Charlie Crist's new book, "The Party's Over"

[KingOrfeo]

Former Florida Governor -- and former Republican -- Charlie Crist is challenging Republican incumbent Rick Scott for that office this year. He just came out with a book: The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat.

PoliticsUSA reviews:

Book Review: Charlie Crist Spills the Beans on The GOP’s Descent Into Anti-Obama Madness

By: Jason Easley
Monday, February, 10th, 2014, 4:38 pm

Former Florida governor and current gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist has written a fascinating book that describes why he left the GOP, and the Republican Party’s descent into anti-Obama madness.

Charlie Crist’s new book The Party’s Over is part biography, and part first hand account of his years as governor. Crist has had a unique career. He has gone from moderate Republican to Independent Senate candidate, to campaigning for President Obama in 2012, to becoming a Democrat. Much like many other moderate Republicans, Charlie Crist didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left him. Former Gov. Crist is pro-environment. He calls himself pro-life, but Crist believes that Roe v Wade is the law of the land and government should have no role in telling a woman what she can do with her body. He is pro-education and is supported by teachers unions. Crist took the stimulus money for Florida. He doesn’t like everything about the ACA, but he believes in expanding Medicaid and the idea of giving more people access to affordable healthcare.

In short, Charlie Crist’s values match up really well with today’s Democratic Party.

The interesting thing about the book is that it details with examples the Republican Party’s step by step shift right. Crist starts noticing things. Boos at a Republican event for governors who believe in climate change. Tea party protests against his environmental agenda. Crist’s book reveals that the Republican shift towards the extreme right didn’t just happen overnight, but it did happen very quickly after the election of President Obama. Crist wrote about this change, “You could trace a line from Terri Schiavo to Sarah Palin to that panicked lady in the gym with John McCain calling Barack Obama an Arab to Judge Perry to where this Senate campaign was heading next. The forces of intolerance and extremism threatened to wreck everything I treasured and believed in. In the sweep of American politics, that all happened very quickly.”

Crist described a 2009 meeting between President Obama and the National Governors Association where Republican contempt and disrespect for the president was on full display:

It wasn’t that reasonable people couldn’t exchange insights on these important issues. It was that the loudmouths in the room seemed far more intent on lecturing the president. To me, it sounded more like finger-pointing—five or six beers in—than any give-and-take between the nation’s governors and the leader of the free world. It wasn’t everyone. But it was enough of them. And for a while there, they all but commandeered the room. I hadn’t said anything. In settings like this one, I don’t usually feel the need to hear myself talk. In a room packed with politicians, there are always plenty of blowhards to fill the air. But I could feel the president was getting ready to wrap up the sessions, and I was seething in my seat.

How two-faced, I thought. Most of them score their cheap political points—then end up taking money in the end! You’ll see them at the ribbon-cuttings for the projects they’re denouncing now! I decided I had to speak. I motioned to the president, and he called on me. “Mr. President,” I said, “I’ve sat here for about an hour.” People seemed to be paying attention. There must have been something in my tone of voice. “I’ve listened to my colleagues give you a bunch of garbage”—I kind of spat that word out—”about the stimulus. I’ve taken a lot of grief from these guys and others in my party for having been with you a couple of weeks ago in Fort Myers. I went there because I was raised by my mother and father and taught how to behave. Taught to be decent to other people. Taught to treat them respectfully—especially if that person happens to be the president of the United States of America.” I noticed a few people shifting uncomfortably in their seats, though no one interrupted me. “What I see here,” I said, “is a lack of respect that is unattractive and inappropriate, and I am sick of it. It is not the way we ought to be behaving toward one another. It is not the way we ought to be treating you. We ought to be treating each other as we’re told in the Bible—’do unto others.’ “I just had to say that because I’m tired of watching this shit”—actually, I didn’t use the expletive. That’s what I was thinking. I said “watching this stuff.” The room burst out in applause, probably because more of the governors in the room were Democrats.

