With Florida Gov. Charlie Crist ready to embrace the gays as he tries suckering his way into a U.S. Senate seat against Republican candidate Marco Rubio, his past was surely going to come back to haunt him. And no, I don’t mean his sexual relationships with other men. I mean that time he used his opponents’ support for LGBT equality to attack them.
In propaganda like this mailer from 2006 — as in FOUR YEARS AGO — Crist was slamming Democratic challenger Jim Davis, who served 10 years in the House, over his support for same-sex adoptions (he voted against banning them in D.C. in 1999) while claiming only Crist was “defends marriage and protects traditional values.” Davis, meanwhile, consistently voted in favor of our community, shooting down constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.
Flash forward to this week and Crist’s new position paper says he supports the Every Child Deserves a Family Act: “We need to take politics out of adoption decisions. That is why I oppose Florida’s current law that requires Family Law judges to ignore what is right for a child in order to adhere to what Florida law blindly demands. There is only one
question that matters: What is in the best interest of that child?”
The best interest of that child? Four years ago, it wasn’t Crist.
How about we take this to the next level?
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And this is just one example, among many, that will bubble up to show Crist is willing to say anything — and say he believes anything — to get your votes. Does that make him actually worse than Rubio?
Worth noting: The mailer was sent over by the campaign of Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who’s facing off against Crist in November. Though we’re happy to run any counter-propaganda that shows Crist to be a two-faced skeeze. Because, well.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Gee for ’bout forty seconds after reading Christs Gay position statement, I was about to post on the other Christ thread currently running that I was thinking I woke up in some bizarro world where I actually 100% totally agreed and was in favor of a republican position paper………..
Just another guy in Florida who really,really likes flip-flops…..
Kris
For a minute there, I actually thought of voting for Christ, but after learning all of this crap this past week, I’m sticking with Kendrick Meek.
CJ
To be quite frank, “flipping” doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. That is, unless it is for purely selfish and political reasons. Thing is, I think that is why most politicians flip on a particular topic. It’s not because they’ve independently had change of heart. It’s because they’re following polls and trends and movements in society.
If we’re honest about it, we’ll have to admit that many Democrats are NOT in favor of full-equality. Thus, do we punish them when they eventually “flip” to supporting full equality? I would imagine that in 20 years very few Democrats will support anything less than full equality. And, my guess is that Obama will eventually “flip” and support full equality. But, that’s not the case today.
That being said, sometimes flipping is oftentimes what change and progress require.
randy
I agree that we should support candidates who flip to our side. Isn’t that what we want afterall? However, in this case, there is a viable alternative of someone who have proven his commitment.
Words are cheap. Judge your candidates by their actions.
Steve
There are three candidates for that senate seat in Florida.
The Republican, Rubio, is a right-wing extremist who would put gays in concentration camps if he thought they could get away with it.
The Democrat, Meek, is a moderate who has a long record of supporting equal rights for all minorities, including gays.
The “Independent”, Crist is an independent only because he could not win the Republican nomination. He has a long record of opposing anything that would benefit gays, and of supporting anything that would harm gays. He supported Ammendment 2, which changed the definition of marriage in Florida to one-man-one-woman. He has said, as recently as three weeks ago, that he would support a FEDERAL amendment to define marriage to one-man-one-woman. He back-pedaled on that, but only after he actually said it.
Meek is the only one of the three who supports equal rights for gays.
Jen
Kendrick Meek all the way.
http://www.ontheissues.org/FL/Kendrick_Meek.htm
Jaroslaw
Must be a slow news day. While this is important to note in political debates, for the historical Gay record; and is (or should be) important to Florida voters, pandering politicians are not exactly new or news.
ousslander
@Steve: by saying thatsomething so unfounded about Rubio, you are no better than those that call Obama Kenyan, socialist bent on bringing America down.
L.
I had no idea the Garfield creator was so supportive of us. Now I feel bad for not being a fan of his oeuvre.