Daily Loaf

For Sunday morning political news junkies, there are a myriad of national programs to view before getting to local programming — that being Political Connections, a Bay News 9/St. Petersburg Times joint effort.

Yesterday’s appearance by Governor Charlie Crist, now more under fire than at any other time in his tenure , was one of the more interesting shows in a long time.

Crist has been blasted significantly in the past week for his baffling comment to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer   last week about the federal stimulus bill, saying, “I didn’t endorse it — you know, I didn’t even have a vote on the darned thing. But I understood that it was going to pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians.”

That comment has been ranked as a flat-out fib  by organizations such as PolitiFact.

Yesterday on Political Connections, co-host Adam Smith asked the governor what he was thinking when he made his remark to Wolf Blitzer last week?.

He didn’t answer the question directly, but instead pivoted to his response on why he thought backing the stimulus and accepting the federal funds “was the right thing to do.  I had a duty as the CEO of the state to do whatever’s possiible to try to help the economy.”

In his zeal to step away literally from the president, Crist told reporters two weeks ago that he had no idea that Obama was in Florida, leading to more ridicule.

Although much has been written and reported on the rise of Marco Rubio in his race against Crist in the GOP Senate Primary taking place late next summer, the fact of the matter is that Crist still leads Rubio by 15%, according to a recent poll taken by Quinnipiac University.

Seemingly as equally problematic with conservatives for Crist was his (literal) embrace of President Obama back in February in Lee County, a problem that Crist admitted to yesterday, but when asked if he regretted it, said no.

“No, I don’t(regret it).  I was raised to be decent, kind and civil.”

The Guv said he thought it was unusual and unwarranted to become such a punching bag for conservatives,  and blamed the faltering economy for some of the animus, saying, “I have a theory ….these are the most challenging econommic times that we’ve faced the great depression….sometimes there’s a desire to blame someone.”

Meanwhile, the Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus held an event on Friday night in Tampa, where Kendrick Meek was featured as the guest speaker.  But the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate had to stay in D.C. for the historic vote in the House on health care on Saturday.

Meek is featured today in Politico in an article titled, “Kendrick Meek is moving to the center.”

However, Meek denies the thesis of the piece, though it’s apparent and necessary for the Congressman to pivot on some issues as he tries to make himself a viable statewide choice in the Senate next year.

I interviewed Meek live on WMNF radio two weeks ago, asking him about his withdrawal of support for a single-payer health care bill.  He admitted he didn’t think it had any chance of going anywhere.  He was right about that.  But he’s been a passionate enthusiast for the health care bill overall, which will certainly be an issue if he’s the nominee facing either Crist or Rubio next year.

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