There are stories like the one quoted above peppered throughout the book, because the stories explain why Charlie Crist felt that he no longer fit in with the Republican Party.

What really got Crist labeled an enemy of the GOP was that he hugged President Obama. Charlie Crist described the scene as he introduced President Obama during a speech on the stimulus in Florida, “”Ladies and gentlemen,” I said, “please give a warm Florida welcome to President Barack Obama.” He walked out toward me. Both of us smiled. The applause was just about frantic. We shook hands. The new president leaned forward and gave me a hug. Reach. Pull. Release. As hugs go, it wasn’t anything special. It was over in a second—less than that. It was the kind of hug that says, “Hey, good to see you, man. Thanks for being here.” It was the kind of hug I’d exchanged with thousands and thousands of Floridians over the years. I didn’t think a thing about it as it was happening. But that simple gesture ended my career as a viable Republican politician. It changed the rest of my life. Reach, pull, release—just like that.”

Book written by politicians who are running for office are usually full of a lot of fluff with little substance. Gov. Crist along with his co-author Ellis Henican, have written a book that a bird’s eye account of how the Republican Party slipped into madness. It is an easy, and extremely interesting read.

Charlie Crist’s The Party’s Over may be one of the best books ever written by a current candidate for office. Crist explains what issues matter to him, why they matter, how his strong populist streak basically got him kicked out of the Republican Party.

The Party’s Over is the perfect primer to remind Democrats what is at stake in the 2014 election. I highly recommend this book.

 

[RobDownSouth]

The same scenario played out here on the General Board. I vividly recall the night Barack Obama was called the winner of the 2008 election. 4est Gump loftily announced he was gonna set the example and conduct himself with dignity as the opposition party.

Four hours later, while America was celebrating here, he lost his composure and began "niggering" President Obama.

....and he hasn't stopped since.

That's a mighty fine example.
(note to Koalabear: the above line was sarcasm, you stupid son of a bitch)

Or look at Grampa Urine: his descent into rote talking-point regurgitation is nearly complete. He simply cannot abide a lawfully elected Democratic president. He's been advocating impeachment for imagined "crimes" for years now. Hey, it crippled Clinton, why not do it again.

And of course Miles has over 250 threads bashing President Obama....

Not posts, folks...

Threads.

He has serious issues.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Or look at Grampa Urine: his descent into rote talking-point regurgitation is nearly complete. He simply cannot abide a lawfully elected Democratic president. He's been advocating impeachment for imagined "crimes" for years now. Hey, it crippled Clinton, why not do it again.

Yeah, I've noticed that among RWs -- not only now, but all through the Clinton years. When Rush had a TV show he always opened it with "Day _: America Held Hostage!" It's like they think the Reagan Revolution was once-and-for-all and for a Dem to win the WH after that is an impossible reversal of history, it cannot be legitimate no matter what the votes say.

 

[patient1]

The same scenario played out here on the General Board. I vividly recall the night Barack Obama was called the winner of the 2008 election. 4est Gump loftily announced he was gonna set the example and conduct himself with dignity as the opposition party.

Four hours later, while America was celebrating here, he lost his composure and began "niggering" President Obama.

....and he hasn't stopped since.

That's a mighty fine example.
(note to Koalabear: the above line was sarcasm, you stupid son of a bitch)

Or look at Grampa Urine: his descent into rote talking-point regurgitation is nearly complete. He simply cannot abide a lawfully elected Democratic president. He's been advocating impeachment for imagined "crimes" for years now. Hey, it crippled Clinton, why not do it again.

And of course Miles has over 250 threads bashing President Obama....

Not posts, folks...

Threads.

He has serious issues.

Why not take a page from Crist's book and try to rise above it?

Eschew name calling. It tends to escalate things into an angry cycle.
You're a better man than Miles.

 

[Sean]

You're a better man than Miles.

Lucretia Borgia was a better man than Miles.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Lucretia Borgia was a better man than Miles.

