Charlie Crist: Interview "Why I left the GOP" intolerable racism

[Oldgamer]

I think this guy is being very candid and sincere in what he is saying. I hope many pay attention. Interesting video.

Link to News article

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said in an interview Tuesday that the primary reason he left the Republican Party is because of its “intolerable” racism.
The Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat told Fusion TV’s Jorge Ramos that he saw so much hostility toward President Obama that he just “couldn’t take it anymore.”

“They’re perceived now as being anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-minority, anti-gay, anti-education, anti-environment,” he said. “I just wasn’t comfortable.

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I’ll just go there,” he said.

“I was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me … I couldn’t take it anymore,” he added. “I am liberated as a Democrat, my true soul is able to be seen, and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

Mr. Crist is running again for governor and currently has a double-digit lead in at least one poll over Gov. Rick Scott, Fusion noted.

The Democrat has faced criticism for flip-flopping on many major issues, and Republicans are calling his racism claims dishonest.

“Being a flip-flopper is bad enough, but playing the race card to win over voters is pitiful,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Izzy Santa said in an email to Fusion.

 

[dali71]

Bullshit, he left the GOP because he was a RINO who was finished in the party.

 

[werepossum]

Bullshit, he left the GOP because he was a RINO who was finished in the party.

Yep. Basically a Democrat from day one who realized that his best shot at power was masquerading as a Republican. Florida's version of Bloomberg. Now that he has embraced his Democrat core beliefs (to the extent politicians have core beliefs) he's using the race card to try to buy some legitimacy in that party.

 

[sandorski]

"...his racism claims are dishonest", lol

 

[DominionSeraph]

Yep. Basically a Democrat from day one who realized that his best shot at power was masquerading as a Republican. Florida's version of Bloomberg. Now that he has embraced his Democrat core beliefs (to the extent politicians have core beliefs) he's using the race card to try to buy some legitimacy in that party.

The rationalizations of the blind are cute.

 

[nehalem256]

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I’ll just go there,” he said.

Bill Clinton is African-American?:hmm:

 

[Paratus]

“They’re perceived now as being anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-minority, anti-gay, anti-education, anti-environment,” he said. “I just wasn’t comfortable.

Yup

I'd also add proud of it too.

 

[Oldgamer]

Yup

I'd also add proud of it too.

They pretty much are...which will be why they won't win 2016 Presidential election.

 

[MongGrel]

He was always a Democrat more or less, but most Republicans have went so far to the right he changed.

Ronald Reagan would be a Democrat today, sorry.

Just for all the Radicals.

 

[werepossum]

He was always a Democrat more or less, but most Republicans have went so far to the right he changed.

Ronald Reagan would be a Democrat today, sorry.

Just for all the Radicals.

Ronald Reagan was originally a Democrat. When the Democrat Party went hard left and pro-Soviet, he left the party, so I doubt that he would be a Democrat today with the Dems embracing so much of the socialist agenda.

Contrast that with Crist, who left the Republican Party after being trounced in the primary and then being unable to gain any traction whatsoever within the party.

 

[Attic]

Republicans might be a lot of things (just like Dems) but disagreeing with liberal policy doesn't exactly strike me as racist in nature given the setup.

Republicans have been stubborn and unyielding and resistant to liberal ideas long before a black man was president. The kind of thinking this guy is showing is more racist than anything i'm seeing from a conservative taking issue with, *gasp* liberal policy, I mean really are republicans suppose to treat Obama differently than they otherwise would because Obama is black?, because that's what this guys argument is leading to as well as most folks who use the race card where it has no place in discussion of policy.


But congrats to him, it has a very good chance of working. Highlights another problem with our election system, politicians play to weaknesses of people rather than their strengths. No wonder our government is the way it is on both sides of the aisle. You can almost taste how worked up this will get some folks, that ought to be good for a trip to the voting booth!

 

[sandorski]

Republicans might be a lot of things (just like Dems) but disagreeing with liberal policy doesn't exactly strike me as racist in nature given the setup.

Republicans have been stubborn and unyielding and resistant to liberal ideas long before a black man was president. The kind of thinking this guy is showing is more racist than anything i'm seeing from a conservative taking issue with, *gasp* liberal policy, I mean really are republicans suppose to treat Obama differently than they otherwise would because Obama is black?, because that's what this guys argument is leading to as well as most folks who use the race card where it has no place in discussion of policy.

But congrats to him, it has a very good chance of working. Highlights another problem with our election system, politicians play to weaknesses of people rather than their strengths. No wonder our government is the way it is on both sides of the aisle. You can almost taste how worked up this will get some folks, that ought to be good for a trip to the voting booth!

You been asleep the last 5ish years?

 

[MongGrel]

Ronald Reagan was originally a Democrat. When the Democrat Party went hard left and pro-Soviet, he left the party, so I doubt that he would be a Democrat today with the Dems embracing so much of the socialist agenda.

Contrast that with Crist, who left the Republican Party after being trounced in the primary and then being unable to gain any traction whatsoever within the party.

Considering how far the Right is I'd still say he'd be a Democrat today and switched again.

 

[Anarchist420]

i cant believe i am the first poster in this thread to notice that the Dems are the same as the Neo-Republicans (and have been since Wilson became President) and that the RNC spokeswoman is hispanic

 

[nehalem256]

Republicans might be a lot of things (just like Dems) but disagreeing with liberal policy doesn't exactly strike me as racist in nature given the setup.

