Despite Frenzy For Marco, Don’t Count Charlie Out

BY BUDDY NEVINS

Gov. Charlie Crist limps into the divided Broward Republican Party meeting on Monday, hobbled by persistent attacks on his conservative credentials.

To say that some in the audience may not be friendly to the governor is an understatement.

A substantial group of Broward Republicans are mad at Crist.  They are mad that the governor embraced Barack Obama and the president’s economic bailout.

They are not alone.  

Broward’s anti-Crist crowd are joined by millions of conservatives across the nation in revolt against establishment Republicans like Crist.  

They like Marco Rubio, Crist’s baby-faced challenger for the U. S. Senate.

The Tea Bag Republicans are on Rubio’s team.  So is the politically-powerful Club For Growth.  And Rush Limbaugh.

Rubio is the GOP flavor of the month.

Everybody is talking about him, from the chattering class on the tube to the professors in political journals.

Rubio appears to have The Big Mo (momentum).

But the Big Mo can turn into the Big No.

Just ask George H. W. Bush

Bush’s 1980 campaign was described as having The Big Mo after his victory in the Iowa caucus.  He went on to lose the nomination to Ronald Reagan.

You are reading and hearing a lot about Marco Rubio.  A vigorous challenger makes good copy, especially on cable stations that have to fill the airwaves 24/7.

My questions:

Are Rubio’s supporters just the loudest voices under the tent?  Will those voices be able to drown out Crist’s barrage of paid and free media? 

Crist will have many times the money that Rubio does.  The governor’s message and face will be everywhere.

Years ago Tom Fiedler, the former editor and political writer of the Miami Herald, had the best description of Crist. He called him a “political nymphomaniac.

Since practice makes perfect, nymphomaniacs really know how to do it.  A political nymphomaniac knows how to do politics.

That’s Crist. 

An overwhelming money advantage, the power of the governor’s office, a lust for campaigning and an all-consuming desire to win. 

Don’t count Crist out yet.

XXX

(Crist will be at the meeting of the Broward County Republican Executive Committee, Monday, November 23,  7 p.m., at Sheraton Suites on Cypress Creek Road, Fort Lauderdale.  All GOP candidates are invited to attend. )



11 Responses to “Despite Frenzy For Marco, Don’t Count Charlie Out”

  1. Crist A Disappointment says:

    Buddy I think you have a typo — it’s Marco Rubio as you know not Mario Rubio, although Mario Rubio, whoever that might be, probably has a better shot at becoming Senator than Marco!

    I don’t think Marco Rubio has his head screwed on straight and the hot headed way he operates will not work in the US Senate. He has many complaints but few solutions and his 100 Ideas for Florida, many of which he bulldozed into law during his time as Speaker, didn’t make Florida better. In fact, we’ve never been worse since he took on leadership in this state.

    I think as time goes on we see more of the Charlie Crist teflon shedding away. What’s exposed underneath ain’t pretty.

    Charlie Crist got elected as a Republican that even most Democrats liked. He appealed to the moderate heart of Florida, seemed clear cut, approachable and charming, and we elected him despite rumors that he was living another life.

    I don’t think anybody believes that he’s a bad guy. Before finishing his first term, his decision to jump ship and run for the Senate smacks of him getting out of Dodge while that getting’s still good.

    Florida’s economy is in shambles. Population growth is reversing, tourism is way down and he has offered no answers. His promises on tax relief is more than offset by new taxes on highways. His promises on insurance relief not so dramatic a drop as he promised. His administration has bascially cut and cut and cut the budget while not really doing much to that he can boast about to improve the state.

    I didn’t like many of Jeb Bush’s policies but there is no question that he was an effective governor. Charlie Crist is no Jeb Bush. So if he hasn’t been that great a governor, why in the world would we want to send him to the US Senate? To do what? Be a junior senator in the miniority party? He will get nothing done for us that way.

    Sun Sentinel had an interesting editorial today on how voters need to start sending people into office that can actually do something about the problems we face, like our terrible economic conditions. If Charlie Crist couldn’t budge toward some economic relief as governor, where he controls both houses of the Legislature, what exactly does anyone intelligent out there think he can do in DC as a freshman Senator in the minority party?

    Kendrick Meek. Also a nice guy, and he must have learned much at Mom’s knee even as he forged an elected experience of his own. But what has this guy done? Can anyone tell me off the top of your head? What is Kendrick Meek known for? Forgive the suggestion but a US Senator should have a resume built on well known and effective successes, and Kendrick does not have that.

    Which brings me to my point. We have nobody that I consider worthy to become our next US Senator from Florida who is currently a candidate for that office. We should be ashamed of that.

    FROM BUDDY: Yes, I made a mistake on the headline. Thanks for pointing it out. I corrected it.

  2. Tim says:

    Who the heck is “Mario”.

    You can at least get his name right. He was Speaker of the House. Or is it that he is scaring Charlie “The liberal darling”?

    FROM BUDDY: You are absolutely right. My mistake.
    When I was at the Sun-Sentinel, I could use the excuse that I didn’t write the headlines. So it was not my fault when a headline had an error in it.
    I do usually write the Browardbeat.com headlines and I wrote that one. There is no excuse for the typo — I don’t even know a “Mario” –except I made a mistake.
    Thanks for pointing it out.

  3. GOPapa says:

    Marco is a spokesman for the principals of the Republican Party and its platform. Charlie Crist is a chameleon who changes whichever way the wind blows. One minute he loves Obama and now he is running away from Obama.
    Marco is the future of the Fla Republicans.

  4. Chaz Stevens says:

    Don’t you mean Poppy Shrub? H W Bush.

    FROM BUDDY: Yup.

  5. Republican says:

    After Marco wins and has two years in Tallahassee, here is an unbeatable ticket. Marco for president.

  6. Chaz Stevens says:

    I think you meant Marcos. He’s been dead for about 20 years now.

    Which, come to think of it, is a substantial upgrade from the usual fielding of GOP Presidential nitwits.

    Marcos for President. You betcha!

  7. IP Daily says:

    Mario is Marco’s brother. He ran for state house out of Jacksonville in 08 and lost

  8. get real says:

    Its sad that Charlie has a shot. He needs to GO !!! And not to the Senate where it will be almost impossible to get rid of him. I hope LeMieux turns on him when things get bad. Now LeMieux…I would support, not a Charlie Crist Republican but a TRUE Republican !
    Come on George ????

  9. IP Correct says:

    Yes, I remember that also. I guess losing Senate races runs in the family.

  10. disenchanted jim tylock says:

    as a goldwater republican i am more disenchanted with what has happened to his party, call them either social conservatives of , as i do, the christian taliban, they have emerged as a potent but extremely disruptive force… let them form their own party, get out, or it is i who must get out. i fear these neo cons more than the liberal left. buddy quit calling them conservatives for its the last thing they believe in, they want to tell us how to live our lives and to hell with the freedom of the individual,,, sounding more like sam every day..

  11. Cristian Taliban says:

    I salute the blogger for the metaphor, even if not of his creation, first time I’ve heard it and it is very much on target to what I see.

    We see here in America the emergence of a far right, fundamentalist religious movement, with political aspirations using harsh and extemist methods that to date have fallen just short of terrorism, although we do have the example of bombing abortion clinics. That shows you were religious fanatics inevitably end up.