The next Republican civil war
A brewing melodrama in Florida
The next Republican civil war
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
How quickly the calendar turns. Scant weeks ago, it appeared that Pennsylvania would be hosting the ultimate Republican steel-cage death match between its dominant conservative wing and its recessive moderate wing. But the anticipated Senate primary duel between conservative Pat Toomey and moderate Arlen Specter was short-circuited by Specter's abdication. Conservatives were thus deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate their ideological purity by knocking off Specter and nominating a guy who is virtually unelectable statewide in 2010.
But conservatives can now take heart, simply by shifting their focus 1000 miles to the south. In the swing-state of Florida, they will have the opportunity to knock off a popular, electable Republican in a Senate GOP primary, and instead nominate an ideological conservative who would give the Democrats a chance to pick up yet another Senate seat. This scenario is not exactly the winning formula for a party comeback, but apparently it would allow the conservatives to marinate in their purity as the party shrinks further.
Charlie Crist, the moderate Republican governor with the deep tan and the 71 percent statewide approval rating, announced yesterday that he will run next year for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mel Martinez (who was deemed unacceptable by the conservative base because of his support for path-to-citizenship immigration reform). Crist has two assets that Republicans dearly need these days: he attracts Democratic and independent support (at a time when the Grand Old Party is increasingly saddled with its image as the Cheney Limbaugh Party), and he is a proven fundraiser who can raise the big bucks necessary to blanket Florida's multiple media markets (thus freeing up the national Republicans to focus their money efforts on Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri - states where the GOP is at serious risk of losing more Senate seats in 2010).
The hitch, naturally, is that Crist is deemed by conservative activists to be unacceptably impure, and thus a threat to wind up in the Senate and become the GOP's new Specteresque irritant...which is why they're already lining up behind the upstart conservative challenger, the guy who will play the Toomey role in Florida. That would be Marco Rubio, the former state House Speaker, a young, eloquent Cuban-American who spent yesterday in full campaign mode - twittering that Crist is a faux Republican, telling Fox News that Crist is a faux Republican, and releasing an ad that shows Crist cozying up to Barack Obama (the ultimate sin).
Right now, it's hard to imagine that Rubio can defeat Crist. The governor has universal name ID (whereas Rubio is not even in public office anymore), and the early polls show Crist winning the primary in a landslide. But that contest is 15 months away, plenty of time for Rubio to work the conservative base. Democratic connoisseurs of Republican infighting will have ample opportunity to sit back with popcorn and enjoy.
Indeed, Crist has already failed the right's key litmus test; a few months ago, he not only decided to take all the federal stimulus money that had been earmarked for Florida, he actually shared a platform with the president and told NBC that "in the Florida way, we work together in a bipartisan fashion." Such behavior - agreeing to take billions of dollars to help the beleaguered citizens of his state - has naturally garnered kudos from a landslide majority of Floridians, but Crist's move could be a deal-breaker for the conservative voters who will dominate the Florida GOP primary...a contest that will be closed to Democrats and independents.
Actually, Crist's stimulus stance is merely the latest perceived miscue. Even though Crist has won some conservative praise for his fiscal policies, there is already a long list of heresies:
Crist appointed a black Democrat with a strong civil rights record to the state Supreme Court; he thinks that global warming is real, he wants a big reduction in auto emissions, he sponsored an environmental conference keynoted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and he once discussed green issues with Sheryl Crow; he doesn't believe that Roe v. Wade should be overturned; he refuses to push for a state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage ("I'm a live-and-let-live kind of guy"); he supports voting rights for felons who have completed their sentences ("I believe in forgiveness and atonement"); he wants to raise more state revenue by expanding legal gambling; he has taken on the insurance companies by slapping a lid on homeowners' insurance premiums.
And that doesn't include the innuendo about Crist's private life. Rubio won't need to touch it; his Christian conservative allies will take care of it. They can even reference Outrage, a new movie documentary about closeted gay politicians, which names Crist as one such denizen. That's not the ideal profile for a candidate in a Republican primary. Crist insists he is straight, but he is widely disbelieved. Conservative journals have long used code while writing about Crist; early last year, The National Review, in an attack piece on Crist, mentioned that, around the time he was graduating law school, "he married his college girlfriend. They divorced half a year later, and he's been single ever since."
Actually, Crist recently got married again, but a lot of conservatives think it's only for show. By contrast, Rubio is being touted as a fertile heterosexual; in the words of The Weekly Standard magazine, which has an adoring profile in its latest issue, Rubio "married his longtime girlfriend Jeannette, once a Miami Dolphins cheerleader and now the mother of their four young children."
Top that one, Charlie.
Given Rubio's personal profile, and his core conservative convictions on everything from immigration to the environment to abortion, his followers are incensed that the Washington Republican establishment has so speedily embraced Crist. Fifteen minutes after Crist announced his candidacy yesterday, the GOP's Senate campaign arm - the National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Texas Senator John Cornyn - rushed to embrace Crist and pledge its support in the 2010 GOP primary. It's unusual (or it used to be) for the national party to take sides in a primary, but Cornyn has the wild and crazy idea that maybe the Republicans should staunch their intramural bloodletting and support candidates who can actually win in politically diverse swing states.
Cornyn got nowhere with that one. A twittering activist at the conservative American Spectator promptly declared yesterday that it's time to "fire Cornyn," a blogger at the popular redstate.com wrote that Cornyn's rejection of Rubio was akin to "a stick in the eye," and another blogger at the website urged all conservatives to financially boycott Cornyn's campaign committee. Meanwhile, online yesterday, talk-show host Glenn Beck summed up his feelings about Crist thusly:
"BARF."
