In the GOP's first official response to the surprise endorsement of President Obama by former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the party may have demonstrated the consequences of too much late-night frolicking on the thought processes.
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry offered a swift rebuke to Charlie Crist, whose endorsement of Barack Obama hit the opinion page of tampabay.com at midnight.
Now keep in mind the announcement came around midnight. Mr. Curry's response appeared on
Politico.com at about 5:30 am this morning. Probably not the best time to compose himself, let alone the official Party response:
"While the people of Florida, and thousands of visitors who've traveled here, are facing an emergency, Charlie Crist has demonstrated, yet again, that his political ambition will always come first.
"Beyond the appalling timing of this move, Crist now professes his support for Barack Obama despite spending his entire political career bashing the political agenda that Obama advances...
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"For Crist to pull this Obama stunt while the Florida faces a hurricane only proves Charlie Crist cares about just one thing: Charlie Crist."
The only sensible way to read this is that the timing of Charlie Crist's announcement has somehow contributed to Tropical Storm Isaac's escalation into a Category II Hurricane. Indeed, this frantic, churlish response suggests that the former governor's choice of timing will somehow put Floridians in greater peril. It's not clear how Mr. Curry developed this theory. Indeed, if anyone has put Floridians in danger it is
Mr. Curry's pal , Rick Scott, the current Governor of the state, whose Tea Party-inspired obsession with
budget cutting for municipalities and property tax reduction have naturally pressured local cutbacks in available local services such as fire departments and police. In short, it's difficult to see how Charlie Crist's endorsement could possibly do more damage to the state's ability to withstand a natural disaster than the Republican party has already accomplished.
Governor Crist's announcement certainly unleashed an ill wind for the upcoming GOP convention, but not the kind that Mr. Curry envisions. The fact is that this caught them completely by surprise, they sent Curry to draft up the first thing that came into his head as a response, however unhinged, and it shows.
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