(Repub FL Gov. Cand.) Crist coolly dismisses criticism of his lifestyle

[Herman Munster]

You know damn well that if a democrat running for Governor was 50 and never been married or had kids the republicans would whisper GAY GAY GAY.

http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060813/LOCAL/208130324/1078/news

It doesn't sound like an ideal resume for a job applicant hoping to lead a state of 17 million-plus. Single with no children at the age of 50, he is a renter who has never had a home mortgage or property insurance to pay.

His work experience is largely limited to government. He drives a Jaguar but has few investments. Even with a background that may seem foreign to most people of similar age, Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist is waltzing toward victory in the GOP gubernatorial primary on Sept. 5.

Polls show Crist up by 20 or more percentage points in his race against Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher. That lead is slimmer in presumptive races in November against either Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa or state Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua. Democrats are already teeing off on the topic, tying Crist's personal history to remote issues such as this week's news report that Crist was unaware of the dates and scoring of the FCAT.

"Let's see. He doesn't own a home, doesn't pay property taxes, doesn't understand windstorm insurance and doesn't know simple facts about the FCAT, so how can Crist expect Floridians to elect him governor?" Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman said in a statement last week. "There's a basic level of knowledge a governor must have, and Crist doesn't pass the test."

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. And yet, he's been in government his whole life?

How does that happen? I thought Republicans distrusted career public officials.

[William769]

2. So are you saying we should sink to thier level?

[Toots]

13. Since when does stating facts sink to their level?

It would be one thing if we started a smear campaign about his sexual habits but just stating facts is not sinking to anyone's level..

[William769]

14. Oy vey.

:eyes:

[AnnieBW]

3. I know several 50-year-old guys who are single

and don't own property. They're called Trekkies. :D

Seriously, if the guy never got married, he probably never looked into buying a house. Men generally don't buy houses until they're married or close to it. Women buy houses even if they're single.

[never_get_over_it]

4. And some fundie whack job had a dream

and Jesus told him that Charlie will be the next Governor of FL - now why would Jesus want a gay non property tax paying - Jaguar driving - no homeowner insurance - uninformed about FCAT dates and scores to be governor. Doesn't Jesus hate Jaguars - just asking

[RB TexLa]

5. Wrong, wrong, wrong

If you must attack, attack the man's policies and ideas, attack a record of what he has or hasn't done, the way he lives his life shouldn't matter at all. I guess if a politician hasn't been to prison they can be attacked saying they don't understand how the state prison system works? And I hate to say it but how does Karen know that he doesn't understand windstorm insurance? I've never had to pay the estate tax but I understand it, I've never had to pay malpractice insurance but I understand it. I had to look up FCAT, and not having children I can understand him going in not knowing what it is, but he should have studied up on it, that one is valid. Now of course renters do pay for property taxes, they just don't write a separate check out for it, it's paid with rent each month.

[watercolors]

6. remember we have Barny Frank!

I will not vote for him, but I won;t judge him on his orientation if it is true. He is much too slick and the F-cats and insurance are my pet peeve.

[Herman Munster]

7. wait a minute

you think gay republican politicans who support anti-gay republican policies shouldn't be OUTED? I think they should.

It's called hypocricy and shows a pattern of improper behavior, if they are hypocritical about one thing, they are sure hypocrticial about everything.

And fuck being nice, we are in it to win at all costs. Being nice got us Bush and thousands dead in Iraq.

Fuck being nice. I'll gladly dive into the sewer and use republican voter prejudice against them if it means our guy wins.

[RB TexLa]

8. I guess my problem is, I couldn't care.

No matter who it is, or their level of any hypocrisy, what they do or don't do in their private life isn't any of my concern or business.

[Herman Munster]

9. I don't care either

But republican voters in the general election are bigoted in general and would care. They'd never vote for a gay guy. They'd sit out and the democrat would win.

Frankly, if you're gay, you have no business being a republican. That's like fucking hating yourself and shows you are either a fucking head case that has deep psychological issues or a fucking misogynist that is willing to compromise all your principles just to make a buck or two.

Either way, you're a fucked up person.

[Tansy_Gold]

10. Here's how I look at it -- and you can flame me if you want

If I were faced with a choice between two or more Dem candidates and one of them was hiding the fact that he belonged to, indeed sat on the board of, a "whites only, no Jews" country club, I would want to know that, and I wouldn't care who outed the information. I don't believe in that kind of bigotry and I would never vote for someone who did. So if some slimy puke who actually approved of segregated country clubs outed the guy -- and the information was TRUE -- I would be disappointed in the candidate but certainly glad I'd found out before I actually voted for him.

Now, of course, we don't know that this Florida candidate is gay, even if som eof his lifestyle choices may have some things in common with what some people may think of as a "gay lifestyle." So of course we wouldn't go around actually saying that he IS gay if we didn't have a bit more evidence. But if it were pointed out that the hypothetical Dem candidate above did frequently play golf at this segregated country club and was good pals with other people who did and accepted a lot of campaign contributions from people who were known to be members, well, that would kind of make me wonder.

So I think in a sense yes, we have a kind of responsibility to our puke friends not to let them vote for someone they, well, wouldn't approve of if they knew the truth. Shall we lie about the guy? No, of course not, that's not good form. But point out to people that maybe he's, well, not the kind of person they want to vote for? Sure, why the f*** not?


Tansy Gold, not thinking very charitably toward pukes today

[scarletlib]

12. well for sure charlie swings both ways in politics: like many

florida republicans he used to be a democrat until jebbie came along. politics is his career. he a "g dubya bush lite" intellectually in my opinion. He is a go along to get along type of guy. politics is his career so it was easy for him to jump parties to keep his 'job' there are rumors here in south flori
da that he is gay.

I think he is a flyweight but on a personal level essentially harmless and probably pretty decent. he just isn't bright enough to run a state for 4 years.

[saltpoint]

11. Dianne Feinstein fended off a strong challenge by a closeted gay man in a

Senate contest, and I invoke her model of civility regarding his sexual orientation.

Her opponent was the then-husband of Arianna Huffington, Michael Huffington. He ran a fierce campaign against Feinstein.

Feinstein's entire staff knew Huffington was gay and pointedly did not try to capitalize on the fact, deliberately wished to whomp him on the issues as they related to Californians and not win for pointing out Huffington's sexual orientation.

Most voters at the time rejected Huffington's candidacy based on his take on the issues versus Feinstein's, and not who either slept with or didn't sleep with.

Huffington ran ads AFTER the election against Feinstein. He was fierce, as I said.

I'd love to see Florida voters reject Crist because he's wrong for 2006 and either Dem in that race would serve the state far better.

I wonder who Anita Bryant is endorsing in this one.

[alfredo]

15. Not touching the gay issue but find many ways of

sowing doubt in his ability to understand the struggles of the common man/woman. We can even say that his inability to form a life long relationship could point to an emotional problem, maybe emotional immaturity. He could be seen as selfish, self centered, unwilling to participate and invest in our society.

Now I will touch on the issue.

I could care less if he was gay, that has nothing to do with how he does his job. But if he feels he has to hide his reality behind a macho mask, then there might be some emotional problems. Closeted gays or anyone who are fearful of being exposed could be a security risk. Secrets are poison.

I used to see people who lost their security clearances because they were found to be gay. If they didn't have to hide their orientation, potential blackmailers would not have leverage on them. Making people hide who they are is the security risk, not being gay.