Although I don’t often quote Politifact, I couldn’t help but agree with their summation of Charlie Crist’s penchant for “elasticity” in his stance on, well, everything…
Charlie Crist and “never wavered” are words that don’t seem to naturally fit together these days. He vetoed anti-abortion legislation in June 2010 after painting himself as fiercely pro-life. He buddied up to Sarah Palin during a “Drill, Baby, Drill” event in 2008, then called for a special legislative session to ban oil drilling in July 2010. Most famously, he abandoned the Republican party after pegging himself as a both a Jeb Bush and Ronald Reagan Republican throughout his political career.
But in an article entitled “Crist Stands Firm On Gun Rights” – they may have hit on the one issue on which he hasn’t wavered!
Yet Crist, who has been known to attribute his political flexibility to his desire to serve “the people,” claims there is one issue where voters can trust him to never waffle.”Gov. Crist has never wavered in his support of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms,” reads the Crist for U.S. Senate campaign website.Given Crist’s serial elasticity, we wondered if this could be true. Does the so-called People’s Governor actually have steady convictions about, well, something?
Their conclusion on the subject?
We rate this True.
That is, until he became a Democrat. Or did he?
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who throughout his long political career has been staunchly pro-gun rights, said Wednesday that after the Connecticut school slayings, he now backs controls.
He expressed support for a renewed assault weapons ban, a size limit on ammunition clips and tougher background checks.
“We need to have some restrictions, that’s pretty obvious to most people,” Crist told the Tampa Bay Times prior to testifying before a Senate panel on voting laws. “What do you need a 30-clip magazine for? Not to go hunting deer. I can tell you that because I hunt deer.”
Crist recently became a Democrat and is considering a challenge to Gov. Rick Scott, who long has favored gun rights. Scott has refused to comment on gun measures after the Connecticut shootings, saying it is too early to debate.
As recently as 2010, when Crist was running as a Republican for U.S. Senate, he accused rival Marco Rubio of being soft on guns and supporting a waiting period and background checks that were already in state law.
In 2006, Crist painted his GOP gubernatorial rival Tom Gallagher as “anti-gun,” and highlighted an endorsement from the National Rifle Association. He appointed NRA favorites to the state Supreme Court and signed into law a bill allowing concealed weapons permit-holders to bring their guns to work — as long as the weapons remained in their vehicles. He also fought legislative efforts to tap into the concealed weapons permit trust fund.
Reminded Wednesday of his past and asked what changed, Crist replied: “We had a wake-up call.”
Did his views really change? The sad truth about Charlie Crist is that we have no idea where he really stands on anything.
Crist, who last week said he now regrets supporting a Florida ban on gay marriage, will certainly face questions about his convictions if he decides to run for governor in 2014. He defended the shifts.
“It says I’m a guy who is willing to listen, I’m willing to learn. I hope that we all are. I think life is a learning experience and the older you get the more wisdom you can accumulate. … I have an open mind.”
For more on Charlie “any way the wind blows” Crist, I was joined on the show this morning by Susan Smith, president of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, who knows that not only is Crist not the right Democrat to run for Governor in 2014, he’s not even really a Democrat! What we really need is a good Progressive Democrat… Nan Rich perhaps?
Also on the show today, Amy Simon of She’s History talked about separation of Church and State by telling the story of Ann Hutchinson, and Crooks & Liars’ John Amato talked a bit about all the controversy in college sports of late.
Back tomorrow…. radio or not!
