Tipsheet

FL Gov Race: Monkey Business Tangles DeSantis Early, But Media, Democrats Are Overreacting (Again)

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  August 30, 2018 6:45 PM

Well, it took less than 12 hours for the Florida gubernatorial race to go off the hinges. GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis and Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won their respective primaries, but DeSantis landed himself in a bit of trouble with the political correctness police saying about his opponent's agenda, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That's not going to be good for Florida." You can see how this was going to turn out. The Left went ballistic and as they've done for over a year, they're overreacting. Don't get me wrong, DeSantis probably should have chosen his words more carefully, not because what he said was racist--that's an overreach--but because the media will perceive them as such, siphoning time he could be using to attack Gillum's left wing policies (via NBC News):

Andrew Gillum, the black Democratic nominee for governor in Florida, said Wednesday that it was "clear" his GOP rival "is going to join Donald Trump in the swamp" after Ron DeSantis said in a television interview that the state should not "monkey this up" by electing Gillum.

[…]

Gillum was responding to a comment DeSantis made in an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News when speaking about his newly minted general election rival, a progressive who won his party's nomination in an upset on Tuesday night.

"You know, he is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views and he's a charismatic candidate," DeSantis said. "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That's not going to be good for Florida."

Gillum said later that his opponent, who was met with fierce backlash for his remarks, was trying to divide voters in the state.

"We're better than this in Florida. I believe the congressman can be better than this. I regret that his mentor in politics is Donald Trump, but I do believe that voters of the state of Florida are going to reject the politics of division."


Cortney wrote about this earlier today as well. In the 2018 outrage era, saying "monkeying around," going apes**t, or white women selling burritos could earn you the misdirected hostility and rage of the unhinged Left. This trend, coupled with the elite liberal news bubble that does the bidding of Democrats only complicates things further over things that aren’t really a big deal. I don’t think DeSantis had race on his mind with these remarks, he’s said so himself amidst the backlash, but he should have known that left-wingers will take things to absurd heights, and because of that he should have been more careful. This is yet another case of something being overblown. Also, and Katie wrote about this today, scores of Democrats, including President Obama, have used the phrase "monkeying around." Are they racist? Let go back to former Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during the 2008 election. 

Remember when Biden said this in 2007? [emphasis mine]

Sen. Joseph Biden has launched his bid for the White House on the issue of Iraq…his campaign was sidetracked over race.

Like everybody these days Biden declared online, but it was old media that got him in trouble: Personal comments he made about another White House hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, recorded by a reporter for the New York Observer.

"I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and cleanand a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a story-book, man," Biden said.

Or when Reid said this in 2008 (via WaPo):

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) apologized... for referring to President Obama in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign as "light-skinned" and as having "no Negro dialect."

"I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words," Reid said in a statement. "I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans, for my improper comments."

Obama said in a statement that Reid called him about the matter ... "I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart," Obama said. "As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."

DeSantis’ remarks were grounded about the state of Florida, which could possibly be wrecked by Gillum’s far left agenda. Biden and Reid’s remarks were specifically geared towards Obama’s race—and could you imagine what would happen if DeSantis or any GOP members of Congress said that the then-Illinois Senator didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect.”

But remember Mr. Biden and Mr. Reid are Democrats; the rules don’t apply to them. We are stretching phrases to absurd limits to find a racial element where none exist. Gillum is articulate for his side. There’s nothing wrong to highlight that, as opposed to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a train wreck with her talking points. DeSantis might be in media hot water, but it doesn’t negate what this script was going to be. As Fox News' Chris Stirewalt noted last night, Florida’s gubernatorial race was going to be issue-free, filled with stupidity, though he didn't expect it to arrive at such a juncture this soon (less than 24 hours). DeSantis was going to call Gillum a socialist; Gillum was going to call DeSantis a racist. 

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So, should have DeSantis been a bit more careful for the sake of staying on message, yes. Is it still a stupid story? Also, yes. It just allowed the Gillum and DeSantis campaigns to, according to some, execute their general election plans all the more quickly in this contest. Still, it’s a discussion about race; brace yourselves for all the half-baked thought pieces from liberal publications on this minor trip up. Hey,maybe DeSantis is getting the gaffes out of the way early.