Crist (I-FL)?

If he wins the race, I suspect that it wouldn’t ruin his political career. He will be the doppleganger Lieberman in the Senate.
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“Serious” people in D.C. will put him on Sunday shows continually to get his view on bipartisanship. Broder will be in love. Now, if he loses, his career is over. But Trent Lott is talking out of his rear end.

I gave at the last post

Yes, he’d take the opposite path of Lieberman.
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Even though he’s being coy about with which party he’d caucus, I assume he’d caucus with the Republicans. Initially, at least. Lieberman seems to be trending more to the other side, and Crist could easily edge more to the Democrats as well.
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Despite Lott’s argument, Crist’s political career is largely dead in the water now. If he *doesn’t* run as an independent, he’d be an incumbent governor who had all of his supposed allies run away from him and then got his behind kicked by an upstart challenger in a primary.
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He has one way forward, and like Lieberman, it’s running as an independent.

I think it’s safe to drop the question mark now. Seriously.

Will his campaign staff stick with him? Why not caucus with the Dems and hope for good committee appointments? The Dems will still have the majority.

Hardly a shocker here. And the most significant thing is that Crist could very well beat Rubio in November. Besides the Tea Partiers, Rubio has a very limited base in a state that is still very center-right, not far-right. Florida is not Arizona…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Tri
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I don’t see them as equivalent. The sole basis for the village’s embrace of Joe F’ing Lieberman is his alluring raison d’être: sticking it to liberals.
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Crist has no such bona fides. Can’t believe I was still living in FL when he was elected (of course, I voted for Davis). Seems like a lifetime ago.
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I’d say Lott is right, whether it’s sooner or later. The existence of a token independent or dem-socialist in the senate does not negate our two sh!tty parties’ stranglehold on power. Stay in the fold and be marginalized (e.g. liberal dems) or go 3rd party and watch the village bar you from the debate.

“when asked about a potential Crist indy bid former Majority Leader Trent Lott looked sad”

They could have asked him about his favorite flavor of ice cream and he still would have looked sad. It makes the republican’s job of keeping the Florida seat even harder. After the shabby treatment Crist got at the republican’s hands, I wouldn’t bet any money that Crist will even caucus with them. If Rubio and the party trash Crist during the coming election season, what sort of party loyalty can Crist be expected to demonstrate?

And we thank you for your generous donation.

JNS- how about a story on this NY Dem senator calling his republican counterparts racists and white supremecists..right out of the old liberal handbook. Oh! Thats right..you can’t do that.. It might make your fellow liberals look bad. Thanks for all the balanced reporting lately. You are truly a very objective journalist.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/kevin.parker.outburst.2.1660854.html

Jay Newton-Small:
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If Crist succeeds as an independent, will he be out stumping with Barack Obama in 2012?
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Isn’t that what “independent” means?
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Doesn’t it mean that you get handily defeated in your party’s primary, go on to win the general with opposition electorate’s votes and your party’s establishment support, and then campaign for the other party’s presidential candidate –while making vague threats about how a victory for your former party’s candidate somehow jeopardizes the nation’s security?
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I can’t wait until Charlie Crist goes out on the road with Barack Obama in a couple of years, and says all of the nasty things about Mittens (or whoever the GOP’s running) that the President couldn’t lower himself to say personally…
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That’s “independent,” right, Jay Newton-Small?
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Or am I missing something?

I assume he’d caucus with the Republicans. Initially, at least
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I think this would be true if the parties really were symmetrical.
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But apparently a Democrat can fire a .357 magnum into the skull of an ACORN worker and then eat a baby panda on the steps of the Capitol building, and still caucus with the Democrats.
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Whereas if a Republican doesn’t swear on a Bible that Obama is a traitor, a Marxist and a Kenyan at least three times a day, he’s kicked out.

While I would usually denounce the attention whoring of your website, on this one, I agree with you. FL is a moderate state, Mittens from Massachusetts could beat Obama in the general in this state, but Mittens from the land of opportunism could not. We don’t elect bomb throwers, and Rubio is a bomb thrower. Three things that will drag Rubio down..1) The fact that he charged a repair on his minivan and haircuts to the state credit card 2) the fact that he wanst to increase the age to qualify for social security and 3) his wishy washiness on immigration..The great thing about FL is either way he goes on those things he will lose some aspect of his base.

While Crist could say I supported the stimulus because it gave FL jobs, and trot out the construction worker employed on a stimulus funded project and then in the same breath say he opposed the big guvment takeover of healthcare.

People think I am crazy but I would thoroughly vote for JEB Bush in a heartbeat. I may not agree with him all the time, but I know he is doing it for the right reasons. Trust me, Rubio will flail once he starts having to move to the middle..you can’t square a circle and you sure as hell can’t win the Tea Party and the Moderate Vote..at least in FL

That’s pretty much how it works. If Crist does win (a big if) his support of the democrats may be directly proportional to how badly he gets blasted by his former fellow republicans during the next six months. It would be hilarious if they trash Crist and Crist winds up making the difference in who controls the senate. The republicans not liking moderates may just bite them in the ass.

stuartzechman:
To be fair there is one other independent in Congress besides Joe Lieberman: Bernie Sanders. And, previously, Jim Jeffords, Virgil Goode and Wayne Morse.
JNS

Who Cares,
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Crist will lose the general election. a small number of Republicans will vote for him. I don’t think a lot of democrats are going to vote for him in place of the democratic candidate. Either the democratic or republican party candidates will win the election.
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Crist is no Lieberman. He wont win.

Jay Newton-Small, I think SZ is posting about that “independent” Lieberman. Remember Lieberman ran under the Lieberman Party.
By the way Wayne Morse was one of my heroes. He truly could not be put in a box. Oregon has produced some real “mavericks”, not the McCain kind.

don’t think a lot of democrats are going to vote for him in place of the democratic candidate
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You might be underestimating the number of Dems and independents who are fairly conservative in their viewpoints but rightly worried about the sanity of the Republican party at this point in History.
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You talk often about having the parties work together. Unfortunately it’s the Tea Party branch of the R’s that will have nothing to do with it and, when pressed can’t even coherently explain why.

R.I.P to the moderate republican

Crist will still be governor until January of 2011 won’t he? If the Teabaggers go after him he might just mess with them for the next eight months. He still has the bully pulpit and could do everything he can to paint them in a more unfavorable light (not that they need help with that). He’s not getting the Teabagger vote anyway. Being hard on them might even attract more democrats, independents and moderates to his candidacy.

Who will be the next moderate repulican to be purged from the party of scorn? There was a reason McCain won the republican ticket in 2008. The nation as a whole prefers people closer to the center. They didn’t learn there lesson and are moving even further from the center. This strategy may work locally but will certainly fail nationally. Expecially when you add in the entire hispanic vote that used to also strongly support the GOP. Keep on with the nice work right wingers!

I am with you sacred. I meant RIP to the concept of the moderate republican. Your points are strong as he may make the tea baggers seem even more extreme. Something about this Rubio guys tells me they may be having some serious buyers remorse on this one.

I think the moderate republican has been on life support for quite awhile and is starting to flatline now. I have a good friend in Florida that supports Rubio. He was hoping Crist was going to run in the GOP primary because he thinks Crist will win in a three way. That’s my feeling too, but I put more stock in his opinions (regarding Florida). He’s lived there for almost 30 years and has a much better track record with the Florida races than I do. He’s as diehard a republican as I am a democrat and he didn’t even bother to vote in 2008. He was that sure that Obama would carry the state.

Slightly OT, but my Florida friend believed that there was something to the whole ACORN controversy. Maybe not enough to sway the general election, but enough to make a difference in some local elections. I told him that was nonsense because of all the places I voted in on November 4th, 2008…I didn’t see a single familiar face.

Wishful thinking again by the dreamland Liberals.
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As a moderate Republican I see all Republicans and most independents working together to defeat the very Liberal agenda of the Democrats.
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There will be no purging of any Republican. In some parts of the country, a more conservative Republican may defeat a more moderate Republican but that’s true for Democrats also.
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You Liberals are smoking something rather strange if you thing that there will be a split in the Republican party that will allow Democrats to win elections in November. It won’t happen.
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Northpole, it appears you are young. Don’t get the misunderstanding that because of the large number of Liberals posting to this site that they will effect anything.
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According to a recent Rasmussen poll 25% of probable voters said they were members of the Tea Party. This number is growing. That’s a larger number that potential voters that identify themselves as Liberals.
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Remember the old saying ” When you’re young if you’re not a Liberal you have not heart. When you’re old if you’re not a Conservative you have no brains”.
I encourage you to keep an open mind. It will help you succeed in life.

Wouldn’t that also mean that 75% of voters don’t see themselves as Tea Party members?

I’m surprised that Rubio’s stance on raising the qualifying age for Social Security isn’t getting more play in Florida. Even though he’s right about that, it’s the kind of frankness that politically should be killing him with seniors.

Well, if you wanted to find a crazy Democrat you found one of the more unstable ones. Parker’s kinda nuts. (But no one of any consequence even in state politics.)

