CHARLIE CRIST HAS A "GIRLFRIEND"-- A FIRST STEP TOWARDS GETTING ON THE McCAIN TICKET... TO NOWHERE?

Beard?

I like Charlie Crist and not only do I think he's one of the only good Republican elected officials in America, I think he's a lot better than plenty of Democrats. After extremist ideologue Jeb Bush, Crist has run Florida in a moderate and bipartisan let's-get-the-job-done manner. I haven't taken seriously any of the rumors that McCain is thinking of putting him on the national Republican ticket as his running mate because Crist is gay. He isn't an anti-gay homophobe like so many Republicans in the closet but he is in the closet and his sexuality might upset certain elements of the Republican base. But the rumors are now trial balloons and I'm wondering what Hagee, Parsley & Sage are going to do when they find out who's on the ticket they all endorsed.

Anyway, today I noticed a narrative in the St. Petersburg Post that friends in Florida had alerted me to: Crist is trying to pass himself off as straight by "dating" a beard. So anyone who thought Jason Wetherington would soon be replacing Lynn Cheney at Number One Observatory Circle, will just have to settle for New York socialite Carol Rome, who, Crist is saying, is no longer "just a friend." Carol is in the middle of a divorce and Crist introduced her as "my girlfriend"... but not in the gay sense.