesterday, PPP released some polling that showed she would not fare well in any statewide races. Her favorability is pretty pathetic for anyone with any kind of ambitions beyond the sleazy deal-making that she's always specialized in. Asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of her, these were the results:

• favorable- 27%
• unfavorable- 32%
• not sure- 41%

She has lower favorables and higher unfavorables than war criminal and Tea Party psychopath Allen West-- and, when asked who they would vote for if the two ran against each other for an open Senate seat in 2016, Wasserman Schultz looks pathetic:

• Allen West- 41%
• Wasserman Schultz- 40%
• not sure- 19%

If Marco Rubio doesn't resign his Senate seat to run for vice president, Wasserman Schultz would have an even harder time running statewide. When asked who they would vote for in a head-to-head match up, voters prefer Rubio:

• Marco Rubio- 48%
• Wasserman Schultz- 40%
• not sure 12%

Things may soon get even worse for Wasserman Schultz, one of the only Democrats to vote against easing up on federal prosecutions against medical marijuana users in states where medical marijuana is already legal. Democratic Party super-donor, John Morgan, was so furious at Wasserman Schultz's idiotic remarks about medical marijuana that he was quoted in the Miami Herald that among "most-powerful players in Washington, D.C.… Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn’t just disliked, she’s despised. She’s an irritant."

Amendment 2, which seeks to legalize medical marijuana in Florida-- and which Wasserman Schultz loudly opposes-- is far more popular than she is. This was one of the questions in the PPP survey: "Amendment 2 would allow the medical use of marijuana for individuals with debilitating diseases as determined by a licensed Florida physician. If the election was today, would you vote for or against Amendment 2?"

• For- 66%
• Against- 25%
• Not Sure- 9%

Let's hope the Democrats can do better than running Debbie as their candidate in 2016. I would love to see Alan Grayson take on either Rubio or West or whomever the GOP decides to put up for a seat that should be a Democratic priority-- especially with Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket.