Charlie Crist Wants to Help the Jobless ... But Not This Week

Charlie Crist's campaign put out a press release today saying he supports the extension of unemployment benefits.

"In these challenging economic times, we have an obligation to help people keep a roof over their heads," the governor stated.

But though pressed for economic relief at the special legislative session he called this week, the governor continues to stick with one agenda item: offshore drilling.

Crist's hometown paper, the St. Petersburg Times, keeps shilling for its boy, blogging that Marco Rubio is "the only major U.S. Senate candidate who opposes the proposal to extend unemployment benefits."

Did the Times' loosely written item, which conflated state and national numbers, mean the only U.S. Senate candidate in Florida? If so, duh. Would one really expect Democrats Kendrick Meek or Jeff Greene to buck their party on this?

If the Times was speaking nationally, that's demonstrably untrue. Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in California said last week that she would have voted against an extension. No doubt, there are others. So let's not make it sound like Rubio is out on some far-right island here.

Rather than trying to paint Rubio as some out-in-right-field politician, the Times reporters ought to be asking their boy what he, as governor, intends to do here in Florida. Now.

Yeah, like that's going to happen.