The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

How Stupid Is Charlie Crist?

Posted on | April 19, 2010 | 54 Comments

Stupid enough to think he can get elected as an independent:

Top GOP officials in DC now believe it is a virtual certainty that FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will bolt the GOP and run instead as an independent, sources tell Hotline OnCall.
Over the weekend, Crist pulled TV advertisements that had been running in key markets, slamming ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R). Those ads, on which Crist spent close to $1.5M so far, were aimed at moving poll numbers that showed Crist losing badly.
In taking the ads down, top GOP officials have surmised both that Crist has made his decision to run as an independent, and that the attacks weren’t having an impact on the race.

Ed Morrissey:

Pulling the ads makes it look like Crist has come to some sort of decision — and we won’t have to wait much longer to see what it is. The filing deadline is eleven days away.

Charlie Crist: Making Arlen Specter Look Honorable by Comparison!

Remember who to thank for this debacle: John Cornyn and the treacherous bastards at the NRSC.

NOT ONE RED CENT!

UPDATE: Erick Erickson names names, identifying NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer as the “brains” behind the Crist campaign:

Remember: Rubio was already in the race and Jesmer convinced Crist to enter after Rubio was already in and raising money.

And now Crist won’t even return John Cornyn’s phone calls.

UPDATE II: Dan Riehl says “John Cornyn may be about to get something more painful from Charlie Crist than a back waxing.” Daniel Foster at NRO and John McCormack at Weekly Standard are also commenting. More at Memeorandum.

Rich Lowry lays out the case against Crist running as an independent, but my own opinion is that it would be a very good thing for Crist to run as an independent and get his ass kicked nine ways to Sunday  by Marco Rubio. Time to teach these RINO crapweasels a lesson they won’t ever forget. And just as soon as Arlen Specter beats Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary, Pat Toomey will teach Arlen the same lesson.

UPDATE III: Cassy Fiano:

The smart move [for Crist], in my opinion, would be to concede defeat with grace and then spend the next few years rebuilding himself. The NRSC and the GOP establishment still like Crist. They chose him over Marco Rubio, after all. They don’t want him to leave the GOP; that tells me that even if he loses to Marco Rubio, if he does it in the right way he could still possibly have a home in the Republican Party.

No, Cassy, we don’t want Crist to make the “smart move.” He’s been stuck on stupid ever since he (literally) embraced Obama, and what we want now is for Sorry Charlie to implode like the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, a flaming gasbag of ludicrous self-pitying outrage. If Crist goes independent and gets stomped, he will become an embarrassment, a laughingstock, a spectacular example of what happens to elitist Republicans who think they’re better than the people who elect them.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Election, Florida, Marco Rubio, Republicans, Senate

Comments

54 Responses to “How Stupid Is Charlie Crist?”

  1. DaveP.
    April 20th, 2010 @ 6:38 am

    “Crist… will likely pick up 55-60% of the Republican vote as well…”

    Dude… pass the bong.

  2. DaveP.
    April 20th, 2010 @ 1:38 am

    “Crist… will likely pick up 55-60% of the Republican vote as well…”

    Dude… pass the bong.

  3. Slartibartfast
    April 20th, 2010 @ 2:33 pm

    He’s not going to win a three-way race with a Democrat and a popular Republican governor running as an independent. It ain’t going to happen.

    Crist’s popularity is in a slow decline. Whether his latest action slows down the decline or speeds it up is uncertain.

    The truth of it is, the teacher’s unions succeeded in spinning the bill to make it look as if teachers could be fired based on student’s test scores, when in reality what it actually proposed was making test scores, specifically progress in test scores, part of the teacher’s evaluation. It also made them fireable.

    Basically it made teachers as answerable to their employers as the rest of us are. If Rubio picks the right line of attack against Crist, he’ll do well. If not, perhaps not.

    Meek…few have even heard of him yet. It’s interesting that Democrats would say they would vote for him, but don’t know enough to approve, according to Quinnipiac. It’s almost as if Democrats are as ideologically motivated as they say Republicans are.

    To confidently assert that Rubio would be third to Meek is just absurd. The numbers aren’t there to support it.

  4. Slartibartfast
    April 20th, 2010 @ 9:33 am

    He’s not going to win a three-way race with a Democrat and a popular Republican governor running as an independent. It ain’t going to happen.

    Crist’s popularity is in a slow decline. Whether his latest action slows down the decline or speeds it up is uncertain.

    The truth of it is, the teacher’s unions succeeded in spinning the bill to make it look as if teachers could be fired based on student’s test scores, when in reality what it actually proposed was making test scores, specifically progress in test scores, part of the teacher’s evaluation. It also made them fireable.

    Basically it made teachers as answerable to their employers as the rest of us are. If Rubio picks the right line of attack against Crist, he’ll do well. If not, perhaps not.

    Meek…few have even heard of him yet. It’s interesting that Democrats would say they would vote for him, but don’t know enough to approve, according to Quinnipiac. It’s almost as if Democrats are as ideologically motivated as they say Republicans are.

    To confidently assert that Rubio would be third to Meek is just absurd. The numbers aren’t there to support it.