Coming on Sunday from the New York Times: Charlie Crist's Personal Life
With Florida Governor Charlie Crist now being seriously floated as a VP candidate for John McCain, all those old rumors that the longtime bachelor may be gay have gained new currency -- along with reports about Crist dating several women. For this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Deborah Solomon coyly sort of raises that issue at the very end.
Solomon kicks it off by stating, "Your personal life is not that of a typical Republican candidate. For starters, I hear you're"-- wait for it -- "not a property owner." Crist replies, "It is true. I do not own property."
Solomon then moves on to, "You were married nearly 30 years ago, but the marriage lasted less than a year. Do you prefer"-- wait for it -- "living alone?" Crist: "I got married and divorced because it didn't work out. I haven't found the right one since." Of course, the use of the word "one" will be parsed for days.
"You can't find one woman in all of Florida?" Solomon helpfully asks.
Crist: "Maybe I have. Stay tuned."
Before all that, Crist claims than when people say he will be remembered as much for his tan as for his accomplishments, he says, "that's very flattering," hastening to add that he does not use self-tanning lotion, "it's the sun" -- and his Greek heritage. Crist also calls liberal Florida Rep. Robert Wexler "great," for pushing bill that gives Florida voters a paper trail.
<em>Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq. He is editor of Editor & Publisher.
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I'm a Dem, Liberal so I don't care if anyone is straight or gay. But ,what makes me laugh ,is all of the Gay Repugs who spend thier lives in the closet.
Let's face the facts: Charlie Crist is Gayer Than Freddie Mercuries Cod Piece.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that"
If recent history has taught us anything at all - its this: single GOP politicians are always gay.
If he's doing a good job, what does it matter if he's gay?
Of course he is a lesbian. A handsome one too.
Florida's Governor's sexuality should not be an issue when it comes to his qualifications for VP. The same as it should not be for Obama.
Republicans care about whether someone is gay or not. Democrats don't.
McCain will never choose a VP who is rumored to be gay. Never.
The narrow Republican bench is shrinking more every day. Crist is out. The exorcist is out. Who is left?
Poor John McCain.
Obama/Clark '08!!!
How about John McCain/Larry Craig, I am not gay, nor I have ever been gay. LOL
O is straight. Crist is a lesbian. I don’t have a problem with his lifestyle.
Charlie Crist is a much better governor than Jeb Bush. I'm sure he would also be much better at higher office. I personally don't care whether he is gay or not. I'm a Democrat and I'm against his Republican policies (even though they are, arguably, better than the neanderthal neocons like Jeb and George Bush).
Charlie Crist should not be opposed because he is homosexual (who, with any brains, cares), but because he is a Republican (and therefore a bigoted and small-brained reptile or dinosaur).
Just say it Charlie, we will love you for it. Be proud of who you are. To thine own self be true.
Deborah Solomon is where I always go to find out nothing about nothing. I'm not even disputing the premise of this article, but she operates on such a cloyingly trivial level that I invariably click off in disgust. The interviewee's responses must be calibrated to meet her limited capacity, and hence lose any possible significance. Perhaps, she should be constrained to covering Brooklyn real estate prices, something devoid of any journalistic nuance.
Who cares if he's gay, straigh, bi, tri.....
Larry Craig?
Huffington Post readers probably don't care. But the GOP base sure as hell does.
Crist can keep his private life private but don't even think of spoiling Florida's coastline. Closet cases will be around for eternity, so who really cares and why should anyone feel pressure to reveal their private lives. But, off shore oil drilling is not a private but a public matter. That will ruin his political career in this state.
As far as I know (and not coming from Florida, I don't know very much), Crist has not been a hypocritical opponent of gay rights. Given that, his personal life is no more any of my business than my personal life is anyone else's.
[posted as a reply 'cause I couldn't get this set as a regular comment.]
I'm as liberal as they get, but I think the sexual orientation actually -is- our business, particularly if one isn't open about it.
It's as much an issue as womanizing (Clinton), marital infidelity (possibly why Feingold doesn't run or why Giuliani didn't get very far), and inappropriate sexual comments or actions (rumors about Richardson, whom I like but think probably can't be vetted because of them).
Think of McGreevy. The Clinton mess was an embarrassment that went on for years, in increasing detail. Let's not have a repeat. I don't think we need a Perot-level litmus test, but a Pres/VP should able to be scandal free for 8 years, including sexual scandals.
The nation's got enough problems.
While the NYT is still a broadsheet, the NYT has super market tabloid content. It's far past time for those who annoint daily newspapers as newspapers of record to examine the NYT's content. If one ignores the NYT's legacy of 50 years or more ago when the NYT was America's only newspaper of record, one must find that the NYT is no longer a newspaper of record. The NYT MAGAZINE's interview with Fl's Gov will turn out to be a sophomoric effrort to hint that the Gov is gay. That & the rest of the NYT's content for at least the last 10 years isn't what a newspaper of record prints 7 days a week. The arbiters of that oxymoron, 'journalistic eccelence', must cease & desist from considering the 2008 NYT a newspaper of record at once. The NYT is no longer reliable.
The arbiters of 'journalistic excellence' may quietly remove the NYT from a list of America's newspapers of record & let the NYT die quietly, guickly & cease publication or make it into a big thing & loudly lament that they had to face facts & publicly declare the NYT to be dying & no longer is a newspaper of record as the NYT was in the early 1940's. They may gnash their teeth, wring their hands & sob loudly as they, at long last, banish the NYT from the de facto list of America's newspapers of record such as SLATE's "Today's Papers" if they opt for drama
The Conservatives will just love this bit of explosive news! LOL
Anyway, McCain will never choose Crist as VP. Never.
MC CAIN NEEDS THE RICH WHITE FLORDIA VOTE.
I live in Florida and could care less if he's gay or not. However, I do care about offshore drilling here. Oil spills aren't a big tourist attraction.
http://www
Read it and pass it on.
First, I don't see the gay angle in the Times article. They'd ask those questions of anyone. Second, who cares?
Charlie's about to get married just to stop the rumors. Well, a bit more than rumors here in FL, there are plenty of people in the know.
Crist will find a rent-a-bride before the republican convention if he is going to be McCain's VP.
A nice Republican bride. How special. Separate honeymoon suites.
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