Crist: Cheney Did “Great Job,” But I’m Not Sure I Want To Be Seen With Him
As I noted yesterday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has quietly told state parties around the country to try to put GOP candidates on the spot on whether they want Dick Cheney to campaign for them.
Looks like the strategy has squeezed an answer — or a non-answer, rather — out of Charlie Crist, who’s running in a GOP Senate primary in Florida against a conservative challenger.
Pressed by a Florida reporter on whether he agrees with NRSC chief John Cornyn’s recent claim that he would be “proud” to campaign with Cheney, Crist said:
“Would I be proud to? Nobody’s offered. Let’s see. I don’t want to deal in hypotheticals. I think the vice president did a great job for President Bush.”
Crist says the former Veep did a “great job,” but he won’t say whether he wants to be seen with the man. Dems will argue that Crist’s praise of Cheney, who represents the unrepentant conservative wing of the party, is at odds with Crist’s role as the Great Moderate Hope of the GOP’s field of Senate candidates. And they’ll also point to Crist’s unwillingness to say whether he’d campaign with him as so much spineless equivocating.
In other words, in Crist’s case, the question is eliciting the sort of answer it was designed to do.
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Crist is a lot of things but fool ain’t one of them. Remember when he refused to say Sarah Palin would make a good VP last year? Now the question is will that non answer he gave about Cheney hurt him with the base which is already upset about him campaigning for the stimulus bill with Pres Obama.
yo SG — this race is gonna really be one to watch — battle for soul of NRSC, etc — so I’m hoping you’ll send me lots of good stuff that you see happening on the ground there …
whoops, battle for soul of GOP
Greg
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Sure will, you know about the apologetic oped Crist published down here right?
As a hard right winger let me be the first to say that this spineless equivocating on the part of Crist should make him unacceptable to anyone in the GOP.
That’s sarcasm, Greg. Give me a break!
If anything he is unacceptable because he reminds me of the host of Family Feud.
And where’s your objectivity, Greg? Applying for media consulting job for the Dems in FLA?
“Dems will say . . . Great Moderate Hope . . . spineless equivocating.”
Why not just print what Dems actually say?
Off topic and for your viewing pleasure. Liz Cheney vs Lawrence O’Donnell
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHMHtgPGZWY
Tom Ridge says Dick Cheney is wrong.
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http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/22/ridge-cheney-wrong/
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No wonder he didn’t run for Senate, he wanted to be able to tell the truth lol.
Way to go Liz! (Although making O’Donnell look foolish is admittedly fairly easy.)