Opinion: Crist Wasn't Purged, He Was Just a Bad Candidate

(April 29) -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist didn't shock anyone today when he announced his decision to jump ship and run for Florida's open Senate seat as an independent. Rumors had been swirling for weeks, even while the governor was still denying that he would ever consider such a move.

But if Crist wanted to have any chance of becoming Florida's next senator, he has no choice. His Republican challenger, the once little-known Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, electrified the Republican base since entering the race and was trouncing Crist in the primary polls by an average of more than 20 points.

Predictably, the left and some in the press are framing Crist's decision as another example of the Republican party's conservative base purging another moderate.

As Bill Maher put it on his HBO show "Real Time": "We see [Republican moderates] being drummed out all the time." And "Hardball" host Chris Matthews asked: "What happens to Republicans who don't march to the right-wing tune? Well they're getting purged."

But in the case of Crist, this narrative is simply hogwash.

First, it's worth noting that this race was not an example of a Republican incumbent being challenged from his conservative flank. It was an open Senate seat; there is no incumbent in the race. Both candidates had an equal right to the nomination. Why was Crist presumed to be entitled to the Republican nomination to run for it?

And while Rubio is more conservative than Crist, he is also a far better candidate -- he's more exciting, more energetic and more engaging.

Most importantly, Rubio is also the more responsible candidate.

The best example of this occurred in the "Fox News Sunday" debate at the end of March. Both candidates were asked whether they would support raising the retirement age for Social Security in order to get America's fiscal house in order.

This is an obvious necessity, though politicians, especially Florida politicians fearful of alienating their older electorate, tend to irresponsibly deny this fact.

Rubio admitted that this has "got to be part of the solution, the retirement age gradually increases for people of my generation."

Crist, however, claimed that "having a higher age for people to be able to be eligible for Social Security really flies in the face of an awful lot of my fellow Floridians, and it's something that I would not advocate."

Entitlement reform is today's litmus test to see whether a candidate for office is responsible. By refusing to speak honestly about what needs to be done on Social Security, Crist showed that he's willing to support only what he feels makes the most political sense, not what is best for the nation.

So while this news will be portrayed by many as the GOP pushing out a moderate in favor of an ultraconservative, the more accurate description of what's happening in Florida is that Republicans were backing the more responsible candidate over the more irresponsible one. And Crist's move is nothing more than a desperate effort to extend his candidacy past a Republican primary contest he was going to lose.

Come November, we'll know whether Florida voters at large agree that Rubio would make a more responsible senator.

Jamie Weinstein holds a master's degree in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics and is a columnist for The North Star National. He can be reached at Jamie.S.Weinstein@gmail.com or via his blog, JamieWeinstein.com.


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