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Annoying Orange. Charlie Crist Becomes A Democrat.

John Cornyn's Favorite Shows His True Colors


Former Florida governor Charlie Crist announced he has changed his political affiliation to Democrat.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected the state’s chief executive as a Republican and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an independent, announced on Twitter that he’s switching to the Democratic Party.

The announcement Friday night fanned speculation that Crist would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Crist sent out a tweet that said, “Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!”

The tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers 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.

I know. None of us saw this coming. And we’re all gobsmacked and heartbroken, or is it gobbroken and heartsmacked, over this completely unforeseen event.

In all seriousness, Crist has acted exactly the way that self proclaimed moderates within the Republican party typically act. They are willing to be Republicans until they lose a primary challenge and then they quit because “the Republican party left me.” It also goes to the utter lack of principle that permeates many of our political organization. In 2009, the feckless John Cornyn’s National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio.

NRSC chairman John Cornyn made the endorsement official this morning, casting Crist as the most electable candidate to hold the seat for the GOP.

“While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate,” Cornyn said in a statement.

“Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida.”

The sad fact is that conservatives, motivated by principle, remain loyal to the GOP regardless of the way we are crapped upon by having our beliefs denigrated in the name of electability. Moderates tend to act from no deeper set of values than self aggrandizement. When they lose they turn Quisling. Hopefully, one day the NRSC and NRCC will learn that lesson when recruiting and endorsing candidates.

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COMMENTS

  • http://rightwardjournal.com Jeff Swanson

    Didn’t see that coming #irony

  • ohiohistorian

    You cannot ask the Republican establishment to learn anything when it is led by people such as John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who both multiple times have had Lucy-like Democrats snatch the ball away when they are going to kick it. But they go back for more pratfalls constantly. And re-elect fools like Reince Priebus, who managed to lose probably the most easily winnable Presidential election in history.

  • maddog

    Ah, yes electability.

    The establishment keeps foisting these people on us with the
    canard that folks like Crist and Specter are electable. Tell that to Presidents McCain and Romney, Senator Tommy Thompson, and countless others The Crist
    situation is the perfect, “We told you so” moment. Although, I’m not sure the establishment still gets it.

  • Jack_Savage

    Two words:
    Arlen Specter.

  • kipling

    I want an official apology from Charlie Crist. We all told him he was a Democrat in the primary and he called us a bunch of mean names. : )

  • kipling

    On a related note, are we going to primary John Cornyn in Texas? Where is Michael Williams?

  • westcoastpatriette

    One word: Smarmy.

  • commonsenseobserver

    Well, Scott had better buck up.

  • jasonr

    Only twice in the last 80 years have voters turned on an incumbent President they elected four years earlier: 1980, and 1992. To call this “the most winnable election in history” just isn’t borne out by the facts. It’s never “easy” to dislodge an incumbent President…..particularly one who has doled out goodies at unprecedent levels. Add to that the extent of media bias; it has gone from being slanted, to an institution which acts as an arm of the WH political operation. Romney clearly wasn’t perfect, but let’s not minimize the difficulty of defeating an Entitlements President.

  • http://www.skiloveland.com skicougar

    Worthless piece of garbage, amongst many. Unfortunately, things are going to have to get a lot worse for enough of the people to fed up enough to show up and vote guys like this out of office. I do believe America has it in itself to right the ship when how bad of shape America is in starts becoming reality. I think Obamacare and taxes going up on everything in 2013 may just be the dose of reality that those that have been content so far, to decide they have had enough. Fasten your seatbelts, I think the next 4 years are going to be economically and politically bumpy while America finally says enough.

  • ss396

    “the Republican party left me.”

    Hah! It would be one thing if they moved over toward Conservatism, but they always seem to go to the Dems. Left me, indeed! We ARE shifting the Republicans right-ward. The leadership has to be the priority. They absolutely have to go. As long as they are a drag on Conservatism, we will not get a clear vote on principle. The Conservative message wins; the squish message doesn’t.

  • streiff

    as the old saying goes “love the treason, hate the traitor.” No one ever trusts a turncoat.

  • kipling

    I don’t blame him as much for how he spent the money. The problem was the candidates themselves. He constantly chooses moderate establishment types as opposed to true principled conservatives. He does it under the cover of “electability” but what he really means is “submissive to establishment leadership.”

