Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist: Here's why I'm backing Barack Obama

[seafan]

Governor Crist writes today in the Tampa Bay Times:

August 26, 2012

.....

As America prepares to pick our president for the next four years — and as Florida prepares once again to play a decisive role — I'm confident that President Barack Obama is the right leader for our state and the nation. I applaud and share his vision of a future built by a strong and confident middle class in an economy that gives us the opportunity to reap prosperity through hard work and personal responsibility. It is a vision of the future proven right by our history.

.....

He knew we had to get people back to work as quickly as possible — but he also knew that the value of a recovery lies in its durability. ..... President Obama invested in our children's schools ..... making college more affordable and making student loans, like the ones he took out, easier to pay back.

He invested in our runways, railways and roads.

.....

And the president invested in our retirement security by strengthening Medicare. The $716 billion in savings his opponents decry today extended the life of the program by nearly a decade and are making sure taxpayer dollars aren't wasted in excessive payments to insurance companies or fraud and abuse. His opponents would end the Medicare guarantee by creating a voucher that would raise seniors' costs by thousands of dollars and bankrupt the program.

.....

As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can expect to hear tales of how President Obama has failed to work with their party or turn the economy around.

But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they've proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims.

.....

President Obama has a strong record of doing what is best for America and Florida, and he built it by spending more time worrying about what his decisions would mean for the people than for his political fortunes. That's what makes him the right leader for our times, and that's why I'm proud to stand with him today.

Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist (via Tampa Bay Times)



And the angry screams from the extremists exploded quickly.


GOP chairman on Crist's Obama endorsement: A 'repugnant display from a self-centered, career politician', August 26, 2012


Rubio defends GOP position on abortion: 'This is not an issue about denying anyone rights', August 26, 2012



Mitt Romney, left, hugs U.S. Rep. Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.) after Rubio introduced him to the crowd during a campaign stop in Miami, Monday, Aug. 13, 2012. (AP Photo)


With "friends" like these... (Whatza matter, Jack Latvala-- posturing for the teapartiers so they won't rip you to shreds? You've bombed, Mister Latvala.)


Jeb "Big Foot" Bush weighs in

.....

We're in a heap of trouble, we're not growing economically. The president has failed. His policies have failed. I think now the effort needs to be — and this is why I'm excited about Romney's campaign — I think the general election needs to go beyond describing the president's failures to offering a compelling alternative.

.....

Imagine 51 senators and Majority Leader (Mitch) McConnell and Speaker (John) Boehner and Mitt Romney get together in transition. I could see them saying, "We're going to pass a budget, you're going to sign it on your inauguration day that changes the current run rate of spending to send a positive signal to the market. President Romney says, "I'm going to sign approval for the Excel pipeline on the first day. And I'm going to sign — I'm just making this up now — I'm going to sign an executive order that will do a thorough review of all the rulemaking processes and we're going to freeze some of them until we establish the template that we use to look at all rules — not just Dodd-Frank and Obamacare — but all rules. Then you announce a task force to make recommendations for the creation of an energy strategy beyond the energy pipeline that creates incentives for the use of natural gas in transportation and a variety of other things. …

There are probably 10 of those things that you could do, and what happens is it sends a really powerful signal to the world that we're not as dysfunctional as it appears ......

......

Yeah, just imagine.



Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is shown in May in the garden of the home of GOP fundraiser and cardiologist Dr. Zachariah Zachariah in Broward County. (JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times)


Oh, THAT Dr. Zachariah Zachariah. And Jeb is touted to be "the smart one".

Bush family linked to South Florida cardiologist accused of insider trading by SEC (Dr. Zachariah Zachariah), May 14, 2008



The Bushes never change their spots. Moderate? Respected? Statesman?

My @$$.


Come on, Adam C. Smith.... 'Florida's most respected Republican' ??

You can do better than that.



Governor Crist is unabashedly pointing out the myriad ways this malevolent crop of Republicans is subverting our democracy.


And they absolutely hate him for exposing them.

[seafan]

1. Boy, oh boy, has Governor Crist unleashed the wrath of the foaming mouth breathers.

All because he declared his support for a political candidate.

