Et Tu, Charlie?

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."

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