Strong Endorsement: Charlie Crist over Nan Rich

I get that Nan Rich is more liberal, and she would have done a fine job as governor. (But to be fair, anyone with a small amount of concern for a Florida citizen would have done better than Rick.)

But here's something you also need to know: There is no way in hades that Nan Rich can beat Rick Scott.

Nan is behind in every.single. poll--and by a wide margin. Also consider that she is getting creamed without one dime being spent by anyone attacking her.

Our state is Democratic in the South, moderate in the middle, but solid GOP in the North--and Tea Party in the LA ("lower Alabama") region of the panhandle. Midterms are built for the GOP--turnout is heavy in the North and light in the South. There will also be no crossovers from light-right leaning moderates.

She will need a lot of money in a short amount of time. No way the Democrats will give her much money with that kind of polling. They will put limited resources elsewhere. She will also be completely ignored by the trial lawyers and corporations, who always back the likely winner. This race would go from toss-up to strong GOP overnight.

However, here's something Nan Rich is able to do and is doing right now: allow herself to be used by Rick Scott's campaign to smear Charlie Crist with his fake liberal group! This mystery group, calling itself "Progressive Choice Florida", sprang up a few months ago and is flush with cash. Naturally, it refuses to disclose donors.

It has run a ton of ads on black radio stations and media telling everyone that Crist is a closet racist, with the goal of keeping the black vote "light", (just in case all the voter suppression laws he passed isn't enough). Scott's campaign is pulling out all stops to keep the black vote under 90% this election, which they determined is the magic number for victory. Every one of these slimy attacks are coming from this fake group, supposedly because they have such strong love for Nan Rich, although their mailers and ads don't say one positive thing about her.

To be clear, Rick Scott has GOT to be defeated this November. If you are not inclined to vote for Charlie Crist in the general election, consider voting for no other reason than this:

The legislature passed a bill, signed by Scott, that said they will replace the three liberal justices by whomever wins the next gubernatorial election! The state Supreme Court has been the only branch stopping us from utter tea party madness. If you think Scott is bad now, wait until he has ALL THREE branches of government under his complete control--and no reelection to worry about.

Not to even mention that the NRA will continue to run Florida, students will be indoctrinated, citizens will continue to die over his refusal to expand healthcare in this state, and his cronies will build more F-rated charter schools in our state. More money will be taken out of helping poor, sick children and given to Scott's corporate buddies.

Our environment will continue to be choked: spring destruction, polluted beaches, and, for the first time ever under Rick Scott, fracking in the Everglades (which Rick Scott personally profited from. (Rick even used our now ruined environmental protection agency to to fraudulently defend this garbage.)

You can argue that Charlie is an opportunist. No, that would be Scott. Scott has reversed himself on several issues just this year and tried to make himself seem less evil. The difference is that Scott will fling himself back into full tea party throttle if he wins. Crist will be a Democrat. I know this because I noticed a change in him the last two years as governor: he embraced Obama, stopped an intrusive abortion law, and refused to scale back early voting. If Crist was really an opportunist, he would done the easy route and embraced the hate. He didn't, and his party hated him for it. I and many others, however, loved him for it. He finally lived up to his promise of putting people before party--or even before his own career.

As for me, if I was far behind in the polls as Rich has always been and only providing assistance to help Rick Scott, I would have dropped out long ago. Don't misunderstand, I am not calling for her to drop out. You have a choice for the primary to express your support for either one. I'll be glad that you voted. All I'm asking you to consider when you are in the booth is what will happen to our state if Rick Scott wins. Charlie is not just the best shot we have, he's really the only shot we have.

I would love if we had a preferential voting or other method that more reflected the will of the people: we'd have more participation and more robust elections. We don't, however. We use "first past the post", which means in the general election you really have only two choices: Scott or Charlie. If Charlie is our candidate, by not voting in the general to protest him not being our ideal candidate, you are doing exactly what the Scott campaign has fought so hard to do: disenfranchise. I beg you not to make that decision.

Breaking: Pigs Fly! I Fully Endorse Charlie Crist for Senate

This blog was started in 2006 as the official blog of the Seminole Democratic Party. I was very proud to carry the message. In 2007, however, I left because I didn't want to speak for anyone but me. Although my posts were never rejected or even edited, I can imagine that if I was still with them, this one most assuredly would be.

