Crush Liberalism

Charlie Crist is both a liar and a fool

How is he a liar?  Voila:

On Fox News: 3/28/10

WALLACE: …have been persistent rumors in Florida that you are so far behind, at least currently, in the polls…that you may run instead as an independent. Here is your chance to dispel all the rumors. Are you willing to pledge right here, right now that you will run in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and not run as an independent?

CRIST: I’m running as a Republican.

WALLACE: So are you ruling out that you will file as an independent by the April 30th deadline?

CRIST: That’s right. That’s right. I’m running as a Republican.

WALLACE: You will run not for a governor — you’ll run for Senate, and you will run as a — in the Republican primary.

CRIST: I’m running as a Republican.

WALLACE: Will you support the winner of the GOP primary, whether it’s you or Marco Rubio?

CRIST: Of course I will.

WALLACE: Well, I’m going to get — I’m going to — I’ll give you an opportunity for a final statement. I just want to say, though, you are saying you are going to run in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. You will not run on the no party affiliation line.

CRIST: That’s right. That’s right. That’s what I’m saying.

How is he a fool?  Voila:

Voters are strategic. Remember the New Jersey governor’s race? Independent Christopher Daggett was polling at 10%, but only got 5.8% on Election Day. There’s a reason for that. American elections are winner take all, which makes it very difficult for third parties to thrive. Once voters catch wind that a vote for a third party candidate is a waste, they’ll bail on that candidate. This suggests that Crist is going to have to “defeat” either Marco Rubio or Kendrick Meek prior to Election Day. Now, how do you suppose he’s going to do that? He hasn’t been able to defeat Rubio yet. That means he will have to nullify Meek. I’m skeptical he’ll be able to do that. As an African American, Meek can expect strong support from the roughly 14% of the electorate that is black. That’s one big problem. Another big problem is that Crist will first have to get the Democratic Party establishment to get behind him, and the White House is refusing to take his calls. With good reason. They’re banking that Crist will siphon off just enough votes from Rubio to elect Meek. And anyway, with Roland Burris leaving the upper chamber next year, there might not be a single African American Senator in the 112th Congress. Can the Democratic establishment really turn its back on Meek – for Charlie Crist of all people? No way!
…
Ask people you know in life and they’ll complain about politicians who are only out for themselves, who aren’t looking out for the interests of the people. And now here comes good old Charlie Crist, who just a few weeks ago swore off an Independent run. This is a dishonest and nakedly self-interested move, and voters are fed up with this kind of behavior. The only compelling motivation that Charlie Crist has to run as an Independent is so that Charlie Crist can stay in elective office. That is not good enough in a year like 2010. Crist should take a lesson from Arlen Specter, a 30-year veteran of Pennsylvania statewide politics who pulled a similar stunt. He isn’t polling above 43% in the RCP average. That’s the kind of year this is.

…Instead, he is about to piss off every Republican in the country, and he’s not going to win over the affections of the Democrats, who clearly sense an opportunity to get one of their own into the seat.

More:

Crist has now been tempted into a desperation move. As Democratic consultant Steve Schale points out, Crist can win 25 percent of Republicans (highly improbable), 25 percent of Democrats (ditto) and 60 percent of independents (dream on), and still get only 31 percent of the vote, not enough to win. He’ll try to run against the system, a difficult trick when you occupy the governor’s mansion and your only objection to the system is that it no longer serves your purposes.

He saw an obscure poll that put him 2% ahead of Rubio in a three-way race, and it gave him the faintest glimmer of hope that his personal ambition could still be fulfilled.  But if he thinks he will get 1/4 of Democrats to abandon Obama’s lap dog Meek, and if he thinks the teachers union will support him over the Democrat, then that tanning bed has fried his gourd more than I thought.

Oh, well.  At least he’s got the Citrus-American voting bloc sewn up.

May 4, 2010 Posted by crushliberalism | Charlie Crist, Florida, Marco Rubio, shameful | Leave a Comment