Given that they tried to impeach the last white Democrat that seems spot on :thumbsup:

 

[MongGrel]

i cant believe i am the first poster in this thread to notice that the Dems are the same as the Neo-Republicans (and have been since Wilson became President) and that the RNC spokeswoman is hispanic

Somehow you lost me on how you're making anything obvious people should know.

 

[werepossum]

Republicans might be a lot of things (just like Dems) but disagreeing with liberal policy doesn't exactly strike me as racist in nature given the setup.

Republicans have been stubborn and unyielding and resistant to liberal ideas long before a black man was president. The kind of thinking this guy is showing is more racist than anything i'm seeing from a conservative taking issue with, *gasp* liberal policy, I mean really are republicans suppose to treat Obama differently than they otherwise would because Obama is black?, because that's what this guys argument is leading to as well as most folks who use the race card where it has no place in discussion of policy.

But congrats to him, it has a very good chance of working. Highlights another problem with our election system, politicians play to weaknesses of people rather than their strengths. No wonder our government is the way it is on both sides of the aisle. You can almost taste how worked up this will get some folks, that ought to be good for a trip to the voting booth!

Well said.

Considering how far the Right is I'd still say he'd be a Democrat today and switched again.

Maybe. It's a hypothetical so we'll never know, but remember that the Democrat Party today is much farther left as well. It's not just the Pubbies who drifted away from center.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Considering how far the Right is I'd still say he'd be a Democrat today and switched again.

Meh, Reagan was pretty lassaiz-faire economically. It's sort of like saying Chris Christie is a Democrat because he treats blacks as people: yes, he is a far cry from the unthinking ideologues and so he fits under the "Democrat" umbrella, but he's economically to the right to a degree that's more consistent with Republicans.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Republicans might be a lot of things (just like Dems) but disagreeing with liberal policy doesn't exactly strike me as racist in nature given the setup.

Republicans have been stubborn and unyielding and resistant to liberal ideas long before a black man was president. The kind of thinking this guy is showing is more racist than anything i'm seeing from a conservative taking issue with, *gasp* liberal policy, I mean really are republicans suppose to treat Obama differently than they otherwise would because Obama is black?, because that's what this guys argument is leading to as well as most folks who use the race card where it has no place in discussion of policy.

The rationalizations of the blind are cute.
He didn't say, "Republicans are racist because they disagree with Obama." The racism of Republicans needs no black President to be seen. Their self-centered, "White is Right," ideology and the disdain with which they treat any non-white is rather obvious to anyone not enveloped in their self-absorption. The degree in which they will latch onto negative things about Obama, including completely contradictory beliefs, is only the final example; it's not the primary evidence.

 

[MongGrel]

Meh, Reagan was pretty lassaiz-faire economically. It's sort of like saying Chris Christie is a Democrat because he treats blacks as people: yes, he is a far cry from the unthinking ideologues and so he fits under the "Democrat" umbrella, but he's economically to the right to a degree that's more consistent with Republicans.

I like the fact you even know what lassaiz-faire even is.

Better than some posters.

:thumbsup:

 

[Anarchist420]

Meh, Reagan was pretty lassaiz-faire economically.

no he wasnt. he raised taxes and supported the military industrial complex. he favored a strong central bank (loose monetary policy). he crashed the japanese economy by taxing the fuck out of everything they wanted to export here. Reagan was further from laissez-faire than Carter was. the last laissez-faire liberal was stephen cleveland.

 

[werepossum]

The rationalizations of the blind are cute.
He didn't say, "Republicans are racist because they disagree with Obama." The racism of Republicans needs no black President to be seen. Their self-centered, "White is Right," ideology and the disdain with which they treat any non-white is rather obvious to anyone not enveloped in their self-absorption. The degree in which they will latch onto negative things about Obama, including completely contradictory beliefs, is only the final example; it's not the primary evidence.

Thank you for that cogent display of the politics of men who play with little girls' toys.

 

[ivwshane]

Yep. Basically a Democrat from day one who realized that his best shot at power was masquerading as a Republican. Florida's version of Bloomberg. Now that he has embraced his Democrat core beliefs (to the extent politicians have core beliefs) he's using the race card to try to buy some legitimacy in that party.

I guess a moderate is too "lefty" for the Republican Party nowadays!

 

[werepossum]

I guess a moderate is too "lefty" for the Republican Party nowadays!

Not much room for moderates anywhere. One of my favorite Democrats (not a field with a lot of competition, but still) was Kirsten Gillibrand. Was. Once she was appointed Senator she went full on hard lefty. Could pass for Bernie Sanders. These days there's nothing in the middle of the road but dead skunks.

 

[nehalem256]

The rationalizations of the blind are cute.
He didn't say, "Republicans are racist because they disagree with Obama." The racism of Republicans needs no black President to be seen. Their self-centered, "White is Right," ideology and the disdain with which they treat any non-white is rather obvious to anyone not enveloped in their self-absorption. The degree in which they will latch onto negative things about Obama, including completely contradictory beliefs, is only the final example; it's not the primary evidence.

Yeah he pretty much did...

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I’ll just go there,” he said.