Rick Scott Makes Attack Video About Cara Jennings, Who Called Him an "Asshole" at Starbucks

On Tuesday, Cara Jennings called Florida Gov. Rick Scott an "asshole" to his face in a Gainesville Starbucks. His immediate reaction was to calmly walk away, as he should have. And that should have been the end of things.

But it wasn't. Rather than letting the criticism wash off his back, it turns out Scott's camp retreated to its sleek, hair-free lair to figure out a counterattack. 

In what was totally, definitely, absolutely not an act of self-conscious bullying, Scott's political action committee today released an inexplicable ad attacking the woman in question, Cara Jennings, calling her a "latte liberal" and straight-up insulting her for sitting in a Starbucks all day without working.  

Of course, he disabled the comments section. 

Deigning to attack a private citizen who dared to criticize him seems quite Trumpian. Was this a maneuver by Scott — possibly a sack of vampire bats covered in snakeskin — to position himself as Donald Trump's running mate?

Jennings is a former Lake Worth city commissioner, an avowed anarchist, and a political activist. In the original video, Jennings lambasted Scott for cutting health services for the poor and needy. 

"You are an asshole, Rick Scott!" she shouted. "Rich people like you don't know what to do when poor people like us need health services. You cut us. Shame on you. You are an embarrassment."

In today's ad, which lasts for roughly a minute, Scott's "Let's Get to Work" political action committee calls Jennings "terribly rude" before zooming in on her face and saying she "clearly has a problem."

"It turns out, she's a former government official who refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and calls herself an anarchist, but never mind about that," the narrator says. The video then claims Gainesville has added 9,300 jobs since Scott took office.

It then quotes Jennings. 

"A million jobs? Who here has a great job?" she asks.

"Well, almost everybody," the narrator responds. "Except those who are sitting around coffee shops, demanding public assistance, surfing the internet, and cursing at customers who come in."

We've reached out to Jennings for her reaction and will update if we hear back.  She posted the video on her Facebook page, saying: 

Hold on to your seats y'all....this just got crazy. The Governor's PAC appears to have put out a video about me. So, if you call out the Governor you get the power of his PAC coming after you. Anyone see a problem with this power equation?