Posted by
Billy on Thursday, April 29, 2010 11:58:31 AM
The very thing that once made Gov. Charlie Crist the clear Republican choice to
run for U.S. Senate is also what will perhaps make it inevitable that he will
eventually buck the party to run as an independent: his embrace _ literally and
figuratively _ of bipartisanship.
A year after it seemed he was the man to beat for the GOP nomination for the
U.S. Senate and a virtual shoo-in in the general election, Crist has seen his
poll numbers nose-dive and speculation has run rampant about his chances of
surviving a primary against tea-party favorite Marco Rubio, the state's former
House speaker. (
Fla.
gov. on cusp of independent bid for US Senate)
From the day he took office, Crist set out on a course to show he was no Jeb
Bush, his conservative Republican predecessor who never wavered from the
far-right's ideals.
The Republican establishment liked Crist's moderate credentials a year ago
when it backed him for the seat being vacated early by Republican Mel Martinez.
Even as conservatives slammed him, Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and former presidential candidate John McCain of
Arizona joined National Republican Senate Committee Chairman John Cornyn of
Texas in singing his praises.
(This man clearly is not to the right. It is time us on the right took control of the GOP and make the truly grand party it once was and should be again. I am a conservative before I am a member of the GOP.)