Reporter:The confusion is, then, your criticism over government run healthcare when KidCare is government run healthcare, which is what they were asking you about this morning.Here is the video of the exchange:
Crist: It’s for kids, I like it.
"It's important that we pass a stimulus package. It's important. It is important to do so to help education, to help our infrastructure, and to help HEALTH CARE for those that need it the most. The most vulnerable among us.Later crist called Obama's Health Care Plan "cockamamie"
"Unfortunately for Charlie Crist, what happened in Michigan this weekend, didn't stay in Michigan. If the beleaguered citizens of Michigan are looking for answers to their economic problems, they can do better than listening to Charlie Crist. Michiganders should ignore Charlie Crist's suggestion that they copy his prescription of historic tax increases, bigger government, more wasteful spending and no jobs to show for it. As Floridians can attest, the pain of the Charlie Crist Economy is nothing to brag about.
"In an effort to hide his own economic record, Charlie Crist even appears to have taken a page out of the Obama playbook by blaming a Bush for what he inherited. Charlie Crist needs to own up to the fact that he inherited a state with 3.3 percent unemployment that has now soared to 10.7 percent on his watch."
Miami, FL–U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio today issued the following statement regarding Florida's felons' rights restoration program, which has mistakenly authorized restoring the rights of 13 felons, including a child rapist:
"In 2007, Governor Crist sided with ACORN in pushing for the expansion of a felons' rights restoration program in Florida. His flawed, mismanaged program has now erroneously allowed a child rapist and 12 other felons to have their rights restored.
"Governor Crist was wrong to support this program's expansion and he has failed to oversee its proper implementation. In light of the flaws that have come to light, Governor Crist should suspend this program indefinitely to ensure more of these mistakes are not made on his watch."
Calling it "simple human justice," Gov. Charlie Crist and two Cabinet members voted Thursday to reverse decades of Florida history by automatically restoring some civil rights to tens of thousands of felons...
...Attorney General Bill McCollum, however, called the change "reckless and irresponsible." His criticism of Crist during the meeting appeared to open a rift between the state's two top Republicans..."I'm just very upset about this," McCollum said. "I think we're making a grave mistake today."...
...As a candidate for governor last year, and in his first weeks in office, Crist demanded an easing of full citizenship barriers for felons, despite a poll showing most Floridians and law enforcement groups which supported his candidacy opposed the idea...
A tense, hourlong debate before the vote exposed deep philosophical differences between McCollum, who replaced Crist as attorney general in January, and the man who calls himself "the people's governor."
McCollum cited opposition from the Florida Sheriffs Association, Florida Police Chiefs Association and Fraternal Order of Police, among others.
..."When the Florida legislature finished its spring session last year, Republican governor Charlie Crist hailed lawmakers for what he considered their most important accomplishment: 'You put the nail in the coffin this afternoon on the industry that was hurting our people.' ...
'I am amazed at their level of greed and I am amazed at the callous nature of their corporate decisions,' he told the St. Petersburg Times last summer." ("'He's No Jeb Bush,'" National Review, 4/7/08)
"Gov. Charlie Crist has a busy day [Thursday]: A morning meeting of the clemency board ... followed by a fundraiser in Chicago for his U.S. Senate campaign. This one is hosted by Tallahassee lobbyist Fred Karlinsky and a cadre of insurance bigwigs, including Richard Parillo Sr. and his son of the same name, execs in the United Auto Insurance Co." ("Crist's Thursday: Felon's Rights In Tally, More Cash In Chicago, St. Petersburg Times, 9/23/09)Charlie Crist still seems to have a propensity to follow the direction of the nearest "wind sock" without regard to his constituency.
"It's important that we pass a stimulus package. It's important. It is important to do so to help education, to help our infrastructure, and to help HEALTH CARE for those that need it the most. The most vulnerable among us. And let me finish Mr. President by saying that we need to do it in a bipartisan way."...
From TBO.comORLANDO - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist called President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul "cockamamie" as he and the state Republican Party tried Saturday to get activists charged up for the 2010 election year.
...The Republican governor — an attorney himself — has turned to state legislators, a former president of the American Bar Association, a retired Florida Supreme Court justice and an NAACP attorney, among others, to interview potential judges already screened by one of the state’s official judicial nominating commissions...
Rubio said it appeared Crist was inviting people to interview judges to win political support in the future.
“It appears the decision is being made to appease certain demographic groups, certain parts of the electorate,’’ Rubio said...
"...On Senate candidate Marco Rubio:I agree totally with Jeb Bush about the NRSC endorsing Moderate Charlie Crist before even giving Marco Rubio a chance.
Asked if he had a favorite in the race between Gov. Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate, Bush said he did not.
“I admire both of them,” Bush said.
But Bush then went on to praise Rubio as having a great life story and is being very articulate. Bush said national party leaders should not be trying to push Crist as aggressively as they have. He said Rubio deserved a fair shot against Crist in a primary.
“I think he should be given a chance. I think that the idea that the national party would pick a winner a year and a half before an election is the wrong way to go.”...
...Manjarres interviewed Foley at the West Palm Beach restaurant Pistache last week after a fundraiser for Marco Rubio (Rush Limbaugh was there, too). He told Notepad his impression is that Foley is leaving his options open...HMMMMMM?
