Far-right GOP base balks at a possible McCain running mate

May 28, 2008

Over the weekend, John McCain hosted an event at his home, ostensibly as a social occasion, but what actually appeared to be something of an audition opportunity for three possible Republican running mates — Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. By some estimations, Crist was the most likely choice of the trio.

And why not? Crist is a very effective campaigner, and a popular governor of one of the nation’s most important electoral states. With Crist on the ticket, Dems probably wouldn’t even try as hard to win Florida. Crist is inexperienced — he was elected governor just 18 months ago — but that probably isn’t a deal-breaker.

The problem, though, is that Crist may not be perceived as rabidly conservative enough. Jonathan Martin noted that plenty in the GOP are “wary” of Crist: “Conservatives in Florida prefer his predecessor, Jeb Bush, and don’t view Crist as one of them. One problem is that Crist embraces what he calls a ‘live and let live’ approach to cultural matters. He was once pro-choice and is now pro-life, though he displays little enthusiasm for the issue. He’s also single, something that makes him unique among a crop of vice-presidential prospects who are all married with children.”

The disquiet is not limited to conservatives in Florida. TV preacher Pat Robertson’s network reported yesterday that many “pro-family leaders and activists … all agree that if John McCain picks Florida Governor Charlie Crist as his running mate, there will be MAJOR dissatisfaction among social conservatives.”

Robertson’s national correspondent, David Brody, reported:

So why is Crist a problem for social conservatives? Well, first of all they don’t believe he’s pro-life. He says he’s pro-life but in the past he’s said he was pro-choice…. He has also supported civil unions. In addition, when the whole Terri Schiavo controversy exploded in Florida, Crist DID NOT side with pro-family groups who wanted him to take a more active role. He stayed on the sidelines.

Would McCain really pick Crist? It would be seen as a slap in the face to the Evangelical base yet McCain could look at it another way.

Just how seriously does the party’s base take this issue? Depending on who you talk to, pretty seriously.

Brody, for example, talked to the Family Research Council’s Connie Mackay, who said:

“We have concerns about Governor Crist. While he claims to be pro-life he has not been an advocate…We would not be supportive of his candidacy for Vice-President…I think it would not help him. McCain needs to continue to try and energize the base. I think that would certainly not energize the base and I think I could go one step further and say it would de-energize the base.”

Kelly Shackelford, a prominent religious-right activist, added:

“I don’t think there is any way that would happen. That would certainly put the last nail in the coffin for social and Christian conservatives, but it won’t happen. Sen. McCain has been fairly clear that he will pick a solid conservative.

Another leader from the religious-right movement who did not want to be named said there would be “an open revolt” against the McCain ticket, were he to pick Crist as his running mate.

It’s possible, if not likely, that the McCain campaign won’t care about these preemptive complaints. The religious right played a very minor, inconsequential role in the GOP primaries, and McCain may very well assume he can do just fine, whether the Dobson crowd likes his running mate or not.

One factor to keep in mind, however, is that the far right is probably responding negatively to Crist in part because he’s been less than enthusiastic about their culture-war issues, and in part because of rumors about his personal life.

The Huffington Post noted a report today that suggests the Republicans are already working to diffuse those rumors.

How interested is Florida Governor Charlie Crist in being John McCain’s VP runningmate? So much so that veteran GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone — who coordinated a few dirty stunts in support of Crist during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign — is quietly peddling a so-called “Charlie Crist sex tape.” That’s what Stone called it during a telephone conversation. And no, it is not a tape of Crist having sex with a guy. In fact, it isn’t even X-rated. The video was seemingly staged to kill the rumors that Crist is gay.

