Justin Sullivan
Former Florida governor Charlie Crist, who became an independent after being ousted by a Tea Party challenger, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night to announce his support for Obama and to deliver stern words for his former party. Crist paraphrased Ronald Reagan’s famous line about being left by the Democratic Party: “I can relate. I didn’t leave the Republican Party, it left me.” Crist accused the GOP of being “allergic to compromise” and “beholden to billionaires,” attributes he said Reagan would disdain, and said Romney and Ryan would “break the fundamental promises of Medicare and Medicaid.” Though he said he doesn’t agree with Obama on many issues, he spoke glowingly of the president’s character and called him “the one man who can lead the way forward in these challenging times.”