"...Federal and state authorities in Miami are still searching for five of the 11 people suspected of falsifying information on hundreds of voter registration cards -- including registering the name of the late actor Paul Newman -- the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told FOXNews.com Thursday.
Six people were taken into custody Wednesday as arrest warrants were issued for 11 workers hired by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- or ACORN -- on charges of voter registration fraud.
Florida state attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said the 11 workers hired to register voters by ACORN in Homestead, Fla., submitted 888 fraudulent names -- which included names of people who were already registered voters, fictitious names, and the name of the late actor Paul Newman, who died in Sept. 2008...
...In a statement sent to FOXNews.com. on Wednesday, Florida ACORN board member Leroy Bell said, "We want to commend the state attorney for taking decisive action. Today's action demonstrates the seriousness we brought to the task of not only expanding the electorate, but also of protecting the integrity of the voting process. "...
''I think that there's probably less [fraud] than is being discussed. As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos,'' Crist told reporters. Crist made his comments as the Republican National Committee hosted a conference call with reporters to tie Democrat Barack Obama to suspicious voter-registration cards submitted by ACORN across the nation and in four Florida counties, including Broward.- Charlie Crist via The Buzz
"... it's[The Acorn Scandal] not something I'm paying a lot of attention to."--Barack Obama Here is the video.
But Crist's primary challenger, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, released his own view of the figure in a taunting press release called the "Crist Economic Report," which promises to keep loyal readers up to date on "the latest economic damage being inflicted on Florida's workers, taxpayers, consumers, families, entrepreneurs and farmers, among others."
Read the "report" below:
Good afternoon.
If you live in Florida or at least stay up to speed on what's going on here, barely a day goes by in which you don't wake up to news reports highlighting the latest area of the state's economy that is struggling. In a nutshell, this is what it's like to live in "The Charlie Crist Economy."
In our effort to ensure you stay abreast of the latest economic developments in Florida, today we initiate "The Crist Economic Report" - a regular email containing the latest economic damage being inflicted on Florida's workers, taxpayers, consumers, families, entrepreneurs and farmers, among others.
Some of these reports will highlight how Crist-backed policies are burdening Floridians - for instance, through higher drivers' license fees he signed into law or his modest tax reforms that have not made property taxes "drop like a rock." Other reports will highlight why things could be even worse if Charlie Crist had his way on other issues - for instance, through higher utility bills for consumers had he succeeded in imposing cap-and-trade on Florida. Or if he eventually decides to support a tax based on how many miles people drive.
With today's release of the August unemployment report, we explore Florida's unemployment rate under Charlie Crist:
Hernando, with 48,966, will be among the larger counties where local party organizations have held straw votes. County Chairman Blaise Ingoglia wouldn’t predict how the vote will go, but said, “People in this area tend to be a little bit more conservative.” He wouldn’t say who moved for the vote.
Party organizations in about half a dozen counties have held straw votes in the primary, in all cases voting for Rubio. Rubio is pitching his campaign at the conservative side of the party spectrum; his backers have been seeking to hold straw polls in county organizations, and Crist supporters oppose them.
Does this explain the state GOP's silence over ACORN?
Huffington Post: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, for example, partnered with ACORN in March 2008 for a "Homeownership Promotes The Economy" taskforce. More recently, Crist declared that -- contrary to GOP outrage -- he was not upset with the group's voter registration efforts in his state. The New York Times reported that ACORN supported a law signed by Governor Crist, which "changed the rules last year to restore the voting rights of about 112,000 former convicts."
The Buzz: "Breaking with the talking points of his fellow Republicans in Washington, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he does not think voter fraud and the vote-registration group ACORN are a major problem in the Sunshine State. ''I think that there's probably less [fraud] than is being discussed. As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos,'' Crist told reporters. Crist made his comments as the Republican National Committee hosted a conference call with reporters to tie Democrat Barack Obama to suspicious voter-registration cards submitted by ACORN across the nation and in four Florida counties, including Broward. (photo from Acorn Web site)
From AP:
LeMieux: Censure Joe 'You Lie' Wilson
AP: "That was embarrassing and shameful," said LeMieux, who watched the address from the House visitors' gallery. "Everybody in the chamber just gasped. He should be censured."
..."At the same time, Crist’s support for the stimulus continues to embolden conservatives such as Rubio to attack the governor as a fair-weather Republican — a complaint he has lodged repeatedly in their primary battle. Rubio’s campaign press releases now refer to the issue as the “Charlie Crist-backed-stimulus-bill.”
“I have no doubt that Charlie Crist is willing to go to Washington and oppose the Obama administration if it’s popular,” Rubio said in an interview. “If it’s popular to be with the Obama administration, he’ll be with them — that’s what he proved last February.”
Over the next few weeks, the Obama Administration and this congressional leadership will attempt to pass one of the most radical public policy agendas in America's history. They call it health care reform, but it is really just the architecture for what will one day become a single payer system in America.
Please watch this video in which I share my thoughts with you about health care and why it's so important that we send people to Washington, D.C. that will stand up against this radical agenda and offer a clear alternative.
In Washington Whispers, Bedard quotes Michelle Malkin as calling Crist, ..."old guard" and "a loser."
