by Smitty
There is a reason why lesser candidates are wetting themselves at the thought of running against a simple, humble, clear speaker:
Category: Marco Rubio
Shocker: David Frum Backs Marco Rubio?
Somewhat less surprising than if Charles Johnson or Conor Friedersdorf had endorsed him, but surprising nonetheless:
Crist continues to lead the polls. I expect that lead to fade as Republicans rally to Rubio and independents question the grounds for Crist’s candidacy. I hope that translates into a Rubio win, but I worry that a Rubio candidacy will be a tougher and harder fight than a Crist candidacy would have been: I don’t share the view that the conservative future belongs to Rubio’s hard-edged style of politics, especially not in a state like Florida. But all that is past helping. The GOP nomination race has a presumptive winner and Republicans of all stripes have a new standard-bearer.
Not exactly a full-throated “Wolverines” war cry, but probably the best we can expect from a Harvard-educated Canadian. Contrary to Frum’s worry-wart concerns, Crist is toast. Nobody respects a two-faced crapweasel, and I expect the backstabber to be a non-factor Nov. 2. As Allahpundit says, Sorry Charlie’s speech was repulsive:
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Crist’s campaign staff has resigned en masse, which raises the question: Why did they hire on with that worthless political whore to begin with? I know we’re in a recession, but even GOP campaign operatives should try to maintain some shred of personal dignity . . .
We Now Interrupt This Blog . . .
. . . for an urgent news announcement:
She is, however, supreme:
In an unrelated news development, Charlie Crist is brown. Like toast.
MARCO RUBIO FOR U.S. SENATE
Take a Chill Pill, Phil
My friend Philip Klein of the American Spectator goes into Eeyore mode over the prospect of a three-way Florida Senate election with “independent” Charlie Crist:
Yet, while a Quinnipiac poll taken last week found that he trailed Marco Rubio by 23 points in the primary, it also found that in a general election, Crist leads Rubio by a narrow 32 percent to 30 percent margin, with Democrat Kendrick Meek at 24 percent.
So, yes, it is true that Crist’s independent run would encounter obstacles. But it’s at least plausible that he can win, whereas if he stays in the Republican primary or drops out of the race altogether, he’s virtually assured to be out of public office come January.
Yes, Phil, and in June 2009 Quinnipiac showed Charlie Crist beating Rubio 54-23.
So Crist has gone from +31 to -23 in the span of 10 months. Why? Because Marco Rubio is an appealing young conservative and Charlie Crist is a washed-up, two-faced, backstabbing crapweasel. The more voters got to know Rubio, the more they liked him, and the more they got to know Sorry Charlie . . . eh, not so much.
Excuse me for going into my “I’ve Got Ties Older Than You, Kid” curmudgeon routine, but you kids have got to stop buying into this intellectual nonsense that politics is about polls and trends.
Politics is about people. Those political phenomena that appear from the bird’s-eye view as indomitable “trends” are, in fact the results of human activity — the various efforts of innumerable individuals.
Men make trends, and not the other way around. To believe otherwise is to concede the game before it begins, to surrender to anomie and apathy, drifting along without purpose or direction, helpless and inert. If Scott Brown had taken that attitude, Martha Coakley would be a senator today.
“I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.”
— Ronald Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981
During the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, the Confederates made a night attack that scattered a couple of brigades in Sedgewick’s division on the right flank, and a panic-stricken officer reported to U.S. Grant that all was lost. Lee was surely going to cut off their line of supply and put them in a trap, the officer declared.
Grant exploded. He was sick and tired of hearing what Lee was going to do, he said. “Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault and land in our rear and on both flanks at the same time.” To the panicky officer, Grant ordered: “Go back to your command and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do!”
That’s exactly what the problem is with all this doom-and-gloom worry-wart attitude about polls and trends. If you start letting yourself be panicked by polls, it leads to political paralysis.
A poll is not a prediction. It’s nothing but the measurement of opinion at any given time. Good candidates and good campaigns actually change people’s opinions.
For several weeks now, Crist has been running a desperate smear campaign against Rubio — honestly, does anybody think this IRS investigation story is a coincidence? — and the only real effect has been the final destruction of Crist’s credibility. Crist himself is as likely as anyone to be burned by Jim Greer’s Florida GOP scandal:
Gov. Charlie Crist has moved swiftly in the last few weeks to distance himself from the widening scandal engulfing his hand-picked state GOP chairman. . . .
According to hotel invoice records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Crist, along with his much of his traveling entourage (former chief of staff George LeMieux, former general counsel Jason Gonzalez, former communications director Erin Isaac, and others), stayed at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in early January 2009.
The event: Jim Greer’s re-election as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
Who picked up the check? Greer and Delmar Johnson, who charged the $26,000 tab for Crist’s presidential suite, along with the other rooms, VIP valet parking, restaurants, mini-bar tabs, in-room movies and meals.
“Crist’s presidential suite” — ain’t that a kick in the head?