Stone claims the tape — which he discussed recently with Politics1, but didn’t show to us (“I’m saving it for the national shows”) — “shows Charlie fooling around in a hotel elevator with his girlfriend … They’re making out.” Adds Stone: “It was captured on a security camera in the elevator” last month. And Stone just conveniently happens to have a copy of the hotel’s elevator surveillance tape, just when Crist’s name is in play for the VP spot. Hmm. As for Crist’s purported girlfriend — presuming it is the same one he took as his date to the White House Correspondents Dinner in DC a few weeks ago — she’s still married (and not to Crist). Disclaimer: Always be skeptical of anything from Stone.

I remember Crist when he was sarcastically referred to as “Chaingang Charlie”, so named since, as a young Florida state legislator he advocated bringing inmates back to clean up the interstate of garbage complete with black and white horizontally striped outfits and chain gang balls. He was almost immediately branded as an intellectual lightweight. To his credit, he learned a lesson and has managed to get to the top governor’s office step-by-step, by the counter-intuitive political principal of running to the center rather than strictly appealing to his GOP base. Make no mistake, though, his success has surprised more than a few given his…….rather simplistic, almost Chauncey Gardner, view of the world. He is a nice man, who many regard as being far, far above his head. The thought of Charlie being a VP makes my palms sweat. I’ve got to think that McCain will vet this out.

  • Wow – It is better to break one of the ten commandments (Coveting thy neighbor’s wife) rather than being gay. Gotta love those Family Values folks.

  • TV preacher Pat Robertson’s network reported yesterday that many “pro-family leaders and activists … all agree that if John McCain picks Florida Governor Charlie Crist as his running mate, there will be MAJOR dissatisfaction among social conservatives.”

    Jeez, Pat, wasn’t that what you said would be the result of McCain being the nominee? Don’t worry John. As I’m sure you know Pat will find a way to support you whoever you pick.

  • Isn’t Roger Stone a bit of swinger, himself? As in, notoriously well known swinger? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  • Someone pinch me I must be dreaming.

    In this corner we have So/Theo-cons insisting that McCaniac pick a fire breathing fundy to be his running mate (not that they’re hoping the dear old man will kick the bucket, dear me no!) despite the fact everyone hates them and/or thinks they’re a bad joke. In the other corner we have a ReThuglican operative squeaking “Look, look, I’ve got evidence that Charlie can touch a girl without saying ‘Eeew, cooties’!” to prove Crist’s family values manly-man bona fides. But of course they can’t show that tape because … um … production has to finish airbrushing Charles’ face over some other guy add the seeeexy sound track.

    Next they’ll suggest Crist add an “H” to his last name and McCain will start walking around with a copy of the Gutenberg Bible (purchased by Cindy, natch) and this beyootiful dream will shift to the one where I win the lottery and Brad Pitt’s car breaks down in front of my house. Er. Because the S.O. really admires his work and I could get his autograph.

    What?

  • I lived in Florida from 1997 to 2005. Crist is actually a pretty decent guy for a Republican politician — he went to the mat for Florida residents several times as Attorney General against predatory practices by several major corporations. When he got elected governor I wasn’t thrilled, but I expected him to be a VAST improvement over Jeb Bush and so far he has been. That’s certainly damning with faint praise, but, well, McCain could do a lot worse, and the country could have a much, much worse back up for the #1 spot than Charlie Crist. (In fact, the country HAS had a much, much worse one for the last eight years.)

    What this says to me is that McCain is pretty much abandoning the hard right base and taking a big gamble that his moderate, maverick facade will hold up through November. A McCain/Crist campaign will appeal pretty well to moderates and undecideds… but unless I’m completely misunderstanding the standard formula for success in a national election, McCain will be making a grievous error writing off the conservative hard corps. Yeah, you need to get the moderates and undecideds, but first, you have to secure your base. McCain hasn’t done that yet, but, what the hell, maybe he figures no matter how hard he panders, he really can’t get those guys on board with him… and if he somehow manages to, then he’s going to lose the moderates he needs, anyway. So screw ’em.

