Charlie Crist vs. Taxpayers

Today, Rasmussen came out with new poll results showing Marco Rubio back on top of our Oompa Loompa Governor in the Senate race:

Rubio 36%

Crist 34%

Meek 15%

Undecided 14%

(margin of error +/- 4.5%)

A month ago, Marco and the Orange One were tied at 37%.  

So how does Charlie react to the news that his pandering to the media,  Democrats and their trial lawyer buddies isn't delivering the poll results he wants?

With more pandering, of course!

Crist announced today that he was calling a special session of the Legislature next week for the purpose of putting together a constitutional amendment to ban oil drilling, to go on the November ballot.  

In the immediate aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, Crist had made several statements to the press about possibly calling a special session, but I don't recall him saying a peep about it for about a month or so.  The timing of this announcement today right after the release of the Rasmussen poll just stinks of political opportunism at its worst.  

Calling a special session is a big deal.  It's expensive, tens of thousands of dollars a day, and requires thousands of Legislators and their staffs to interrupt their lives and jobs (remember, we pay our legislators the equivalent of less than minimum wages, so unless they have a trust fund, they all have separate private sector jobs).  The late notice only adds to the expense and inconvenience.  Charlie, if you were so dedicated to the idea of a constitutional ban on oil drilling, why did you wait until now, and why did you give so little notice?

Predictably, the only support Charlie is getting for this special session is coming from some Democrats.  Does anyone really honestly think he won't caucus with the Ds if he manages to get elected?  Come on now.  If Charlie gets any more transparent, the SaranWrap people will sue him for patent infringement.

Oh, I almost forgot!   The best part of this whole debacle!  

Oil drilling is already illegal in Florida state waters!  

That's right, we already have a state statute with an absolute ban on the practice (Note that Florida, naturally, can only ban drilling in our state waters.  The Gulf oil spill was beyond that boundary and there was nothing Florida could have done to prevent it.)  

There is absolutely, positively no need for this special session.  It is not necessary and there is NO emergency.  If a constitutional amendment is really a grand idea, there is no reason that the Legislature can't wait to address it in the next regular session.  (But, of course, that won't help Charlie's poll numbers, will it?)

Charlie's words on Studio B with Shepard Smith earlier today were pretty revealing:

You're right, it's already in statute, but any Legislature could come on and subsequent years, maybe be a little bit forgetful about what's happening right now this year out in the Gulf of Mexico, and change their mind.  But if you give the people the opportunity to embed it in the Constitution that they cherish, that can't happen.

Give me a flippin' break.  No one is going to be able to be "a little bit forgetful" about this oil spill, because unfortunately it seems that we are going to be dealing with this environmental catastrophe for years, if not decades, to come.  And regarding any Legislator who might want to overturn the ban, well, I think that the millions of Floridians who live along the coast, have family and friends who live along the coast, who like to vacation on the coast, oh wait, that's pretty much the entire population of Florida now...yeah, anyway, I think Floridians can remember what they think about oil drilling.

I don't have time to get into detail about the whole oil drilling debate, but the ironic thing is that Florida's oil drilling ban has no impact whatsoever on preventing disasters like what's going on in the Gulf right now.  If the BP oil rig explosion had happened right off the coast, it would have been plugged within hours, or a few days at the most.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it's exponentially harder to plug a hole that is in turbulent deep waters like the BP spill.

So, to summarize, Charlie is losing in the polls again, so he is calling a special session with almost no notice, to outlaw something that is already illegal, and actually won't help solve the problem anyway. 

Anyone who is still considering voting for Charlie Crist oughta get smacked in the head.