Going back to 2006, you can see that I had NO LOVE for Charlie Crist. This same blogger who has relentlessly attacked Crist for years is doing something that I never thought I would do.

I fully endorse and back Charlie Crist for Senate.

I think I have some explaining to do.

First, the why-nots:

Jeff Greene:
He is currently in the lead for the Democratic nomiation, if that means anything. He has 17% to Meek's 13%, while their opponenets are in the 30th percentile. Jeff Greene was a republican who decided to be a Democrat and enter this race after Meek's candidacy failed to catch on. He is quite a character: Mike Tyson was his best man at his wedding, ex-Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss lived in his guesthouse, and he made MILLIONS betting on the housing collapse that killed our economy. I join many of my fellow Dems in saying No Thank You.

Kendrick Meek:
Unlike Jeff Greene, I like Kendrick Meek. I like him a lot. More well-known Dems didn't join the Senate race because Dems and GOPers alike all assumed that Crist was a shoe-in. His was a long shot. Another long shot? Marco Rubio. At least Meek had a clear field to the general. Rubio actually thought he could take the nomination from the crowned prince of Crist?

But that is exactly what happened. The wealthy benefactors of the joke that is the teabag party told their members to rally behind the wingnut without question. The GOP establishment responded by trying to get Crist to go more wingnut, but it didn't work. Rubio overcame a huge deficit and surged ahead of Crist.

I brought this up with the founder of DailyKos when he was calling on Crist to run as a Dem or Indie long before his switch. At the time I was furious…why can’t a progressive website get behind the damn progressive?

But I think Kos was just less idealistic than I was. He knew what I learned…herding liberals is like herding cats. Although the virtue of this is obvious…we think for ourselves and never follow a cracked whip (we will never get behind Jeff Greene)…the downside is it makes it difficult to get real liberals elected.

On the other hand, teabaggers do what they are told. This is also why the GOP nominee for governor is going to be Rick Scott, a bona-fide criminal for crying out loud.

The numbers speak for themselves. Meek is stuck at 13%--even behind Greene. It has been many, many months and people still don't know him. It is obvious to everyone that he is not going to catch fire. In fact, billionaire Greene just started a massive media blitz attacking Meek over a development scandal. Meek cannot afford to respond. So those who don't know him will soon know the negatives. If anything, he will go further down. I strongly support MEEK for the primary, but bottom line, Meek will not be the next Senator.

WHY CRIST?
There are too many posts on my blog attacking Charlie Crist. Some of my posts attacking him even made our local paper. Just search “Crist” in the search block and see what I mean.

I have little respect for Crist as governor: He appointed cronies, he never had and still has no ideas on how to handle our state's numerous problesm, such as our outrageous deficit, our broken education system or the insurance crisis. Not only did he refuse to tackle the big issues, but when our state was drowing in red ink with no end in sight and we needed strong leadership the most, Crist decided to bail and escape to the Senate.

So why do I back him now?

I have several reasons, but first, the primary reason. We cannot afford Marco Rubio.

He is our own Sharon Angle and will wreak havoc not just on our state, but all the others as well. Between the two, I pick Crist every time.

Rubio is part of the culture of corruption that led to the self-imposed implosion of the Florida GOP that has already led to the arrest of former GOP chairman, Jim Greer.

But if you thought Greer's spending habits were bad, Rubio, who has the nerve to run as a "fiscal conservative", racked up over 100,000 on his personal GOP credit card. The IRS is still investigating his abuse of the credit cards for personal expenses without reporting or paying taxes on additional income.

Rubio released a statement saying that his expenses were for "legitimate political purposes." So I guess groceries, plane tickets for family, and a back wax constitute legitimate political purposes.

Reckless spending aside, Marco Rubio is a wingnut's wingnut.

Just like GOP nutcase Sharon Angle in Nevada, Rubio opposes Social Security and Medicare as he explained to Joe Scarbarough in this video. (Bonus—you can hear his rousing support for Glenn Beck).

Marco Rubio also proposes to spend trillions of dollars while overwhelmingly sending the benefits to the very, very rich. And we all know how well that strategy works.

We cannot, cannot, cannot afford this extremist teabagging idiot to be our representative in the US Senate.


But a full-throated endorsement deserves something a little better than the lessor of two evils.

First off, I believe Crist will caucus with the Democrats. The GOP has burned their bridge with Charlie, going so far as to insult him openly and even hock his official portrait on ebay. Good riddance.

