Will The Film "Outrage" Wreck Charlie Crist's Senate Campaign?

According to Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, tomorrow's the day Charlie Crist will announce his bid for the U.S. Senate seat he tried to snare in 1998, losing to Bob Graham, who was followed by the retiring Mel Martinez. Were Crist to win he would be leaving Florida politics in a shambles and Florida's economy in an even worse state, one of the most poorly governed states in the nation which has been unable to deal effectively with either the housing crisis or the unemployment crisis. Before Crist goes to DC, though, he will have to face a primary from a far right extremist, Marco Rubio and then either one of two Democrats, unelectable and corrupt patsy Kendrick Meek or fighting progressive Dan Gelber. Crist is trying to fortify himself against charges of abandoning Florida in the middle of a depression by making the spurious claim that the best way he can help the state isn't in Tallahassee but in Washington. I wonder how he will fortify himself against the charges, bound to fly, of gross hypocrisy.

Rubio hopes to get the backing of the Bush family, which may be is certainly poison in a general election but can still help in a closed Republican primary. It remains to be seen how Rubio will take advantage of Crist's starring role in Outrage.

I mentioned the other day that I had gone to see Outrage, the new documentary by Kirby Dick and Mike Rogers. The movie was startling without being sensationalistic. What Dick and Rogers do is expose the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who go out of their ways to victimize gay people. And no one has more to lose than long-rumored-- now proven-- closet case Charlie Crist. Florida media is already starting to pick up on it. The movie was released Friday and the St. Petersburg Times asks, in regard to Crist, "Is it ethical to reveal a politician's private sexual orientation, just because someone feels their policies are anti-gay?"

Right wing Republicans have tried to use Crist's homosexuality against him before, but they've never had a major film to point to and they're never addressed it in terms of hypocrisy. Most people don't care what Crist does in the privacy of his own bedroom. What they may care about is seeing how his homophobic public record conflicts so violently with his own personal behavior and how that rips apart a man's personal integrity and soul. Expect to see a lot of discussions like this across Florida-- and not just in West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and South Beach gay bars, where everyone already knows Crist is gay, but among the Church going Republican voters who are utterly clueless.