In a move that really shouldn’t come as being a big surprise, I suppose, to anyone who pays attention to such things, former Republican, who was first calling himself an Independent, Charlie Crist, has now officially come out of the closet, so to speak, and taken the next step in his political metamorphosis. Crist recently announced on Twitter that he’s now switching to the Democrat Party. For those us familiar with this dope, there’s no doubt that he must see that as being, somehow, politically advantageous. Charlie, you’ll remember, was elected the state's chief executive as a Republican and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an Independent. The announcement Friday night fanned the flames of speculation that old Charlie would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Seeking one’s old job is a little more difficult than actually getting it.
In his ‘coming out’ Crist sent out a stupid little tweet that said, "Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President @Barack Obama!" The tweet also included a photo of a smiling Charlie and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Charlie signed the necessary paperwork required for changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at the White House. President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump. "I've had friends for years tell me, 'You know Charlie, you're a Democrat and you don't know it,'" Crist told the newspaper Friday night. Can’t argue with that, maybe Charlie didn’t know it, but there weren’t too many of out here in the real world who didn’t. Charlie has always been one of those who were quite easily recognizable as being RINOs.
He cited as being the reason behind his decision as being some supposed shift of the Republican Party to the right on a range of issues, including immigration, education and the environment. You know, that old adage about how he didn’t leave the party, it left him, kinda bullsh!t. Let’s face it, Charlie left the Republican Party a long time ago. He’s always been a more left of center kind of guy even though he managed to get elected Florida governor in 2006 while still in the GOP. As he moved to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, he faced a tough primary challenge from someone who was, and is, a true conservative and proceeded to then bolt from the GOP to run as an Independent. He lost a three-way Senate contest in 2010 to Republican Marco Rubio. Crist, 56, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., that nominated Barry "Amighty" for a second term and even campaigned for his re-election.
Crist's decision to switch to a Democrat will, no doubt, increase speculation that he intends to challenge Rick Scott, and already has lots of people talking. Which is another reason, I’m sure, for Charlie’s decision, because he always likes being the center of attention. Crist has already criticized Scott for refusing to extend early voting despite pleas from that imbecile Bill Nelson and many other of his now fellow Democrats. But it is unlikely that Crist would get a clear path to the Democratic nomination. Former State Sen. Nan Rich has already jumped into the race and former Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink could run again. Sink barely lost the 2010 governor's race to Scott. Some Democrats remain wary of Crist, who has a reputation as being somewhat of an opportunist, and even outgoing Florida Democratic Party chairman Rod Smith has joked that just because someone joins the congregation, "you don't make them the preacher."
Steve Schale, who is I guess some kind of a Democratic political consultant and one who worked on Barry's Florida campaign, called a Crist a "viable Democrat." Whatever the Hell that means. Schale then added, "He earned his stripes when he supported the president," Schale said. But Schale predicted that if Crist runs for governor, he would most likely face a significant challenge from Sink and other Democrats and would have to endure a hard-fought primary. There have been Republicans in recent weeks who have already ramped up their criticism of Crist and have pointed out that in the past he was critical of Barry and once even went so far as to actually describe himself as a Republican in the mold of President Ronald Reagan and Crist's predecessor as governor, Jeb Bush. I can only assume that he’s now a Democrat in the mold of, maybe, FDR? Who knows, really?
"Charlie Crist's first official act as a Democrat was to tell a lie about why he is now pretending to be one," the Florida Republican Party said in a statement early Saturday. "The truth is that this self-professed, Ronald-Reagan Republican only abandoned his pro-life, pro-gun, conservative principles in 2010 after he realized that Republicans didn't want to send him to Washington D.C. as a senator, especially after he proved he couldn't do the job as governor." Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican consultant, predicted that Crist would have to spend the next 14 months explaining how his switch to Democrat was something beyond just his own political ambitions. Look, this whole switching of his party affiliation is really pretty transparent for anyone the least bit familiar with this clown. Once a turncoat, always a turncoat, and turncoats can’t be trusted. Because if the political winds change, they’ll only change sides again.
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