However, more importantly, I do believe that what made Crist an awful governor will make him a decent Senator. If you know anything about Crist, you know that he is the most colossal panderer in politics today. When Obama was riding high after the election, Crist embraced him and supported the stimulus. When the harder times came and Crist was trying to get the GOP nomination, he suddenly attacked everything Obama and hated the stimulus. This is just one example of who Crist is.

A successful governor is one who needs to make tough, unpopular executive decisions that directly benefit the state, even if the benefit is not immediately seen. That man is not Charlie. He always put his finger in the wind and did what he thought was most politically popular. (Another case in point: his pet project, Amendment 1. Floridians got a mild property tax cut that cost the state billions and induced trauma on the already bleeding services many Floridians depended on.)

But as far as traits go, this is not too bad in the body of the Senate. Right now, the GOP is marching in goosestep lockstep (as always) with the SOLE goal of hurting Obama—no matter what he supports.
Health care of 9/11 victims?
Wall Street gambling reform?
God-damned unemployed insurance?

To hell with what the people want.

THIS is not Charlie.

I would much rather have someone who panders to the citizens rather than someone who panders to the worst fringe of a failed party—which is what a Rubio candidacy gaurantees. Other Senators, like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln, pander to special interests that bankroll their candidacy.

THIS is also not Charlie.

Yes, he will pander to whatever is popular, but in the scheme of things in the Senate, that is not a bad place to be.

Finally, a Crist win might just send a message to the GOP. Pushing moderates out to pander to the teabagging fringe = FAIL. They already messed up what looked like a sure thing in Nevada, possibly even Kentucky, but Florida was considered a GOP lock. How sweet to see it go.

One year ago I never would have predicted this. But here it is. I will be voting for Charlie Crist for Senate this November. I strongly urge you to do the same.

Governor Crist VETOES Forced Rape Bill

Finally, some sense from this guy.

As I already explained in an earlier post, and in seeing the responses from those who have had it, it is rape. Pure and simple. The bill would have FORCED a woman to be violated with an object, against her will, in order to get a legal medical procedure. It is not just harrassment, it was rape to intimidate. Period.

On top of that, the woman would have been subjected to a demeaning lecture, and, to top it off, she would be forced to PAY for it! How governmentally intrusive can you POSSIBLY be!!

Now that Crist vetoed this insanity, he may be eligible for my vote. I still support Kendrick Meek hands down, but if his poll numbers do not improve, I will pull the lever for Crist. No more wingnuts.........

PS..STRONGLY support Alex Sink for governor! If McCollum or Medicare fraudster Scott become our governor next November, this horrible bill will rear its ugly head again.

CALL CRIST NOW! Tell him to VETO Abortion Bill!!!!

FL Gov. Crist is being inundated with calls by the Forced Birth crowd to endorse HB 1143---the bill that FORCES woman to get an unnecessary medical procedure that also happens to be one of the most INTRUSIVE: a vaginal ultrasound.

It is not for any medical reason, but pure HARRASSMENT. They want to violate and harrass women who want to exercise their right to terminate a pregnancy.

These are the same teabagging SOBs who were screaming about government intrusion of health care. There is nothing more intrusive than a forced violation for the sole reason of ideology!!

Palm Beach Post editorial:

By passing HB 1143, the same legislators who claim to oppose government forcing its will upon the citizens and government interfering in the doctor-patient relationship have approved legislation to do just that. During what passed for debate on the ultrasound amendment, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, tried to dismiss any comparison by saying that abortion is "elective." Tell that to a woman whose life or health is threatened by a pregnancy.

HB 1143 is about politics, not health care. If there's no good policy reason for Gov. Crist to sign HB 1143, there's also no good political reason. Voters who most support HB 1143 favored Marco Rubio long before Gov. Crist quit the GOP. Having failed to get the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and having received only a partial endorsement from the Florida Teachers Association in his pitch for Democratic support, there's only upside for the governor in a veto. Indeed, he might also get support from Republicans who worry that their party is placing ideology so far above policy.

NOW here is the scoop! The bill is being delayed until the LAST POSSIBLE SECOND to allow the Forced Birth forces to inundate the gov. with calls demanding he SIGN THE BILL.

AND they are winnning! Over 20000 calls tonight for compared with a little over 12000 against.