  • kipling

    “Electability” is a code word used by the Republican establishment. The actual meaning of “electability” has nothing to do with the ability to get elected. It means: 1) Someone who will not rock the boat in Washington; 2) Someone who will be submissive to the Republican establishment; 3) Someone whose principles are open to negotiation; and/or, 4) All the above.

  • diamondreo

    Boner and McCon keep sayin’ they’re not libs, maybe they should start a turd party.

  • tngal

    So, he’s no longer a Knight of Ni? He’s a knight of ecky ecky ecky pikang boing shiv?
    So he lost his republican arm and his independant arm and thinks its just a flesh wound and wants to continue the fight? The prophesies of Monty Python are always spot on.

  • freemanja1991

    Well Rick Scott and Crist’s primary opponent will have a hay day attacking him as a political opportunist.

  • tngal

    You know McShamnesty is on a new “gang of 8″ which is crafting “immigration “reform, right? My mistake, perhaps it should read “amnesty entitlement” instead of reform. Or “we’ll throw out our current laws, and then nobody’s illegal”, instead of immigration.

    “Sources said the fledgling group’s members include: Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Sen.-elect Jeff Flake of Arizona.”

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/new-gang-of-eight-on-immigration-84772.html#ixzz2EUMVXfw7

  • diamondreo

    kipling wrote: “…principles are open to negotiation…” Classic!

    Presently, Liberalism gets to rage for a while with their recent victory. We gotta’ fight them with every passing day. But the more immediate matter is dealing with those that claim to be Conservative within our leadership that don’t know what that really means…and are acting ‘on our behalf’ daily in that self-serving ignorance!

    So now, while the Republican party and it’s leaders – all those from Trent Lott to Carl Rove, to possibly your County Party leaders – are weak, disillusioned, and vulnerable, now is the time to really capture the GOP by vetting anyone that comes to the fore about their knowledge of Constitutional Principles. And if they can’t show the proficiency and passion for forwarding those principles challenging them – even working to take them down before they get too much traction within the ‘system’…and possibly even running for that office ourselves.

    As this develops, it will put fear into the Rinos, and that’s got to be good.

    Maybe, also, we ought to be physically calling on the large doners to the establishment Superpacks and inform them that they have just helped waste everyone’s time and put their country in further peril with their money, and that we’ll call them out by name for it on every website like this from now on.

    I really think this being an establishment-republican is a dirty business today…they deserve to be defeated at all costs.

  • diamondreo

    Now, what can we do now to get Jeb Bush to switch. Then he could leave Reagan behind. I’d have more respect for him if he were in the party he espouses for.

  • viperscale

    He really didn’t change any of his views. He “changed” in party name only. We need to realize that Moderate Republicans and Democrats are the same darn thing…

  • diamondreo

    What’s Mike Lee doing in that rogues gallery?

  • gflyer3364qt

    Really once when figure that if Perot hadn’t run, Bush would have be reelected.

  • gflyer3364qt

    What a hack. Specter pulled this crap here in PA and failed to win the Democratic primary. No one likes a recycled oppurtunist hack. Specter flipped once in a 30 year period and bit the dust but I have to hand it to this guy though. He’s got Specter the defector beat. He’s been a Republican, an Independent, a Democrat, endorsed both McCain and Obama, been pro-life, pro-choice, pro-Obama, semi pro-Obama, Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper in just 4 years.

  • tngal

    Oooh, hadn’t even thought of that one. Good one, checkmate!

  • clyde30475

    Yep,ya just CAN’T BEAT Baracka Claus.

  • clyde30475

    Hmmm….. color me shocked.

  • fightnright

    Any legislator whose party identification flips according the political climate – rather than timeless philosophical principles – has no lasting value. You can’t lose anyone whose allegiance you never really had in the first place.

    It’s not only Dem voters who are driven by Obama-phone ‘what’s in it for me’ style ideology. Plenty of pols who are leftist by nature are looking for that Democrat Santa to pad their pay stubs and their perks too. The DNC and its left-wing value system handily adapts to fulfill the ego’s needs. They are always ready to ‘evolve’ to fit current whims, even as God and nature’s laws remain constant – and ~far~ too demanding for a lifetime commitment.

  • homestead1800baker

    I think the time has come for some
    action.

    The communists in 1963 set out for
    themselves 45 goals to destroy America. Whenever they got stuck on
    one they went to another. In my 58 years of living I have never seen
    them hesitate or quit their purpose. They have been relentless and
    so must we.

