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Pulling away from last week’s will-he-won’t-he-gasp-he-did Crist frenzy for just a sec, I got an e-mail yesterday from Democrat Jeff Greene‘s campaign, in which Greene reminds voters that he “took on Wall Street and won and will take on Washington and win for the people of Florida.”
In case you are like “what I thought they cast Shia LaBeouf in that,” a little backstory: Billionaire Greene is often noted for having bet against the housing market and making loads of money, while most people were selling their children’s kidneys.
I called up Paul Blank, press liason for Greene’s campaign and asked who, per se, lost if Jeff Greene won? “Wall Street,” Blank said. Right, but “Wall Street” is not really a person or a
tangible thing unless we are talking, of course, about the road.
Perhaps Wall Street was the vehicle through which money was gained and
lost? So voters lost to this Street character at the same time Greene
won. Hmm.
From Greene’s official website:
Described as “gutsy” and “one of those rare people who smelled trouble
in housing when times were flush,” Jeff had the courage to take on Wall
Street, make bold investments and had success beyond his wildest dreams
– it’s called the American dream…
Blank
says, “Jeff didn’t make one penny from any Floridians losing their
homes. It’s Congressman Meek and the career politicians in Washington
who watched and did nothing. That’s my whole point. It’s a fact!”
The e-mail, titled “The reviews are in,” was a rebuke to rival Kendrick Meek‘s
e-mail, in which Meek quoted a bunch of news sources that discussed
Greene’s awkwardly-gained riches. Our favorite is the Salon bit, which
starts, “I don’t know too much about Jeff Greene, so I probably
shouldn’t call him a douchebag.”
Regardless of where Greene’s
new cash directly came from, I don’t think it’s helping his campaign to
point just how clever or enlightened he was in his investments at a
time when the rest of us were flailing. And it’s not like his e-mail’s
other points are particularly strong: Florida’s unemployment rate went
up since 2003 “when Meek took office”? Yeah, buddy, I know. It’s called
the recession.