    This is a big gamble on McCain’s part — he’s betting not only that he can take enough moderates and undecideds to make up for the crazy righties he’s going to lose, but he’s also wagering that the press stays reliably in his corner through summer and autumn. I don’t know if he can count on that; we’re already seeing signs that more and more of the MSM is looking at him harder and harder. If that continues and the word starts to get out that McCain really isn’t the moderate Straight Talker he’s been packaged as, all bets are well and truly off.

    Crist’s history going up against corporate interests makes him kinda the anti-Romney, too. I’ve long said that if McCain picks Romney as a running mate, it will be an undeniable indication that he’s managed to worm back into the good graces of Big Money. If, on the other hand, he picks Crist, that’s a pretty indisputable indication the other way… and confirmation of something else I’ve long suspected: that Big Money gave up on the Repubs when McCain clinched the nomination (they despise him since he managed to get even ineffectual campaign finance reform passed), and started to buy stock in the Family Clinton even more heavily than they already had up to that point.

    I am genuinely coming to believe that Obama’s successful candidacy came as a HUGE shock to the Powers That Be, that the Masters of the Universe are stunned and scrambling and afraid, and honest to God, if I had no other reason in the world to want to see the man win the election (which I do), that one would be plenty for me.

  • The critical issue here is the difference between two definitions; McPhony’s idea of a “solid conservative” and WingNuttia’s idea of a “solid conservative.” I mean, come on—some of these “phundie phreaks” would vote for the devil himself in a heartbeat, just on the promise that he’ll support a Constitutional amendment to “throw all the gays into his eternal pit of fire and brimstone.”

    Which should give you an idea about just how “Christian” those so-called “kkkriss-chuns” really are….

  • OK, I know this is childish and also that I’m probably mispronouncing Charlie Crist’s name incorrectly. But for some reason I hear his name in my head as ‘Christ’ (as in Jesus Christ). Read like that, the article became very silly and ironic, especially when the Family Research Council is quoted as saying ‘We have problems with Governor C[h]rist’.

    And now back to your regularly scheduled replies…

  • There is already a story posted on youtube showing his ex-boyfriend and some 21 year old GQ type he had a fling with.

    I’d love to hear McCain when he explains why Christ won’t be his choice for running mate, “My friends, I thought Gov. Christ was batting for the right team. I was mistaken.”

  • “Conservatives in Florida prefer his predecessor, Jeb Bush..”

    If McCain would listen to conservatives in Florida, I would die a happy Democrat…

  • In addition, when the whole Terri Schiavo controversy exploded in Florida, Crist DID NOT side with pro-family groups who wanted him to take a more active role. He stayed on the sidelines.

    It boggles my mind that even after an autopsy showed that Terri Schiavo really was a vegetable, “pro-family” social conservatives still think she should have been kept alive by machines. Ugh.

  • Color me unimpressed…how many times are we going to hear a story about how evangelicals and hardline conservatives being “wary” of McCain, only to wind up supporting him anyway? These groups give their little purity tests and get some time in the media to complain, but when push comes to shove they will fall in line like they always do.

  • Please Pick Jeb.

    But on the other hand does this mean that McCain maybe considering picking ol’ Huck, if it will keep a good deal of the crazies quiet?

  • As a resident of Florida, I can tell you there is no way Charlie Crist is tapped as McCain’s Veep. Its an open secret in Tallahassee that he is gay. One could only imagine the type of media coverage this could generate. I don’t think the religious right would buy into a single Veep, let alone a potentially gay Veep. And I dont think a tape of him “making out” with a women would do much to help his cause.

  • If he picks pHuck he risks the wrath of the Illegal Aliens R the Root of All Evil types. And please recall how they freaked out when pHuck won a couple of states. They won’t be happy with anything less than Mitt who will of course piss off all the Ewww! Mormons! folks.

    Yea verily, the GOP with its sack caught in that stick it cleaved is a wondorous thing.