    In the modern day era when a
    complicated idea must be presented a flow chart is used to show the
    basic structure and how everything is related.

    I’d like to call on anyone and everyone
    in the Tea Party to help organize our own goals and to counter the
    onslaught our country has taken from these progressives.

    The communists didn’t take over this
    country overnight, they did it piece by piece. We will not get this
    country back all at once, we are going to have to take it back piece
    by piece.

    We have an election coming up in 2014.

    What good will it do to get every hard
    core conservative we want elected, if John Boehner and Mitch
    McConnell are still in a position of leadership. They have to go and
    go now, to prepare for 2014! If we want our leadership to pay
    attention to us then they need to know that we can effect them and it
    would be nice for them to see that we can reach out and touch them at
    will.

    To build our political structure, I’m
    not suggesting that we do anything different than we have been doing,
    except to be much more deliberate about it.

    There are certain groups that have
    actually been able to bring the fight directly to Obama and his
    minions, they have a four year track record, “Judicial Watch” is
    one of them. “Freedomworks” is another and so has “Campaign
    for Liberty.” How many others are there and what piece of the
    puzzle do they fill in.

    In this fight we need quite a number of
    different groups. To start with, we need research groups that can
    get at the true history of this country and bring it forth. More
    recently, we need our congressman’s voting record and all the
    legislation that has been passed and the damage it has done to us
    over time.

    Many of these groups already exist, who
    are they? Where are they? How accurate have they been? Which ones
    are duplicating efforts already provided. Which ones are the best?

    There are organizations that are
    watching the opposition, Watching bills that are being introduced
    and dealing directly with the congressman. We need head hunters
    looking for future conservative representatives, we need to educate
    the public and develop our own way of bypassing a corrupt media. and
    contributions must be raised for campaigns. No one group can do
    everything, yet, everything must be done.

    The progressives finance their efforts
    with taxpayer dollars and reward anyone who helps them with taxpayer
    dollars. This should be one of the main reasons for not supporting
    higher taxes and for demanding spending cuts. Who do you think is
    going to get all that money and do you think that once they have been
    paid for supporting Obama and his policies that they will suddenly
    support us because all they money their getting is hurting us?

    The intellectual discipline of creating
    an organizational flow chart is to make certain that we have what we
    need to make a difference. It also helps anyone who wants to help to
    see at a glance where they may be able to apply their talents. We
    need to identify key organizations make certain that they are well
    funded. We need to make certain that any groups they rely on for
    support are funded and we can’t afford to duplicate our efforts.

    Finally, lets take on the challenge of
    firing, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell as a first step. This
    will both develop and test our process and let the Republicans know
    that if they want to be Democrats they can follow Charlie Crist’s
    lead and join the Democrats. We don’t need traitors in the only
    party we have left!

  • fightnright

    Crist is an unimportant hack trying to raise his political relevance level far beyond that of his natural gifts.

    I could create a political calendar, offering daily inspiration with hundreds of movement ideas, principles, and people that make me proud to be a Conservative Republican, and never once would the name Charlie Crist ever come to mind for an entry.

  • diamondreo

    I agree fully with the tone and message of what you say. So much of the current progressive maneuvers have been going on in the light of the exposure that ‘we’ grassroots can muster individually, but so far the nay-sayers on the Left with their media continue to carry the day. Yet without the consorted effort of ALL the parties including missing House and Senate leadership fostering each individual concern, the efforts of the ‘engaged’, and the informed Americans go wasted. Since these ‘issues’ come faster than they are exposed and dealt with, I’m afraid Cloward-Pivin is effectively working now. The first/only job is to form a new structure of grassroots-through-Republican-leadership cohesiveness – a tremendously daunting job.

  • diamondreo

    In other words: we cannot effectively start the process of ‘American Repair’ or ‘The Constitutionally-based Remediation of the United States’ until we can marshall ALL of our forces. With the current derelict elements on the right, we can count on only the pain of increasing failure within society to wake society up. By the time society wakes up…it’ll be FAR too late…and by then much too devastating for all of us individuals to accept that future calamity as a possible premise for our status-quo action today. We can’t address this with the one hand tied behind our back that is Boehner et.al. Do ‘we’ have the discipline and the courage to abandon some of our current efforts against the Left to focus those ‘guns’ on the derelict elements within ‘our’ Right in the Republican Party?