Even though Mayo spent time cozying up to Crist, not a single penetrating question from him. Not even the obvious ones like why he lied on national television when he swore that he would NOT run as an independent as well as breaking his promise to return Republican campaign contributions when he made the switch. Mayo oozes unskeptical affection for Crist while in his presence with nary an uncomfortable inquiry:
I've got a new nickname for Charlie Crist — Governor Gamble — although I didn't share it with him when he gave me a lift the other day.
"Hop in," Crist said, waving me and a colleague into a Black Chevy Tahoe on his way to a bill-signing ceremony in Fort Lauderdale. "You [the taxpayers] pay for it. You might as well use it."
This was Crist at his affable best. Likability is what he's banking on to capture a U.S. Senate seat as an independent after his bold break from the Republican Party.
One almost expected Mayo's nickname for Crist to have been "Rosebud" from the tone of his affectionate column. Of course, the source of that affection is his "bold break" from the Republican Party. If Crist were a conservative Republican, such as Rubio, disdain would have taken its place.
It's one long gooey love note that Mayo writes to Crist now that he appears to be the one (not the Democrat nominee) who can best prevent a real conservative from entering the Senate from Florida. Nothing at all controversial was asked of Crist in Mayo's column, not even why he opposed Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court which he now says he would have supported. And, of course, no mention of the currently incarcerated mini-Madoff Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein who was, until recently, Crist's biggest political contributor. His nickname for Crist wasn't Governor Gamble but Your Governorness.
H/T: Blonde
