Introducing South Florida's biggest hypocrite

Click to enlarge.

Consider these two individuals if you will:

One is a respected, hard-working political reporter who writes for the Miami Herald.

The other, is a resident of almost crime-free Pembroke Pines and a Federal Aviation Administration employee who blogs anonymously on government time. His blog is littered with the worst kind of left-wing hate speech imaginable.(Yes, liberals are capable of hate speech.) The rest of the time, this government employee/blogger visits the websites of local newspapers looking for content to steal.

The political reporter is Marc Caputo.

The blogger is someone who calls himself "Rick."

His blog is the South Florida Daily Blog. For those who don't know "Rick," he's the self-appointed gatekeeper of the South Florida blogosphere.

A few years ago "Rick" ran a widely-read blog called "Stuck on the Palmetto."

And then one day he posted a particularly homophobic comment that caught the attention of Bob Norman, who at the time worked at Broward/Palm Beach New Times:

Rick at Stuck on the Palmetto got going this morning with a rather rancid take on Michael Mayo's column in the Sun-Sentinel about the isolation of gay inmates at the Broward County Jail. His post on the column, illustrated with a bar of soap, ends thusly:

"Hey, if the guys wants to mix with general population, let them mix with general population. Better yet, before they transfer, let's give them some high heels, lipstick, pink tutus and a big, Costco-sized tub of Vaseline."

The notoriously thin-skinned "Rick" took exception to Norman's criticism and a pissing match ensued in the comments section below Norman's posts.

Pretty soon, "Rick" dropped a clue about his employer in one of his comments. Norman soon figured out what "Rick" did for a living and surmised that "Rick" was spewing a lot of his hate on government time.

So, "Rick," fearing that Norman was about to expose him, did what cowards and bullies always do when someone hits back: He shut down his blog and went into hiding.

(We all know what cockroaches do when someone turns on the lights.)

Here's what Norman wrote at the time:

A little background: Rick is/was probably the most active blogger in South Florida. He mines the newspapers and the larger Internet for his material and posts several times a day, illustrating just about every post. I'd say he averages three to four hours a day on it. Just an educated guess.

Everyone by now has gathered what line of work he's in, thanks to his bullhorning of an obscure jab that was tucked away in a comment on the Pulp. Now it's time for you to put two and two together. I've devoted half my career so far to exposing waste, corruption etc in government. So I'm not going to lie and say my eyebrows didn't raise a notch when I found out what Rick does for a living. It crossed my mind that all that Palmetto time might be better spent doing his actual job, which is not an unimportant one at all.

I barely gave it a second thought, though; this wasn't a job for Pulpman. His blog was decent and who knew how he juggled it with his job to make it happen. But when he started accusing me of bashing police and made himself out to be some avenging angel of law enforcement, it did irk me. It's the one issue Rick -- solid, middle American, mind-numbingly normal Rick -- gets totally irrational about. I knew why he was biased, but nobody else did. Basically I thought he should admit what line of work he was in, in general terms. We tussled about it a little in the past and I nudged the guy over the weekend. I thought it was harmless.

Fast forward to last Sunday.

In a post on his blog, "Rick" accused Miami Herald political writer Marc Caputo of being "Marco Rubio's wingman in Miami."

Rick ended his post with this:

Seems to me that it wouldn't take much time or effort for Didziulis or any other reporter with the time and resources to assemble a reporting portfolio that would clearly show Caputo's bias.

Which has to make one think of glass houses and stones, you know.

In a tweet last Saturday, "Rick" called Caputo, the Herald's "Republican hack."

Seriously, "Rick?" A "Republican hack?"

Here's "Republican hack" Marc Caputo, questioning Republican Rick Scott back in 2010 when Scott was running for governor. Listen closely as Caputo lobs one softball question after another at candidate Scott.

Need more proof that Caputo is a "Republican hack" and a Rubio "wingman?"

Watch this video from last October as Caputo peppers Sen. Rubio with questions about his friendship with David Rivera. At the time, Caputo wrote of the exchange: "Sen. Marco Rubio preferred to get rained on Monday than answer questions about a criminal investigation into his long-time friend and ally, Congressman David Rivera."

(Scroll down to the very bottom of this post to see more examples "Republican hack" Marc Caputo's "bias" when it comes to writing about Rubio.

