DeSantis flips bird at GOPe in CPAC speech

Conservatives discovered a new champion in Orlando today. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke at CPAC's convention and figuratively flipped the bird at the Republican establishment.

DeSantis said, "Florida's leading on the issues that matter to conservatives, we don't spout hollow rhetoric, we take decisive action. And what's true in Florida it's true for conservatives across the nation. We cannot. We will not go back to the days of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear."

His words perked the ears of 75 million Americans.

His actions are louder.

CPAC fled Washington for Orlando because his state is not on lockdown. Plus there are not 20,000 National Guardsmen patrolling the streets.

He said, "We are in an oasis of freedom in a nation that’s suffering from the yoke of oppressive lockdowns. We look around in other parts of our country, and in far too many places, we see schools closed, businesses shuttered and lives destroyed. And while so many governors over the last year kept locking people down, Florida lifted people up."

DeSantis has taken a lot of heat from the papers. The Miami Herald is a shoo-in for another Pulitzer with its editorials bashing his refusal to panic in a pandemic.

An April 12, 2020, editorial -- "We’re looking like ‘Flori-duh’ again, Gov. DeSantis. Any idea how that happened?" -- began, "You know what Florida really needs right now?

"A governor.

"But in Ron DeSantis, Florida, at this most challenging time of the corona virus, has a hesitant leader who continues to split the baby; a man who we would like to think is acting against his better judgment, perhaps, for political favor, but to the detriment of the rest of us."

I believe "split the baby" refers to King Solomon. Two women claimed the same child was hers. The king said, OK, we will split the baby and give each of you half. Only one of the women was horrified, thereby revealing herself to be the true mother.

Well, I would not go so far as to say he was King Solomon, but he is not Granny-killing Cuomo.

And DeSantis refuses to be another Jeb! who caters to the press.

While the Miami Herald was bashing him in its clumsy way last April, Fox reported, "Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pulled no punches against the media on Wednesday for its hostile coverage of his handling of the corona virus in his state.

"Speaking to reporters alongside Vice President Mike Pence, DeSantis touted Florida's improving data, citing Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House corona virus task force, who called it the 'absolutely best data' among every state in the country.

" 'So any insinuation otherwise is just typical, partisan narrative trying to be spun and part of the reason is that you've got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York,' DeSantis scolded the reporters. 'Wait two weeks, Florida is going to be next. Just like Italy, wait two weeks.' Well hell, we're eight weeks away from that and it hasn't happened!' "

Nearly a year later, Florida is still safer than New York.

Words matter. DeSantis is pretty good with them. He's gruff. I like gruff. Actions matter more. DeSantis kept Florida open and prevailed. His stellar handling of covid 19 is a conservative triumph over the liberal overreach that actually killed people, including thousands of people in nursing homes.

His state also handled the election well. He told CPAC, "Florida has also led and continues to lead on ensuring the integrity of our elections. On election night by midnight, the state of Florida had counted, tabulated, and put out 11 million votes."

I am not touting DeSantis. But he gets what the fight is and he seems willing to fight the good fight.

He told CPAC, "When the left comes after you, will you stay strong? Or will you fall? [When] you engage in the battles said, hold the line. Stand your ground and don’t ever, ever back down."

There are other candidates out there and of course, there is an outside chance that President Emeritus Donald Trump will seek another term at age 78. But today, DeSantis flipped the GOPe the bird and that delighted me.