Politics
Lenny Curry: Charlie Crist 'Sad to Watch'
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Charlie Crist | Sunshine State News Archives
“It was really sad to watch Charlie Crist’s speech tonight,” Curry stated in a release.
“He struggled to find areas where he could agree with President Obama, but could find none. As a self-proclaimed pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family, anti-tax Reagan Republican -- who called himself as conservative as you could get -- Crist has a long history of disagreeing with Obama and the Democrats on virtually everything they believe in. This speech was a sad, shameful display of political opportunism where Crist tried once again to shed his own political skin. Charlie Crist proved tonight, as always, that he is only concerned about furthering his own political ambitions.”
Many viewers only got to see a part of Crist's remarks as both CNN and Fox News went to commercial breaks midspeech. Only C-Span carried the address in full.
See the full text of Crist's speech in the attachment below.
Crist, a Republican-turned-independent who is rumored to be contemplating a run for governor in 2014 as a Democrat, said his endorsement of President Obama came from a need to find politicians willing to be flexible.
Crist, who left the party after being overtaken by now-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, in the 2010 GOP Senate primary, also told the Democratic convention audience he could relate to former President Ronald Reagan’s famous line about leaving the Democratic Party in the early 1960s.
“Half a century ago, Ronald Reagan, a man whose optimism was inspiring to me to enter politics, famously said at one time that he did not leave the Democratic Party but the party left him,” Crist said. “Listen, I can relate. I didn’t leave the Republican Party, it left me.”
Hogwash, says Curry. Pure hogwash.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
Comments (8)
On the night he spoke to the DNC, the Florida GOP stood ready to charge with their barrage of criticisms and condemnation about their former colleague and governor, Charlie Crist. They even prepared a special Twitter hash tag for the night: #2faceCharlie.
“FloridaGOP @FloridaGOP
A little reading before #2faceCharlie takes the #DNC2012 stage: Charlie Crist: The man who doesn’t believe in anything”
Chief among Crist’s “crimes” against the GOP is leaving the party to run as an independent in the 2010 US Senate race in Florida. Crist did this after his loss to the War Party’s golden boy, Marco Rubio in the GOP primary. Since then, Crist has “drifted ever more left” and in a 180 degree transformation, has endorsed President Obama. Tonight he tells the DNC why he believes Obama should be re elected.
Blasphemy! Traitorous! Does the man have no shame?
This is great grist for the GOP mill. Crist can be characterized as a self serving, self interested, core principle lacking opportunist. This will play really well in the southern neocon stronghold of Florida.
I have no doubt that he is all of those things, and more that may never come to light.
However, Charlie’s sins, if you want to call them that, are against a political party. Yes, he did say he would not run for any other office. He was happy being the Governor. He lied to the people of Florida. Certainly he has no exclusive franchise on that activity.
The Republican Party of Florida has committed a bigger sin, a bigger lie and an ever more dangerous deception.
Every member of the Republican Party of Florida delegation to both houses of Congress has violated their oath of office, overturned our legal protections against the federal government under the Bill of Rights, and repudiated at least three of the grievances regarding civil liberties in our Declaration of Independence.
The Hell you say! Not our “true conservatives.”
Yes. They did. Every Republican in Congress from Florida voted YES to the military arrest and indefinite detention of US citizens anywhere in the world, including inside the US.
They did this when they VOTED YES to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and sections 1021 and 1022 which grant this illegal “power” to the Executive.
An Executive by the way, they claim to mistrust and vehemently oppose.
Has anyone in the RPOF singled out this act for the shameful breach of liberty it is? No.
Has anyone taken these people to task other than FL TAC, Oath Keepers, Floridians Against REAL ID, Save America Foundation, the Libertarian Party of Florida, and a small handful of others out there? No.
So excuse me if I don’t share in the partisan politics vilification of Charlie Crist for being a hypocritical, self promoting , unprincipled chameleon. Seriously, who cares?
What the Florida GOP members of Congress did to all of us is a much greater offense.
Along with their vote to extend the Patriot Act, these “true conservatives” have further weakened the Bill of Rights and our constitution more than any foreign enemy could ever do.
THEY have acted in a manner deserving of contempt and disgrace, and worthy of being those of whom we speak when we pledge to defend the constitution against “all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Yes, former Republican governor and possibly new Democrat Charlie Crist supports the re election of Barak Obama.
In reality Charlie Crist would probably have voted YES to this abomination of freedom as well. But he didn’t get the chance.
Florida’s much touted “Tea Party Class of 2010″ the people who in 2010 went to DC to allegedly blunt the Obama agenda did get a chance. A chance to stand for the constitution, for Liberty, and for the freedoms fought and bled for by those embattled farmers and shopkeepers. They failed to do so.
The Republican Party of Florida has sinned against the Principles of 1776, the Founders, the Framers and the Ratifiers. They have mocked every American injury, deprivation and death suffered in our War for Independence.
Mr. Obama’s administration is currently appealing a stay against the indefinite detention portion of NDAA issued by Judge Katherine Forrester. The Florida GOP members of Congress support this appeal.
How do I know? They voted for this “law” in the first place; and not one of them has come forward to say “I made a mistake, I apologize and I will work to reverse this.” Not one of them has made a public statement in opposition to Obama’s appeal of Judge Forrester’s stay.
For me, being complicit in the usurpation of our basic legal protections and supporting actions to oppose a stay against those usurpations is a much greater sin than being a party turncoat.
They continue to do this in “bipartisanship” with the same people Charlie Crist is now derided for associating with at the DNC.
The Creator may forgive them for these transgressions. Those of us dedicated to the cause of Liberty will not.
Morgan & Morgan the Ambulance Chasers have invited Crist in, but "Birds of a feather flock together."
President Clinton had it right when he said:
"Maybe just because I grew up in a different time, but though I often disagree with Republicans, I actually never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate our president and a lot of other Democrats."
Thank you for once again proving Clinton's and my points so spitefully.
PATHETIC.
In this same line, Jeb Bush recently said that "Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad – they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party – and I don't – as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement, doesn't allow for finding some common ground . . . Back to my dad’s time and Ronald Reagan’s time – they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support." Reagan, Jeb Bush added, "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."
Sounds alot like Charlie Crist's argument - the Republican party has clearly left its moderates and gone to the far right, demonizing its moderates on the way.
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