Barack Obama & Charlie Crist: Ideological Allies

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, an independent senatorial aspirant, can’t decide where he stands on government-run health care. In fact, he has taken two different positions within the past 24 hours.

Earlier this year, Crist said he would have voted against ObamaCare in the United States Senate. Then early on Friday he said that he would have voted in favor of the legislation. A couple of hours later, Crist said he would have voted against ObamaCare. Seriously.

Crist told a local TV station Friday that he would have voted in favor of President Obama’s healthcare proposal were he in the Senate. That was a reversal of his previous position against the healthcare law.

“I would have voted for it,” Crist said in the interview. “But I think it can be done better, I really do.”

But now, Crist says he “misspoke” in that interview. His campaign sent out a statement Friday afternoon clarifying Crist’s position on the healthcare law.

“If I misspoke, I want to be abundantly clear: the health care bill was too big, too expensive, and expanded the role of government far too much,” Crist said in a statement. “Had I been in the United States Senate at the time, I would have voted against the bill because of unacceptable provisions like the cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.”

Which is all some nice spin, but Crist didn’t misspeak. He said this morning, “I would have voted for it”. A few hours later he said, “I would have voted against the bill…” That’s not a misstatement. That’s a complete, 180-degree reversal from morning to afternoon.

This isn’t the first time Charlie Crist has flip-flopped. One month he said he would never run as an independent, the next month he announced his run as an independent. At one point he supported cap-and-trade legislation, only to withdraw his support when it became politically suicidal. He can’t decide where the hell he stands.