The GOP legislature will be sending the bill ANY MOMENT tonight, 5/28/10!!

Charlie is weak and always goes the way the wind blows...so if he thinks the majority of Floridians want this, he will sign it.

SO CALL HIM OR EMAIL HIM NOW!!!!!! Tell him this is wrong wrong WRONG!!

Take a minute and do it now! Thank you!

GOV Switchboard: (850) 488-4441

EMAIL: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com


UPDATED: several of the women who have had this procedure tell how painful and frightening it is...and call this RAPE, pure and simple, because it FORCES a woman to undergo the following, from a comment from prgsvmama26:

its a vaginal probe that looks like a straight dildo and is covered with a condom. Trust me, I had one. It is invasive when you have consented to it. I only had one with my first pregnancy and refused them for every other one.

From Annie R:

I had it done too, with my permission and still cringe to this day. And it was definitely vaginal. It felt like an assault. I cried during and after. I just wrote Crist and explained it from start to finish, trying to appeal to his "humanity."

OHH..and if I didn't mention it already, after the woman is raped...she is lectured and then forced to PAY FOR IT!!!

Crist Is Going To Pull a Joe Lieberman

Fresh from Rasmussen:

Charlie Crist (R) 37 (43)
Marco Rubio (R) 49 (43)

OUCH!

My liberal friends outside the state are telling me that Crist may want to consider running as a Democrat. I can tell you that he would not be accepted as a Democrat by Florida voters and would lose the Dem primary as well.

Here's what I do know...Charlie's whole purpose in life is to run for higher office. It's all he knows and all he does. (It certainly isn't governing or doing the job he currently holds). So Charlie is going to do exactly what Joe Lieberman did back in 2006.

He is going to try to make a go of it in his party primary.

He is going to lose.

He is going to declare that his fate will not be determined by a few party zealots and run as an independent.

Between Rubio and Meek, he may pull it off. He would be the Republican Joe Lieberman.

He has been God-awful in every post he's had, but in the Senate, where you don't actually have to govern or manage anything...just vote on bills, he might be tolerable as an independent. It would be interesting to see him for once in his life NOT pandering to whatever party is ahead in the polls.

Crist Admits Senate Campaign Distracts Him

File this under Obvious:

Crist acknowledged "it's certainly possible" that his intense focus on raising millions of dollars as a Senate candidate diverted attention from his duties as chief executive of the nation's fourth-most populous state.

Crist is MIA on every major to minor issue facing this state, because his current position like all of his others are seen only as stepping stones to higher office and nothing more. For most of last year and this year, we will be treated to campaign Charlie as he desperately tries to ward off Marc Rubio instead of making the tough choices he was elected to make.

So more “tax cuts for corporations” and other conservative bullet points while our State sinks deeper into the abyss. (Note to Charlie—our corporate taxes are already among the lowest in the nation. That’s not the problem…but you know that right?) Unfortunately, we will have to wait until November before we have a leader for Florida. I hope its Sink but frankly anybody, including a trained monkey, would be more focused on the state of our State than Charlie is.

Crist and Sen. LeMieux Go After Corruption..Don't Need to Look Far..

Corruption is synonymous with Miami, yet finally Crist has called for a statewide grand jury to examine political corruption. Senator and Seat Warmer George Lemieux has chimed in and decried the "culture of corruption" in South Florida.

Maybe they should clean their own house first.

Miami Herald:

In the past decade, Rothstein -- a Broward lawyer who allegedly bilked investors over bogus legal settlements -- helped steer about $2 million in campaign contributions to political causes, committees and candidates, including Gov. Charlie Crist.

Scott Rothstein seemed to have an endless supply of money, and no one bothered to ask how he got it...including the new champions of anti-corruption.

LeMieux acknowledged he ``didn't understand how he [Rothstein] made all his money.''

The article explains that Scott Rothstein is more than a fundraiser, he is a close friend of both Crist and LeMieux. Rothstein attended LeMieux's swearing-in ceremony in September. He attended Crist's wedding reception--and Crist attended his. Ironically, Crist appointed Rothstein to a judicial nominating panel in Broward. (He was removed this week.)

But all is good when the corruption is benefiting you, I suppose:

``You don't look at someone who's generous and just criticize,'' said LeMieux, who also ran Crist's governor's campaign before taking the job with Crist.

