The Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo is out with a good review of Charlie Crist’s autobiography, The Party’s Over, in which Crist attempts to rewrite some history.
In it, Caputo chronicles Crist’s efforts to elide (or downplay) several flip-flops, including his previous opposition to civil unions and gay marriage.
But it may be the hot issue of marijuana that matters most in the gubernatorial election.
As Caputo noted last year, “John Morgan, a major fundraiser for President Barack Obama and the boss of former Gov. Charlie Crist, is taking the reins of a Florida medical marijuana initiative, promising to pump major money and political muscle into the popular issue.”
The obvious assumption is that a marijuana ballot initiative would impact Democratic turnout, helping Crist oust incumbent Gov. Rick Scott.
This would be a tad ironic. Tampa Bay Times reporter Adam Smith recently unearthed this old campaign ad, where the narrator (accompanied by scary-sounding music) attacks Crist’s opponent, noting that he “fought to decriminalize marijuana — and just this month said he still supports making marijuana laws more lenient.”
What a horrible guy!
Granted, Crist’s current support for medical marijuana (Scott opposes it) isn’t the same as outright support of decriminalization, but how long before Crist evolves on that issue, too?
Ultimately, the problem for Crist isn’t just that he has changed positions on almost every other major policy position, but that made it to the top of Florida politics by viciously attacking folks for holding the same views most of his fellow Democrats (and, indeed, many Republicans) now currently hold.
It may be inconvenient for Crist, but as line goes, the Internet is written in ink. And no revisionist autobiography can change that.