Governor Jim Florio

Floria Was A Good Governor Who Was Slandered By The Right Wing (4.00 / 2)

Democrats STILL haven't learned the lesson of how Florio lost that last campaign.

Right wing hate radio WABC and especially Bob Grant, the hatemeister of the day spent thousands  of hours of airtime for MONTHS before election day lying about Florio's record and engaging in hateful ad hominem.

Florio's campaign never directly forcefully confronted and rebutted the poisonous propaganda....and, as I recall,  he lost in a fairly close race.

NJ would be a much better place to live now had Jim Florio wiped the floor with these right wing fanatics....and he would have set a template for the future that would have changed the equation at the national level.

It's too late to change the past.....but unless we progressives finally figure out that the opposition needs to be confronted directly and FORCEFULLY with a sane rational and loving rebuttal of equal and/or GREATER emotional intensity...the bullies, haters, fearmongers and greedy sociopaths  will continue to win.....and yes, it can be done in a loving manner.  ;-)

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by: Nick Lento @ Sat Apr 02, 2011 at 18:02:02 PM UTC

He was vilified.. (4.00 / 2)

..by the right for raising revenues to clean up the fiscal and environmental mess left by Tom Kean (Republican-style "shared sacrifice" is nothing new).

Lest we forget, after eight years of Tom Kean it was nearly impossible to walk on a beach at the Jersey Shore without encountering all manner of trash and slop, including hypodermic needles and sewage. In my book Florio's crowning achievement was cleaning up the beaches.

Blog: Pick's Place

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by: jeffpickens @ Sat Apr 02, 2011 at 18:14:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Florio was a victim of three things (4.00 / 1)

Repeal of the fairness doctrine in 1988, which led to the birth of 101.5.  The recession of the early 90s.  And his prickly, at timed hauty, personality.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Sat Apr 02, 2011 at 20:23:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Flori-O...sorry for the typo there... n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: Nick Lento @ Sat Apr 02, 2011 at 18:04:02 PM UTC