The Florida Republican primary is starting to look like a Soviet show trial:
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist hasn’t done himself any political favors by feigning ignorance that President Obama was in his home state last month.
Desperately trying to distance himself from President Obama and his own early support for the administration’s stimulus in the midst of a competitive Senate primary, Crist told reporters that he had no clue that the president was in Florida./
But through a public records request, the St. Petersburg Times found his top aides were well-informed of the president’s visit and responded to the White House that the governor couldn’t attend.
Derelict
Crist is in a completely untenable situation. His own party’s extreme right wing is gunning for him, the party establishment has shown itself incapable of defending him, and he’s stuck with a track record of actual good governance on most matters.
In sum, he’s toast.
Alex S.
Yes, Crist is going down.
General Winfield Stuck
I like the sound of this. “unadulterated” conservative. That’s what they said about John Ensign too.
El Cid
In Florida, bags tea you !
DougJ
In Florida, bags tea you !
I like it.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I kind of feel bad for Charlie Crist. He seems like a decent enough guy and it’s a shame that there is no place in the Republican party for moderates like him.
John Cole
The problem is the Democrats have no one that I have heard of to run against either.
calipygian
If the Tea Baggers are smart (yes, yes, I know), they’d show just how tolerant they are by supporting Teh Ghey instead of going with Rubio.
John S.
And don’t forget that he is having to run away from one of his top fundraisers and allies – Scott Rothstein – who is in a lot of trouble right now with the FBI. In terms of local news, the Rothstein story is a fucking nuclear bomb here and it does not bode well for Crist at all.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, though. Crist had a lot of support in the state from Democrats and Independents, but the more he genuflects before the teabaggers the more he loses their support. And the teabaggers he is trying to win over would NEVER have voted for him anyway because they are all Doug Hoffman over Marco Rubio.
It’s definitely going to be interesting next year.
EvolutionaryDesign
This post title is all win
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@John Cole:
Congressman Kendrick Meek is a good candidate. I was impressed with his work for Democrats during the last election. He’s very good on tv.
arguingwithsignposts
Crist should pull a Specter. He’d probably trump whoever the dem challenger is and trounce the teabagger in the election. Better a bluedog than a teabagger (by just a hair).
Zifnab
@Derelict:
He could got the Full Specter and he might make it. The Democrats would love a guy as popular and well-respected as Crist on the ticket. And who are we running against the Republican slot?
I’m not really interested in another Nelson from Florida, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Rubio bite it, hard.
Perry Como
Florida: the only state with its own Fark tag.
Comrade Dread
Shorter Crist: President? What President? We have a President now? A black President? I don’t even know what the word President means…
The poor bastard still thinks he can appease the Palinites and the Becktards in his party.
He still doesn’t realize that these days that anyone to the left of the John Birch Society is a DFH Demonrat.
arguingwithsignposts
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: He’s supposedly polling very low at the moment. I’d be happy if Crist pulled a Specter and got beat by Meeks and then Meeks beat the teabagger. But I’d take Crist over the teabagger too.
John S.
Sorry John, but Kendrick Meek is a pretty common name down here and comes from a political family.
I don’t think he’s the greatest of candidates, but I believe he is the front runner for the moment.
Zifnab
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Hey, this guy doesn’t look half bad. How do we get such solid progressives and such crazy wingnuts out of the same state?
General Winfield Stuck
Who cares? It’s the mean bug eating the nice bug that’s entertaining.
calipygian
I can’t wait for Ron Paul’s son to run for Senate in KY:
“The Son Also Tea Bags”
Or for Eric Cantor to finally forcefully renounce his anti-Semitic allies:
“A Farewell to Tea Bags”
The NY-23 race could be compared to the GOP governor victories this year:
“To Tea Bag and Tea Bag Not”
“The Old Man and the Tea Bag: The McCain/Palin Story”
This is pretty fucking fun!
Leelee for Obama
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: I like Meek as well, and I think he’d take Rubio, but not Crist. There’s lots of tea-baggers here, it’s true, but Crist got the nomination in 2006 against one of their own, who had Jeb’s endorsement. Not everybody here is crazy from the heat.
John S.
Geography.
Most of South Florida and the metropolitan areas of the state (with the exception of Cuban strongholds in Miami) are heavily Democratic. The rest of the state is pretty rural and does a fairly good impression of the Bible Belt.
Leelee for Obama
@Zifnab: I’ve told you and told you-the progressives filter their water and wear shoes on the chemically treated grass.
Maybe now you’ll believe me.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@arguingwithsignposts: I wouldn’t mind it if Crist pulled a Specter.
noncarborundum
I wouldn’t be doing my pedantly duty if I didn’t take this opportunity to point out that the correct citation is “send not to know . . .”, not “ask not . . .”.
Midnight Marauder
I have been thoroughly enjoying the systematic implosion of Charlie Crist. Kos was right on the money when he noted that the picture of Crist embracing Obama onstage (back when he thought he could get away with supporting the stimulus, I suppose) was going to be his Kiss of Death. All it takes is a quick glance at that picture to get the teabaggers all riled up for another fun-filled ride of The Great Purges – 2k9 Edition.
