8.27.2012

"Daddy, I Do NOT Want A Boat Like This!" (Or: Look! That Guy Was Only Pretending To Be One Of The Zombies So They Wouldn't Eat Him!)

Hey Kids! How's everyone's summer going so far? Yeah, same here. Until this past weekend, the average daily temperature here in the Fresno area for the month of August was 103.5. Is it October yet? But I'm wandering again. We're not here to talk about the weather - are we? Let's talk POLITICS! (And I'm also going to try something new. Hold on to your hats: I'm going to be BRIEF. *gasp* I know, right?)

So today's "Presidental-Election-Year-OMG-I-Can't-Believe-That-Just-Happened-What-Were-We-Talking-About-Yesterday?" seismic attention grabber is the announcement that former Florida Governor Charlie Christ will speak at the Democratic National Convention. I hear cries of "So what?" Well, it's kind of unusual for a Republican politician to take the stage there. (Okay, technically Crist is an Independent, but you're getting ahead of me.) So naturally, there has been a LOT of indignant spluttering and mystified head-scratching going on among the Conservative set today.

Personally I don't get what all the fuss is about. The announcement makes perfect sense to me.

You are looking at a very rare animal -
a politician on the Right ready to play ball with his colleagues on the other side of the stadium!


This "step away" from the Republican Party really shouldn't surprise anyone who's familiar with Charlie Crist.

First, during his time in the Florida State Attorney General's Office, Crist's behavior never struck me as particularly partisan. It most certainly never measured up to the extreme Conservative "Fire and Brimstone" show that other Republican A.G.'s seem to crank up as soon as they get the keys to the office. In fact, based on what I'd first seen and heard from him while I lived in Florida, I was surprised to learn he WAS a Republican.

Second, backing slowly away from the circus sideshow tent full of extreme special interest groups that the Republican Party has become is something we're soon going to be seeing a lot more often. Because let's be honest, that's EXACTLY what all the noisy little "support-my-point-of-view-no-matter-how-extreme-or-exclusionary-it-is-or-we'll-destroy-you" folks have transformed the GOP into. Granted, that was at the INVITATION of people like Karl Rove (who lauged into his sleeve at the "rubes" as he held the door for them) - but the inmates are definitely running the asylum now.

As I recall, this is Charlie Crist's "I'm being really serious now" face.
Hands up everyone else who does this same thing: Use your glasses as a prop to make the kids pay attention.
(GUILTY!)

Alleging that Crist is making these choices for opportunistic reasons is off the mark too. If anything, his moves in the past few weeks are nothing more than a "course correction." He was forced into a shift further Right (and then into Independent status) to avoid having his gubernatorial aspirations sunk by Marco Rubio and the other mad pirates aboard the "Good Ship Tea Party." This was especially true when a technique right out of good old Karl Rove's playbook was used against him - loud whispers about his sexuality mysteriously emerging as the campaign heated up.

For the most part, Charlie Crist strikes me as one of the few SANE conservative or semi-conservative politicians in the country right now. I say "Welcome Aboard!"

“The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.”- Oscar Wilde 

Are you still here? I'm sure there's a lounge chair next a swimming pool somewhere just longing for your touch. Get OUT! (And wear sunscreen).

Jim

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