  • The problem is that no one who will satisfy social conservatives will be remotely acceptable for the vast majority of America. McCain is screwed on this one. He loses one or the other.

    Everyone in FL knows Crist is gay.

  • I’ll second what Gary said @2 – video of him “making out with” another man’s wife makes him more acceptable to the far right? WTF?

  • Actually Charlie Crist was the one I feared most as a VP pick for McCain because I liked a lot of his attitudes and actions since he became governor of Florida. The gay thing will no doubt guarantee he won’t get the nod for the Republican ticket but I hear Obama is still looking and I would much prefer Crist to Chuck Hagel or some other useless baggage like that.

    Wouldn’t that be a hoot if it did happen, though? That would be a real snort-milk-out-your-nose moment, I kid you not. 🙂

  • Gay or not, if Crist became the old guy’s vp and entered the national arena, he would never be able to convince the Right Wingnuttia that he was NOT gay.This concept is more cut and dried than the well-accepted fact that Obama is a Muslim.

  • I say all this with the caveat that I’m responding to a report from Politico, which to me is nothing other than a right-wing sounding board. I take everything that comes from them with a healthy degree of skepticism.

    That being said, I agree with Doc Nebula. Romney was Corporate America’s choice, but was a dud with rest of the GOP base (that base consisting of the Religious Right/social conservatives, Corporate America/fiscal conservatives, and Military Support/foreign policy conservatives).

    If Crist isn’t the religious right’s choice – and I don’t know his foreign policy experience or if he’s ever served in the military – then I have to wonder:

    What does he bring to the campaign table to help McCain?

  • I pointed out, both here and in a guest post at Mark Kleiman’s blog, that this was part of McCain’s totally awful day with the RRs. First he dumps Hagee and Parsley, then he appears on ELLEN, then he announces his first three interviews for VP.

    Okay, Crist is gay. (He’d also be the only person mentioned anywhere in the Republican Party who might not be a total horror.) Even if McCain rejects him, a lot of RRs are going to know he was even willing to consider having a ‘sodomite’ a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

    And we know there are a substantial number of RRs who reject Romney because of his Mormonism.

    Wait till they find out about Jindal — and his published belief as an extreme Roman Catholic in the idea that ‘outside the Church there is no salvation.’ It isn’t as insulting to protestants as were Hagee’s statements to Catholics — quite.

    I hate to give him even this much credit, but McCain’s utter cluelessness about the Religious Right is almost charming.

  • Prior to Dubya’s approval ratings tanking so badly and, apparently, permanently, every knowledgable pundit out there was calling for a Jeb Bush presidency in ’08. It’s comforting to see that Dubya’s failures are ruining the dynastic aspirations of that entire worthless, wretched, wicked clan.

    Having said that, though, I have to wonder — exactly when was it that things got so out of control for The Powers That Be (said pantheon which the Bush family figures prominently in)? Poppy ain’t dumb enough to have believed the neocon bullshit about how easy the liberation of Iraq was going to be, and it’s Dubya’s failure to deliver a big win in Iraq (and to keep a lid on just how badly Our Boys have behaved over there, too) that has brought him and his entire family low. Why didn’t Poppy anticipate this? He should have. And I know Dubya wasn’t making the decisions.

    Did Cheney just go totally off the reservation? Maybe he’s just not as smart as we’ve always thought. In which case, I’ll be amazed if he survives long into the next Administration… in fact, if Cheney really did ignore Poppy and other, ‘wiser’ heads on this whole Iraq mess, I’m surprised no one has put a bullet in his ear to date.

    Hmmm. It may not be just the visible Republican Party that’s in tatters. I have a feeling the faction fight to end all faction fights has been going on behind the scenes for the last six years or so, too.

  • He’s single?

    So who’s hand was he holding when he was leaving the McCain get together in that silly photo-op ?

