Audiotape from the Dee Dee Hall video about Charlie Crist debuted on the Paul and Young Ron Show on 105.9 FM this morning. After it played, Paul Castronovo, who is all over the place these days (including Channel 10), said after it played, "This is intense." My segment -- which was interrrupted momentarily by an interview with John Leguizamo -- was pretty, um, hectic, as Paul likes to say. I would say their listenership skews Republican and just about every caller was like, "Who cares if he's gay?" Then we'd tussle. It was a good time.
A few FAQ:
Q: Why is this coming out just days before the election? A: Because that is when I acquired the information, the first bit of which came to me a few weeks ago from a Fort Lauderdale man with no known political ties who heard a first-hand account from a GOP staffer named Jason Wetherington at an intimate Fort Lauderdale dinner party. Then a close friend of Wetherington's called me and confirmed that Wetherington has been talking extensively of the alleged relationship. Both men, who are gay, said they were chiefly motivated by the Foley scandal to come forward.
Q: Is this an October surprise from the Democrats? A: Hell no. The new information and sworn statement was actually unearthed by people linked to the campaign of Crist's challenger in the GOP primary, Tom Gallagher. The Davis campaign is steering clear of the controversy.
Q: Who is Bruce Carlton Jordan, anyway? A: Jordan is a long-time friend of Republican Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris who she hired as her personal travel aide shortly after he was released from prison (the campaign denies that she was aware of his previous conviction on theft and forgery charges). Jordan, 42, has long-standing ties to Tallahassee, where he served for several years as executive director for the Florida Funeral Home Directors Association. He is also, according to several sources (and reported by the Miami Herald), a known friend of Charlie Crist, who denies remembering having met him despite the fact that Jordan convinced Crist to address a state funeral directors convention in Orlando in 2003 after Jeb Bush couldn't make it. On the Harris campaign, where Jordan has been described as a veritable mother hen to Harris who was with her almost non-stop while she traveled, he told witnesses -- one of whom is Dee Dee Hall -- of what he said was an ongoing romantic relationship with Crist. Crist denies this ever happened with his press secretary dismissing it as a "false story from a convicted felon."
Q: Is it fair to Charlie Crist to put this information out with no proof? A: I'll answer that with a question: Is it fair to voters to withhold evidence that Crist is lying about something so central to his being as his sexuality? Is if fair to keep them in the dark about an issue that could lead to a mammoth scandal if Crist is outed while he's in the governor's mansion?
After the jump: A Classic Miami Dolphin Goes Off On Nick Saban and Mark Foley: Action Star
-- I've been trying to give Nick Saban a break. My basic stance has been to give him one more year with the Dolphins and if they don't make the playoffs, dump him. But Bob Kuechenberg, the famed guard from the perfect 1972 team, let Saban have it in the Chicago Tribune. A couple of things he said to reporter John Mullin:
"I do not believe in this Dolphins team. They do not have a soul."
"If coaches could be impeached, he should be. He rewards people with things like firing his field general. What the message is that he's sending is that there's no such thing as loyalty. It's unconscionable and it's almost immoral."
That's tough stuff and Kuechenberg's got a point. Maybe Saban and the Dolphins do need a break from each other -- a permanent one. See how fickle the Pulp can be?
-- Andrew Marra writes in the Palm Beach Post about disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley's small role in a straight-to-DVD action movie called The Librarians. Yes, an action flick titled The Librarians. Surprised it's bad? The slogan: "The coolest team in South Beach is about to turn up the heat."
Did Micky Arison come up with that one or just a bad H-wood producer? Here's Foley's scene, as described by Marra:
... Foley is seen waiting in a black limo parked along a desolate wooded road. A Hummer pulls up, and his rescued daughter gets out. They embrace on the asphalt."I missed you so much," she tells him.
"I missed you too, baby," he says.
"There were a lot of bad men, Daddy."
"I know, but it's all over now. God, I love you."
He shakes hands with the rescuer, the head of the Librarians, as his aide hands over a cash-filled suitcase.
Foley asks if the man's team survived the rescue operation and frowns sympathetically when he learns a Librarian died.
"That's a small price to pay for a man's life," Foley says, indicating the money.
