Charlie Crist Hits GOP on Race But Sung a Different Song in 2010

Former Gov. Charlie Crist said in an interview with Jorge Ramos on Fusion that he left the GOP to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 with no party affiliation due to feeling that Republicans were opposing President Barack Obama due to his race. Crist joined the Democrats at the end of 2012 and is his new party's favorite to challenge Gov. Rick Scott in November.

I couldnt be consistent with myself and my core beliefs and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, Crist said. I was a Republican and I saw the activists and, what they were doing, it was intolerable to me.

But Crist had a prominent supporter in the 2010 Senate who called Obama "a politician who can run his mouth at Mach 1, a black one and Marco Rubio "a Hispanic who can run his mouth." Decorated war hero Col. Bud Day, who was backing Crist, uttered those phrases in 2010. Crist did not condemn Day, insisting "everyone has a right to their analysis and how they think somebody performs in office."

The Tampa Bay Times had the story back in 2010 which can be read here.