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Polls show that Florida Governor and senate candidate Charlie Crist is getting swamped by the challenger Marco Rubio. Crist's latest act ought to see him lose what little support he still has among Republicans. That latest act is Crist's veto of a bill that would have removed tenure rules for Florida public school teachers and instituted merit pay. I have blogged extensively on these issues within the context of public sector unions here. For all the reasons I set forth in that post, issues of public sector unions, tenure rules and teacher merit pay should be core issues of the Republican Party in 2010 and beyond. How any Republican - even the most nominal of Republicans - could possibly veto this bill is mind boggling. Dafydd at Big Lizards makes the case that Crist is eyeing a run as an independent and does not want to upset his new base. If so - and I think Dafydd is right - then it is an act of incredible political cynicism. The alternative is that Crist is a big government Democrat wearing only the moniker of Republican. In either event, as Dafydd concludes, "it's time for Charlie Crist to go."
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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4 comments:
I've been hearing Marco Rubio on radio interviews. The more I hear him speak the more I like him. Wish we had a few like him in California.
Crist has the endorsement of John McCain and, I believe, the Republican Senatorial Committee, headed by John Cornyn. If you want to waste your precious campaign donations, give them to the NRC (Michael Steele's buddies can get lap dances), the RSC, so they can support guys like Crist and Arlen Spector (remember 2008), or the NRCC (Republican congressional committee) who supported the lib in NY23 instead of Hoffman. Remember how when the Republican supported lib dropped out after realizing she had no chance, she endorsed the Dem running against Hoffman?
For my money, the smart play is to pick individual races and candidates and support them directly.
p.s.
Are you the Rose that used to comment regularly on Powerline? There were some excellent discussions back in the day.
I was watching Fox news when they had the "debate" between Rubio and Crist. Actually, I watched it twice. After I saw it in the morning, I sort of wrangled it so that my husband also watched it with me in the afternoon. With no input, I asked him his impressions. He said he liked the "old guy". The "young guy" was too slick - had an answer for everything. "What about the personal attacks by the old guy", I asked. Well, he replied, accusations about dishonesty need to be raised and answered.
I was surprised by his impressions. It doesn't really matter - we don't live in Florida, so there isn't much point in getting wrapped around the axle, but I was still surprised. Crist, it seemed to me, had answers for _nothing_. He sounded like a Democrat...lots of words, but no answers. Wallace did finally pin him to the wall and get a straight answer "No...I will not run as an independent" from him. Rubio had answers for nearly every question asked. The answers seemed to me to be knowledgeable, not slick, and fairly specific.
I'm guessing Crist lied, and he _will_ run as an independent. I do agree that Rubio needs to answer some of the questions raised about his finances, though.
I cannot speak for others, but trust me, I will not vote for Crist. If Florida's finances are not in a shambles, it is because of the (more than typical) common sense of its legislature, not because of that jackass.
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