Chameleon Crist visit Maher, switches position on U.S.-Cuba embargo

By William Patrick | Florida Watchdog

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It’s no secret former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist loves the spotlight.

True to form, Crist appeared on HBO‘s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday night to discuss his recent political conversion with one of Hollywood‘s most acerbic liberal comedians.

A longtime Republican, Crist ran as an independent during a failed 2010 U.S. Senate bid against GOP endorsed — and Cuban-American leader — Sen. Marco Rubio.

Crist wants his old job back at the governor’s mansion, but this time as a Democrat.

The nine-minute sit-down was a nationally televised opportunity for Crist to promote his new book, “The Party’s Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat.”

After an exchange that touched on racism and the infamous Crist-Obama Stimulus hug, the conversation turned to the United States‘ economic embargo of Cuba.

“If we had done the right thing years ago Cuba would now be St. Bart‘s and all the kids going on spring break would be there next month having a great time and drinking mai tais,” Maher said.

Crist agreed and said lifting the embargo is “the right thing to do.” He previously supported it.

“The embargo has been there 50 years now. I don’t think it worked. It is obvious to me that we need to move forward and I think get the embargo taken away,” Crist said.

Lifting the embargo would create jobs and stimulate South Florida’s economy, he said.

Members of Cuba’s American exile community weren’t amused.

“In another unsurprising example of his flip-flopping positions, Charlie has switched gears and now says he opposes the Cuban embargo. It’s a shame that a former governor of Florida, whose state is comprised of many freedom loving individuals, wishes to promote policies that only benefit the Castro tyranny and not the people of Cuba suffering under the dictatorship,” said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a moderate South Florida Republican.

The Miami Herald reported Crist’s book doubles as a campaign document with instances of rewritten history. The liberal news magazine, The New Republic, wasn’t as kind. A blistering review calls Crist’s tell-all “a dishonest and boring memoir” and “a self-justifying account of why Crist switched parties.”

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