Crist Rejects $444 million In Unemployment Help--Raises Taxes On Small Business

Thanks Charlie! Governor flip-flop, who is desperately trying to show conservatives he is one of them, joined with the Republican legislature and rejected $444 million from the stimulus for unemployment help. All because Charlie appeared with Obama and was given such a hard time about it by his right-wing buddies.

Oh, it gets better.

Because he and the GOP legislature rejected that needed money, the state announced that unemployment taxes on small businesses across the state are going up as much as 983%. You read that right...983%. That is how much small businesses are forced to pay since that idiot and his friends didn't take $444 million in stimulus dollars offered.

That is the largest tax increase in our State's history--coming from a "staunchly conservative" Legislature and State Executive, and at the worst possible time. High unemployment taxes on small business are the last thing our state needs when we are trying to encourage them to create jobs. What conservative principle is this again?

Empty Chair Charlie Takes Off 2 1/2 Months Annually

Charlie Crist ran hard against the Democratic candidate for Florida governor, Jim Davis, just three years ago. He kept running stupid ads showing an empty chair, because Jim Davis missed some votes the year he was out campaigning. It was disingenuous, because Jim's record was stellar until that year---it's hard to campaign as a member of the state legislature and make every vote.

Given Charlie's schedule today, one wonders why he ran so hard for a job he clearly doesn't want:

Since campaigning three years ago on a promise to work hard for Floridians, Gov. Charlie Crist has scheduled the equivalent of almost 10 weeks off annually.

A Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times review of Crist's official daily schedule is a telling indication of how he mixes governing, campaigning for U.S. Senate and taking enough personal time to, in his own words, "recharge."

On 81 regular work days, Crist had no events scheduled or took off personal time. On 129 other occasions, the schedule shows Crist worked half days - just a brief phone call sometimes - equal to at least 64.5 more days off, the Herald/Times found.

The most notable change in his schedule lately: Crist is phoning it in more often in meetings with staff. He also is spending more time away from the Capitol, holding news conferences in South Florida, Tampa Bay and Central Florida - big television markets where he has "after-hours'' fundraisers.

We have an unprecedented economic crisis, foreclosure crisis, and insurance crisis for which we need leadership and a governor who isn't afraid of hard work. What we have is a clearly disinterested opportunist who is desperate to leave before his term ends so nothing will hurt his pursuit for higher office.

Hopfully, we'll do better next time.

Big Surprise: Crist Jumps Ship as Governor

Charlie Crist has been a disaster. Everything he has touched has been an abysmal disgrace. (By the way, I need to add rail to that list of broken promises.)

Our state is in desperate need of leadership since the GOP monopoly has made a mess of things in Tallahassee. But idiot Charlie is no leader. He can't even get people in his own party in line to simply do their job and throw a lifeline to their suffering constituents.

But leading the nation in home foreclosures and job losses is apparently a good enough record for the GOP to declare Crist the new Senate candidate to replace the g-awful Martinez. Never in Florida history has a sitting governor foregone re-election to go to the Senate. But what could Crist do? Our state is sinking, and Charlie isn't going down with the ship. The perpetually tan-man is still pining to be veep and prez one day, and he sure can't do it by actually solving any problems he was elected to solve.

So the answer is clear--move to the Senate. The education, housing, insurance, water, economic crisis becomes someone else's problem to deal with.

In most other states, a governor who fails could not hope to be elected to national office.

But this is Florida....

CristWorld: Cut firefighters/teachers; Keep "political placeholder"

As far as I can tell, Charlie Crist has so far flopped as governor of Florida. The GOP governor has a supermajority in both houses, and for some reason is still popular with the masses. Yet Charlie hasn't made good on any campaign pledge, and our state now holds the record in home foreclosures and massive job losses.

So far, the biggest "accomplishments" for Charlie as been passage for his infamous Amendment 1-- which has cost the state billions and induced trauma on the already bleeding services many Floridians depend on, and his "foreign excursion" which cost the taxpayers about a half a million dollars. That's right, he blew that money vacationing in London, Paris, St. Petersburg and Madrid but laughably called it a "trade mission".

Meanwhile, we are stuck suffering from the worst budget crises in years. Everything to be cut is on the table--with one exception...

