AAN Takes On Charlie Crist
By Carole on Jul 22, 2010
|
The American Action Network has waded into the Florida Senate Race with a tough new ad about Governor and Senate Candidate Charlie Crist. The Republican think tank headed by former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman and Rob Collins, a former aide to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is reminding voters about some of the major issues on which Governor Crist has flip-flopped since launching his independent bid for US Senate.
Continued...
The ad features broken promises on new taxes, shifting positions on cap & trade legislation and fraudulent denials of support for President Obama's stimulus bill. All of these every-evolving stances represent the go-along-to-get-along style Mr. Crist has adopted since realizing he had no chance to with the Republican nomination and therefore becoming an unaffiliated candidate. As the ad's narrator says, "You can't trust Charlie Crist to fight for jobs - unless it’s his own job."
The ad and associated accusation is reminiscent of the successful strategy that caused the political demise of another party switcher, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania). Mr. Specter left the Republican Party once he realized he would lose to a more conservative primary challenger. With the support of his new party he was able to make it through one election cycle before his constituents realized the only job he was interested in saving was his own. He lost the next primary in his new party to US Representative Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania).
But Governor Crist doesn't have the support of a desperate Democratic machine or a promise-anything-to grab-a-senate-majority administration. Those perks will undoubtedly go to whoever wins the Democrats' primary in Florida (either US Representative Kendrick Meek (D-Florida) or billionaire businessman Jeff Greene). Meanwhile State House Speaker Marco Rubio will continue to enjoy the support of the Republican Party and Florida voters who favor smaller government and less government spending and lower taxes.
So Mr. Crist must stand before the voters with nothing but his sad little record of abandoning long-stated positions and breaking promises in a last ditch effort to salvage his career. And organizations like the American Action Network seem very willing and quite able to shine a spotlight on that record.
| « The Obama Factor In West Virginia | Wanted: One Real West Virginia Republican » |



