Hard right flexes its muscle in Florida Senate race …. but nobody seems to notice
The ultra-conservative wing of the GOP wants to make Florida’s Republican Senate primary a test case of its power. The race pits Gov. Charlie Crist, a moderate who had the audacity to endorse President Obama’s stimulus plan, against hard-core conservative Marco Rubio, a former speaker of the state House. Crist also just signed a new state budget raising the cigarette tax and various fees by $2 billion, an act that further fueled conservative anger.
Even worse, the moderate governor has drawn strong support from current Republican senators. He has been endorsed by Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, and has been promised financial and political support by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Some conservatives are so outraged by that fact that they are trying to organize a boycott of donations to the NRSC.
So what do the Republican voters of Florida think? A new Quinnipiac poll tells the story:
“Gov. Charlie Crist swamps former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio 54-23 percent in the 2010 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today….
“Marco Rubio says there are many Florida Republicans who don’t want Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate. Depending on how you define the word ‘many,’ he might be correct. Unfortunately for Rubio at this stage, many, many, many more favor Crist,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
“Of course Rubio has more than a year until the GOP primary, and he’ll need it to turn the race around,” Brown added. “To prevail, he must get every undecided voter and win over some who favor Crist. Working against that possibility is that among Republicans, the only ones who can vote in the GOP primary, Crist’s favorability is 70-21 percent — compared to Rubio’s 24-8 percent, with 66 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.”
That’s great. I’m all for anything that threatens the grip of the hard-core right on the Republican Party, even if it also means that Republicans improve their numbers in Congress. It’s not good for the country to have one of its two major parties in effect disqualify itself from leadership by its extremism.
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368 comments Add your comment
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 11th, 2009
7:29 am
Ultra Conservative, hard core, nice way to hide your bias bookman.
And here I thought that Conservatives had no muscles?
There is no need to run moderates, not with the way Obozo is screwing everything up.
Anybody can beat these clowns.
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 11th, 2009
7:32 am
For instance: Why isn’t Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson denouncing the patently obvious corruption of various ACORN affiliates? Where is the pro-labor congressman willing to join George McGovern in saying that eliminating the secret ballot for union organizing elections would be an outrage? How can any White House correspondent fail to challenge the obviously ludicrous Obamite claim to count jobs “saved or created”? How could liberal editorialists refuse to zap President Obama repeatedly last year for abandoning his public pledge to abide by campaign spending limits? Why is it that the “outing” of Valerie Plame garnered so much liberal outrage while the naming of CIA interrogators causes nary a murmur? What will it take for Katie Couric to note the obvious fact that Obama is being hypocritical for now showing openness to “taxing” employer-provided health benefits after he made such a point of blasting John McCain last year for proposing the very same thing?-Quinn Hillyer, AmSpec
I know why!
Bark, bark.
Normal
June 11th, 2009
7:36 am
Good Morning Whiner! What a wonderful day it is too. “The first day of the rest of your life”, so make it a good one…Go out there and show some love, hug a liberal, just sayin’
RB from Gwinnett
June 11th, 2009
7:37 am
Gee, Jay, you supported the most liberal person in the Senate for president and now you want moderate conservatives from the opposition? Who could have seen that coming…..
Most of us conservatives see that as exactly the problem with politics right now, Jay. When you average ultra liberal with moderate conservative, you get more and more government with more social programs and higher taxes. It just doesn’t work. Most of us are willing to support most anyone who can stem the tidal shift to socialism.
Tyler Durden
June 11th, 2009
7:42 am
Well said, Normal. Poor Whiner doesn’t get out much (his Mom says he can’t leave his room in the basement unless he’s looking for a job). Luckily, he’s got the empathy of his friends at townhall.com to keep him warm! Have a great day!
Spewing Air
June 11th, 2009
7:42 am
Anybody can beat these clowns. Got tools.
By the way, I finally got a round tuit and read that WSJ article about the Georgia banks. Wow. Georgia, a bastion of Republicanism, the banker’s nightmare. And, they’re begging for government help. The whiners. They’ve got Isakson and Chambliss pleading on their behalves. Oh Please. Take these chains off our banks and let them breath. The regulations are killing them. Georgia’s financial nightmare. Yet more proof of the failed Republican policies. Does anyone have any more word on that Sonny, with a chance of rain, 20 million? Is that bank busted yet.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
7:47 am
Some posts simply require a “like Jay said” because, well, they make perfect sense.
so, like Jay said.
