Gov. Charlie Crist Leaves Tallahassee and Moves to Some Place Called 'Da Nile'

Exhibit A from the St. Pete Times:

"All in all, I think it's been a good year — a good year in challenging times," Crist said. "These are tough times. It sure hasn't been dull, to say the least, by any stretch."

If Good Time Charlie thinks it's been a good year he sure hasn't been hanging out in Florida.

Lets review:

He miscalculated the danger of his "man hug" with President Barack Obama in support of the Democrats' stimulus package. He signed a no-new taxes pledge only to raise taxes weeks later to balance the state budget. And the biggest contributor in his campaign for U.S. Senate, Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, was charged in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Speaking of that stimulus package that Crist supported and then denied that he supported and then denied that he denied supporting, what has Florida gotten out Crist's great big ol' man hug?

When Crist took office in 2007, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent — less than a third of what it is now as more than 1 million Floridians can't find work. One in every 705 Florida homes was in foreclosure when he took office. Now the foreclosure rate is 1 of 165, according to RealtyTrac data service. (emphais added)

Even Crist's staunchest critics say many of Florida's woes are largely beyond his control. But they question whether Crist did what he could when he could. When the economy deteriorated, Crist paid visits to regional unemployment centers and held roundtable discussions with veterans and real estate agents, but he didn't propose and implement specific policies to halt the tide of foreclosures and layoffs. (emphasis added)

Crist has put his vastly unpopular "green policies" on the back burner but he himself admits that it is only a temporary move. He is currently touting "light rail" as his signature program. Apparently he is unaware that government backed railroad transportation has had a long history of abject failure.

Most damaging for Crist is the perception that Crist really doesn't stand for anything and that he is one of those politicians who sticks his finger in the air in order to determine the direction of the political winds. Consider this:

Newly married to New York socialite and businesswoman Carole Rome, Crist spent the days just before 2009 hunting for Christmas gifts in the rural North Florida antique mecca of Havana. There Crist ran into a local who paid him such a compliment that he pulled a reporter aside and made her repeat it. (emphasis added)

"I believe he's a closet Democrat," Shirley Aaron said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Crist said. "We have, in Florida, Republicans and Democrats and independents, but we're all Floridians first."

If Crist knew or cared about the profound ideological differences between the two political parties he wouldn't feel complimented by being called a closet Democrat. But for Crist, ideology is only skin deep and can be easily shed when it no longer suits Crist's needs.

Now that Crist has tanked in the polls, he is trying make up his lost ground but pretending that everything is just fine in Florida won't get him very far. Come the August primary Florida voters will be voting on whether they believe things are just fine and who they will trust to represent them. I don't expect that a year from now Crist will be sounding as enthusiastic as he is trying to sound now.

Cross posted at Carol's Closet

Cornyn to conservatives: Screw you!

The NRSC Chairman says it is not "realistic" to try to elect conservatives to the Senate:

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), suggested that conservatives need to have a more realistic sense of which races are winnable and with which candidates.
"Folks on the right . . . have to yield to the world as it is and not necessarily how they wish it would be," Cornyn told Reuters for a story about centrist Rep. Mike Castle's (R) bid for Senate next year in Delaware.

But Florida is not Delaware, is it, Senator? With 2010 shaping up as a good year for Republicans, the candidate with the "R" beside his name is a contender, and in every single race where the NRSC's influence has been exercised, it has favored bland "moderates" like Castle, a worthless fossil from the Gerald Ford era.

It's the same deal in California and Florida, and also in Nevada, where the "establishment" candidate is the former GOP state chairwoman whose chief achievement is running the state party into the ground. By backing the failed politics and failed politicians of yesterday, the NRSC is forfeiting the future.

Will Charlie Fall Down, Go Boom?

As we rush head-long into what appears to be a “Harry Christmas”, it seems the worm is turning in Florida’s U.S. Senate race. To wit:

In a move that may deal a significant blow to the governor’s campaign, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart have pulled their endorsement of Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Crist’s poll numbers have been slipping badly.

"We take our endorsements seriously, but the governor knows why we withdrew and he left us with no alternative,' Lincoln Diaz-Balart said.

There is heavy speculation that they are unhappy with a number of Crist’s recent policy decisions and a suggestion that Crist would be weak on Cuban policy. That last bit is a huge issue in South Florida. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has represented Florida's 21st District since 1992, which at 71%, has the highest Latino population in the state. Mario Rubio has represented the 25th District, with a 67% Latino population, since 1992.