If you live in Florida, by now you have heard of the investigation by the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel concerning Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp. The Sentinel found that state planes flew to and from Fort Myers 248 times on trips that involved picking up or dropping off the lieutenant governor. Fort Myers is where Jeff Kottkamp and his wife own a $1.4 million house. 208 of those flights occurred before July 1, 2008, when it was against the law to use state aircraft for "commuting purposes".

(The GOP legislature inserted language in a massive budget bill that no longer makes it illegal for "top officials" to use state aircraft for commuting---nice.)


According to the paper, Jeff Kottkamp billed taxpayers $425,000 for 365 flights on state planes during his first two years in office. The majority of those flights involved getting Kottkamp to and from Fort Myers. According to the flight records, state planes flew empty one-way 70 times to pick him up or drop him off in his hometown.

That was last week. This week, the Orlando Sentinel had on its front page how little work the Lt. Governor actually does. For entire months, Kottkamp only had one or two items on his calendar. In fact, that is more than he is supposed to do. The only, and I mean ONLY designated purpose he serves, is to stay alive if something happens to the governor.

Then Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel tabulated how much he cost: the state pays about $725,000 for the office and staff this year alone. For that, we get seven staffers -- including a chief of staff (salary $120,000), a senior analyst ($62,000), a program analyst ($55,000) a special assistant ($50,000), an executive assistant ($45,000), a scheduler ($32,500) and the L.G. himself ($127,398) -- and office expenses of about $220,000. Throw in about $150,000 a year on security and bodyguards.

We have only had a Lt.Gov. since the sixties, when the post was brought back for some reason. Several other states have figured out it is a sensible thing to cut--especially since that money can go to save jobs that actually make a difference.

Our legislators aren't having any of it. Least of all Empty-Chair Charlie. They would much rather have a do-nothing post who doesn't do anything to earn his salary, while simultaneously wasting hundreds of thousands, than use that money to save police, teachers, and emergency medical personnel who will all face the budget ax this cycle.

This means it will take a citizen initiative, (as usual), to do the real work of the people. If there has ever been a need for Florida netroots--it's now.

Palin - Crist 2012

My friend Tally at FlaPolitics is asking people to email all the traditional state media political journalists and urge them to do two things: 1) Ask Charlie Crist if he supports a Palin presidential campaign in 2012 and 2) Ask Sarah Palin if, considering the importance of winning Florida in a presidential election, she would consider Crist as a VP choice.

Although he is asking that to stir up trouble, I actually wonder if this will actually be the GOP answer to Obama in 2012. Obama will be much more formidable than he was now: they won't be able to throw the inexperience factor at him, nor will they be able to stir up fears that he's "risky" since he would have run the country for 4 years. (Even doing a half-assed job, which he won't, would be a severe improvement).

But I think it's likely. The GOP is screaming about returning to their "roots", (i.e. right-wing extremism), and there is no one more right-wing extremist than Palin. Besides, she may be able to convince the party elders that she can claim the coveted "turn". Bob Dole was selected to go against Clinton in 1996, even though there were stronger candidates, because it was his "turn". He performed well ("proved himself") against Bush in 1988, lost but then became a big-Bush backer. It was his turn. McCain did the same thing--he performed well against Bush (w) in 2000, lost but then became a bigger-Bush backer.

I don't think Palin did well before she lost, but to hear right-wing pundits like Bay Buchannan and others, it was McCain who blew if for Palin. Palin "excited" her base and drew thousands. She should be the GOP leader, the argument goes. (And for once, I totally agree.)

The problem is that they keep trying to give her the torch, like they did with the GOP governor's conference speech, but she keeps fumbling. Having a moron is not a disqualifier (see W), they just need someone in the number #2 position to run the show. My idea is that the GOP will pick Palin in 2012, and Charlie Crist as the veep. Palin would be the extremist idiot in the top slot. As they learned from McCain, the GOP stays home unless there's an extremist on the top of the ticket. However, they need a semi-competent person to run things--and Charlie can fit that bill. His moderate persona, the thinking will go, should be enough to draw in others.

This isn't my thinking, mind you. Anything with Palin on it will fail miserably. And Charlie Crist is probably too smart to join a ticket like that. But he may realize that the GOP will NEVER allow him to be on the top of the ticket--a closet-gay Republican simply won't be asked to lead the party. Plus, he's way too moderate. He can't win the top of the ticket--he may figure this is the only shot he has.

Better hurry up and speculate, folks, only 1436 days to the next election!!

Should have been YOU Charlie!

