Gov. Rick Scott's trade mission to Spain this week has helped the Spaniards -- who are suffering with a depressed economy -- laugh out loud.

Newspapers and local television shows are howling at the exchange of greetings between King Juan Carlos and Scott, who was joined by his wife, Annette.

Here's how protocol and politics became parody.

Upon entering the King's office, Scott immediately asks the Spanish royalty about his hunting trip to Botswana, where the King injured his hip -- getting out of bed.

"I've ridden elephants. I've never tried to shoot one," Scott joked in shaking the King's hand.

The King seemed taken aback by the topic -- a sore subject for him in more ways than one. Not only did the King hurt himself physically on the trip but also politically. Spaniards were ticked that the King took such an expensive hunting trip at a time when the country is in such dire economic straits. About one in four Spaniards are unemployed.

Scott made matters worse when he continued to talk to the King about the Botswana trip by telling the story of his trip to the same African country.

On and on the conversation went -- much to the chagrin of the royalty in the room.

The King appears anything but comfortable in chatting about Scott's adventures in Botswana with his wife Annette.

The final punch line: Annette tells the King she wishes he had been in the jeep with them on their Botswana safari.

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File this under OUTRAGEOUS. Spain is an economy on the rocks, largely because of abuses in the mortgage sector that mirror South Florida-- and probably involve many of the same actors. Yet the Governor is taking to Spain on a business junket 69 members of "Enterprise Florida". No time like an economic crash to do a little prospecting.

Notable travelers who are being squired about Spain by Gov. Scott: the Fanjul billionaires who pollute the Everglades, deform democracy, and have gained vast wealth through a subsidized crop that puts public health at severe risk costing billions. (One of the points that Dr. David Servan-Schreiber notes, in his new book, "Anticancer: A New Way Of Life" -- see below -- is that cancer feeds on sugar.) At the very moment the Fanjuls and Governor Scott should be nailing down the details of the billion dollar water quality agreement with the US EPA, they're sailing off to Spain just like the former mayor of Miami-Dade County Alex Penelas vanished in Spain at the critical moment of the 2000 presidential recount. It's sickening.


(From) The Florida Current: Link

Gov. Rick Scott will head for Spain on Sunday evening for a five-day trip designed to promote Florida as a destination for Spanish businesses, as well as the Viva Florida 500 celebrations for the quincentennial of Ponce de Leon’s landing on Florida’s east coast.

Joining him will be a retinue of 69 staff members, business executives, lobbyists, Enterprise Florida board members and the Spanish general consulate.

According to Enterprise Florida, the state’s private-public economic development arm will pay for the governor and its members and staffers out of its private sector funds. The cost for others will be $1,000, although some state employees, including Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, will be on the airplane, meaning some state money will be spent.

Other notables on the trip include: Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad; Secretary of State Ken Detzner; Florida Chamber of Commerce executive vice president David Hart; Florida Crystals Corp. president and vice chairman Jose Fanjul (and his son, Jose Fanjul Jr., another Crystals executive); Hayden Dempsey, Enterprise Florida board member and lobbyist for the Tallahassee Greenberg Traurig firm; Dosal Tobacco Corp. CEO Yolanda Nader; Eric Silagy, Florida Power & Light CEO and Enterprise Florida board member.

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