This week, all across the state of Florida, absentee ballots are being distributed, signaling the beginning of voting for the 2014 elections. Obviously, the most closely watched race is the one for Florida governor between Republican incumbent Rick Scott and the Democratic challenger, former Gov. Charlie Crist.
Over the course of the campaign, Scott and Crist have sought to exploit the other’s political record in order to gain the upper hand.
This campaign is particularly interesting because of Crist’s past political life as a Republican.
When Crist announced a few years ago that he was leaving the Republican Party to become first an Independent and then a Democrat, liberals couldn’t contain their enthusiasm. Frankly, I still don’t understand why.
Crist was our self-proclaimed “Ronald Reagan Republican” governor here in Florida not too long ago, and it seems as if Democrats have completely forgotten about that. Have they forgotten that, as recently as 2008, Crist supported a ban on same-sex marriage? Crist voted in favor of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment and said, “It’s what I believe in.”
Have Democrats also forgotten the fact that in 2010, Crist expressed his vehement support for pro-life policies? During his 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate, Crist promised to “fight for pro-life legislative efforts.”
Crist doesn’t even really support President Barack Obama’s supposed landmark achievement, the Affordable Care Act, also popularly known as Obamacare. In Crist’s book, published earlier this year, he wrote that he “didn’t love the president’s health-care plan” and thought that it was “too big, too complicated, and too bureaucratic.” Apparently, now that Crist is running for office as a Democrat, he’s perfectly OK with Obamacare. The list of Crist’s flip-flops goes on and on.
Crist’s political transformation isn’t necessarily surprising: Many politicians change their views during their careers, whether for political expediency or because of a genuine change of heart. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, was frequently criticized for flip-flopping on several issues.
However, the political changes of Romney and Crist are not comparable.
Romney changed his views on certain issues over a great deal of time, sometimes as many as 10 years. Crist’s views have changed repeatedly in just the last three or four years. The reason is simple: Crist is the ultimate career politician.
There is a big difference between changing one’s political views over time after thoughtful consideration and simply changing one’s view for political benefit.
That is why Crist has gone from being a Republican to an Independent to a Democrat within the last four years: Crist doesn’t care what party he’s a member of, as long as he gets to remain in power.
Crist’s political gamesmanship makes it difficult to take any of his stances seriously. When he says now that he’s “sorry” for his vote in favor of Amendment 2 in 2008, or that he regrets his pro-life stances and is now strongly pro-choice, how can we believe him?
Crist is nothing more than a political chameleon, changing his opinions and policy proposals depending on which way the political wind blows.
Crist will say and do whatever it takes to be Florida’s governor again, regardless of his previously stated principles or convictions. Do Florida voters really want to elect a governor who cares more about having a desk in Tallahassee than actually helping Floridians?
Crist’s candidacy also says a lot about the current state of the Democratic Party. When the best candidate Democrats could recruit to challenge Scott was a Republican only four years ago, it shows that they are completely desperate and have no other viable options.
Settling for Crist will cost the Democrats dearly on Nov. 4. Until then, hopefully they are happy with knowing they nominated a man who doesn’t stand with their party — because he doesn’t stand for anyone but himself.
Nick Eagle is a UF economics and political science senior. His columns appear on Mondays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 9/29/2014]
