Well, Charlie Crist is now himself saying he may run as an independent.
Don’t expect Rob Jesmer to lose his job. Jesmer, the man who woo’ed Crist into the Senate race thereby throwing the Florida Governor’s race into turmoil and the Senate race into turmoil will no doubt get a pay raise as chief strategist at the NRSC.
So what to do with Crist? The more relevant question is what to do with those who support Crist.
First, every Republican Senator who backed Crist must immediately demand their money back. That’s a no brainer.
Second, we need to see which Republican operatives stay with Crist and make sure they have a hard time finding work after leaving Crist.
Third, I hope the Club for Growth will, like they did with Arlen Specter, get every Crist donor to demand their money back.
Lastly, and most importantly, let’s anticipate the media narrative over the next week. It will go something like this:
Icky, close-minded conservatives drove Charlie Crist out of the GOP in their never ending quest for purity. That is the common and oft repeated mantra in the press.
But the data shows otherwise. When Scozzafava couldn’t win, she fled to the Democrats. When Charlie Crist couldn’t win, he too fled toward the left. Arlen Specter couldn’t win. He fled to the left.
When liberals lose, they take their footballs, go home, and get the media to run stories on how mean those conservatives are.
The best way for conservatives to shut them up? Beat them at the ballot box.
And in Florida, we will.
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Dan Spencer
Jeff Emanuel
Neil Stevens
Funny how we never hear about "Big Tent" democrats when they take one step to the right of socialist orthodoxy.
bannedtroll Monday, April 19th at 5:42PM EDT (link)Which reminds me, can anyone explain the policy differences that distinguish the self-proclaimed socialist, Bernie Sanders, from the “democrat” Barack Obama?
I’m a banned Democrat who came here to promote the idea that Republicans are racists for disliking Barack Obama.
The difference between Sanders and Obama
bartlet (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 11:41PM EDT (link)Well, Sanders voted againsted the TARP, while Obama backed it…so I’m not sure if that makes Sanders a bad socialist or Obama a Crony Capitalist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03naysayers.html?_r=1
“The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice –
their choice”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
This is why character, not just ideology matters, in candidates
constitutionalconservative (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 6:07PM EDT (link)With folks like Crist, Specter, etc. the establishment will always justify endorsing them out of practicality– until those candidates get a challenge and they show where their true loyalties lie– only with themselves and their own political careers.
We need candidates who have character and are loyal to conservatism– not party hacks. And while it may need to wait until after the election, we need to clean house at the NRSC.
I Will Never Be Fooled Again
BigGator5 (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 6:39PM EDT (link)Charlie Crist fooled everyone, including me. Never again.
Even if he just drops out right now and runs again in 2012, I will not support him.
Educated (About The Issues Facing Us Today), Dedicated (To Making A Difference), And Highly Motivated (To Getting Things Done)
It is not enough to demand the money back.
Tbone (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 6:48PM EDT (link)Taking money from Republicans to run as a Republican and then not running as a Republican is fraud and he should be sued under class action.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
I say
proudconservativerepublican Monday, April 19th at 7:24PM EDT (link)let Charlie run as an independent and he will burn every bridge that he has. I like what someone on either this blog or another that said he should just drop out and run again in 2012 to take Sen. Nelson out of the Senate then. Maybe just maybe I will be able to support him then but I am still hung up on the Liberal like policies he has taken on in my State.
No, a much better thing would be to find a
davesinsanantonio (Diary) Tuesday, April 20th at 6:53AM EDT (link)true conservative to run in 2012. We have too many squishes in the Senate as it is, we don’t need Crist there. Ever!
We have more time now than we did at NY23
txgho1911 Monday, April 19th at 7:26PM EDT (link)How many absentee ballots where cast for him in the primary? How many hard core Christ fans will Rubio lose to him in Nov?
7 months to show all of Florida the color running off Christ.
None
redtillimdead (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:02PM EDT (link)The primary is not until September.
Nancy Pelosi can kiss my asstroturf.
August 24th acutally
Darin_H (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:36PM EDT (link)No, I’m not counting the days…. yet
A visionary coward says that anger can be power, as long as there’s a victim on TV – Flat Top, Goo Goo Dolls
We can let Charly mean so verry
txgho1911 Tuesday, April 20th at 7:39AM EDT (link)little. He can and I am sure he will be minimized in most of Florida.
His only if not loyal constituency now may be some old elementary teachers. The younger faster crowd of educators will still not wast any time on him.
Note From Florida:
mdd1956 Tuesday, April 20th at 8:17AM EDT (link)I believe Christ is trying to figure out how to become a Democrat. His running as an Independent for senate now is probably just a stepping stone. He is sensitive, his feelings are hurt, he can never accomplish what he wants (adoration) without the backing of a major party and knows he is now forever on the outs with conservatives who will come to run the GOP, in Florida at least.
Taking back the GOP
vamoose Monday, April 19th at 7:33PM EDT (link)This is why Tea Partiers don’t need to form a third party. It’s easier to take back the Republican party with conservative candidates than it is to create third party. Rubio campaign is the model for taking back the GOP. Reform in Washington starts with reform at the state and local level. Crist has gotten the message. Has the inside-the-beltway GOP?
Exactly.
snowshooze (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:20PM EDT (link)And we can dump Crist ourselves. We don’t need “professionals” to spend our money.
Christ...go for it.
snowshooze (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:16PM EDT (link)Anything to get you out of our way.
Um....spelling? [nt]
Bill S (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:41PM EDT (link)“It’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” – David St. Hubbins
If Charlie runs as an independent, we need to destroy him
Finrod (Diary) Monday, April 19th at 9:19PM EDT (link)We need to pound his sorry campaign, not just to elect Rubio, but to show other potential defectors what happens to traitors to the party.
HillBuzz, which linked here, believes very strongly that the DNC has a file on Crist a mile long which they will use to control him even if he caucuses with Republicans. That’s enough right there to make sure that if he bails on the party, he never holds an office above assistant dogcatcher ever again.
PETA and the ASPCA are pure evil. See here and here.
I worry about Crist as an independant
suzyq Tuesday, April 20th at 4:53PM EDT (link)There are plenty of squshy moderate yankees down here who like Crist….he’s very familiar to them, as far as political beliefs. I don’t think it will be pretty nor easy. It will get downright nasty.
Crist’s pretty darn narcasissitic and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
my fight song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqKVXu4Gxyk
Start bankrolling a TV Commercial
DavidS1787 (Diary) Tuesday, April 20th at 5:34PM EDT (link)and play it over and over and let people hear what Charlie Crist said in his own words in a fox news interview last month with Martha Macallum .
Martha asks towards the end of the video if he would consider a run as an independent candidate.
7:20 Then say if Charlie Crist is really a man of his word than why is he changing parties?