RNC Chair defends Crist on stimulus

St. Pete Times

AP: "He looked me in the eye and said 'As the chief office holder of this state, the governor of this state, I have to be mindful of what's important to help my folks, who are going through some tough times right now,'" Steele said.

"It is a judgment call that a chief executive has to take, and what makes it sting maybe a little bit more, or feel a little bit uncomfortable, is that this package is being introduced by a Democrat president who many of us at the national level in particular believe has put in place a spending boondoggle, but he's put the appropriate amount of sauce in there for states to get their support," Steele said.

..."Florida is not the red state that Alabama is and it's not the red state that Mississippi is. It may be a red state, but it's a different hue of red. I applaud Gov. Crist for having the foresight to appreciate that," Steele said. "A lot of folks believe that if we're not constantly beating that drum on one or other social issues, that we're somehow less Republican and my argument is quite the opposite. The beauty of our party is that we appreciate and know what we believe. It's core to who we are, and we have the flexibility and dexterity to speak to people on a broad array of issues."