For the moment, at least, it seems the Diaz-Balart brothers have no intention of officially throwing their support behind Crist’s primary challenger, former Florida State House Speaker Marco Rubio, who has been gaining steam among conservatives. But you have to wonder whether publicly retracting support for Crist amounts to the same thing.

Via Memeorandum

Posted by No Sheeples Here

Plant City Tea Party Gives Marco Rubio a Rousing Welcome

An enthusiastic crowd met in Plant City today to listen to Willie Lawson of BlogTalk Radio, Dr, Gonzalez-Orthopedic Surgeon and Marco Rubio, who will be facing Gov. Charlie Crist in the Republican primary race for the US Senate.

Lawson, active in the local Tea Party, warmed the crowd up and Dr. Gonzalez spoke passionately about the need to stop the Democrats from passing their version of health care reform. The crowd broke out in cheers when Dr. Gonzalez reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders had withdrawn his "single payer" amendment today after Sen. Tom Coburn forced a reading of the 767 page amendment. Both speakers noted the importance of voting for a conservative candidate rather than a "Dem lite" in the August Republican primary. There were no names mentioned but it was clear that Rubio was considered the conservative candidate.

Rubio received a standing ovation when he took the stage. His message of personal and fiscal responsibility plays well across Florida and particularly resonates in Plant City, a small mostly rural community. After speaking, Rubio mingled with crowd answering questions and having his picture taken.

No one in this crowd was surprised that Rubio had tied Crist in the most recent Rasmussen poll-he was obviously their choice.

Cross posted at Carol's Closet

RINO in Our Sights!

Marco Rubio ties Charley Crist in Rasmussen Poll.

And even more importantly, the Rasmussen poll highlights a fact the GOP must face: with the "tea party" independent conservatives, they lose.  EVERY time.  It.s time for Michael Steel to admit this.  It's time for John Cornyn to admit this.  It's time for Pete Sessions to admit this.  And it's time for them to start steering the GOP that way...

RUBIO TIED!

Via Ace.

Tied at 43%.

There's a lesson here for the NRSC. Something about pearls before swine.

At this rate, Crist might be Scozzafavaed by March of next year. One can only hope, at least.

David Frum called, he was crying about a big tent or something.

Richard Viguerie rejects GOP 'litmus test' proposal and slams . . . Karl Rove?

Few men alive have done more to build the American conservative movement than direct-mail fundraising pioneer Richard Viguerie. In recent years, Viguerie has applied his Old School savvy to New Media, with major online and e-mail operations. Obviously, he's not afraid to be controversial in the blogosphere:

While well intentioned, the litmus test proposal would do little to solve the two fundamental problems within the Republican Party: bad leadership and conservative acquiescence to bad leadership.
RINOs such as Dede Scozzafava and Florida Governor Charlie Crist aren’t the real issue. Scozzafava, Crist, and others who rightly deserve the “RINO” tag are merely an annoyance. Besides irritating their fellow Republicans with their liberalism, RINOs haven’t really had a great deal of impact on the direction of Republican party policies over the past decade.
The current Republican leadership has consistently supported our national slide to socialism. I’m talking about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and the leading architect of Republican endorsed socialist-statism, former Bush White House political advisor Karl Rove. . . .
National conservatives who want to fix the Republican Party shouldn't waste their time forcing symbolic litmus test votes on the Republican National Committee. Instead, they should consider focusing their considerable energies on solving the real problem. Now is the time to put new leaders at the helm of the House, the Senate, the RNC, the NRCC, and the NRSC.
A litmus test is only as good as the character of the person who endorses it. It's easy for professional politicians to say they support something in order to pass a test that gives them access to campaign cash. The more important test is true devotion to the limited government principles embodied in our Constitution. . . .

Read the whole thing. Whether you agree or disagree, Viguerie is not a man whose opinions can be taken lightly.

Is McCain On the Skids in Arizona?

Rasmussen says maybe...

Aisle-crossing, camera-hungry sucker out of touch with Republican values, Arizona voters say.

The self-styled GOP moderate and failed presidential candidate unsuccessfully relied on his reputation as a 'bipartisan' maverick who went against his party's lead, particularly on social and judicial issues, to draw independent voters. He has also drawn criticism for describing the GOP base as 'racists' over their demands for control of illegal immigration. Now he is polling just 3% above J.D. Hayworth, who has not yet even officially declared his candidacy.

