Crist feeling the "empty chair" heat?

Maybe the Florida Democratic party's attacks on "empty chair Charlie" Crist devoting too much time to John McCain and not enough to Florida are having an effect. The day after the Democrats' noted Crist's sparse schedule today (ANOTHER DAY OFF! Empty Chair Charlie Skips Out on Florida AGAIN"), while Crist is campaigning with McCain in south Florida, Buzz sees that the governor's office has added more stuff to the governor's official schedule (interviews in West Palm and work and call time in the afternoon).

McCain was asked about Crist and the vice presidential speculation. AP:"You know, obviously, we have just begun that process, and we, in fact, have not even outlined how we’re going to go about this," McCain said at a news conference after he and Crist shook hands with people at a local diner. "We’re looking at how the process was conducted by other candidates and nominees of their party.

"But I know one thing about Governor Crist," he added. "And that is that he is a great governor. He does a great job. And I think that ... there are many ways for him to serve the country."

Comments

[Disgusted Republican]

"He does a great job" - really?? What has he accomplished besides photo ops and pandering to the left.
The man's only job/goal is elevate himself to a higher office by being a populist governor. He has no polices of his own and certainly has no backbone.
What a waste.

[Completely Disgusted Republican as well]

So tell us John, what exactly has he done so well that you know of? Because the rest of us out here can give you a rather large laundry list of things he hasn't done or screwed up. Let's hope that you were just being polite and that you are using him right now and that's it.

"there are many ways for him to serve the country."

for example, not as the vp!

[Completely Disgusted, but Cynical Republican]

McCain: please reward the citizens of Florida for your nomination by making Cristi your VP candidate. We will thank you forever if you get that man? out of our state.

P.S. I'll even pay for CC's quickie wedding to Carole Rome, if that will make him a more acceptable candidate.

[terminator]

If Mac thinks Chuck has done a great job here in Florida he must not know whats going on down here and therefore won't get my vote.
If it's going to be the Mac n tuna ticket think I'll sit this one out!

I think McCain was just being polite because he was put on the spot. Face it, with the major mess the democrats are making of their whole process right now, McCain has a good chance of winning. Unless he makes a major screw up in choosing a vp. National spotlight on Charlie is not what ANYONE wants. Remember his interview with Wolfe Blitzer??? McCain is playing nice like Charlie did with Rudy. Turnabout is fairplay old Charlie boy and you're about to get yours....

The more CC's chair is empty the better. The last time he has to come up with plans to make things drop like a rock, the better!

"But I know one thing about Governor Crist," he added. "And that is that he is a great governor. He does a great job. And I think that ... there are many ways for him to serve the country."

Clearly, senility has set in on Lil’ Johnny Napoleon. He doesn’t even realize that Chuck has been on his bus for months… AND NOT IN FLORIDA DOING THE JOB WE ELECTED AND PAY HIM TO DO!

I will not vote for a President who chooses as his VP, a person who knows not where his office is, thinks the economy is hunky-dory, and pimps $240 as a job well done.

McAmnesty/McFraud ’08 … I think NOT!

[IJArne]

Does Charlie even have an office with a chair? Campaining for McCain and interferring in the FL Dems votes. And what's this I hear now? A girlfriend??? Wow, he'll do anything to get that VP job! I guess McCain saw how Charlie 'sold' that terrible property tax break to the suckers who voted it in. He can sell anything. I guess the Rep. are banking on him to help 'sell' McCain!

[A Blue Voter]

2:44 Yeah, with two good candidates to choose from, it is quite a mess for the DEMs. To bad political realities quickly forced you GOPers to consolidate on a candidate that most of you admittedly couldn't stand. Heads we win, tails you lose. I like those odds for the USA.

SOMEONE PLEASE FIND US A GOVERNOR!

RECALL “THE PEOPLE’S MISTAKE”!

Love,

The people of Florida what made the mistake!

To, RPOF Staff
From Chairman Greer

Please issue a Press Statement that the Governor is Great and the Best Governor in the Nation. Also find out who has said anything bad about our Governor, GET ME THERE NAMES NOW!!! also would somebody please get me my HAMMER.

