In a recent post I did over at FLA Politics I quoted an email from my local newspaper editor Mary Ann Lindley that said Florida Gov. Crist was the Democrat’s worst nightmare. At the time I disputed that point and said Democrats could use him to isolate right-wing Republicans which would help us against Bush in 2008.
But, now I think I mis-underestimated the guy.
A couple of things have changed my mind. The first was coming across an op-ed piece [Note: the link is to a Google cached article, the original was removed] that Rep. Don Brown, HD-5, wrote about the insurance crisis. I briefly wrote about that encounter yesterday. The conclusion, that Crist is another Reagan, was depressing.
And then, this morning, we get the news about how Crist finessed his stem cell position. That made it even clearer. Crist not only has Reagan’s popularity, he’s also very politically astute. The way he’s going I wouldn’t be surprised if someone picks him as a vice-presidential running mate next year.
Here is how the St. Petersburg Times reported the stem cell issue in a story entitled Governor Occupies Stem Cell Midpoint:
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist carefully waded into the national stem cell debate Wednesday, proposing the state spend $20-million on such research but only for projects that don't destroy embryos to obtain stem cells.
[snip]
Crist's carefully crafted stance, a retreat from his campaign platform that broadly supported embryonic stem cell research, nonetheless drew support from advocates and foes.
[snip]
Conservatives praised Crist's plan for its limits, which match those embraced by President Bush. Stem cell advocates called it a pragmatic first step on a politically charged issue. House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, both said they would back the governor's plan.
Boy, you’d think Charlie had been reading my posts on how we could use him to split the state Republican party. What he has accomplished with this slick triangulation is to quickly paper over and repair the rift between him and the Republican right wing that began with his snubbing of President Bush during a campaign appearance.
And it is the state legislature’s Democrats who are left out in the cold:
But some Florida lawmakers who believed they had Crist's support for a broader plan that would have included new embryonic research were disappointed. Recent efforts to address embryonic stem-cell funding had been thwarted by conservative lawmakers in the House and former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
"I think (Crist) receded too quickly," said House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "I think this was a battle where you needed the guy with the biggest bully pulpit making the case for advancing research into curing diseases.
Crist knows that he earned enough good will from the successful passage of insurance legislation to concede on this point.
"It doesn't matter to me as long as it gets started," said Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, whose 23-year-old daughter died 15 years ago of leukemia, just five months after giving birth to her son. "Stem cell research is the answer to these type of diseases."
And as I intimated in my Don Brown piece, there’s no way in Hell Crist is ever going to use his bully pulpit to do the difficult right thing.
That would require real leadership, not demagoguery.
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