Victory seldom goes to those who are paralyzed by the fear of losing. So stop worrying about what the Quinnipiac poll says in April and start thinking about what Marco Rubio’s going to say in his victory speech on the evening of Nov. 2.
If Marco Rubio Is Stalin, Who Is Crist? And What Does That Make John Cornyn?
Chris Matthews gets another thrill up his leg:
Republican purge. Arlen Specter is out. John McCain, Charlie Crist and Robert Bennett are all being threatened on the right. Is this anyway to run a party or run it into the ground? . . .
[W]hat happens to Republicans who don’t march to the right wing tune? Well they’re getting purged. This is Stalinesque, this stuff. . . .
Going around and saying, “Well we really don’t like Arlen Specter. You go find something else to do. Go be a Democrat.” We see this with Charlie Crist perhaps being given the boot. . . .
[I]t seems like one of the reasons that the Democrats got 90 percent of the Jewish vote, for example, last time around for Barack Obama is not so much love of him or knowledge of him. It was fear of this theocratic, gun-toting party that begins to look more and more right wing, more and more Sarah Palin than it did two years ago. If this party, the Republicans, keep going over to Palin-ism and gun-toters and 2nd Amendment types, I think a lot of people in the suburbs, sophisticated people of all backgrounds, are gonna say, “That’s not my party.”
Exactly what gun-toting theocrats, Sarah Palin and “90 percent of the Jewish vote” have to do with the GOP Senate primary in Florida, Mr. Tingles forgot to tell us, but why bother with details? (Allahpundit gives the “purge” meme a thorough fisking.)
As founder of the Not One Red Cent blog — created last May in response to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s unwarranted interference in the Florida primary — I can attest that the grassroots conservative uprising had nothing to do with any of the stuff Chris Matthews was babbling about so idiotically. (Does he ever babble any other way?)
The attempt of NRSC Chairman John Cornyn and Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer to fix the Senate primary for their buddy, Charlie Crist, was the last straw in a long series of similar moves by the Republican establishment, which had been meddling in the primary process for years, although never so blatantly as in this Florida Senate race. When GOP insiders think they can hand-pick the Republican candidate 15 months before the primary, something has gone seriously awry in the party machinery.
The fact that Crist had (literally) embraced Obama and the stimulus plan was part of the problem, but only part. Marco Rubio — the kind of young, dynamic candidate that the GOP needs to revitalize its image — was already in the Senate race, raising money, when all of a sudden here comes the Republic establishment big-footing into the primary on behalf of Crist. If Crist was such a hands-down favorite for the Senate, then he could have easily won re-election as governor, and yet Cornyn and Greer decided Crist should stomp all over Rubio’s dream.
Did conservatives know what Marco Rubio’s positions were on all the issues when this grassroots revolution started? Not only did we not know, we didn’t even care. The point was that Rubio was getting screwed over by the GOP establishment — “Those treacherous bastards!” — and we meant to put a stop to this political equivalent of insider trading.
As it happens, Rubio’s positions are conservative (including his stance on immigration, which had been questioned by some) but he’s sufficiently mainstream to earn the endorsements of non-wingnut Republicans as Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor. (And if Chris Matthews is worried about “90 percent of the Jewish vote,” let’s see Kendrick Meek try to outdo Rubio’s pro-Israel bona fides.)
As Doug Hagin points out, the handpicking of Crist was about “pragmatists like Mr. Cornyn who insist that uncompromising conservatives aren’t good bets to win swing states.” As everyone who follows Republican politics knows, Cornyn and the NRSC have tried to fix several other primaries in favor of “safe” vanilla-bland GOP establishment candidates like Sue Lowden in Nevada and Jane Norton in Colorado. This makes Sharron Angle the Marco Rubio of Nevada and Ken Buck the Marco Rubio of Colorado, you see.
Nothing against Lowden or Norton, really, but the principle is the same. And now, Cornyn’s unprecedented meddling is blowing up in his face:
Once the champion of Charlie Crist’s Senate campaign, Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, can no longer get a phone call returned by the embattled Florida governor. . . .
That is a sign of how the relationship between Cornyn and Crist has changed. Cornyn initially picked Crist for the Republican ticket in part because the governor was such a sure bet that he didn’t need extra financial support. That allowed Cornyn and the NRSC to focus time and money on other races.
Heh. That worked out really smooth, didn’t it, Senator?
VIDEO: Rubio Calls Obama Terrorism Policy ‘Short-Sighted’ and ‘Misguided,’ Approves Israeli Strike on Iran Nukes
Javier Manjarres at the Shark Tank gets this video interview with the Florida Republican candidate for Senate:
Asked about the administration’s decision to strike terms like “jihad” and “Islamic radicalism” from national-security documents, Rubio says:
“It’s naive, short-sighted, quite frankly, misguided in terms of what he thinks he’s going to accomplish. These folks don’t attack America because of something America’s done or because we hurt their feelings. They want to attack America because of who we are. We’re the only country standing in their way from imposing their worldview on as many people as possible. . . .”