... Let's face it, Gov. Crist's life is organized around his personal ambition and when it became clear that his personal ambition needed to make an adjustment of where he stood, he appeared to abandon some of the reform ideas. .....Jeb Bush, August 26, 2012

'And stop blaming my brother for the economy.', August 26, 2012

Bush, the focus of speculation as a future GOP presidential contender, also said he was not thinking about a future run.

"I don't think about it. I'm not motivated by it. It takes an incredible amount of discipline and ambition to even think about aspiring to it and I'm not there yet in my life," he said. "I'm excited about supporting Mitt Romney. He's a great guy." Link, August 26, 2012

... So, other than funneling money into your "Foundation for Florida's Future" or your "Foundation for Excellence in Education" to keep your name and agenda to privatize public education, relentlessly jammed into people's faces, YOU, Jeb Bush, have no personal political ambition or motivation to push your policies into law from the shadows; is that right?


Now that the opening day of the RNC convention is canceled due to another blowhard named Isaac, will Jeb be able to squeeze in his (reviled) Parent Trigger movie screening for doting eyes and ears elsewhere?





It is beyond time to expose this acid-tongued charlatan.

[Divine Discontent]

2. ugh, there shoulda been some kinda warning in this pro-Obama post about Crist's endorsement having..

three of the most annoying repubs in other photos in the thread! B*sh's fork-tongued brother, Marco charge it to my free credit card Rubio, and the one who thinks $300K isn't a lot of money, who throws his dog on his car roof for a half day drive to Canada, and seems as utterly fake as a knockoff Rolex!

I voted for Crist in 2010, as he had the best chance on election day of beating Rubio. He was very popular in Florida, and certainly, he's gotta have a decently higher popularity compared to Gov. Skeletor! (so I top your pics of the slimy GOPers with the Medicare fraudster!)




Get it here --->>>
www.zazzle.com/youre_not_in_the_1_why_vote_like_you_are_bumpe_bumper_sticker-128479630785214922?rf=238107662556833486

[seafan]

3. You are too kind, DD.

Annoying, you betcha. And they are all small ball.


Rick "The Skeletor" Scott (via Tampa Bay Times


Scott the Medicare fraudster had better pray that a hurricane doesn't hit Florida while he camps out in the Governor's mansion.

We are truly on our own.

[seafan]

4. Isaac isn't the only problem the GOP has now. It's Hurricane Charlie.

Adam C. Smith is reporting at Tampa Bay's The Buzz:


August 26, 2012, 6:18 pm

Chatted with Charlie Crist by phone a few minutes ago about his Obama endorsement.

"It was a big decision, but not a hard one," Crist said, recounting "all that he did for Florida" while Crist was governor, including $700-million in "Race to the Top" funding to enhance education innovation, Recovery Act stimulus funding that helped keep teachers and emergency workers employed, and $2.4-billion in funding for high speed rail - money rejected by Gov. Rick Scott.

"I lived through a time when this Democratic president was willing to work with a Republican governor on issue after issue after issue," he said, adding that he's been stunned at how Republican U.S. House leaders have been unwilling to do the same with Obama.

"What's happened in today's Republican leadership is the words compromise and cooperation aren't welcome any more," he said. "If you're that rigid and that doctrinaire, you can't get anything done."

Crist said he has no plans to change his party affiliation to Democratic or to speak on Obama's behalf at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week.

Would he be receptive if asked? "Probably," he said, adding that he just wanted to be helpful to Obama's re-election. "This will be a very close election and I just couldn't sit by."

The former self-described Reagan Republican insisted his core beliefs have remain unchanged.

"There are things about Reagan that I admire greatly, just as there are about Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. But I also admire Harry Truman....I haven't changed. The republican party has changed."

Update:

August 27, 2012, 1:30 am

Bay News 9 is reporting:

Former Fla. GOP Gov. Charlie Crist to speak at DNC

TAMPA (AP) --

Florida's former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will be a speaker at the Democratic National Convention.

An official with President Barack Obama's campaign said Sunday that Crist will speak at next week's convention in Charlotte, N.C., but the day hasn't been worked out.

The official wasn't authorized to speak and requested anonymity.

Crist announced Sunday that he is endorsing Obama. Republicans called the decision political opportunism and pointed out Crist has previously criticized the president on issues like his health care overhaul.

