October 13, 2010
Meek Not Mild: Crist a 'Flip-Flopper'
Kevin Mark Kline READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The official response to Charlie Crist's sudden appreciation for some but not all gay rights from the Kendrick Meek campaign has so far been, "Charlie Crist has flip-flopped once again on gay issues". In fact, it's become rhetorical and now Meek (D) is pointing out that Crist (I) may not have changed his positions at all on subjects like gay adoption.
"Today, the governor proved he still feels the same way about equality for Florida's gay and lesbians -- he still stands with conservatives firmly against it," says Meek. He's referring to video footage on YouTube of a flustered Charlie Crist telling reporters that he only changed his opinion on the adoption ban because of a reason court ruling that called it unconstitutional.
"You also said you favor the gay adoption ban [as Governor] and now you don't?" asked a reporter in the video.
"Yeah, well, it was a law on the books, I didn't say I liked it, only that I would enforce it" said Crist who went on to say that he had only defended the law because it was his "sworn duty as Governor". Apparently realizing the dishonesty in that statement, he added that he was a "former Attorney General" as well.
"You said that children do best in a home with a mother and a father," reminded another reporter, "Has that [opinion] changed?"
"No... I think what has changed is that now we have a court ruling that the law is unconstitutional," Crist responded, "That's what has changed... and I respect the law."
"The problem is that Crist sat in the same chair in February, after a Florida court had already ruled the law unconstitutional," says a response email from the Meek campaign, "praising the law and believing that children do best in a home with a mother and a father. And he stuck by that claim today."
As a Senator, Charlie Crist will have no sworn duty to defend any laws. His decisions will be based on his own conscience, so his recent three-fold flip on gay adoption could lead voters to question his sincerity and how placing him in the Senate could affect American legislation.