On the possibility of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear program, Rubio says:
“Israel has to do whatever Israel needs to do for their own national security. You would hope that the United States, by taking a stronger role, would prevent that from needing to happen, but ultimately, I don’t think any of us are going to blame Israel if they take it upon themselves to ensure that the security and well-being of their people is safeguarded.”
This is, of course, the most likely scenario, given the Obama administration’s weak posture toward the Tehran regime’s nuclear threat. And it’s probably an outcome that many Americans would prefer — let the Israelis take care of the problem, just as they did when they took out Saddam’s Osirak reactor in 1981.
UPDATE: It took a few hours, but the lefties at Think Progress grabbed the “neocon war hawk” bait and ran with it. At least they linked my American Spectator item, whereas John McCormack at the Weekly Standard doesn’t even hat-tip me for providing the transcription. Now there’s a Memeorandum thread that doesn’t include me! I’m the Rodney Dangerfield of the blogsophere: No respect, no respect at all . . .
UPDATE II: Oops. McCormack did indeed hat-tip me, although it’s down at the bottom and I missed it. So scratch that plan for me pounding on McCormack like the Gipper working over that no-good punk, James Dean.
How Stupid Is Charlie Crist?
Stupid enough to think he can get elected as an independent:
Top GOP officials in DC now believe it is a virtual certainty that FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will bolt the GOP and run instead as an independent, sources tell Hotline OnCall.
Over the weekend, Crist pulled TV advertisements that had been running in key markets, slamming ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R). Those ads, on which Crist spent close to $1.5M so far, were aimed at moving poll numbers that showed Crist losing badly.
In taking the ads down, top GOP officials have surmised both that Crist has made his decision to run as an independent, and that the attacks weren’t having an impact on the race.
Pulling the ads makes it look like Crist has come to some sort of decision — and we won’t have to wait much longer to see what it is. The filing deadline is eleven days away.
Charlie Crist: Making Arlen Specter Look Honorable by Comparison!
Remember who to thank for this debacle: John Cornyn and the treacherous bastards at the NRSC.
UPDATE: Erick Erickson names names, identifying NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer as the “brains” behind the Crist campaign:
Remember: Rubio was already in the race and Jesmer convinced Crist to enter after Rubio was already in and raising money.
And now Crist won’t even return John Cornyn’s phone calls.
UPDATE II: Dan Riehl says “John Cornyn may be about to get something more painful from Charlie Crist than a back waxing.” Daniel Foster at NRO and John McCormack at Weekly Standard are also commenting. More at Memeorandum.
Rich Lowry lays out the case against Crist running as an independent, but my own opinion is that it would be a very good thing for Crist to run as an independent and get his ass kicked nine ways to Sunday by Marco Rubio. Time to teach these RINO crapweasels a lesson they won’t ever forget. And just as soon as Arlen Specter beats Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary, Pat Toomey will teach Arlen the same lesson.
UPDATE III: Cassy Fiano:
The smart move [for Crist], in my opinion, would be to concede defeat with grace and then spend the next few years rebuilding himself. The NRSC and the GOP establishment still like Crist. They chose him over Marco Rubio, after all. They don’t want him to leave the GOP; that tells me that even if he loses to Marco Rubio, if he does it in the right way he could still possibly have a home in the Republican Party.
No, Cassy, we don’t want Crist to make the “smart move.” He’s been stuck on stupid ever since he (literally) embraced Obama, and what we want now is for Sorry Charlie to implode like the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, a flaming gasbag of ludicrous self-pitying outrage. If Crist goes independent and gets stomped, he will become an embarrassment, a laughingstock, a spectacular example of what happens to elitist Republicans who think they’re better than the people who elect them.
PREVIOUSLY:
- Sunshine Götterdämmerung: Crist to Announce Independent Senate Bid Today?
- VIDEO: New Marco Rubio Ad; PLUS: Rudy Giuliani vs. Arianna Huffington
- Bad to Worse for Sorry Charlie Crist
- How Bad Is It for Charlie Crist?
- Charlie Crist Is Not Scum
- How Doomed Is Charlie Crist?
- Charlie Crist Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot
VIDEO: New Marco Rubio Ad; PLUS: Rudy Giuliani vs. Arianna Huffington
On the heels of Marco’s endorsement by Rudy Giuliani — Sorry Charlie made the always-dangerous mistake of double-crossing an Italian — the Rubio campaign rolls out this warm, positive ad:
FLORIDA SENATE: Key Race Roundup
By the way, on “Morning Joe” today, Arianna Huffington and Giuliani had an interesting go-round:
Why is Arianna defending Charlie Crist? I don’t know, but she certainly has an extensive history of supporting closeted gay Republicans. IYKWIMAITYD.
(Cross-posted at Right Wing News.)
UPDATE: Excuse me for recycling an old joke that even I’ve grown tired of, but . . . Allah hates me. I saw this Huffington-Giuliani video at Daily Caller and linked them when I posted at 12:33 p.m., cross-posted at Right Wing News and had it all over Twitter but, when Allah blogs it six hours later — after getting it from Newsbusters — there’s zero acknowledgement that anyone else has had it online all this time.
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