There have been a lot of rumors flying around recently that Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, is gay. See here. Crist has consistently denied this. In the primary his opponent, Tom Gallagher, claims Crist supported gay civil unions, but Crist’s campaign website says he supports Florida’s Defense of Marriage Act.
Issues for debate:
Is he or isn’t he?
If he is, how will that affect his chances? Will it alienate the religious-conservative base? Will gay liberals hold their noses and vote for him just so they can have a gay governor?
If he is, and if he wins, how will this affect his performance as governor, in particular his policies on gay rights issues?
Current IMHO thread on the Florida gubernatorial race.
Crist and his Dem opponent, Jim Davis, will be having a televised debate tonight at 8:00 on NBC.
As a gay liberal, the only thing that makes a gay politician preferable over a straight politician is the idea that the gay pol would look more favorably on gay rights legislation than the straight pol. If Crist opposes gay rights (and supporting Florida’s DOMA would be just that, in my book), then there’s no advantage in voting for him over Webb, and Webb is more likely to agree with me on issues other than gay rights. If the allegations bear out, it makes Crist infinitly more dispicable. The only thing more odious than a straight politician using homophobia to garner votes is a gay politician using homophobia to garner votes. I’m not a Florida voter, so how I feel about it doesn’t really matter, but if it’s true that Crist is both gay and anti-gay rights, that alone would be reason enough to never vote for him for any office.
Sounds like his Republican opponent in the primary was the primary (pun intended) spreader of the rumor. If the guy says he’s not gay, let’s just accept it and leave it at that.
You tell us-- you live there. I doubt few liberals would vote for a Republican just because he might be gay.
Well, that governor’s mansion is well past due for a make-over, so if he is gay, that would work out great. Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to particularly favor gay rights, except in the mind of his Republican primary opponent.
Just a quick two cents, Crist is Republican, Davis is Democrat.
Another interesting uncorroborated point is that Crist said when in the primaries “Let’s keep this clean” to his opponents. He then proceeded to have some of the most slanted negative ads against his opponents on TV. His ads are on the tv almost every commercial break. It is getting tiresome. The opponent ads against Crist have said nothing about his sexual orientation. They are mostly focused on where the two candidates differ on issues.
I live in the Tampa area and after reading the debate results and doing a bit of research will be voting for Davis. I will most likely watch the debate on tonight unless it runs to far into the football game.
It doesn’t matter to me outside of the notion that if true, Crist is just another in the endless list of phony, fake-pious, closet-sinner, concealing-their-true-colors scumbag Republicans. Should he win I can only hope he is outed, so that all these redneck idiots around here can have their heads explode over the fact they voted for a gay.
Not much to debate here but if if it’s all true, no reasonable person could expect him to take any progressive action regarding gay marriage etc. He’s a right wing money-first Bushie posing as a populist moderate.
I guess the OP is answered, more or less. These rumors, true or false, were not enough to stop Crist from winning the election.
But if Crist really is gay . . . then it’s probably just beginning to dawn on him that he has committed himself to spending the next four years living his life in the public eye, to a greater degree than he has ever experienced before, and in a climate which is increasingly more accepting of homosexuality than of hypocrisy.
As a side note, those little campaign signs were planted all over down here (South Florida) like so many red-white-and-blue dandelions. I keep reading Crist’s advertisements as “VOTE CHRIST FOR GOVERNOR.” Even when I had assured myself that the Second Coming wasn’t marking Tallahasee as ground zero, I kept wondering how much further you could push His campaign …
Smear ads on TV? “Hi, I’m Christ. Vote for me! My opponent? He’s damned. Literally. No, really. Don’t vote for Me, you will be, too. Think about it.”
“Make the statehouse His house.”
“Vote for Christ on November 7th. Don’t make Him mention you to His Father.”
I don’t have any clue if he is (is he married or a confirmed bachelor), but I think it would be good for the state if he was. Although newly elected state senator Ronda Storms (shudder) would probably spit on him.
Sorry if this guy who only knows Florida from TV is clueless, but aren’t parts of Florida simply infested with gays? And what would you expect in a state that is shaped like North America’s flaccid penis?
From your lips to . . . I’m having a hard time completing that sentence without smirking . . .