Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Charlie "No Labels" Crist

Elected officials from across the country are kicking off a new group aimed at reducing political partisanship.

The inaugural meeting in New York of the group, called No Labels, attracted some 1,000 attendees on Monday.

They included New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who's a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, also participated.

So did Florida's Charlie Crist. He was elected governor as a Republican in 2006 and recently lost his independent bid for Senate.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=162309

"Confirmed bachelor" Charlie Crist started out his career in Florida state politics as a doctrinaire conservative Reagan Republican.

With an eye on national political office, in 2008, the fifty plus year old Crist finally found the gal of his dreams, married a wealthy younger divorcee with two young children, and gained an instant photo ready family.

But, after the Democratic sweeps in 2006 and 2008, Crist guessed wrong - - he shifted to the center and became a moderate Republican.

When Crist's new moderate stance started alienating his conservative Republican base, he dropped out of the Republican primary and ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent.

When middle of the road independence wasn't working, Crist ended the 2010 campaign season with an appeal exclusively tailored to Democrats, and attempted to become the de facto Democratic candidate.

None of his tap dancing worked, and Crist lost, badly.

Over the years, in his pursuit of political office, Crist changed his ideology, his political party, his sexual orientation and his marital status.

If Crist is a poster boy for "No Labels", it should be called "No Integrity".

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