McCain expresses regret for picking that idiot Palin over our own guber, Charlie Crist.

St. Pete Times:

"Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a significant difference,"McCain said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.

"I think this would have been a battleground state, except for obviously (with) a popular governor as Charlie Crist is," McCain said.



"Look, this is a tough decision that we made with Sarah Palin."

Wow. McCain actually offers straight talk that maybe Sarah wasn't the best choice. You think?

Charlie, whether he admits it or not, was furious about the Palin pick. Charlie is the one who put McCain over the top with a crucial endorsement before the FL primary, he's been grooming himself for this post for years, and dammit, he even rushed out and got engaged again when his party tried to shoot the veep talk down with that "gay" rumor.

Charlie is probably enjoying this--as evidenced by his refusal to play ball on the phony ACORN fraud charges. I am enjoying this more: I get to see both men stew in discontent over this fiasco.

OCTOBER 6: LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN FL!

REGISTER TO VOTE MONDAY OR YOU WON'T VOTE FOR CHANGE NOVEMBER 4!!!

PS--Early voting on Oct. 20. Be there!! Governor Crist recently decided to enforce a law called "No Match, No Vote".

Miami Herald:

State elections officials will resume enforcement of a controversial state law that requires Floridians to have their identification match up with a state or federal database in order to register to vote.

Why is he doing this:

The year the law took effect, state election data shows that Florida Democratic Party registration began to swell. Between 2006 and 2008, Democrats increased their ranks with more than 170,000 new voters -- while the Florida Republicans lost 11,594 during the same time. Independents decreased by about 4,000 since 2006.

Dirty Tricks---when fear and smear just isn't enough

Learn to USE Veep-Hungry Crist

I wrote to the Sentinel after they had a legnthy editorial bashing him for changing positions on oil-drilling the SAME DAY McCain did.

I recommended to the editor there that they simply make a list of everything they are crowing about (red-light cameras, car boot laws, light rail, etc.), and ask McCain to list a few of those next time they interview him. I promise you'll see Governor Sock Puppet swing into action.

YOU ARE WELCOME!

At Least Crist's Dermatology Assistant Wasn't a Horse Judge

I know, he has great skin. But that's not what this is about: A lot of people are floating governor Crist as a name McCain may wish to consider for veep. McInsane may not know the difference between Al Qaeda and Iran, but even he should know what's wrong with this picture.

Let's play a game. Who is the most qualified to head up the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), the most important job concerning our public employee's labor relations and union issues, (for which we are facing serious challenges right now), which requires a thorough understanding of labor law and unions.

Here are the candidates. Keep in mind they are all vying to replace an attorney who held this post for 33 years and has extensive experience in this area. GO pick one and see if you come up with the same decision as Crist:
1. Jonathan Oliff, attorney with an Bachelor's in business who specialized in labor law and employment law for the past 5 years. He graduated cum laude from FSU law school in 2001.

2. John Beeman, veteran law enforcement officer who is the current union head of the Fraternal Order of Police local. He has 20 years experience working with unions.

3. Sara Gonzalez, a young dermatology assistant who has an undergrad in biology and a master's in physician-assistant studies. She left the qualifications section of her application almost completely blank.

Before you vote, let me remind you that the Florida governor is a Republican. Also, although I'm sure Charlie will insist this was complete coincidence and played no part in his decision, I should mention that choice #3 is the wife of Crist's general counsel, Jason Gonzalez, (who already rakes in $130,000 a year).

Give up? Yeah, you knew where this was going.

With a straight face, Crist announced yesterday that Sara Gonzalez was the best choice. She had an "advanced degree" and besides, he likes having "new blood in the administration".

(That's the type of thinking that lets horse judges head major departments).

What do the current commissioners of PERC think. Charlie Kossuth:

You need to be acquainted with the law and be a lawyer. She will be completely lost.

It's not like she won't have help people. As head commissioner, she will have the ability to bring in additional highly-paid staff.

According to Charlie Kossuth, she is choosing a general counsel to help her. This individual will make even more than her salary, so the taxpayers will be footing over $200,000 for these two people.

And, according to Kossuth, this person she is considering also doesn't know anything about labor law.

I think it's great. In fact, I encourage all of you reading to contact the governor and thank him for his brave choice: Click here

Look on the bright side: at least she will be able to help Charlie with his perpetually tanned skin.