Actors George Hamilton and Charles Crist
Posted on 07/31/2005 3:38:47 AM PDT by amdgmary
TALLAHASSEE - It was one of the shortest speeches of Charlie Crist's career, but as a campaign for governor unfolds, it may prove to be one of the most memorable.
Two weeks ago, the Republican attorney general and candidate for governor gave a late-night speech to a roomful of lawyers in Miami where he referred to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case as "heroes."
Crist insists he wasn't endorsing court rulings that prevented the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube from being reconnected, but critics view it differently. And by appearing to break his silence in the Schiavo case, Crist has sharpened the contrast between himself and Republican rival Tom Gallagher, who has said he favored government action to "prevent Terri's starvation."
At the dinner in Miami, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer and U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa were honored as jurists of the year by the Florida chapter of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates. The group champions judicial independence and its members are lawyers who represent both plaintiffs and defendants.
Greer is the judge who ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed, rejecting a subpoena from Congress and pleas from Gov. Jeb Bush, and Whittemore also denied emergency requests to reinsert the tube in the weeks before Schiavo died March 31. Both men's decisions were later upheld by higher courts, and both were praised and vilified by opposing sides of the emotionally charged end-of-life case.
Crist said he was "proud" of both judges.
"You are heroes to all of us, and your defense of the judiciary and what is right is beyond admirable," Crist was quoted in the Daily Business Review, a Miami newspaper that provided the only news account of the July 15 event at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
In an interview, Crist did not dispute the quotations. Nor did he offer a view of whether he agreed with their decisions. Rather, he said, he praised them for fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide checks and balances against the other two branches of government.
"I try to say nice things about judges. I'm sure I was complimentary," said Crist, who as the state's chief legal officer often speaks at bar-related events. "I didn't talk about any specific case. ... It's important that those checks and balances exist. Our system of government needs to have that."
Crist's comments have resonated far beyond the Biltmore.
"Judge Greer is a poster child for everything that's wrong with the judiciary," said Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America, a grass roots Christian political group in Fort Lauderdale that lists "sanctity of life" as one of its priorities and plans to form a political action committee.
"For Charlie Crist to hold that up as an example of good judicial practice concerns me," Cass said. "I think it was a mistake for Charlie to say that. I don't know how anybody can be happy about a woman being deprived food and water."
Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Republican from Ocala who sponsored legislation last spring to force the tube to be reconnected, said Crist's speech was revealing.
"I think it is one of those very important moments for us to know where he (Crist) stands," Baxley said. "I truly believe there's a lot of people out there who were sensitive to this case who are going to find those comments, and that association, very instructive. I'm understanding where people line up on this."
Baxley said that while Crist was "conspicuously absent" from the Schiavo debate in the Legislature, Gallagher sent Baxley a personal letter of support last spring. While activists in the Schiavo debate take aim at Crist, his Republican rival Gallagher is not.
"Tom's made his position very clear in the past. There's really no comment we're going to make on that," said David Johnson, a Gallagher adviser.
Polls show a majority of Americans agreed with the judges' decisions to order the removal of Schiavo's tube, as her husband, Michael, said she wanted. By a greater margin, polls show people were opposed to Congress' intervention in the case.
But to those who view the long-running Schiavo saga as a test case of support for the sanctity of life - like abortion - Greer and Whittemore are "judicial activists" who starved a woman to death.
Many of those people can vote in the Republican primary for governor in September 2006. Crist's stand on the Schiavo case could prove to be an asset if he wins the GOP nomination and faces a Democrat. But one Republican strategist said the damage has been done.
"Schiavo killed the Republicans. They've lost the women's vote," said Matt Towery, an ex-Republican legislator who now runs an Atlanta media and polling firm. "It's one of those turning points that you just can't get away from."
It was a despicable act and Terri is a martyr now thanks to men like Crist.
t'wit: Can you write a ditty about Crist? Thanks, FV
Greer, "I don't want anyone trying to feed that girl."
Yes, they went above and beyond. Was it blackmail? Bribery? What would turn judges into killers? And, Crist was not their check and balance - he was Terri's Judas.
The parents and heroes of the year are Terri's family, the Schindlers, Bobby and Suzanne. THERE ARE YOUR HEROES. Not judicial despots embedded with smarmy RINOS who martyred an innocent woman. Florida is full of RINOS and I will not support any of them. I am supporting Katherine Harris for Senate and Tom Gallagher for Governor. That's it.
