Charlie Crist: Man of no substance
Charlie "Flipper" Crist's history of fickleness on so many issues -- offshore oil drilling, abortion, taxes, gay marriage, you name it -- clearly shows he is someone lacking a moral compass who cannot be trusted in the U.S. Senate -- on either side of the aisle.
It is widely known amongst Sunshine State voters that Charlie Crist has long been a prince of pandering, a professional politician of shifting values and murky principles depending on who he's talking to at the moment and which political seat he happens to covet at the time. This chameleon-like talent is no doubt why Crist has proven himself to be a consummate fund raiser and accounts for his longevity as a political survivor.
Thus, void of deeply-held beliefs, throughout his career Charlie Crist has been able to say and do whatever it takes to keep the poll numbers high and the campaign cash coming in.
However, in the Summer of 2009 a funny thing happened to "rock-solid" republican Crist on his way to the United States Senate. A conservative challenger with little name recognition and scant campaign funding turned a 30-point polling deficit to Crist into a 30-point lead -- with no sign of it slacking before the August 2010 primary election. Former State House Speaker Marco Rubio offered Floridians a real, no-nonsense conservative alternative to Crist and they enthusiastically responded.
Character counts -- but not to Crist
Now mind you, a principled candidate, faced with certain defeat, would either honorably battle to the end or graciously concede and aid his like-minded political adversary to win the senate seat for conservatism in November. That is what a principled candidate would do.
As everyone now knows, opportunist candidate Crist did neither. He turned his back on his own political party that helped him win previous elections and endorsed his senate candidacy, his loyal constituents who gave him the governorship, and his extremely generous but gullible campaign donors to run as an "Independent."
The Democrat Party is giddy with delight because their two candidates, Obama zombie Kendrick Meek and billionaire windbag Jeff Greene, have literally no chance to win the senate seat. Democrats are now actively supporting and working with the Crist campaign to deny the seat to conservative Rubio. Needless to say, Charlie Crist -- an accomplished maestro of misrepresentation -- has welcomed the Left with open arms (and an open wallet) and expanded his mutational repertoire of conservative to moderate to now include progressive. Whatever it takes.
Opportunistic betrayal
Although Charlie Crist's untrustworthiness and flip-flops over the years have been well-documented elsewhere, it is what follows that exemplifies the betrayal felt by so many Floridians. A reply by one of his former supporters in response to a Crist campaign email was published at the Red State blog on June 5.
In it, Crist's tripe-filled request for a donation included "As you now know our campaign is about putting people ahead of politics. We are all tired of the same old excuses and politics as usual." All of it was a bit much for Patricia Campion who responded:
Dear Mr. Crist,
Thank you for the well wishes on the start of my summer and for the update on your visit to the panhandle with your wife to visit "fishermen, restaurant and shop owners, Veterans and tourists who had come to visit our great state." Yes, the Oil Spill is a threat, not only to our environment but to the livelyhoods of many and I agree that it is important for us to come together to face the challenges it presents. However, although your approach to leadership here in Florida bears a striking similarity to that of our president for our entire country, I am not sure how you can believe that joining forces with Barack Obama will accomplish this goal... or anything else, for that matter.
You tell me that you "have and will continue to do" all that you can to "protect our beautiful state and navigate us through the challenges ahead." Yet, like our president, you seem to be doing little more than talk and it is disturbing to see you standing with him against Bobby Jindal, another Governor, who (unlike you) is actually trying to DO something to protect his state.
That is the back of your head in this photo, isn't it... Isn't that you, shoulder to shoulder with the man standing in the way of Mr. Jindal's efforts to protect his beautiful state and navigate his people through the challenges? And how exactly did your trip to Louisiana for a photo-op with the president prevent oil from approaching OUR shores and tar-balls from washing up on OUR beaches in Florida during your absence? I mean, if you truly meant that your "campaign is about putting people over politics," why are you not standing next to Mr. Jindal (a fellow Governor) to prove it? If your campaign was truly about "putting people over politics," why did you abandon the Republican Party and all of the "people" who supported and believed in you in a blatant and insulting effort to nothing more than preserve (and ascend) your position on the ladder of "politics?" To me, this photo speaks volumes.
It is visual and disappointing evidence of precisely which side you really stand on when it comes to your choices between people and politics and judging by your poll numbers, I am not the only one looking at you from this perspective. Yes, Mr. Crist, your campaign does have "powerful and extremist forces aligned against it." We are called Floridians. We are, "your constituents" and to us, you are not making efforts to "change" and "break the partisan gridlock gripping Washington today." You are emulating it...practicing the art and bringing its destructive consequences right here to our state.
In spite of it all, I truly do wish you and your wife all the best and also hope that your summer is off to a great start and that you had a wonderful Memorial Day as well. However, in light of all things written above, and the many questions raised by your relationship to (and the recent arrest of) Jim Greer, the man you "hand picked" as our Republican Chairman, I cannot give you my "continued support." I will be voting for Mr. Rubio. Yes, I know he isn't perfect either. But you've had your chance to make good on your campaign promises. Almost four years to be exact. But during that time I have lived with the ever increasing pressure of your poor budget decisions, suffered the burdens added to that weight by your support of our president's bad (not to mention, extremely unpopular) fiscal judgment calls and I watched you go on national television to insult me and support I gave you back when you told me you were a Republican. You actually stood there in front of the cameras and the people who voted for you, who believed in you and you changed parties as if it were just another designer jacket for you to wear in hope of furthering your career in politics.
And I saw this...
I think that's when it all started, my disappointment in you, I mean. And if I am not mistaken, that's about the same time your poll numbers began to slip. I don't know what guidance your sister Margaret (your campaign manager) is giving you but she is either steering you off in the wrong direction or you are getting lost willingly. But it's all good. Like most Americans (especially these days), I like facing reality, even when it isn't what I want to see. Like when I voted for you almost 4 years ago (and like those who voted for Barack Obama), I am learning from my mistakes and this makes me smarter, wiser, more equipped to make better decisions in the future. So, it is for your part in my continued education in the world of politics as usual, I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart and not from the bottom of my wallet.
Sincerely,
Patricia Tolson Campion
Florida
America is already suffering under a regime whose leader camouflages his lack of executive experience through photo-ops. Florida doesn't need the bargain bin version as a Senator. Flipper has turned southpaw and now must remain so.
According to Larry Thornberry in The American Spectator, further evidence that Crist's leftward lurch is permanent is that he's stocking his campaign with operatives from the Left. Last week Washington-based political strategy firm SKD Knickerbocker came on board. SKD is headed up by Anita Dunn, former Obama White House communications director, the one who made news by admitting that she found political inspiration from Mao Tse-tung.
Last week Crist also announced that his media team will be led by Josh Isay, who formerly worked for liberal New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Isay has worked for other political switch-artists, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.
Charlie Crist simply can't afford to let people know who he really is and what, if anything, he really stands for. If he did, he knows he'd be looking for work.
Hype and Chains for 117 more days.