  • RE: 25:

    You know a couple of years back a Jeb Bush campaign was what I feared most. This was prior to Hurricane Katrina, I though no one could be so incompetent and get re-installed back into office – but somehow George W. Bush did.

    I think Hurricane Katrina was what (finally) woke a lot of people up to how truly messed up the Bush Administration really was. Frankly I was convinced by their failures to protect this country on 9/11, but for some it took a lot longer.

    It goes to the heart of what someone here mentioned – these right-wingers are great at campaigning because it’s all about controlling debate by manipulating data (aka propoganda). They sow enough misinformation to create either doubt in the undecided, or tune out the disinterested. This is how they end up winning – they certainly don’t win based on issues, or numbers in their base. It’s all about causing enough uncertainty to make things close enough to be fixed in their favor.

    The problem is, these same right-wingers simply do not know how to run government. Government as designed by the Constitution, was set up for people, not lobbyists, corporations, PACs, or even specific segments of society be it based on religion, wealth, skin color, gender, or otherwise.

    That is I think government, law, and process runs contrary to how the right’s base functions.

    It’s been that ever since Goldwater, certainly that way for the last 40 years – going back to Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr, and now Bush Jr.

    Cheney I believe was a closeted neo-con – I think he always has been. But Bush Snr was able to keep him in line when he was President. But Snr largely stayed away from the neo-con coalition (I suspect much had to do with Rumself and Bush tangling back in the Ford Administration, and Cheney being Rumsfeld’s Lt.). Add to that a purely politcal operative (Rove) and a largely disconnected candidate (Jnr, who’s looking to come out from under Snr’s shadow) and you have the makings of everything that’s been destroying this country for the last 8 years.

    Rove’s success was in being able to blend a base of the three right-wing groups; his failure was largely because these groups cannot run government effectively.

    I sincerely expect that someone (Bush Snr) told Jeb to not run now; let the country elect a Democratic candidate and let the right wing civil wars end. When it’s all done, they will likely rally to Jeb in 2012.

  • Like they are the only ones with family values or “pro-family”. All those dems with families are just hallucinating. Are there any groups called the “sane voters”? Where do these people get off thinking they are the only ones to define “family values” as if no one else has any. How about “intolerant family values” crowd or “unloving family values”.

    Hating gays and women’s rights to choose don’t fit in with family values. Family values brought to you by Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh. Dick Cheney don’t ask don’t broadcast gay family values voters. Are we getting close? 3 people with a loudspeaker out scream 20 people without. McCain will lose either way but he , like all of us, should not give weight to the minority of these intolerant hypocrites.

  • Crist is gay according to rumors but McSame has a problem. He promised Crist the VP position in order to get his support in the primary election. Interesting just wait and see! I believe Crist will be the first gay VP.

  • like any good patriotic homo, i’m willing to tap that and be video taped doing it. yes it would be humiliating, but think of the good that could come of it. Think how different the world would be if the whole monica thing never happened. Gore would not have run away from Clinton, we would not have had an idiotic worthless war, we would be close to energy independence, the budget would be balanced, and we would be making real progress on global climate change. It’s amazing how one sex act can effect the course of history.

    Since he’s a republican, i’m assuming he has a thing for twinks. i think i can do my patriotic duty. The majority of the country may not be willing to vote for a homo, but that doesn’t mean we can’t effect the out come.

    🙂

  • On further reflection, if Crist is gay it would be awesome to have him living at the USNO. And if the first (known) gay VP was a Republican we could cancel Christmas for the next four years.

    Plus it would be hilarious to watch McCaniac try to explain how gays and lesbians in the military = INTOLERABLE RISK (of tolerance)! but allowing a gay man to be second in line for CiC is A-OK.

  • Crist was fas wiser than Jeb Bush in that regard.

    Even though he bent over backward in sympathy for her family, Jeb Bush is still villified by them and their supporters for not declaring martial law in order to keep her on the feeding tube after the family exhausted their final appeals.

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