Coupla things from the comments so far:
Can someone other than Andy tell me why an opinion columnist should “hide” his “bias”?
And RB, this may come as a shock to you, but the Administration and Congress currently running America aren’t “ultra liberal” by any but AM talk-radio’s yardstick.
Normal
June 11th, 2009
7:48 am
Thank you Tyler. Today I’m going to try to interject love and joy. To remind the folks out there that “All it takes is love, sweet love”.
I think I still have a merot buzz going on…Just guessin’
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
7:52 am
In other news, Kyle Wingfield inadvertantly explains why he doesn’t have a Comments field–he’s just too gosh-darned busy with the new kid, I guess.
(If you read the piece, you’ll find a lede, of sorts, buried halfway down.)
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
7:52 am
I Rule You
/ You Whine 
Eugene Robinson–Deliver me,,,he’s the same one who one night referred to the target of his ire as “being off the reservation” and has yet to respond to the requests as to why he feels free to use such a derogatory phrase. What, me racist?
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
7:53 am
morning Gwinecian –
“Can someone other than Andy tell me why an opinion columnist should “hide” his “bias”?”
honey, you just said a mouthful … and that’s why I’m one of your biggest fans.
(to answer your question, remember the law of the zoo … when you ain’t got nuttin’, all you can do if fling poo … )
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
7:53 am
Today I’m going to try to interject love and joy.
Peace and love
Peace and love
That’s all I’m thinking of baby
Peace and love
Riding around in a Volkswagen van
Thinking ’bout the people upside-down in Japan
Staring at the stars in a distant galaxy
Wondering if there’s someone out there staring back at me singing
Peace and love
Peace and love
That’s all I’m thinking of baby
Peace and love
Lying on the floor just playing my guitar
Trying to find the chords for “Just The Way You Are”
Plane crash flashing on my TV
Well it could have been you, baby
It could have been me
We’ll never live forever
But baby things could be worse
Cause when we get together we are one with the Universe
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont
Open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant
Got crazy karma, never harmed a single soul
So if you want to join me then together we’ll grow old singing
Peace and love
Peace and love
That’s all I’m thinking of baby
Peace and love
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
7:56 am
meanwhile … how long do you think it’s going to take for the rabid right to walk back their criticism of the DHS report – 2 terrorist attacks in 2 weeks by right-wingers makes the DHS look a little bit like Cassandra …
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
7:56 am
NORMAL–and a warm, fuzzy good morning to you, too.
Dave R.
June 11th, 2009
7:57 am
Wow! Another cut and paste piece by Bookman citing a meaningless poll a full year before an election.
Who woulda thunk it?
RB from Gwinnett
June 11th, 2009
7:57 am
DB, I’m shocked an ultra liberal doesn’t think our current administration is ultra liberal.
An “opinion” columnist should have the mental capacity to view topics from all sides and share opinions based on that analysis, not be a daily mouthpiece for any political party. But the AJC will learn that eventually as their customer base tires of their highly partisan crap and continues to leave them at twice the national average. Well, maybe they will….
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
7:58 am
Youse-in-Yook, the rabid right don’t admit mistakes. Preznit Bush learned ‘em good that way.
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
7:58 am
USinUK–just playing devil’s advocate here, but weren’t both of those attacks on Ob-ma’s watch?
Dave R.
June 11th, 2009
7:59 am
USinUK, only if they actually WERE terrorist attacks, which, of course, they were not.
We call them MURDERS over here . . .
Prancing Phalanges
June 11th, 2009
7:59 am
Uh Oh. Someone’s trying to stir the pot. What might you call some unbiased opinions? Boooorrrrring. I suppose it depends on the subject matter, amongst other things.
Of course, I would not mind if that so-called Thinking Right opinion portrayed as much integrity as Bookman’s opinion. You know, a basis in fact. I’d waste a whole lot less coffee in the mornings and the keyboard would certainly be the better for that. I wonder. Does whiner write that Wooten opinion? I think he could.
Normal
June 11th, 2009
7:59 am
DB, Hot dam, I love it, love it! I knew love could change the world!
Jimi Hendrix once said “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then we will have peace”. Gotta love ol’ Jimi! Ow, my head’s startin’ to hurt…
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
8:00 am
j-nix, since you bring it up, I roughly calculate that you are 1500x more likely to die from a terrorist attack under a Republican President than a Democratic one.