And here's one of my faves. Watch as "Republican hack" Marc Caputo sends Herman Cain's handlers into panic mode in 2011 when he tries to get the Republican presidential candidate to share his thoughts on the "Cuban adjustment act" among other things.

Yesterday, I emailed Caputo the link to "Rick's" post and asked him if he'd seen it.

His response:

Judging by the appearance of the link, this is the guy who trolled me on Twitter. I blocked him. Someone gets blocked for being anonymous, false, stupid, hypocritical and a name-caller.

Interacting with people like this is like handling feces: no matter how clean you are, their stink clings to you if you deal with them.

So I haven't read the post. Nor will I. When I first got trolled a few weeks ago, I quickly scanned over the blog (which has about 200 readers). I saw what he's up to. He wants to drive traffic by making inflammatory remarks because he can't produce good content with original reporting.

In his post, "Rick" called Caputo "thin-skinned" for blocking him on Twitter.

A few years ago I had a little fun at "Rick's" expense after he wrote a post about a paintball attack on his car. Rather than leave a comment on my post, "Rick" sent me a whiny email asking "why don't you like me?" and "what it is I've ever done to deserve whole posts dedicated to making me look like an ass?" Remember, this comes from a guy who called Caputo, "thin-skinned"

So, "Rick"...here's some free advice. The next time you feel the need to call someone a "hack", you might want to do some basic research so that you get your facts straight and don't end up making a complete ass of yourself.

More advice: If  you're accusing someone of being thin-skinned, hypocritical and a "hack," you might want to make sure that, #1, you're not thin-skinned yourself, #2, you're not a hypocrite, and #3, you're not a "hack."

Ditto for impugning someone's ethics.

From where I sit, Rick, you're batting zero.

Now, go get your f**king shine box.

__________

Published in the St. Petersburg Times, March 9, 2010: Rubio's campaign image belies history of $250 million in pork requests.
__________

Rubio speaks out on turnpike deal 

Monday, April 7, 2008
by MARC CAPUTO, Herald staff writer

House Speaker Marco Rubio said Monday he used obscure budget language that helped a friend and blocked a $265 million turnpike deal due to concerns over the Department of Transportation's potentially "cozy" ties to "monopolistic" contractors. 
 
__________

Here's part of a 2009 Caputo story on Rubio, who after he left the speakership, got nice "consulting" contracts from two hospitals he steered money to. (Jackson and Miami Children's).

Lawmaker joins 2 others in web of lobbying ties

A state legislator, his wife and a former House speaker are all linked to hospital lobbying and consulting in two deals that are raising eyebrows. 

Monday, February 9, 2009 
by MARC CAPUTO, Herald staff writer

In a legislature where public votes and private profit can collide, one alliance stands out: the trio of Rep. Esteban "Steve" Bovo, his wife and former House Speaker Marco Rubio .

Bovo, a freshman Republican from Hialeah, is the in-house lobbyist for Miami Children's Hospital. He sits on a House budget committee that helps decide how much state money hospitals and healthcare providers in the state receive.

As Bovo was taking office in November, Rubio was leaving, due to term limits. Rubio took his top assistant -- Viviana Bovo, Bovo's wife -- with him to work at a new consulting -lobbying firm, Florida Strategic Consultants.

The company in December then scored two contracts worth $102,000 and $96,000 with Miami Children's and Jackson Memorial hospitals, respectively.
__________

And here's another Caputo puff-piece on Rubio from 2003 ...

LAWMAKERS SKIP OUT FOR MARLINS

Tuesday, October 28, 2003
by MARC CAPUTO, Herald staff writer

A handful of South Florida legislators missed what was hyped as one of the most important votes in state history last week as they watched the World Series live Thursday from the comfort of the Florida Marlins invitation-only owners' box.

The absence of the lawmakers went largely unnoticed until late Thursday night, when votes became critical as political trouble bedeviled one of the bills to create a South Florida branch of the Scripps Research Institute with $310 million from taxpayers.

Most prominent among those missing: Rep. Marco Rubio, the Coral Gables leader of the House Republicans, whose absence comes as he is courting the votes of fellow Republicans in his bid to become speaker in 2006. Also missing was Rep. Gaston Cantens, a one-time speaker candidate and current majority whip, whose duties include orchestrating floor votes.