Why do I despise the Republican Party? Charlie Crist is as good an answer as I can come up with right now. Charlie Crist is what some call a “moderate Republican.”
That means he’s popular with Democrats because he secretly hates social conservatives. Sometimes not so secretly.
While many liberals attack everything I feel strongly about at least I can stand and face them. Charlie Crist is the guy who shanks you in the shower. He’s Fredo. Benedict Arnold.
Liberals at least have their whole “i’m personally pro-life but publicly pro-choice” thing going on. Crist knew that he couldn’t get away with that explanation so he staked out some new ground on that front. Crist has said he’s pro-life but he says he doesn’t want to change laws, he only wants to change hearts.
That meant he was never gonna’ do a darn thing about abortion.
But wait! Then Marc Rubio, a pro-life conservative, announced he was running against Crist in the primary. And while Rubio was down double digits two months ago a recent poll showed the two tied. And today…BOOM! Like a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment, Charlie Crist saw the light and issued a press release saying he was now for the pro-life legislative agenda. Woot! Woot!
According to the LA Times:
Gov. Charlie Crist is saying that he wants to change abortion laws if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate, a change from what he said during his run for governor.
Crist’s campaign issued a release Friday that said: “As Florida’s next U.S. senator, Charlie Crist will fight for pro-life legislative efforts.”
But then ol’ Charlie Crist got a little nervous when the press started pointing out the discrepancy between what he’s said in the past to what he said today. Crist got aides to make statements saying that when he said he’d fight for pro-life legislative efforts he only meant he’d like to increase funding for adoption and things like that. So Crist’s pro-life legislative agenda died of a bad press day.
This stuff is typical of the Republican Party and exactly why so much of our agenda has been stalled. We need to stop electing nominally pro-life people and elect real hardcore pro-lifers who are willing to change hearts, minds, and the law.
January 9, 2010 at 7:40 am
"We need to stop electing nominally pro-life people and elect real hardcore pro-lifers who are willing to change hearts, minds, and the law."
Amen to that one. Time to stop playing "nicey-nice" and be willing to accept half a loaf. We've got to be hardnosed, ESPECIALLY concerning abortion.
January 9, 2010 at 10:22 am
Re "he doesn't want to change laws, he only wants to change hearts."
Changing hearts is the job of educators. Changing laws is the job of a legislator.
January 9, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Aye. The laws/hearts false dichotomy has been the standard get-out-of-really-standing-for-anything-free card for politicians for years.
January 9, 2010 at 1:26 pm
All true, and all good.
Just make sure that a quest for ideological purity (unattainable in politics, by the nature of the beast) doesn't end up giving Obama a second term. It's hard to think of a candidate who wouldn't be an improvement over him, on abortion or on any other of a host of critical issues.
January 9, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Rick wrote:
Changing hearts is the job of educators. Changing laws is the job of a legislator.
🙂 Now that's clarity! Well said! (Rick, any chance you could run for office? Not that I wish the grief on you…)
January 9, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Just make sure that a quest for ideological purity (unattainable in politics, by the nature of the beast) doesn't end up giving Obama a second term.
It's quite simple really. Just give us a candidate that says that abortion is wrong, period, and ultimately ought to be illegal, and then it will be possible to tolerate any incremental less-than-ideal measures he proposes.
January 9, 2010 at 6:07 pm
"This stuff is typical of the Republican Party and exactly why so much of our agenda has been stalled. We need to stop electing nominally pro-life people and elect real hardcore pro-lifers who are willing to change hearts, minds, and the law."
Well I am not sure this is the Republican parties fault. Also Rubio was Spekaer of the House and there is a contested primary in FLorida where this is being discussed and examined.
I am all for Pro-life Republicans. However if Pro-life Republicans could not make a case with their guy to the FLorida electorate then well that was a lost battle.
HEre they can
January 9, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Charlie Crist is an example of what happened in the Democratic Party. Former Pro-Life Democrats gave it up when they found they were more electable as pro-abortion (Kennedy/Gore/Jessie Jackson) etc. They became proponents of abortion to be inline with the party.
The opposite has happened among Republican in that a pro-abort is not going to get elected (Remember Giuliani's Florida strategy.) So the GOP gets nominal pro-lifers as far a votes go but deep down these political chameleons would adapt to either side.
For example it is hard to believe in Mitt Romney's pro-life conversion since he has done nothing for the pro-life cause except talk about his conversion to it. A real pro-lifer would have stood up and talked about the horror of the health care bill.
The situation in the GOP is at least better in that at least we end up getting pro-life vote from people who would play either side. Though of corse I would much more prefer people who are fully pro-life and not for political purpose.
I will certainly be voting for Rubio here.
January 9, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Crist has said he's pro-life but he says he doesn't want to change laws, he only wants to change hearts
A line stolen directly from George W. Bush, by the way.
January 10, 2010 at 4:52 am
@paladin: Thanks for the compliment. I wish I can be like St. Thomas More despite what happened to him; however, I am more of an educator than a legislator. So, I'll just support the brave souls with that calling.
January 11, 2010 at 3:44 am
We need to refuse to concede the "moderate Republican" label to fake pro-life Republicans (or RINOs). That implies that being "pro-life" is an extreme position. The "mainstream" Democrats need to be labeled as the left-wing extremists that they are on abortion.
January 11, 2010 at 10:54 am
Why not just call them liberal Republicans? That term never gets thrown around much anymore.
Good luck to Rubio. He's a prayerworthy candidate.
January 11, 2010 at 6:34 pm
My co-blogger, the Barking Spider, would corroborate the many Crist stories; he lives in Florida. The short version is, don't trust Charlie Crist. He's trying to get his fanny comfortably ensconced on Capitol Hill for six years, and that is the grand sum total of his interest in pro-life values. Don't be fooled!
January 12, 2010 at 11:06 pm
This story reminds me of a qoute from Gaudium et Spes, Vat II " One of the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and the practice of their daily lives." Pretty much sums up Charlie and his ilk.