Corey
June 11th, 2009
8:00 am
Most Americans no longer care to gorge at the trough of xnophobia, minority bashing, patriotism questioning, us vs them, evangical extremisim, hard right lunacy. Those of you who still do get over yourselves already.
Redneck Convert
June 11th, 2009
8:00 am
Well, I see that judge this Obama wants to put on the Supreme Court fell and broke a ankle. When great big women like her and Sister Dusty go down, they go down hard and usually break something. I remember when the missus fell and broke a leg. It took six firemen and two EMS people to carry her out of the trailer and I thought for sure a couple of them were going to mess their pants from all that grunting.
Anyhow, I got nothing against moderate Republicans. Long as they’re for breaking off from the U.S. of A., making everybody carry a gun, getting rid of these equal rights laws, using the Death Penalty more, cutting all the taxes, and making it alot harder for Those People to vote. And oh yeah, using the army to kick some butt when some other country crosses us. If a moderate Republican canadate promises all that, he’s got my vote.
But there’s no hope for Florida. It’s just a bunch of yankees and jews that moved down there to stay warm in the winter. It wouldn’t bother me none if they turned over the whole state to Cuba. And I heard this Crist is gay and only married to make it look like he ain’t. So if another homo gets elected to the Senate I guess he can join this Craig guy and cruise some bathrooms and maybe link up with Diaper Vitter to form a little club.
Sorry to blow off steam like this but I’m in a real bad mood this a.m. The Braves lost again last night and it looks like another 10 years without getting into the playoffs. The pitchers couldn’t get little Sonny Zell George out and the batters would miss a basketball if it was throwed to them.
Have a good day everybody.
ByteMe
June 11th, 2009
8:00 am
USInUK: they’ll never walk back their criticism. Being a nutwinger means never havng to say you’re sorry.
Corey
June 11th, 2009
8:02 am
Xenophobia, my bad
TnGelding
June 11th, 2009
8:02 am
I Rule You
/ You Whine 
June 11th, 2009
7:29 am
We had to send in the clowns to clean up the comic tragedy.
ty webb
June 11th, 2009
8:02 am
so is it fair to say all these terrorist attacks happened under Obama’s watch? probably not…right? what’s the tally? 3 in 2 weeks, and he’s only been in office for a little over 4 months.
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:03 am
“An “opinion” columnist should have the mental capacity to view topics from all sides and share opinions based on that analysis, not be a daily mouthpiece for any political party”
hahahahahahaha … hooooo … boy, my sides … tell ya what, when I see George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Pat Buchanon, Brooks, Bill O’Reilley, Brent Bozell, Rich Lowery, Jonah Goldberg, Victor Davis Hanson, John Stossel, Michelle Malkin, Walter Williams, Ann Coulter and Marc Steyn (to name but a few) start “viewing topics from all sides and base opinions on that analysis”, then you can start to b- and moan about Jay …
until then, put this sentence in the correct order: piehole. shut. your.
Normal
June 11th, 2009
8:03 am
But seriously folks, If the American Taliban flex their muscles in Florida and lose badly, then what? Will that allow the GOP to return to its moderate center as it was before? If so, this might end up being a good thing. Just saying…
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
8:03 am
Unbiased opinion? There’s no such animal. An opinion by its very nature carries a bias. That’s what makes it an opinion and not a fact.
BDAtlanta
June 11th, 2009
8:04 am
I see the wingnuts are performing as predicted. Get a Democrat in the white house and they freak out. Shooting an abortion doctor, shooting up a museum. What is next? Are they planning to blow up another federal building too?
Great Americans? True patriots?
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:05 am
Dave R –
“USinUK, only if they actually WERE terrorist attacks, which, of course, they were not.”
may I suggest you read about yesterday’s TERRORIST attack at the national holocaust museum (given that the man threatened 10 other sites, and opened fire at one, I think that goes beyond “murder”)
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
8:05 am
We call them MURDERS over here . . .
Unless they’re committed by brown-skinned guys with funny names.
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:06 am
byteme – “USInUK: they’ll never walk back their criticism. Being a nutwinger means never havng to say you’re sorry.”
man. true that.
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:06 am
DB – darlin’, you are on a ROLL today!
