Stunner: Charlie Crist May Break His Oft-Repated Vow And Quit The Party

The deuce you say! But I heard him say ten times he would never run as an independent!

Check out the AP's headline, which casts Crist's self-serving, vow-breaking decision as a heroic stance against DC insiders:

Ignoring DC pressure, Crist mulls independent run

"Ignoring pressure" from the DC establishment? Affirming his "independent" integrity? And here I thought it was just because he was getting his lightweight ass kicked up and down the Florida panhandle.

Thanks, AP, for setting me right!

Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday he may quit his GOP primary race and run for the Senate as an independent, his once-promising career threatened by fast-rising conservative opposition.

After weeks of insisting he would stay in the Aug. 24 primary, Crist told The Associated Press in a phone interview he intends to be "very, very thoughtful and deliberate" as he makes up his mind. The governor trails conservative rival Marco Rubio by double-digit margins in public polls after holding a huge lead at the outset.

The race is being closely watched nationally as a test of the strength of the tea party movement vs. more moderate Republicans. Rubio rose from obscurity to a favorite among conservatives with strong support from tea party activists. Crist, a moderate leader in one of the nation's largest states, had been considered a potential GOP presidential or vice presidential nominee.

For a long time, liberals have insisted that it is conservatives' social positions that make them extreme and unpalatable. And I include David Frum and Kathleen Parker types as "liberals" there -- I keep hearing this claim that if only we'd jettison the social cons, our party would no longer be racist and icky. The establishment media -- our country's self-appointed arbiters of permissible political thought -- have assured us that it's not fiscal conservatism they find extreme, just that awful Bible-humping social type.

Apparently not, because the AP sets up a distinction between the fiscally-animated Tea Partiers and "more moderate" Republicans.

You'd almost think they despise us -- all of us -- and are simply attempting to create wedges between us or something.

Crist said he intends to listen to Florida residents as he decides his political future. He must make up his mind by the April 30 deadline to get on the ballot...

Yes, he'll be listening to "Florida residents," and certainly not his paid pollsters and political consultants.

He's doing this for you.

As with his best bud Obama -- you ought to be thanking him.

McCain: I Won't Support Crist If He Jumps Independent: "I support Republicans."

He says that now, but if Hayworth starts outpolling him I suspect he might go a little Maverick as regards his promises.

posted by Ace at 04:00 PM

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