Lucretia Borgia was awesome. You do not slander her by speaking her name alongside miles.

We really could rise above, make that the new liberal motto. Make sure all libs everywhere do it

 

[KingOrfeo]

Lucretia Borgia was awesome. You do not slander her by speaking her name alongside miles.

We really could rise above, make that the new liberal motto. Make sure all libs everywhere do it

I suppose so. "What would Mandela do?!" Quite a riser-above-it, he was.

 

[renard_ruse]

Do you ever get tired of posting this bullshit?

I'm a fallen away Democrat who became, well, ok, I've never really been a Republican, but I certainly have no home whatsoever in that evil piece of shit party because the extreme social left took it over and continues to become more and more militantly social liberal. They make perfectly clear if you aren't a social liberal you have no home whatever in that party.

In other words, for every asshole like this jackass moron, there is someone with the opposite story about the Democrat party.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Do you ever get tired of posting this bullshit?

I'm a fallen away Democrat who became, well, ok, I've never really been a Republican, but I certainly have no home whatsoever in that evil piece of shit party because the extreme social left took it over and continues to become more and more militantly social liberal. They make perfectly clear if you aren't a social liberal you have no home whatever in that party.

In other words, for every asshole like this jackass moron, there is someone with the opposite story about the Democrat party.

No, there isn't, because social conservatives (meeting your standards as such) are a whole lot rarer than you think they are, and far outnumbered now by social liberals of various stripes, and there has been no significant Dem-to-Pub migration since the Reagan years.

 

[renard_ruse]

Why not take a page from Crist's book and try to rise above it?

Eschew name calling. It tends to escalate things into an angry cycle.
You're a better man than Miles.

Crist is the ultimate name caller. The very title of the book is a viscious hateful name call. "Extreme" rightwing. THAT is the ultimate namecalling. This guy is the ultimate scum of the earth. A lying hypocrite, hateful name-calling scum.

 

[KingOrfeo]

"Extreme" rightwing. THAT is the ultimate namecalling.

You do understand that there is such a thing, don't you?

 

[renard_ruse]

The thing is, you liberals don't need to play this game of trying to get economically moderate to conservative but immoral white people to vote for you anymore. You are not winning because of those people, and you never have. The ONLY reason the political tide has shifted back to liberalism is because of ethnic demographic change. The non-white voters who vote democrat because of racial/ethnic identity issues and economic issues. You are still not winning because of social issues. I've studied this, and its true. With the exception of a few micro-regions such as parts of the northeast, hatred for moral conservatism is NOT why Democrats win. They win despite it. Most people don't vote on those issues one way or the other. Don't delude yourselves as to why you've had this resurgence.

 

[KingOrfeo]

The thing is, you liberals don't need to play this game of trying to get economically moderate to conservative but immoral white people to vote for you anymore. You are not winning because of those people, and you never have.

Agreed. We win because of the moral people. Moral people have no patience with your kind of social conservatism.

 

[patient1]

Do you ever get tired of posting this bullshit?

I'm a fallen away Democrat who became, well, ok, I've never really been a Republican, but I certainly have no home whatsoever in that evil piece of shit party because the extreme social left took it over and continues to become more and more militantly social liberal. They make perfectly clear if you aren't a social liberal you have no home whatever in that party.

In other words, for every asshole like this jackass moron, there is someone with the opposite story about the Democrat party.

Apparently he doesn't tire of it, so we can at least respect his right to do so without agreeing with his judgement.

I wonder if social conservatives on this board grow weary of your profanity.
You do realize that it undercuts your message of traditional values, and that this particular cut& paste affirms traditional values, don't you?

Maybe you're only here to vent, which is fine.

Maybe you don't like The Golden Rule.

If you happen to have hopes of persuading anyone, best not to follow DizzyBottie into ignore list oblivion. Even if he is proven right, no one will ever notice because they don't waste their time reading him.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Apparently he doesn't tire of it, so we can at least respect his right to do so without agreeing with his judgement.

