“Very disturbing behavior”

Jim Martin: The only question for Charlie Crist is, were you lying then, or lying now? Given Charlie’s long history of political opportunism, the answer is both.

(Alexandria, VA) – Florida Democrats nominated party-switching, political opportunist Charlie Crist as their nominee for governor on Tuesday, despite the fact Crist had previously won statewide office three times as a Republican, including the office of governor. Democrats settling on the recycled Crist underscores the weakness of a state party unable to field a viable candidate committed to their party platform beyond the last election cycle.

Crist confirmed his duplicity during his victory celebration, stating:

“Frankly, I think I was on [the Democrat] side when I was in the other party,” he said as he prepared a victory speech. He said a friend once told him, “Charlie, you’ve been a Democrat your whole life, you just didn’t know it.’ Well, now I know it.”

This brought a response from 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors organization with over 7.2 million senior supporters, including 786,000 in Florida. Said Martin:

“This is very disturbing behavior. Nobody in Florida truly knows who Charlie Crist is or what he believes, and apparently that also includes Charlie Crist. It is nothing short of a public embarrassment that a man who sought the public trust and served in office as a Republican for three terms now claims that he was really a Democrat all along. And now he asks for the public trust to serve as governor again?

“Charlie Crist sheds his skin faster than any reptile. He went from Republican, to Independent, to Democrat in fewer than three years. His willingness to completely abandon all of his previously held positions just for a chance to get back in the governor’s mansion tells Florida voters everything they need to know about why not to vote for this man.

“Seniors especially are frightened of Charlie Crist back in power, as a man who once opposed Obamacare and all its cuts to Medicare, to Charlie Crist 3.0 who is now down on one knee proposing to it. This is very disturbing behavior and further proof of why we call Charlie Crist a ‘clear and present danger’ to seniors.”

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