Hayworth, a conservative former U.S. congressman who now is a popular radio talk show host in Phoenix, is reportedly interested in the race but has not formally declared for it. He captures 59% of the male GOP vote, while McCain wins 58% of female voters.

Younger GOP voters like Hayworth more than their elders. McCain has a solid lead among the relatively small number of moderate and liberal Republicans in the state while Hayworth picks up a plurality (48%) of conservatives. Over 61% of Arizona Republicans believe McCain has lost touch with their and the GOP's values.

Charlie Crist Trying to Heat Things Up in Florida

The Crist/Rubio match up in Florida is heating up with the arrival of new campaign manager Eric Eikenberg in the Crist camp.

Via Memeorandum, the National Journal's On Call reports that the Crist campaign is going on the offensive, challenging Rubio's "failure to advance some conservative causes while leading the state House, for spending excessively while in the Speaker's office and for dragging his feet on immigration legislation that many Republicans favored."

Eikenberg said, ""Over the last five to six months, the governor has been focused on governing and our opponent's been running around the state because he doesn't have an office," Eikenberg said.
Meanwhile, Rubio "has had five to six months of the ability to go around and say whatever he'd like, and that's now changing."

The Rubio campaign responded by requesting debates between Rubio and Crist with the first suggested date of December 17. In a letter to Eikenberg yesterday, Rubio adviser Pat Shortridge pointed out that Rubio had challenged Crist to a series of debates earlier this year, saying "At that time, Marco acknowledged the differences that exist between him and Governor Crist on issues like wasteful stimulus spending that has failed to create jobs, cap-and-trade, property tax reform, judicial appointments, property insurance and a struggling Florida economy that has seen unemployment rise to a 34-year high. Marco expressed his belief that several debates would help bring these and other differences to light. Unfortunately, Governor Crist has shown no interest in debating Marco thus far."

Rubio has closed the gap to just a 15 point lead in the latest Qunnipiac poll, down from an earlier 29 point lead. Rubio continues to pound Crist in straw polls all over the state, the most recent by the Republican Club of South Sarasota County in which Rubio tops Crist 70.2% to 16.5%.

Eikenberg formerly served for four years as chief of staff to former Republican Congressman Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale and has recently served as Crist's gubernatorial chief of staff. Eikenberg speaks of “Charlie Crist’s brand of common-sense conservatism," but I don't think that's the kind of conservatism we need in the Senate. I don't think Florida really thinks so, either. If common-sense conservatism means supporting Obama's Stimulus plan, for one thing, well, no thanks. Charlie's support of cap and trade is "common sense"? Nope, again.

According to The Buzz, Rubio isn't worried about the addition of Eikenberg to the Crist team. Rubio supporters point to his work on the campaigns for both Clay Shaw and George LeMieux. They both lost.

(Cross posted at And So it Goes in Shreveport)

Why do some “Republicans” hate grassroots Conservatives?

Cross posted at The DaleyGator

Excuse me for asking but it does seem that a good many of the GOP establishment, including some “Conservative” columnists have a certain disdain for the average, everyday American who dare to get too acvtive in politics. The latest example comes from David Frum via Wizbang. Frum opines doom and destruction for the GOP in this piece.

The Republican fratricide in the November 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010. In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship — but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well.

Hmmm, I guess Frum forgets that the “Republican” rejected was a Liberal, a Liberal who ended up endorsing the Democrat? Would we really be better off with a Democrat in Republican clothing? Frum also misses the point about why Consrvatives rose up against Scozzafava and for Doug Hoffman in NY23.

We did so because we, unlike elitists like Frum, beieve in our principles. We do not believe in sacrificing our ideals just to elect an”R” who will stab us in the back, and vote along Liberal lines. But, Frum continues his scolding of the Conservatives, who are, accroding to him to stupid to know what is good for them. He is aghast that a Conservative, Marco Rubio, who is opposing Chaelie Crist for one of Florida’s senate seat is getting support from Conservatives.

But here’s the most important unasked question raised by the enthusiasm for Rubio among Washington conservatives: What alternative policy should have been adopted back in the spring, when interest rates had been cut to almost zero and the economy was still collapsing? Are vague bromides about big government anything like an adequate response to the worst economic crisis experienced by any American under age 80?

The great free-market economist Milton Friedman argued that the right policy in the 1930s was a bank rescue — but the bank bailouts (begun under a Republican president, lest we forget) are even more unpopular among conservatives than Obama’s stimulus.