[Joe]

Christ has been a huge dissapointment and I'm sorry I ever voted for him. If McCain makes Christ his running mate I will certainly vote for the other candidate. Christ has simply shown up to take credit when things go his way and ducks from afar when they don't. How much longer are we stuck with him???

Joe,

You might want to at least learn how to spell his name before you take shots at him.

Joe is stating what Charlie thinks of himself. If that's the only thing you can find to slam on here, give it up.

[Omega83]

I saw CC on CNN and Fox this morning.

Deer in the headlights came to mind.

I also took a sip of coffee every time he said "People's"

the jitters did not stop until an hour ago.

What a twitch! The guy has more tics than anybody I've seen lately.

When does CC work? I want my property taxes and insurance lowered! How can McCain even consider him when he can't keep his campaign promises. He has done NOTHING for the "people" of Florida.

People's Governor = People's Mistake!

To Chairman Greer
From RPOF Staff

Sir, per your orders we have found that the following people have said negative things about Governor Crist and you behind your backs.
Arlene,Arlene,Arlene
Awaiting your direction Sir.

"And that is that he is a great governor. He does a great job. And I think that ... there are many ways for him to serve the country."
>>>>>>>>>

THIS MEANS THANKS CHARLIE BUT YOU WILL NOT BE MY V.P. RUNNING MATE.

[Bella]

I don't think it would be wise for McCain to choose CC. I think the media has really encouraged this idea in order to point out to Floridians that CC really has lost focused on why people voted for him in the first place. If I were McCain I would choose someone based on race and or gender. It is obvious that the public (especially on the D side) is open to the idea of something more than 2 White Men.

Why would the empty chair bother him more than the empty suit? Besides, if he leaves the state anymore, Rubio will take over as the Chief Panderer of Florida.

[anton]

i cant beleive how many near sighted people respond to blogs of the St. Pete times.
1. property tax amendment- give the people their money and let them do with it as they wish
2. everglades funding- finally a republican who realizes their is an environment and its important
3. mandatory phys ed in schools- no more fat brats
4. finally- CC is the only reason why mccain ousted romney in florida

not to mention he has the best tan in the business

[anton]

i cant beleive how many near sighted people respond to blogs of the St. Pete times.
1. property tax amendment- give the people their money and let them do with it as they wish
2. everglades funding- finally a republican who realizes their is an environment and its important
3. mandatory phys ed in schools- no more fat brats
4. finally- CC is the only reason why mccain ousted romney in florida

not to mention he has the best tan in the business

seriously anton - whose being nearsighted?!

property taxes pay for long term infrastructure and debt service

the feds have a role in Glades funding. the presusre needs to be put on DC, not as much the Florida budget

know what the root of "mandatory" is? mandate. know what you need for "mandatory" phys ed? money...know what #1 does? restricts money

I am thankful for 4, but romney was dead man walking sooner or later.

[Everyday Floridain]

RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL! RECALL!

Will Charlie be filing income tax to other states in which he is working for McCain?

[GW]

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. FLA Dems votes don't count and because they have no pull nationally they have to have a "do over". It's 2000 all over again, Dems couldn't get it right then either. It's a good thing to have the Gov on the national stage. He makes FLA look good but that what we expect from a Republican, leadership!

oh i love it - when republicans call him "empty chair" he says "screw 'em" and continues doing what he wants - but when his constituents at the FDP call him that then crist is busy filling up his calendar for them - oh puke

Have any of you figured out that the character that played "Pa" in those Jim Davis empty chair commercials was actually Jeb Bush? Think about it for a second.

[McCain give Defense contract to France and not USA. Boo on him.]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Angry Boeing supporters are vowing revenge against Republican presidential candidate John McCain over Chicago-based Boeing's loss of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the parent company of European plane maker Airbus.
There are other targets for their ire—the Air Force, the defense secretary and even the entire Bush administration.

