Charlie Crist, the current Governor of Florida and a candidate for the US Senate, is still defending his support of Obama’s “stimulus” package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). This is amidst a recent poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports the former State House Speaker Marc Rubio dominating Crist with a 54-36% to succeed George LeMieux.

One can only assume that Crist, like many other politicians one year ago, was banking on the popularity of the president lasting forever based on Obama’s “historic” victory. Like many other politicians who have done this, Crist has received a tremendous backlash that his competitors are capitalizing on.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Crist has upset conservatives. He endorsed John McCain in 2008 GOP presidential primary and has also used his post to push through unpopular environmental reforms.

That anyone can still defend the “stimulus” is maddening. GDP figures reflect an economic upswing began at least as early as June, before a vast majority of the stimulus bill came into effect. Furthermore, the majority of the “stimulus” is bureaucratic spending or arbitrary tax cuts. The biggest evidence Democrats (and Crist) point to for the “stimulus” working is the amount of money that was used to bailout state governments, which of course really means the amount of money used to bailout the unions that represent state employees.

That Crist should be considered a conservative at all should boggle anyone’s mind; frankly, we should be glad Rubio is winning and will likely be the next US Senator from Florida.