NRSC: Not Passing the "Smell Test"

In endorsing Charlie Crist in the Florida Republican primary race, Sen. John Cornyn, Chairman of the NRSC said this:

“While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate. Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida.”

The more I think about the NRSC endorsing Crist the more it bugs me. Not just because it is none of the NRSC's damn business who Republicans choose to represent them in Florida, but also, it doesn't make sense.

The NRSC says that Crist has the best chance of defeating whatever challenger the Dems put up. But their actions suggest that they don't believe he can beat Republican challenger Marco Rubio without their help. Remember, there is no incumbent in this race. Why is the NRSC wasting money, not to mention their dwindling political capital on a primary race if they really believe that Crist is the easy winner? Shouldn't they be saving their cash for the actual Senate race?

This just doesn't pass the 'smell test'. In Marco Rubio the party has a young and dynamic conservative, who, speaking as a woman, isn't the least bit hard to look at. Don't roll your eyes, you know purely peripheral things play in to it. Yet, without so much as a "how do you do" the NRSC pulled up the stakes on their "big tent".

Everything I'm reading leads me to believe that the NRSC has decided to shut out conservatives. Is that because unlike 'moderates', conservatives aren't so easily placated? Are we too demanding? Well, if the NRSC can do without my ideals they can also do without my money. Not One Red Cent!