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.
