Charlie Crist Stumbling Around the Abortion Issue

 

FLORIDA  
Opinion by:  
E. Eugene Webb PhD

Here is a link to Charlie Crist statement on the Supreme Court decision:  CRIST STATEMENT ON SUPREME COURT DECISION TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE.

Politico had an interesting take: From Politco  by Gary Fineout: Crist gives another jumbled response on abortion.

Charlie's position on abortion, right to life and pro-life has fluctuated over his political career as he moved from a Republican, to Independent, to Democrat. As pointed out in the Politico article, “Charlie has a track record that shows he clearly supports abortion rights, including his decision to veto an anti-abortion bill while he was Florida's governor.”

As the clear frontrunner in the democratic race for the nomination to run for Florida's governor, Charlie would have been wise to stay out of the abortion decision issue.

His statement condemning the Supreme Court for their decision on Roe V Wade was a bit heavy-handed and, he would have probably been better off leaving the whole issue right there.

Now the press and the Nikki Fried campaign will continue to bug Senator Crist throughout the primary and probably on into the general election for Florida's governor regarding his position, constantly asking the question are you for abortion rights or are you pro-life?

Crist has been very good at not getting himself into this kind of a political box. The problem with the abortion rights issue is it is as much emotionally driven as it is practically driven. Supporters on both sides of this issue often find themselves in the position of flip-flopping on who they support politically, based on a combination of the candidate’s recent statements and their own views of the abortion issue.

Since the Supreme Court has thrown the abortion issue back into the laps of each state, at this point Charlie needs to come up with a pat political position, articulate it and stay on point.

Crist needs to be extremely careful on the abortion and abortion rights issue; he needs to be sure to quit shooting himself in the foot only long enough to reload.

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