NPA Crist seesaws on ObamaCare and gets Democrat endorsements

Could politics in Florida get more bizarre? Gov. Charlie Crist just got two endorsements from two Democrat legislators. The Palm Beach Post said, “State Sen.-elect Maria Sachs, Delray Beach, and State Rep. Darryl Rouson, District 55, based in St. Petersburg, praised Crist at the South County Civic Center before a crowd of about 100 voters who braved the rain to snack on bagels and meet the Republican-turned-Independent.”

Aside from a phantom knife in Rep. Kendrick Meek’s back, what’s wrong with that sentence from the newspaper? Crist is not an independent, technically. He should be tagged ‘NPA’ for “No Party Affiliation.” Why is that?

Jerry Holland, supervisor of elections in Duval County explained in the August Newsletter: “Several candidates have also qualified to bypass the Primary and will go directly to the November 2nd ballot, including Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who announced he would run with, ‘No Party Affiliation’ (NPA). You may have heard that Crist is running as an, ‘Independent.’ While he is not running in either of the two traditional parties, (Republican or Democrat) it is important to note that there are 42 other minority parties registered in Florida, including three that begin with, or contain the term, ‘Independent.’ Governor Crist and 5 other ‘NPA’ candidates are technically not Independent. They are running as individuals with no affiliation to any of the 44 registered parties in Florida.”

Aside from being misidentified by media and by himself, Crist continues to seesaw on Obamacare. In a recent campaign statement, GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio called attention to more than six different positions on the Democrat Healthcare bill rammed through the back door via reconciliation. One day Crist likes the bill, the next he wants to reform the bill and before you can say Charlie, he’s calling for repeal.

The US Report predicted Crist would find his inner Democrat. After Rubio bested the governor in a March debate on Fox News, we felt increasingly certain Crist would jump from the GOP ship. Once his cronies were gone, we felt totally certain. The House of Greer is no more.

Politics in Florida have long played out like the plot in a Fellini film. Crist’s endorsements by Democrats and his seesaw positions on ObamaCare suggest the Crist narrative will grow stranger and stranger as November draws near.

Meanwhile, tell your daily paper about the NPA tag. They're labeling Crist inappropriately as an independent in more ways than one. It seems to me he's not only NPA, the real Charlie Crist is MIA.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Aug. 30, 2010)