But Boeing supporters in Congress are directing their wrath at McCain, the Arizona senator and nominee in waiting, for scuttling an earlier deal that would have let Boeing build the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers. Boeing now will miss out on a deal that it says would have supported 44,000 new and existing jobs at the company and suppliers in 40 states.

"I hope the voters of this state remember what John McCain has done to them and their jobs," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., whose state would have been home to the tanker program and gained about 9,000 jobs.

"Having made sure that Iraq gets new schools, roads, bridges and dams that we deny America, now we are making sure that France gets the jobs that Americans used to have," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. "We are sending the jobs overseas, all because John McCain demanded it."

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and its U.S. partner, Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, won a competition with Boeing Feb. 29 to build the refueling planes in one of the biggest Pentagon contracts in decades. The unexpected decision has sparked outrage from union halls to the halls of Congress over the impact on U.S. jobs, prestige and national security. EADS and Northrop say about 60 percent of their tanker will be built in the U.S.

McCain said he is keeping an open mind on the contract, but in the past he has boasted about his role in blocking an earlier version of the tanker deal that gave the contract to Boeing. The deal was killed in 2004 after a former Boeing executive improperly recruited an Air Force official while she was still overseeing contracts involving prospective Boeing deals. The former Air Force official, Darleen Druyun, and a top Boeing executive both served time in prison, and the scandal led to the departure of Boeing's chief executive and several top Air Force officials.

McCain has run ads touting his role in fighting "pork" such as the tanker project and cited the deal in a recent GOP debate.

"I saved the taxpayers $6 billion in a bogus tanker deal," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoing the thoughts of many congressional Democrats, sees McCain's role in a less positive light. She said the earlier tanker deal was "on course for Boeing" before McCain started railing against it.

"I mean, the thought was that it would be a domestic supplier for it," Pelosi told reporters. "Senator McCain intervened, and now we have a situation where the contract may be—this work may be outsourced."

Even Boeing's Republican supporters are critical of McCain.

"John McCain will be the nominee and I will support him, but if John McCain believes that Airbus or EADS is the company for our Air Force tanker program he's flat-out wrong—and I'll tell him that to his face," said Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican whose district includes a Boeing plant that could have gained hundreds of new jobs from the tanker program, said McCain's role in killing the earlier deal is likely to become an election issue. Both of the leading Democratic candidates for president, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have criticized the Air Force decision.

"I think we absolutely will hear more about it," Tiahrt said. "We'll hear it mostly from the Democrats and they have every right to be concerned."

McCain called such criticism off base.

"In all due respect to the Washington delegation, they vigorously defended the process before—which turned out to be corrupt—which would have cost the taxpayers more than $6 billion and ended up with people in federal prison," he said. "I'm the one that fought against that ... for years and brought down a corrupt contract."

Keith Ashdown, with the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Boeing executives who broke the law were to blame for the demise of the tanker contract—not McCain.

"This was theirs from day one," he said. "This idea that any lawmaker is to blame is a joke."

Still, Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University, said McCain's opposition to Boeing could hurt him with voters in Washington and other states affected by the tanker program. Boeing would have performed much of the work in Everett, Wash., and Wichita, Kan., and used Pratt & Whitney engines built in Connecticut. Significant work also was slated for Texas.

"If he can be painted as somehow being associated with job losses ... it could hurt him on the margins," Donovan said.

McCain's role in the tanker deal did not bother Alabama politicians, including Republican Gov. Bob Riley, who endorsed McCain three days after the Air Force contract was announced. The EADS-Northrop tanker, based on the Airbus A330, will be built in Mobile, Ala., where it will produce 2,000 new jobs, and support 25,000 jobs at suppliers nationwide.

[rivendellknight]

Re: McCain give defense....:

Holy crap dude your Blog is longer than the article to start the blog. Are you going to use this as writing protfolio for future reporter applications. Get over yourself!

Heres to hoping McCain picks somebody other than Crist.

McCain/Lieberman (He'll keep him straight when he misques and he might attract some Dems)