Crist changed his voter registration to no party affiliation after he dropped out of the 2010 Republican Senate primary and ran as an independent. Many speculate that he will return to politics as a Democrat and possibly challenge his Republican successor, Rick Scott.

Give 'em hell, Governor. Even better than they've given you.

[seafan]

6. Ponder this, GOP.

From Alex Leary at Tampa Bay's The Buzz:

August 27, 2012

"The Democratic convention will be about bringing people together to continue the progress we've made in rebuilding our economy from the middle out, not the top down," a Democratic official tells the Buzz. "Gov. Crist can personally speak to this, and contrast the president's vision with Mitt Romney's, which caters to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party and undermines the middle class."

The howls of the hard right whine above the outer squall bands of Isaac .....

Florida Agriculture Commmissioner Adam Putnam told Florida delegates about it this morning, and the news drew groans from the audience.

“Unbelievable,” Putnam said. “What does he stand for except for himself. He’ll wear any costume just to get in the parade.”

They have absolutely nothing left except sputtering impotence in attacking Governor Crist now.

Go home, losers. You, indeed, have some "pondering" to do.




For more than a generation, no family has done more to define Republican politics. | Reuters



This is your ongoing legacy, and the perpetrators of decades of America's decline, as well as the reason the rotting vestiges of your party are going the way of the Whigs.

[No Elephants]

5. Crist, like Spectre, is the consummate self-serving opportunist.

When he thought it would benefit him to run Republican, he ran Republican. When he lost the Republican primary, he ran independent, trying to have it both ways, like Joe Lieberman did before Crist.

Now, Crist knows there is less than nothing for him personally in the Republican Party OR as an alleged independent, so he comes out for Obama.

When Crist ran, the Democratic Party, under Obama, abandoned the Democratic candidate, as it had in Lamoont v. Lieberman race. Only this time, it didn't work.

There were no heroes in Lieberman v. Lamont, none in Specre v. Sestak and none in the Crist attempt, just bad news all around.

[madfloridian]

7. I think he will run for gov as a Dem or indy.

Since the FL Dem party for the most part has not spoken out about the harm being done by the GOP....I would probably support him. He is the most sensible person on the horizon in FL right now. Alex Sink is making noises about running. However Crist is just as moderate as she is, or more so.

I think he would win if he ran with Dems backing him with a promise to caucus.

[No Elephants]

8. I am not following. did you mean to say Senator?

[madfloridian]

9. Governor probably.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2012/08/former-republican-and-future-dem-governor-candidate-charlie-crist-endorses-obama/

There is lots of talk about it.

[No Elephants]

10. Then I don't understand your comment about a promise to caucus with Dems.

[madfloridian]

11. Me, either. I must have been thinking backwards.

I do that a lot lately. :)

[No Elephants]

12. Meh. I've done that all my life. Who hasn't?

I thought I was failing to figure it out, so I am relieved.

Next time, the mistake will be on my end. Count on it.

[seafan]

13. Charlie Crist addresses Democratic convention Thursday

As reported this morning at Tampa Bay's The Buzz:


September 4, 2012

Charlie Crist, Florida's Republican-turned-independent former governor, will address the 2012 Democratic National Convention Thursday night before Barack Obama accepts the nomination inside the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

Said an Obama campaign official: “The Democratic convention will be about bringing people together to continue the progress we've made in rebuilding our economy from the middle out, not the top down. Governor Crist can personally speak to this, and contrast the President's vision with Mitt Romney's, which caters to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party and undermines the middle class

Meanwhile, sour and vindictive Republicans are spending their money running a new hate-filled TV ad today, attacking Governor Crist. (Look out, Lincoln Chafee--- you may be next!)


We're looking forward to hearing Joe Biden and former Florida Governor Charlie Crist take on these bastards, from the most important microphone in the country this week.

[madfloridian]

14. FL Democrats are gearing up to after him, I think.

I rather resent that myself. We worked on the campaign of Bill McBride, Alex Sink's hubby, and it was so frustrating. The campaign wouldn't take firm stands on anything, and Jeb certainly did. Alex had a chance to take strong stands, but she did not either.

I believe Crist may be our only chance to get the Tea Party out of power here in Florida. Right now they control the dialogue and everything else.

I think this state is in desperate straits, and Dems have had chances with too many of them blown. Trying not to offend the extremists has gotten us nowhere.