Former GOP Fla. Gov. Crist Says Romney, Ryan 'Aren't Up to the Task'

President Barack Obama and Florida Governor
Charlie Crist are greeted by the crowd with a
standing ovation during the town hall meeting
held Tuesday, February 10, 2009, at Harborside
Events Center in Fort Myers, Fla.
(photo: Lexey Swall-Bobay)

By Marc Caputo, The Miami Herald

07 September

he biggest Florida speaker at the Democratic National Convention wasn't a Democrat.

Yet.

After former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist's speech Thursday night, it's only a matter of time before he officially joins the party's ranks in a slow march to running for governor in two years.

Crist's high-profile role disturbed many Florida delegates, but it furthered President Obama's campaign message - that the Republican Party is too extreme.

"As a former lifelong Republican, it pains me to tell you that today's Republicans - and their standard-bearers, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan - just aren't up to the task," Crist said. "They're beholden to ‘my way or the highway' bullies, indebted to billionaires who bankroll ads and allergic to the very idea of compromise."

Crist's speech was as much a condemnation of today's Republican Party as it was an explanation of why he's officially moving toward the Democratic Party and away from the conservative positions he once espoused.  READ MORE