My reliably liberal Democratic mother and stepfather both kinda like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, as do many of their friends down there in the Sunshine State. Despite the fact that he’s a (gasp) Republican.
You know, you raise your parents as best you can, and then you have to let go.
But the point is, Crist is exactly the type of Republican, relatively moderate in both substance and demeanor, who has a shot at winning Democratic voters nationwide. Which of course is why the Club for Growth is attempting to “Scozzafaza” Crist in his bid for the U.S. Senate, pumping dollars behind right-winger Marco Rubio.
Don’t get me wrong, Crist is no liberal. But he’s no Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin either. And whatever hope Republicans take nationally from gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey, NY-23 is a cautionary tale they would do well to heed.
The Club for Growth is the gift that keeps on giving. The GOP is in for a long trip through the wilderness as long as they keep driving all of the sane candidates out of the party.
Krugman’s article in NYT today talks about what America looks like if this effort to shrink the tent works.
Hey Pussface, your two favorite people are in town today to shill for Obamacare – Nancy Pelosi and Jim McDermott on a little date together at Swedish Hospital with all the people excited to see DMV-style medical services.
Great to see that you’re all over the story with insider facts and details. You are such a hooked up guy, I’m sure all your legions of admirers gave you the details on this days ago and you were just so busy having high level discussions with even more higher ups in liberal consciousness that this just slipped your busy little insane mind…
@3
Nope Obamacare is hardly DMV-style medical services. That would be full nationalization like England’s National Health Service which I haven’t heard any real support for in 20+ years. Even single-payer would most likely look like using Medicare to get your medical care from a provider with mostly Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Clough is running as a Democrat.
that’s all it really means anymore. a role. and in best actor in a political role, the oscar goes to . . .
or Tim Pawlenty otherwise known as Norm Coleman II.
What an interesting crew is shaping up to take on Barack in 2012.
Yawwwwwn. A cake walk for our side.
In a sweet development this morning, Think Progress is reporting that the Crist opposition have registered a Tea Party Party to “Scozzafava” Crist in Florida.
When will the TP gang do the same in WA to purge Mainstream Republicans? After all, they opposed 1033, and their apostasy has long stuck in the craw of the evangelical extremists who’ve long had the state GOP by the short hairs.
7
What a wonderful development–The Tea Party Party: proof that God lives, and loves Democrats.
#7, 8
If the republicans purge all the moderates, it won’t make a difference. If given a choice between voting for the republican or the fake republican, I’d rather vote for the republican, so a real democrat can be elected next time.
Democrats have to grow a spine and stop acting like fake republicans.
I liked this comment from the Paul Krugman piece
22. American girl Santa Barbara, CA November 9th, 2009 7:31 am
Let them knife their moderates and run crazies for every office from animal shelter director to president! I look forward to Democrats having a monopoly on power for the next 40 years. We’re obviously not going to get a public option passed this year, so we’ll have to pass health care reform without it for now, and put it in later. There’s a lot of other things we’ll need to do incrementally, too, so we’re going to need 40 years to get it all done.
Meanwhile, I have no sympathy for the Crists of the world. He can solve this problem by changing parties. Any moderate GOPer who’s still tempted to stay on board that sinking ship can’t say he wasn’t warned. If what has happened so far isn’t enough to get them to change parties, then let ’em drown with the rats.
@11 I wonder how many people in Germany in the 1930’s had a similar smug expectation that the Nazi crackpots were going to harmlessly burn themselves out.
@ 11:
Thanks, but no thanks.
Crist can remain a GOP. If there’s no room in that tent for him, then let him and others like them start their own conservative party.
I for one, have had my fill of the Arlen Spector, Joe Lieberman, Lincoln Blance, Ben Nelson types.
They only water down our Good for America Liberal Agenda with their Republican Lite ways of thinking.
I’m all for a 3-party system. Democrats over here, moderate/Republican Lites w/ the aforementioned over there, and the Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, John “Bonner”, John McCain America Last Tea Baggers way the fuck over there away from me!!
@13 What you’re proposing sounds like a really great way for us progressives (in itself a euphemism we got cowed into adopting after the neocons so successfully demonized the term “liberal”) to marginalize ourselves.
@ 14:
Think about it: A Democratic base as it exsists now, minus the Arlen Spector, Joe Lieberman types.
Split the GOP party into two distinct halves.
Now what do you have?
A Democratic Party that reprsents about 1/2 the country. The other half will be divided in two.
Two competing conservative parties will never be able to pull the levers of national government and few, if any, but certainly not consiquential local government offices.
See why I’d love to see the GOP split.
14 continued,
Oh, and my bad my comment @ 13 was directed at RR at 10 not your comments @ 12, which, of course, are valid. We must not become complacent that people will always act correctly.
Since Cyniklown didn’t post this today, I will:
[Deleted — see HA Comment Policy]