Is Charlie Crist Gay?

Some thoughts on Florida GOP Governor Charlie Crists, from one of Robert Stacy McCain's readers:

How are you/we/they going to handle the persistent rumors that Charlie Crist is gay? The first conservative blog to raise this issue is going to be slammed by the MSM, the Democrats and Crist’s Republican supporters for rumor mongering and the politics of personal destruction. But these rumors ain’t going away. LGBT groups have already raised the specter of hypocrisy about Crist being safely in the closet while denying gays access to marriage.

If Crist is gay and had sex with a man, what are the odds we are going to hear about it? If so, I would wager that any revelations will come out after he has won the nomination.

If Crist is gay but has been celibate his entire life, until, you know, he married a woman, what impact will the rumors have on conservative voters in Florida?
If Crist is not gay but the rumors persist, again, impact on conservative voters?
Mark Foley Redux?

On the other hand, what negative impact will a public discussion of the topic by conservatives have on the Rubio campaign?

Speaking of LGBT groups ... here's this on Crist over at Queerty, "That Fag Charlie Crist Wants to Be a Senator (And Wishes to Be Straight)":

Yes, he's making it official. And yes, the gay rumors will only grow closer and closer to accepted fact, if they aren't already ....

Why such animosity toward Crist? Not because he's a closeted homo — which we feel bad about — but because it's folks like him whose self-hatred comes out in the political games they play. Playing god with other people's rights from the governor's mansion, Crist stood by Florida's standing ban on gay couples adopting, claiming "traditional family provides the best environment for children." Then there was his 2006 run for governor, where he supported civil unions but not same-sex marriage. And his support during the 2008 election season for Proposition 2, which wrote into the state constitution a ban on same-sex marriage.

What strikes me first about the Queerty post is how they throw around epithets like "fag" and "homo" casually, like black do-ragged inner-city gang bangers calling each other "nigga"! It's appropriate to no one except as a badge of stupidity on those making the slur.

It's too bad too. Queerty makes a good point. If the rumors are true, Crist has an extremely odd governing philosophy for a gay man. I don't, however, think this should be seen as some larger negative statement on the GOP. What Crist does is give radical leftists ammunition. The focus will not be on Crist's assumed hypocrisy, but on the alleged "GOP bigotry" that has forced him to stay in the closet. So, let's get to the bottom of it. Christ is a basically Florida's Schwarzenegger Repubican, which is to say, he's really no Republican at all. The press doesn't care of Crist is a fiscal moderate. They'll hammer him on the hypocrisy. A good preview of the coming attacks is Howie Klein's post, "Charlie Crist's Bright Shiny Object":

Is the fight between the far right plus nutroots extremists and the Establishment Republicans of the NRSC and the Florida Republican Party over the Charlie Crist/Marco Rubio Senate nomination just a ruse to keep the media from talking about Crist's closet problem? With the release of Outrage, which exposes Crist's hypocrisy on gay issues while he himself was seducing young gay men, it was important to the GOP to point the media in another direction-- any other direction.

So Republican extremists and John Cornyn's NRSC are engaged in a noisy, very flashy topless mud wrestling match about who's further to the right, the Republican Governor who Inside the Beltway Repugs felt is their only shot of holding onto the Florida Senate seat, or the fanatic Bush-clone ex-Speaker of Florida's lower house who's stuck with a job.

Notice something in all of this. Radical gay leftists can attack Crist with bigoted language, but that's cool as long as you're down with the homosexual agenda. Then angry communists like Howie Klein can hammer both Crist for his closeted shame and Marco Rubio as a right-wing extremist.

And you know what? This is the first I've really paid attention to this angle. Rubio's no media distraction. He's the real thing. So what Crist does is give left-wing nihilists ample ammunition to paint the GOP as both hypocrites and rednecks. And in the backgound is the fact that huge majorities oppose same-sex marriage while supporting civil equality for gay couples. It's all quite interesting, but let's bring it full circle with Robert Stacy McCain:

OK, this is not a story that really interests me, either politically or personally. But as my tipster says, you can bet good money that it's a story the MSM are going to be very interested in -- if and when Crist gets the Republican nomination.