Saturday, October 30, 2010

An Election Weekend Special Edition

“It’s time for a center right party that is truly fiscally conservative, truly believes in limited government and is truly socially liberal. A party that is interested in reaching the Center as much as it is in reaching the Right.”
Anyone who reads this blog from time to time knows that I don’t lack for opinions. Or as my third grade teacher put it to me, “you have an answer for everything”. I thought that was the idea.

However, this weekend I am stumped on one big issue. So, I am posting this a bit off schedule. Why? Because I need your answers to a question to inform me before I go to the polls.

By way of background, I should tell you that most of my friends and colleagues are Republicans. I am a businessman and that’s who I hang around with. So, over these last few weeks, I have asked many of them this question:

The pollsters have been telling us that the nation’s voters are center-right. Specifically, they are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. So, why is it that Tea Party, right wing conservative Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, is leading independent, fiscally conservative, socially liberal, Charlie Crist, in the polls in one of the biggest swing states in the country?

Most of the answers I get are incomprehensible. Not that I don’t understand what the responder is saying. Just that the responses make no sense.

Got a clue? If so, I want to hear from you. Please scan down to Comments to leave your reply.

And, no matter what you think, please vote on Tuesday, November 2.

7 comments:

  1. Two main issues impact the situation you ask about:
    1. We have a two-party system, and independents rarely make it, especially converted independents.
    2. Charlie alienated everyone but teachers when he overruled the legislation on that matter.

    I think we need more than two, probably five really viable political parties, so there is more of a spectrum of potential candidate to choose from, instead of the typical evil of two lessers.

    BG

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  2. Because Charlie Crist is not perceived as a leading independent, fiscally conservative, social liberal. He is perceived as an Obama supporter and this election is all about rejecting Obama's agenda. See Krauthammer for example : http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/opinion-this-is-a-big-election-about-obama-s-big-plans-1.2412477

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  3. 1. he is too much of a flip flopper. No one believes THAT many changes come from the heart -- only from a political opportunist.

    2.he sucked up to Obama too much. Also, the stimulus money has done nothing for Florida.

    3.He is on the unpopular side of the immigration debate, as the vast majority of Americans favor the AZ law.

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  4. I don't live in Florida, but it seems like the people who are energerized about this election are those opposed to the current administration's policies (e.g. Obamacare, stimulus, etc.). Rubio has successfully portrayed himself as the anti-Obama candidate; while Crist is the "establishment" candidate. Most people like the idea of balanced budgets and lower taxes, but how will Floridian's "swing" if the government raises the SS retirement age and cuts Medicare spending?

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  5. Charlie Crist is an opportunist. He will do what is expedient for Charlie.
    I voted for Rubio even though he is too far right to match my profile...center right. Meek was not a choice, and Crist is not dependable.
    I do agree with one of your earlier respondents that the two party system does not provide enough of a choice. It seems, on both sides, that it is always about pandering to the extremists.

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  6. Charlie Crist is like a wind sock ........ he is pointing whatever way the wind blows. He NOW says he is fiscally conservative and social liberal, where just a few months ago he was touting himself as the only true conservative. Crist has more positions than the Kama Sutra but the end result is still the same. He will screw you in the end ...... Marco will tell you where he stands and what he believes in today and it will be same a year from now. I think its impossible for any one candidate to hit all of your hot buttons, but I can appreciate a candidate that believes in most of the things I believe in and I know that his moral compass does not wavier. Meeks is so Liberal he doesn't even come onto my radar.

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  7. Well, we know how people on the right feel. Any voices from the left? Middle??

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