A few days ago, I was talking to a roomful of young conservatives about the crisis. All agreed in denouncing both the bank bailouts done under TARP and the stimulus. I asked: OK fine, what was the alternative?

There was a short pause, and then somebody laughed: “I guess it’s lucky that we weren’t in power.”

First of all, Mr. Frum, I think your “quote? is BS! I would be surprised if you did not embellish, or even fabricate it. But, I really want to focus on your orgasmic support of the stimulus package. Are you sure Mr. Frum, that you are a Conservative? Because Conservative have principles sir. We actually believe in things like the Constitution, in the founding principles. Do you? You do know the Founders would be against this reckless spending orgy?

One more thing Mr. Frum, you are aware, I hope anyway, that Gov. Crist and Rubio are BOTH Republicans? They are both vying for the Republican nod to run against a Democrat for that crucial senate seat? Why would you seek to tell Florida Republicans that they must not have a voice in deciding WHICH Republican they nominate?

If Crist gets the nod, I am sure he will get support from Conservatives, we just happen to prefer Rubio. Why does that bother you so? Again I ask, WHY do people like you show such disgust for Conservatives who try to take a more active role in politics?

Perhaps you just think we should know our place? Just support anything with an “R” by its name? Just shut up and do what the elites tell us? Tell me how did THAT work out in 2008? Hmmmm

It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy

Via Memeorandum

Gee, it can't be a good thing when a picture of a tipped tank is used to illustrate a politician's career, but hey, in this case, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

According to FitNews.Com Sen. Lindsey Graham's popularity is tanking in South Carolina. He's not only losing the confidence of Republican voters, he's also in a freefall with the all important Independent voters. Pardon me for a moment while I snicker.

Graham served in the House from 1995 to 2003 when he moved on to the Senate. At some point during the last fourteen years he decided as an incumbent he was a) in like Flynn and as a result b) his constituents could go to Hell. Apparently, his constituents disagree.

FitNews:

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s public support is collapsing in South Carolina – driven by a wholesale revolt among the GOP electorate and a steady erosion of his support amongst independents.

Already consistently loathed by a solid third of GOP voters, Graham’s recent leftward bent – including his co-authoring of a controversial “Cap & Tax” proposal supported by President Barack Obama and liberal Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) – has him locked in a “terminal free fall,” according one prominent Republican consultant.

“A chunk of the GOP has always detested him, but in the last month a damn has broken,” said the consultant, who was granted anonymity to discuss the impact of two recent polls that were conducted in South Carolina (one allegedly by Graham’s own advisors). “More Republicans now oppose Sen. Graham than support him. Independents are also deserting him in huge numbers.”

So who is backing Graham? According to FITS, he's being back by the Truman National Security Project a liberal front group aimed at training “progressives” in their efforts to co-opt the debate over national security, which is typically one of the GOP’s bread-and-butter issues.

What a coincidence. Charlie Crist, who Graham endorsed, also has "progressive" donors. Usually, people donate to a candidate because the donor and the candidate share an ideology. Sometimes the donor expects something from the candidate in return. And, of course, sometimes the donor and the candidate share an ideology AND the donor believes that they will receive something in return. I smell RINO.

Just recently I've taken to including a small picture of pink flip flops to symbolize Crist on my posts relating to him. My bet is that Graham will be doing a flip flop of his own soon. Maybe I can find a green pair for Graham to symbolize his support for Cap & Trade.

Perfect!

Cross posted at Carol's Closet

Michael Steele Intimidates Whitey!

"I've walked into the room and some white Republicans have been scared of me."

...and Erkel mugged Bernard Goetz.

FUN FACTS ABOUT MICHAEL STEELE:

When Chuck Norris heard Michael Steele was a big fan, his dick shrank a full quarter of an inch out of sheer embarrassment.

When Sarah Palin sings karaoke, Michael Steele hits the high notes for her.

When a two-bit rapper told Michael Steele the GOP was a racist party, he forgot to mention that whole "freeing the slaves/breaking the Voting Rights Act filibuster' thing... oh, wait, that's not made up...

When Michael Steele heard about Dick Cheney's "Night of the Cougar-man" hooker rampage, he went out and bought an anime cat-girl costume.

When his Democratic senate race opponent's campaign dressed him up as a minstrel, he just took it rather than marching an angry mob on their office... oh, wait, that's not made up either.

Got any more fun facts about Michael Steele? Post them here!

UPDATE: When the Boy Scouts heard Michael Steele wanted to address this year's Jamboree, they hired back three gay scoutmasters to protect them...