I wonder if social conservatives on this board grow weary of your profanity.
You do realize that it undercuts your message of traditional values, and that this particular cut& paste affirms traditional values, don't you?

Maybe you're only here to vent, which is fine.

Maybe you don't like The Golden Rule.

If you happen to have hopes of persuading anyone, best not to follow DizzyBottie into ignore list oblivion. Even if he is proven right, no one will ever notice because they don't waste their time reading him.

I think most of us who've iggied busybody have not quite yet iggied renard because he does not, you know, just incoherently scream. His statements, repugnant and nonsensical and indeed borderline-insane as they are, yet in most instances are grammatically coherent, and reflect a certain internal consistency, such as it is, of a mind, such as it is, that is functional at least in the sense that a kinetic desktop toy is functional. Which busybody's mind is not.

 

[Sean Renaud]

In addition to what the Cookie King said Renard have an obnoxiously long sig line and while he's not above posting twice in a row or bumping his own thread I've never come across a thread where Renard has three or more posts in a row. Sometimes between BB and Jenny there will be entire pages that I can't see.

Renard also doesn't pointlessly snipe like miles or koala who rarely bring anything to the conversation. Renard in many cases is something like arguing with one of those punching clowns but that's still worlds above his peers.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In addition to what the Cookie King said Renard have an obnoxiously long sig line and while he's not above posting twice in a row or bumping his own thread I've never come across a thread where Renard has three or more posts in a row. Sometimes between BB and Jenny there will be entire pages that I can't see.

Renard also doesn't pointlessly snipe like miles or koala who rarely bring anything to the conversation. Renard in many cases is something like arguing with one of those punching clowns but that's still worlds above his peers.

True. I iggied miles, and koala (more for screenstretching than for content-free snark, but the latter didn't help), and Gump long ago. renard, for all his moral and intellectual faults and lack of compensatory virtues beyond grammar, ranks far above them. May all parties affected take all of that as compliment or insult as fits, but not as you like.

 

[Sean Renaud]

True. I iggied miles, and koala (more for screenstretching than for content-free snark, but the latter didn't help), and Gump long ago. renard, for all his moral and intellectual faults and lack of compensatory virtues beyond grammar, ranks far above them. May all parties affected take all of that as compliment or insult as fits, but not as you like.

I recently iggied koala but I'll probably take him off in a few months. Miles remains free range moron because he doesn't post overmuch. Sure he never adds anything to the dialogue but he's quiet about not adding anything to the conversation so I pretty much just ignore him the good ole fashioned way. By pretending I don't see him.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Thread on the election.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

The Fall of the GOP.

These are Berry Goldwater's comments were a long while ago about what has become the major problem with the GOP and the exodus of their more moderate supporters.

Barry Goldwater (Speech in the US Senate, 16 September 1981)

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

Do note the date.

One more from Goldwater in the same general time frame."The Brethren's First Sister," Time Magazine, (20 July, 1981)

"On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."

I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal or at least pretty liberal in that direction. I am a registered Independent and have been so for several years unable to put up with the crap from the extreme religious right in the GOP.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Renard's a typically scared and phobic pressed basic bitch who gleefully lives within his cis white male privilege and sees it casually eroding due to change and obsolescence, but he hasn't swam into the shitstain nutter zone like his other loser brethren.

Yet.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/21/u...n-gangs-rules-on-shackles-are-criticized.html

CHAIN GANG CHARLIE sponsored bill to put convicts back in stride chains.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

In 2008 this board was covered in threads celebrating the death of the Republican Party and the fact that it would never, ever win another election...

There were books written at that time too.

It was even openly claimed that we had voted yes to Socialism.

 

[Couran]

Christ is coming out SWINGING at the CRIMINAL SCOTT, I LOVE IT!! Keep pointing out that SCOTT IS A CRIMINAL, Charlie.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

So is Crist...



He was doing the Blago.