Monday, August 10, 2009

Will Crist Make The Best Choice For Himself Or Florida?

Via Memeorandum:
When Mel Martinez announced that he would not be finishing his term as Senator from Florida those of us in my corner replied with a “WTH?” Now that the chatter has gone from zero to sixty in a blink of the eye, everyone wants to know, who will Gov. Crist appoint? The question becomes all the more important because Crist is running for the seat himself, giving him the incentive to appoint a “seat warmer”.

Chris Cilliza at The Fix lists the likely choices:

• Jim Smith: A former secretary of state, attorney general and party switcher (he went from Democrat to Republican after a failed primary run for governor in 1986) Smith was seen as the odds-on favorite on Friday.

Okay, he has been a Republican since 1986 but there is something unseemly about a politician who changes sides only because they’ve lost out in there original party.


• Bob Martinez: Martinez, the former mayor of Tampa and governor of the Sunshine State from 1986 to 1990 (he also switched from Democrat to Republican, in 1983), is still very much in the mix, and would allow Crist to keep that seat in the hands of a senator of Hispanic background

What is it with Charlie Crist and switch hitters? Anyway, Martinez was well liked as mayor of Tampa and is considered a fairly staunch conservative (at least compared to Crist).

• Allan Bense: Bense, the former speaker of the state House, is a trusted conservative from the state's Panhandle and has been mentioned for statewide office several times before. (National Republicans tried unsuccessfully to recruit Bense to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson in 2006.)

A good conservative. A good choice.

• George Lemieux: Lemieux is Crist's most loyal deputy, having served as his chief of staff in the state attorney general's office and having run Crist's campaign for governor in 2006. Lemieux was rumored as a potential candidate for the open attorney general job in 2010 but decided against a run.

A seat warmer. Loyal to Crist which means he would be a less than conservative senator.

• Jeb Bush: Bush, the popular former governor

Be still my heart, Christmas in August. Don’t see it happening but a girl can hope.

I’ve made no secret of my support for Marco Rubio in the Rubio/Crist match up. While I don’t expect Crist to do it, he could tamp down some of the RINO talk by appointing a solid conservative. Whoever gets the nod, it will say a lot about Crist himself.

3 comments:

SwampWoman said...

Heh. I would LOVE for JEB to be appointed. Heads would explode in Washington.

I firmly expect Crist to appoint a seat warmer that will obediently step down for him.

Carol said...

I couldn't agree more, SwampWoman. Thing is, who can he trust?

Anonymous said...

MASH, Pamela Geller, Internet Snitch Brigade (flag@whitehouse.gov), and Anti-American Activities
http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2009/08/mash-pamela-geller-internet-snitch.html

On August 4, 2009 a post titled "Facts Are Stubborn Things" appeared on the White House blog. It contained the following paragraph:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Every Fourth of July, we celebrate the Birth of the Nation. Every Fourth of August, we shall celebrate the Birth of the Internet Snitch Brigade.

How long do you think it took before the Internet Snitch Brigade expanded its reporting from something fishy about health insurance reform to Anti-American Activities? Just five days! Move over McCarthy; here comes Bill Warner. In the post titled "ASSASSINATE BARACK OBAMA PLOTS INCREASE TO 10 RACIST RIGHT WING BLOGGERS FUEL WHITE SUPREMISTS (sic.) SECRET SERVICE SHUT EM DOWN by Bill Warner investigator" Bill Warner writes:

"Articles posted on ultra right wings blogs like "Muslims Against Sharia" by Khamim Massoud such as Obama spies monitoring Jews house-to-house and Freed to Kill More American Soldiers: Taliban Thrives, Thanks to Obama Policy and "Atlas Shrugs Website" by Pamela Geller who posts articles such as "Obama backs Iraqi Terrorists: Iraq investigates alleged US-insurgent talks" are hastening the demise of Preisdent Barack Obama. ... The US Secret Service so needs to investigate "Muslims Against Sharia by Khalim Massoud and Pamela Geller for her Anti-American racist activities on her website, which she operates out of her Manhattan NY apartment, and her incitement to hate by others and the possible murder of President Barack Obama."

Yes, it only took five days to jump from snitching about dissent on health insurance reform to making up wild accusations about "incitement to hate by others and the possible murder of President Barack Obama." A quote attributed to Joseph Goebbels, a Propaganda Minister in Nazi Germany reads:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

Bill Warner may not be a good P.I. (as he claims to be) or not a good bar fighter and martial artist (as he claims to be), but he certainly mastered the art of Nazi propaganda.