A 3-Way With Extra Cheese

Cincinnati chili dish jokes aside, CNN's Ed Rollins thinks that Charlie Crist should have just rolled over and lost, because Marco Rubio and the Teapublican Party have passed him by.  Now that there's a three way race in Florida, let the games begin:

He was already viewed as traitor by many conservatives for his physical embrace of President Obama on a visit to Florida last year and his endorsement of the Democratic passed stimulus bill. He damaged his credibility during the 2008 presidential primary when, after committing his support to Rudy Giuliani, he switched to John McCain in the closing days before the Florida primary, giving McCain an important victory there.

That was after he switched from McCain earlier in the race when McCain's campaign faltered. In politics, a man's word is his bond, but not to Crist. As his closest aides are quoted as saying, "Charlie's all about Charlie."
Charlie so wanted to be the vice presidential candidate in 2008 it's reported he bargained with Giuliani's team for the slot and pushed the eventual nominee McCain likewise, but to no avail.

The final act of treason to Republicans, before the announcement he is making today to run as an independent, was his veto last week of a teacher pay and tenure reform bill supported by the Florida Republican legislative leadership and former Gov. Jeb Bush.

In typical fashion Gov. Crist was for the bill and then as teacher union protests mounted he was against it.

The irony of all this is that the damage to Charlie Crist is self-inflicted. He is a man of enormous ambition, but not much courage, who wants to be president. He could have easily been re-elected governor but didn't want to deal with the multibillion dollar deficits facing Florida now and in the coming years.

So he decided, to quote country singer Johnny Paycheck's lyrics, "You can take this job and shove it," and gave up the governor's mansion to move with his new bride to Washington, where he could hide behind the other 99 senators who spending taxpayers' dollars at record rates.

Now, if you believe Ed Rollins, you also believe that Charlie Crist is a traitor, that he is responsible for Florida's housing depression personally, that he should have rejected federal stimulus dollars, and that he should have cut or eliminated as many social programs as it took to eliminate the state's deficit.

That fact that he did not do any of that means he's a bad choice for national office, if you're Ed Rollins.

This tells me far, far more about how really awful Ed Rollins is (and Marco Rubio for that matter) than it does Charlie Crist.