Let the games begin.
Oops, that was NEPhilly, I get CD and NEPhilly confused.— PA_Dutch- pa, GWB inherited a recession too and 9/11 to boot, so let's keep the facts straight! The reason the economy is in a ditch is Fannie/Freddie led us there by carrying out a bad govt. policy that private banks competed against, IMHO! djoko, taking advice from the opposition is a recipe for disaster. Could you see the Eagles taking advice from the Redskins or Cowboys on who to draft? GOP values of smaller govt., lower taxes and strong national defense are winning issues if the message has the correct messenger, again IMHO :) Even an inarticulate GWB whupped the dems twice nationally with the same message, let's not forget!— NEPhilly
- Philly, Thanks for reminding us Bush failed to prevent 9/11. I think you're confusing "facts" with ditto-head, talking points. Yeah it was all Freddie and Fannie's fault.— PA_Dutch
- Thanks for reminding us Bush failed to prevent 9/11.....seriously, the Bush administration had intelligence stating that OBL and AQ were serious about attacking America. Yet they did NOTHING. Then they over reacted and invaded Iraq. Aagain, they were wrong but now, all of a sudden, Cheney is right! lolz......you guys just don't get why moderates and Independents are leaving your party.— chasing history
- "A former FBI man who interrogated an al-Qaida leader said Wednesday extreme techniques used by the Bush administration were 'ineffective, slow and unreliable' and caused the prisoner to stop talking." So much for Cheney's lies to cover up his own criminality.— Djoko Pritza
- chasing, GWB did have the intelligence, what was he to do, go to Logan airport and screen all the passengers? Everyone in America wanted to go to war and all our politicians (Hillary, Kerry, Edwards, included) either voted for it or argued for it at the UN (Colin Powell)! The facts are that GWB did inherit a recession and had to deal with the economy after 9/11 and chose tax cuts over govt. spending to get us out of it! The economy was humming along nicely until 2006 when the 'subprime mortgage crisis' started to hit with Fannie/Freddie/CRA/HUD at the heart of it all, believe it or not! While having poor people own homes is an honorable motive, using govt. policy and GSE's to promote that is a financial disaster as we have all seen! I look forward to the 2010 elections when the dems will have to defend their policy's instead of blaming GWB for all of the country's ills!— NEPhilly
- CD75: the defense budget went up over the last year by 5.7% (up to $515B) so as usual, neither you nor I have a clue as to what you're talking about. And for f**ks sake man, it's "Cheney" not CheYney". You'd think you could spell the name of you man-crush correctly.— still_independent
Comment removed.- Your fixation with irrelevant backwater details in the minority party is profoundly disturbing - especially in light of the cataclysmic upheaval going on in DC. Why not write about something of significance?— JC Denton
- Comment removed.
- hi janann, i've been waiting for you to join the discussion! GWB did inherit a recession when he took office, that is a fact as the dot com bubble burst and 9/11 did affect the economy negatively you would agree! As for the talking heads (and for the record, they are not my idols), they have a right to their opinion & to be heard just as you do and just as Maddow, Olbermann and Matthews do. Thanks for the complement on talking a good game, I try my best:) And finally, War is a stimulus as most of the money spent is on combat salaries, production of machinery, etc. all purchased from American companies! It's just that the spending is spread out over 8 years of war instead of compressed into 1 month :) The running for office is not a bad idea although i only speak for myself here, I wouldn;t have to work for a living anymore though:) Interesting:)— NEPhilly
- NEPhilly, do you really think anyone believes a thing you say? Obamma owns the current mess but "GWB did inherit a recession". The economy collapsed because of mortgages to poor people? Yeah ok. You have no clue. Save your breath. You're a clown.— MikeP
Mike P - shot scooorreee - give him a case of tasty cakes...!! ...."They don't understand compromise because their positions are rooted in their religious beliefs." .......Exactly! It's not only the root cause of the RNC's problems, our legislative problems, our economic problems, the conflicts around the globe but the very reason for the separation of church and state. Jimi Hendrix once said (one of my many gods) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace" - The religious right in it's quest for power (national and global)has tarnished a set of religious beliefs with some pretty good tenets - specifically the ten commandments - which none of their political or media reps honor - "thou shall not lie" - look either you're in or you're out with that one. If you can't hold your personal actions in line with your ten commandments - you're not a member of the flock. You are a fraud using the good people to gain power - surely a one way trip to he**. I'm beginning to think that the people who scream about religion the loudest don't believe in a higher power, great spirit, creative force, etc. at all - how else could they justify their flaunting of the very tenants they launch their campaigns from? Maybe that explains the Bush and Cheney sneer? Bad news for moderates the religious right wants a political party and the RNC has been hijacked for good - this could be the first signs of the birth a third party - which we desperately need!- I admit I quickly skimmed this article as I quickly realized it was another hit piece on a political party that surrogates like Polman have long ago declared irrelevant and unpopular. Correct me if I am wrong but is not Obama President and havent the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress since January of 2007? And isn't the unemployment rate rising despite such glorious Democratic rule? And isn't Obama showing a 1.8 trillion dollar deficit for his first year in office? Not so great for the party with all the " answers "
- Is a primary with candidates from the same party but different views something new? Was this just invented or something? Did not Cindy Sheehan run against Nancy Pelosi? Geez Polman! How about a story on the economy that Obama and the Democrats seem to have no solution on how to fix. Wake me when liberals will start to hold the Democrats acountable. Obama is President right?
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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