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
8:07 am
DB Gwenttian –”j-nix, since you bring it up, I roughly calculate that you are 1500x more likely to die from a terrorist attack under a Republican President than a Democratic one.”
Reckon that might be because we haven’t had a Democratic president for some time now? In your calculation, did you factor in the Clinton years?
Normal
June 11th, 2009
8:07 am
Josef, Good Morning! Your 8:03, Wish I said that. The only line I can ever come up with about opinios is “Opinions are like a——s, everybody has one.
Swami Dave
June 11th, 2009
8:07 am
I guess the translation is…..
Extremist liberals driving our country farther and farther down the path toward higher taxes, increased wasteful spending, more dependence, and less incentive for achievement. – Good
“Extremist” conservatives supporting freedom and opportunity, controlling the growth of government, and allowing America’s achievers to keep and enjoy the fruits of their production. – Bad
So according to the collectivists, we need MORE Democrats progressing the politics of theft, redistribution, and dependence to greater and greater depths and they want more Republicans who are “moderate” and will “work” with them to achieve their intended goals.
Sorry, I choose to oppose and work within our political process to defeat collectivism. It is a failed theology that has spread misery and diminished achievement in every corner of this planet that is has ever been tried. Were it nore for the keep-doing-the-same-thing-that-keeps-failing insanity of its proponents, it would have long since been relegated to the ash heap of history where it belongs.
-SD
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
8:08 am
What is next? Are they planning to blow up another federal building too?
Actually, Ann Coulter issued explicit instructions about that some time ago.
TnGelding
June 11th, 2009
8:09 am
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:03 am
Of the ones you mentioned, Brooks has a pretty wide view.
mike
June 11th, 2009
8:09 am
DB, Gwinnettian –
“Unless they’re committed by brown-skinned guys with funny names.”
Oh nonsense. When African-American anti-war activist Abdulhakim Margahid Muhammad killed an Army recruiter the other week, nobody in the media was saying it should be called terrorism. Certainly the liberals on this blog were not calling it terrorism.
BDAtlanta
June 11th, 2009
8:10 am
Corey, more so than the Taliban, Al Queda, or ANY external terrorist threat, the wingnuts, the racists, the fundamentalists (insert religion of choice here) are ALL the real enemies of this country.
I won’t stop throwing rocks at them. They will eventually explode into violence and expose themselves for what they truly are: evil. My throwing rocks is to help them progress faster to exploding so we can lock em up.
They are truly evil deviants.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 11th, 2009
8:10 am
In your calculation, did you factor in the Clinton years?
Well if I do that, my number doesn’t look so awesome, so no. (although if I were to follow this absurd line of argument, you’d still be something like 10x more likely. Then again, if the Japanese and Germans were considered “terrorists”, and you went back 100 years… syou get my point, shirley.)
mike
June 11th, 2009
8:11 am
DB –
“Actually, Ann Coulter issued explicit instructions about that some time ago.”
Really? I think Coulter is a hyper-partisan loser, but I find it hard to believe that she said anything like that, not least because the media would have jumped all over it.
So you have a source?
USinUK
June 11th, 2009
8:11 am
TnGelding –
he’s only a recent convert … I still hold his post 2000 election “the corrupt coast/the virtuous MidWest” inanity against him …
josef nix
June 11th, 2009
8:13 am
ty webb–no, I never said any more than the two nor did i time them as x per y. The point is that terrorism knows no party line and trying to lay blame is not only rather silly, it’s counterproductive.
I Rule You :-)/ You Whine :-(
June 11th, 2009
8:13 am
Obozo is ripping the United States to shreds, on purpose, the liberals wanna group hug.
Puh-leeze.
bookman has written over ten thousand opinion columns, so it seems, about how Republicans need to open their tent to each and every squish moderate out there, and, if you read into today’s column, they should be booting out all the “hard core ultra Conservatives” at the same time.
How about that, he thinks we should be the party of aisle reachers, isn’t that sweet?
“Ultra Conservative” is a childish phrase, so yes, you are correct, bookman is showing his immature side, not his biased one.
My bad.
TnGelding
June 11th, 2009
8:14 am
mike
June 11th, 2009
8:09 am
It was a senseless tragedy, as are all the gun killings. How many more have to die?
mike
June 11th, 2009
8:14 am
Whiner –
““Ultra Conservative” is a childish phrase, so yes, you are correct, bookman is showing his immature side”
Hmmm. And “Obozo” sin’t childish?