Crowley Political Report

Sometimes you wonder if Florida Governor Rick Scott believes he will self-destruct if he acutually answers a question that is asked of him. Perhaps, as a kid, Scott was haunted by an early episode of the Star Trek series.

Captian Kirk was trying to defeat a human-looking computer named "Norman" by confusing it.

 KIRK: "Everything Harry Mudd tells you is a lie. Remember that! Everything Mudd  tells you is a lie!"

MUDD: "Now listen to this carefully, Norman: I AM LYING!"

NORMAN: "You say you are lying, but if everything you say is a lie then you are telling the truth, but you cannot tell the truth because everything you say is a lie, but... you lie, you tell the truth, but you cannot for you ... Illogical! Illogical! Please explain! You are Human! Only Humans can explain their behavior! Please explain!"

Norman than blows all his circuits.

One can picture young Rick sitting in front of his black and white television vowing that he will never be trapped like that computer.

It may be the most generous explanation for why Scott seems so deeply unwilling to answer most questions directly. He is clearly terrified that a direct answer to a question could cause him to self destruct just like Norman.

The only problem is that Scott is not a computer and he risks self-destruction from his non-answers. It has gotten so bad that his lastest series of non-answer, answers were featured on CNN Ridculist. 

Scott was asked about the presence of uniformed Hillsoborough County sheriff's deputies at a  Scott campaign event last week. Florida law forbids on-duty, uniform wearing cops from being at campaign events. Some officers apparently believed they were at an official function for the governor and not a campaign event.

The video below shows how Scott danced away from questions about the event in a way that made him look - well, ridiculous. Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times compared Scott to SIRI.

Video of Scott's performance was already making the rounds, pushed cheerfully by Florida Democats and the Charlie Crist campaign, before CNN's Anderson Cooper made it a national story. 

Scott could have done himself a world of good had he answered the question about the deputies this way:

 If there was a misunderstanding that caused some officers not to know that it was campaign event, I apologize. I am deeply appreciative of the amazing support I have received from law enforcement, they do tremendous, good work for the citizens of Florida, and I promise them that I will continue to be stong supporter of law enforcement as the governor of this great state.

Instead, Scott did this:

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