In all honesty, I don’t see anything that Crist can do to right the ship. Even if he wasn’t increasingly drowning because of the Rothstein probe, he would still be doomed. The dynamics of the race are entirely stacked against him. And I’m sure there are more bombshells to sink Crist (ed. note: Like the whole transparently secret gay thing) lurking on the horizon.
It most definitely is going to be an interesting year, and by all means, teabaggers, eat that man alive.
Nom, nom, nom…delicious.
mai naem
I couldn’t care less about what happens to Charlie Crist or the Scozzfava lady. What I do care about is that all the non-wingnuts are either turning into Dems or Indies and changing the complexion of the Dems to more of a Republican wingnut lite party. I want the Dems to go further to the left not to the right.
gocart mozart
@arguingwithsignposts:
In Florida, Blue Dogs teabag themselves.
gocart mozart
@gocart mozart:
Why? Because they can.
Midnight Marauder
@mai naem:
So…actually, you do care what happens to Crist or Scozzafava.
gocart mozart
I was going to say that the Republicans will teabag Crist but that sounded vaguely sacreligious and I didn’t want to explain that joke to St Peter when I die. I’ll just say that Christ will be crucified.
Ailuridae
If there were a “wink-wink” progressive movement to get a wing nut to take out a “moderate” Republican to gain or preserve a Senate seat it would be best served in Delaware. I am not sure y’all caught the Colbert Report the other day but Castle (D-AL) is an immensely likable actual moderate (or with positions defined as moderate in the current structure) and has already had two run-ins with wingnuttia of the tea party variety. And Delaware’s Republican Party is very similar to the Republican Party of Upstate NY.
Demo Woman
Christ lied about his support. If he explained why he supported the stimulus, he would be viable.. Rubio is toast if someone asks him about privatizing Medicare. In fact Rubio is toast if they ask him anything. Mr. Rubio how do you feel about deregulating Wall Street? Mr. Rubio how do you feel about deregulating Health Insurance? Do you think that insurance companies should be able to set up shop on the Marianna Islands?
jwb
@Ailuridae: I’m sure rich dastardly progressives know how to spend their money wisely…
CalD
In all fairness, I think the same could be said of all primaries to a greater or lesser extent. Candidates in Democratic primaries are also pretty routinely called out (and called some pretty ugly names in the process) on fairly trivial departures from ideological orthodoxy. Right wing crazies don’t hold any patents on this practice. It’s really just a question of the degree.
Ian
Irrelevant what record Crist runs on. If Rubio was behind towards the primary he would go heavy on the “Crist is closet homosexual” rumors that have been around since Crist took office (ignoring the fact that he is married). These people do not even think gays should be allowed to visit their dying loved ones in the hospital, so its safe to assume that Rubio has his trump card.
This is looking better and better for Kendrick Meek (who I am a big fan of for his efforts regarding the 2000election and voter disenfranchisement)
Rosali
I’m sorry, but Crist is not welcome in *my* Democratic party. He’s out there saying that he will reject a second stimulus if there is one even though the state and local governments are facing severe cutbacks in services and mass layoffs of govt employees.
According to zillow.com, 48% of Fla homeowners are underwater on their mortgages. Unemployment is over 10%. We are facing a crisis and Crist wants to pander to teabaggers. F*ck him.
jwb
@Demo Woman: Naw, he’ll just divert the question and talk about real Merkins instead.
joe from Lowell
Charlie Crist, like John McCain before him, is a serious guy who brings a lot to the table. He’s not some airhead or blowhard, he’s a real political leader.
And like McCain, he’s being forced to make a fool of himself by the knuckledraggers in his party’s electorate.
toujoursdan
@Ian: Suddenly all married men are straight? Who will frequent the reststops?
Pug
Hey, this guy doesn’t look half bad. How do we get such solid progressives and such crazy wingnuts out of the same state?
For the answer to that question, visit W. Palm Beach and follow it up with a visit to Pensacola.
West Palm could be in Southern California, but they are crazier than Hell down there in Pensacola. They make Alabama look liberal by comparison.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Crist you know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are goin’
They’re gonna
crucifyteabag meAs someone else observed above, Crist backing off from Obama will kill him as he will lose Obama supporters over it and he has nothing to gain from trying to teabag the teabaggers.
Besides that, the teabaggers are the ones who do the teabagging.
feebog
Think about this for a moment; Crist is a Pol who was on McCain’s short list for VP. A year ago he was being touted as a potential nominee for President in 2012 or 2016. And now he is toast in a statewide race for the Senate after what most of us would, grudgingly, admit was a pretty sucessful term as Governer. Wow, the Republican party really is fucked.
Hob
Every time someone misspells Crist as Christ, it makes me wonder whether Erick Erickson is going to make the same mistake and urge teabaggers all over the country to protest Crist’s radical leftist moderationism by mailing him crucifixes.
gelfling545
Dear Gov. Crist:
Obama won your state. Think about it.
If you are must be defeated, at least go out with dignity.