While I disagree with you I throughly enjoyed the way you chose to engage and debate. I welcome more dialog with respect as you have demonstrated.
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I have heard that saying before, but for me it has been quite the opposite. As a freshman and sophmore in college I was a die hard conservative thinker, specifically for economic policy. I believe in the free market and the power of the invisible hand to prove much more effective than any government legislation. However as a natural born citizen with a “foreign” name I would rather vote for the party that respects other cultures instead of showing contempt for them. Since my first name is a arab name it really did hurt to see Obama being called a muslim terrorist, or questioning if he is american enough. Is that the way they would treat me if I ran for office? I also supported health care because I can relate personally as I had to sell my business when I became seriously ill and did not have health coverage. My bills totaled over $100,000. I felt that if it could happen to me it can happen to anyone. Unless you know the feeling of being seriously ill with no one to turn to you probably couldn’t understand. I believe that health care is a right and not a privelage.
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And when it comes to the bail outs. If it was good enough for the Republican administration than why is everyone so suprised that is what the democrats also would do? At least for democrats that is their nature. With the republicans, if they are not sticking to their own principles than what is really the point? Michael Steele himself admitted their is no reason or justification for a minority to ever vote republican. I would have to agree.

Northpole- yeah, they picked McCain because he was seen as the most moderate (and experienced) and thus seen as the best chance to beat the independent-appealing Obama.
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How did that work out?
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Do Republicans tend to do better when they nominate a moderate or a solid conservative? How did Reagan do compared to Gerald Ford? Bush 41 compared to Bush 43?
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If being moderate was McCain’s ace in the hole, then why did he feel it necessary to pick Palin? I guarantee you if he didn’t pick her the GOP turnout would have been even worse than it was.

Yep. Not bad for a movement that started about a year ago. And that 25% is higher than the percentage of Americans that identify their ideology as liberal.

apollyon07, I think the way people view themselves varies more than most people think. I have friends and coworkers that think they’re moderates and we agree on far more issues than we disagree on. I call myself liberal and yet they think they’re more middle of the road even though we have almost the same ideology. The term liberal has become almost a scarlet letter so they just call themselves something else. It seems to me that it’s the walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck thing, They just choose to label themselves something else.
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Atheists/agnostics are close to 15-20 percent of the population, yet how many admitted atheists/agnostics are in congress? Sometimes a bit of self deception is just too handy to pass up. Non-believers don’t get elected, so it’s a matter of job security to deny it.
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OT, but is there any movement on another matter yet?

Northpole,
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I understand your feelings about President Obama being called names or accused of things that are not true by some people on the Right.
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I feel the same way when people on the Left call republicans names and made false statements about them. It is wrong by both sides.
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To be fair it is really a small minority on both sides that do the demonizing and name calling. The vast Majority of people on both sides do not engage in this type behavior.
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Something I would like you to think about.
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Is it OK for people on the Left to continuously degrade, call names, use personally attack and demonize Sarah Palin. Does any women or man for that manner deserve this type of continuous abuse. Are the people doing this perhaps going over the top and acting in a manner that only shows them to be acting in the most rude and uncivilized manner. Is this kind of behavior an honorable way to act.
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The next time you feel someone has gone over the top in name calling of President Obama, think about the way many people on the Left act towards Palin.
In your heart you know these actions are wrong yet many Liberals on this website become vicious at the mention of Palins name. Their actions are deplorable. Try not to get pulled in to this low life behavior.
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Remember it OK to disagree with the political views of another person. It is totally wrong to call names, use personal attacks or demonize them simply because they honestly have a different political view then you do.

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I have to admit you are right. I have been guilty of that in the past myself. In the future I will use more effort to hold back and refrain. Something tells me if we were all debating in person it would not get so ugly and personal.

Northpole,
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You are correct. Face to face people are almost always more civilized to each other.
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There’s something about not being face to face that many people feel empowered to be as rude as hell and think it’s OK. The manly [and womanly] thing to do is show the respect that all human beings deserve.
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Something I learned a long time ago [I'm 71 years old], is that people usually don’t do bad things because their bad people, they honestly believe they are doing what is right. It may still be wrong but that’s not why they are doing it.
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One other thing to watch is to see who are the ones making the rude and hateful comments on this site. You might be surprised as to which side of the political spectrum they are on. Also remember it’s not hateful to disagree with a persons political views or policies. We all have that right as citizens. Hate is different.

Sacredh,
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Question. If the number a people who identify themselves as Liberals is approx 15% and the number that identify themselves as atheists / agnostics is approx 15%, How much of an overlap do you think there is between the two groups?

I would guess that it is about representative of the population at large. My own personal knowledge of my friends and coworkers doesn’t show any greater tendency of liberals to be agnostics/atheists than that of my conservative friends. I know more atheists/agnostics that have conservative political leanings than my liberal friends. I have to add that I have at least twice as many conservative friends though. That can be explained by the fact that I live in a conservative rural area so of course I have more conservative friends than liberal ones.