Creative Loafing asks Chris Ingram a few questions
CL: Given his low poll numbers and discontent of him within the GOP, what should Charlie do?
Ingram: The best thing Charlie Crist can do at this point is drop out and try to rehabilitate his image. It can be done. But running as anything other than a Republican permanently ruins his chances to run for the White House or vice-presidency – especially if he loses. But Charlie is a political animal and while he has good instincts most of the time, he won’t drop out because he’s too stubborn and has started believing his own press releases, and isn’t listening to anyone.
CL: He’s been abandoned by a lot of people including his life-long mentor, former U.S. Senator Connie Mack. What was up with that?
Ingram: Connie Mack is a politician. He calculated that Charlie can’t win so he used Crist’s veto of SB6 as a convenient excuse to stop supporting him. Mack is shallow and lacks a spine and integrity like most politicians. If he had any real principles and convictions he would have dumped Charlie the day he hugged Obama. But at that point Charlie was about 30 points up in the polls.
CL: Speaking of SB6, you supported Crist’s decision to veto it. Why?
Ingram: It was a bad bill. Look, schools need reform and the teachers need to realize their jobs should not be guaranteed. In Pinellas County – one of the larger counties in Florida by population – last year they fired zero teachers in the whole county. That’s because of these ridiculous guarantees the teacher’s union fights for. As a result, our children suffer. Some useless idiot teacher gets to keep their job so the union can keep collecting dues — that’s what unions are all about today, preserving the union and the union bosses. The unions don’t give a damned about students.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2010.