The late
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was a legendary master of self-serving
politics at its worst; a Philadelphia liberal, who loved to lay claim to being
a moderate Republican, who in reality wouldn’t take a principled stand if his
life depended on it. Not able to muster the spine to vote to remove the
impeached President Bill Clinton, Specter famously chose to wipe his backside
with the Constitution by citing Scottish law and voting “not proven.” Specter
later whined that the Republican had somehow abandoned him when in a desperate
attempt at re-election; he finally swapped political parties to become the
Democrat he truly had always been.
Now along
comes former Florida Governor Charlie Crist to attempt to lay claim to the
Specter mantle in his new political memoir The
Party’s Over – How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat. While
Crist is a well tanned, slick looking package, he can’t quite muster half the
political savvy and cunning that Specter demonstrated on countless occasions.
His actions
are so outrageously ham-fisted and self-serving that he can’t even bring
himself to point out that his departure from the Republican party didn’t reach
it’s Democrat party destination until it made a pit stop as an independent. If
he was the true believer, convert that he claims, why not go big; rather than
licking a finger and sticking in up in the breeze? Crist’s self-serving desire
to remain in office has caused him to delude himself into believing that his
incessant flip-flopping isn’t at the root of his problems with the Republican Party.
Crist tries
mightily to re-write his history; unfortunately his very public sideling up to
Barrack Obama clearly defined exactly who the former governor really was. He
utilizes so many Democrat talking points and ridiculous lies like the claim the
Ronald Reagan wouldn’t be conservative enough for the Tea Party and his
allusions to race and his empty claims to “values I hold dear.” As if to
reinforce his status a master flip-flopper Crist recently changed his stance on
Cuba, a political issue near and dear to Florida voters. Here’s hoping that
Sunshine State voters demonstrate the wisdom to keep Crist on the political unemployment
rolls this November.
