
Sounds like it might be time for Sen. John Cornyn to invoke Reagan's rule about not speaking ill of fellow Republicans. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist last night went there - accusing his rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, of waxing his back.
Appearing on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox News last night, Crist (R-FL) attacked Rubio over the recent dust-up over his Republican Party of Florida credit card charges, including for a $130 haircut.
"Or maybe it was a back wax -- we are not sure what all he got at that place," Crist said. Van Susteren seemed surprised by the allegation, asking, "[W]as there a suggestion it was for a back wax or are you being flip?"
Crist - sort of - backed down: "I don't know what it was. Initially we were told it was a haircut. And then he said it wasn't a haircut."
It's been an increasingly ugly race, with Crist and Rubio lobbing insults at one another for weeks. The primary isn't until August.
Here's the text of the exchange, as transcribed by the St. Petersberg Times:
CRIST: He's trying to pawn himself off as a fiscal conservative. And yet just in reason weeks, two weeks ago it has come out in news accounts he had a Republican Party of Florida credit card that he charged $130 haircut, or maybe it was a back wax -- we are not sure what all he got at that place.VAN SUSTEREN: Wait a second, stop. A back wax? Wait a second.
CRIST: I don't know what it was, you know?
VAN SUSTEREN: I know, but was there a suggestion it was for a back wax or are you being flip?
CRIST: I don't know what it was. Initially we were told it was a haircut. And then he said it wasn't a haircut. Then he had the gall to go on Neil Cavuto's show and said it was his money. It was a credit card from the Republican Party. It was party donors' money.
The detachment from reality is stunning to me. And to try to say that you're a fiscal conservative, yet you spend $130 for maybe a haircut and maybe other things, I don't know what you do at a salon we you are a guy.
I get my haircut for $11 from a guy named Carl the Barber in St. Petersburg, Florida where I grew up. And to me that's real fiscal conservatism.
And so what I mean by perpetrating a fraud on people is by saying one thing and actually doing another. That's night not right. That's not being honest and straightforward with the voters. People deserve, Greta, as I know you feel, to have an informed vote when they go ahead and cast their ballot whether in a Republican primary or the general election, and I feel the same way.
And thank God we have an opportunity in this campaign to have an educational opportunity to make sure the voters get it right and that they get, most importantly, the truth. And that's what our campaign is going to be about. We're again that tell the truth about our record and our opponent's record, and the people will make the decision. And I have great confidence in the wisdom of the people.
VAN SUSTEREN: It would make a difference to me, I think, as a Florida voter with the use of the credit card -- I understand he paid it back. Did he pay it back before he got outed or caught, or did he pay it back after?
CRIST: He paid it back after he got caught. That's like saying I'm going to go and steal something, and if you don't catch me I'll never pay back, but if you catch me I'll go ahead pay it back.
And here is something else that's really strange about that. He lists his network on his last financial statement at $8,000. Yet he already said he paid back $16,000 and then another $3,000, a total of almost $20,000. If his net worth really is only $8,000 how is he paying back $20,000? Whose money is he using now to do that? It doesn't make sense. It is a house of cards.
Marinus van der Lubbe
March 9, 2010 10:31 AM
Waxing his back? This is a fucking story?
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tchamp77
March 9, 2010 11:14 AM in reply to Marinus van der Lubbe
Come on, this is a Teachable Moment about the anquish endured by men with excess body hair!
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Marinus van der Lubbe
March 9, 2010 11:41 AM in reply to tchamp77
Glad I wasnt drinking coffee when I read that....!
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Hey Obama - Get in the Fight!!
March 9, 2010 10:36 AM
Was Rubio a guest on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"? I don't recall...
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Kristin126
March 9, 2010 10:39 AM
A mental image I did not need this morning. Eww.
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jvwalt
March 9, 2010 10:43 AM
"Maybe it was a mani-pedi. Maybe it was a bikini wax. Maybe a "happy ending" was involved. I don't know what it was..."
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commie atheist
March 9, 2010 10:44 AM
This is a pre-emptive strike against the Rubio campaign's coming revelation that Charlie Crist gets a Brazilian every month.
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tchamp77
March 9, 2010 11:15 AM in reply to commie atheist
Haha, or maybe we'll soon find out about the cost of being tinted orange 3x per week.
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jeffgee
March 9, 2010 10:57 AM
Fighting clowns in America's Wang.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
March 9, 2010 11:33 AM in reply to jeffgee
I always thought of it as a thorn stuck into America's ass, but, yeah, that works too.
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GTFOOH
March 9, 2010 11:03 AM
" Crist Suggests Rubio Waxes His Back"
Polls suggest Rubio waxes Crist!
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farnsworth
March 9, 2010 11:41 AM
Maybe he is suggesting that Rubio should wax his back.
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ondioline
March 9, 2010 12:07 PM
Gotta love Greta... "Did he pay it back before he got outed?"
Ummm...
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sean
March 9, 2010 12:09 PM
'Back waxing'...Finally a subject Greta can get her claws into!
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jacks45
March 9, 2010 12:30 PM
Prediction: Crist will soon be reporting for work at Mark Foley's consignment furniture retail establishment.
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ericf
March 9, 2010 5:06 PM
If there was any doubt Crist is really a Republican, that would seem to settle. He just went after his opponent's masculinity.
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DuaneW
April 1, 2010 9:40 PM
the $130 dollar expense suggests Rubio got more than a haircut, he even admitted so. But the fact that he's not telling what he actually got suggests it would be too embarrassing, not to mention rather creepy he tried to sock the GOP donors with the bill.
My guess is he had a cut, color and straightening and probably a manicure and eyebrow trim. Too metrosexual for the FL GOP base. He is a "pretty boy" but he has to work at it.
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