Two empty suits with no sense of shame
By Chris Ingram
In what has to be the most jaw-dropping and shameless statement since he denied knowledge of Barack Obama’s recent visit to Florida, and denying having supported the stimulus package before that, Governor Charlie Crist had the audacity to say he likely would not debate Marco Rubio and suggested the reason is because Rubio is not credible. Crist said, “I don’t know if it would be worthwhile because I can’t have any confidence in what he might say,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Crist is apparently trying to frame Rubio as something less than genuine after Rubio said he would have accepted “non-recurring” dollars from the Obama stimulus plan. Rubio has been a critic of the $787 billion plan and of Crist for having been Obama’s biggest Republican In Name Only who helped him get it passed. Rubio asserts there is a big difference in accepting the dollars and actively lobbying for the stimulus package as Crist did.
Crist has apparently forgotten his flip-flops on issues including: cutting taxes (he raised $2.2 billion in new taxes); cap and trade (for it, now against it); growth and development; and a host of other issues where he has been vague or completely absent in showing any leadership.
In any event, it’s not Crist’s job to decide who is credible. That’s up to the voters. Crist doesn’t want to debate Rubio because he has a pathetic and indefensible record as governor.
Fortunately for the tan man, he has company in the empty-suit department.
To demonstrate that Chuckles isn’t the only shameless politician in Tallahassee looking to advance his career, he can take heart in knowing he’s got company in Senate President (and CFO candidate) Jeff Atwater.
Senator Atwater’s memory was apparently suffering when he sent out a campaign e-mail shaming Washington politicians for all the reckless spending and debt they are piling on our children. It was a nice email and made good points but it left out one important fact. That is, Atwater failed to mention that he just pushed for a massive pork project in the form of SunRail/TriRail that is dependent on federal dollars (all of which are red ink dollars). And while the state’s budget was in fact balanced this year — as required by law — it was done so in large part with the help of Obama’s stimulus package (which added nearly a trillion dollars to the federal debt). Little Jeffy forgot to mention that part.
So while Sen. Attaboy-water talks a good game when he says, “Here, in Florida, we balance our budgets. Through these tough economic times, I have worked to keep our state operating within the revenues we have,” the bottom line is, he is full of s*#t.
Charlie is too in case you didn’t notice.
Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.com.
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.