New slogan for Florida: Tallahassee is for RINOS
There are freepers south of the Skyway bridge who are ticked at Crist over the KELO decision. Crist is wobbly with freepers at best. Tom Gallagher is his opponent in the primary for Governor. Gallagher has qualities that are necessary for a Governor. Crist is a suit with handlers and those handlers are very close to George Soros and all the death lobbyists.
The man who needs our help before the Primary for Governor in Florida is TOM GALLAGHER, Florida's CFO. I don't have a url for a web site for Gallagher. He would restore some credibility to the State of Florida. He would need to be firm because the GOP base is not going to be winner take all any more. He may have a more democratic House & Senate simply because the GOP made a grave error by martyring Terri.
Terri never had her own attorney. Judge Greer was the jury, her attorney and her guardian ad litem. That's ILLEGAL. But, Crist let many things slide. Seeing him standing by Janet Reno says it all. That's where he truly belongs - she's a loser too.
Actors George Hamilton and Charles Crist
bump
Somehow I don't see this particular appearance helping Mr. Crist: appearing as keynote speaker at a banquet honoring the men who starved Mrs. Schiavo to death (thrown by a group of trial lawyers to boot), and then posing for a picture with Janet Reno.
Yeppers, and I saved the photos. I can crop it down to Charlie and Janet, law buddies. Last thing we need here. He's not even using good judgment about who to be photographed next to. Guess it doesn't matter to an empty suit.
George Hamilton isn't a creep though but they are both tan.
Scumbag. Morality is irrelevant as long as the courts acted efficiently!
FV SAYS: I believe this statement by Crist lends credence to many claims of coverups, sleight of hand, perjury and fraud. The Judges' duty is to be objective jurists, NOT TO DEFEND THE JUDICIARY. Crist doesn't even know what a judge is charged to do, it's certainly not to defend themselves, when they are robbing and murdering innocent Floridians.
To defend the judiciary, you would need CRIMINAL ATTORNEYS, THE BEST YOU CAN BUY OUT OF TAMPA, FLA, Barry Cohen was Greer's attorney in J. Whittemore's Fed Court Hearing. Judge Whittemore had a guest at Terri's first hearing: Joe Redner, member of the Atheists of Florida and the ACLU. Redner had front row seats to Terri's first fed hearing. WHY?
The ACLU and the Atheists of Florida applauded Whittemore's refusal to restore Terri's feeding tube in defiance of the US Congress and the President. That was no brand new hearing everyone thought was going to take place. It was fraud on the bench, the Federal Bench.
I'm buying duct tape if Crist becomes governor and other survivalist stuff.
The woman who asked Charlie Crist that question
What sort of woman would ask the state attorney general if he's gay?
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
Published January 17, 2005 MADEIRA BEACH - When Lee Drury De Cesare asked Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist whether he was gay Friday, it wasn't the first time she has silenced a room.
Since founding the Tampa chapter of the National Organization for Women in the 1970s, De Cesare has nipped at the heels of the Tampa Bay area's powerful. For the most part, she focuses on women's rights, but she reserves a special measure of scorn for politicians and journalists guilty of grammatical errors.
In the 1970s, she fought with then-Hillsborough Sheriff Malcolm Beard about the hurdles faced by women in law enforcement.
"He hated me so badly he wouldn't step in the same room with me," she says of Beard.
In 1978, she filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that two landmark Tampa restaurants - Bern's Steak House and the Columbia Restaurant - had all-male wait-staffs.
She established the Barefoot and Pregnant Awards for the people or institutions she deemed the most sexist. She called strip club owner Joe Redner a pimp.
For all of that, her question Friday to Crist at a meeting of the Tampa Tiger Bay Club was still astonishing to those in the room.
"I have heard that you were gay, sir, and I wanted to know if that was true," De Cesare asked.
Crist replied: "I'm not."
FV SAYS: Crist is unattached and he's in his forties. He has strong sisters in the school system. He campaigns with trophy girls sometimes.
Certain voters tied to adult businesses donated to Greer's campaign last year.
Sembler the father was Greer's cty commission campaign mgr. before Greer ruined the Sixth Circuit Court. Sembler the son is Crist's governor's campaign mgr.
Oh he's scary looking!
Judge Greer thinks he's the religious right. What religion would that be?????
Buh-bye Charlie.
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