Posted on 02/19/2010 10:05:28 AM PST by dead
At long last I have found my new hero. He is rotund and profound, graced with a hint of "Sopranos" and a hefty dose of obstinate common sense.
He is Chris Christie, the newly elected governor of New Jersey, and this morning on CNBC’s "Squawkbox" he his first national TV appearance since his Obama-smiting election—and Christie crushed it.
The rookie governor, who faintly resembles the actor Steve Schirripa, the Big & Tall “Bacala” on “The Sopranos,” has a message for all of government—a simple, anti-spending, anti-tax declaration of "Enough!" It needs to go viral. Take this video clip and post it on YouTube, resend it to Twitter and Facebook, and zap it out to your entire e-mail list.
This guy is a blunt-spoken political star in the making. He warned of a state budget deficit that will run past $11 billion in 2011—and then he declared what is unthinkable in the Era of Obama: He won't raise taxes to fix it. Cut spending, period.
“We know that we’ve taxed too much, we’ve spent too much and we’ve borrowed too much,” Gov. Christie said on-air. “The only way to fix that is to stop spending so much—it’s the only way to do it.”
Wait a minute, anchor Becky Quick prodded him—you won’t raise taxes? “No, we’re not raising taxes—that’s it,” Gov. Christie retorted. Not even property taxes? “We can’t,” he declared, noting that in four years $70 billion in wealth had fled New Jersey “because we are the most overtaxed people in America.”
“We’ve done enough of that already,” he said. “It’s time to get tough, and to say no.” Fuhgeddaboudit!
The way Gov. Christie said it made me feel this wasn’t just some handler-crafted talking point softened with mealy-mouthed hedges like, “We’ll have study it.” Nope, this came straight from the gut—and this governor has quite an abundant gut; it was uttered with dead-eyed certainty.
And I believed him.
So did New Jersey resident Michael Pento, a fiscal conservative at Delta Global Advisors who is a frequent guest on CNBC. “I was blown away,” he says. “Cut spending—how radical!” He notes that in ten years the U.S.’s Gross Domestic Product grew from $10 trillion to $14 trillion, up 40%; yet the federal budget rose more than 100% from $1.8 trillion to $3.8 trillion in the same period.
Chris Christie bears the Republican label, but his own party has a lot to learn from him, given eight years of George W. Bush as the most fiscally irresponsible President of all time. (Albeit, President Obama graces that list of dubious distinction and is rising with a Billboard bullet.)
“Republicans, when they get in power, act like Democrats,” Pento says. “This guy Christie is a constitutional Ron Paul conservative. We need to cut spending, as painful as that can be in the short-term.”
The governor pointed out that New Jersey has the highest taxes in the nation already, leading to the drain of $70 billion in wealth moving out of the state. Tax increases only would make that drain worse.
And he cited a stunning stat: A 42-year-old state government worker in New Jersey who gets a 20-year pension has paid in all of $124,000—and will take out $3.8 million in payments and health coverage for the rest of his life.
This simply can’t continue, yet few other politicians are talking about the government pension bubble that could bankrupt some cities. A new report from the Pew Center on the States says states have promised to pay $3.35 trillion to current and retired workers—and are running $1 trillion short in funding that obligation.
The worst-off state: President Obama’s home state of Illinois, which has funded only 54% of what it will have to pay out. Unions now represent 40% of all government workers, and they are especially powerful at the local and state levels. Given the Dems’ union ties, ya gotta question whether benefit cuts are a viable option, as I wrote about here.
But I now hold out new hope, thanks to Gov. Christie of New Jersey. He brings a fresh new face and a voluble, emphatic voice to politics. Let us pray we hear a lot more from him.
He leaves no doubt that he will NOT raise taxes, under any circumstances. He's going to cut spending, slash regulation, and trim government.
of course he’s got a Democrat-controlled legislature to contend with, so let’s see how they screw with him. But NJ is paying attention to this man, and it’s positive.
Pray for the guv’s safety. There are tens of thousands of state employees across the country who’d love to have his head.
I’m very proud of Cristie and McDonnel so far. They are both doing what they were elected to do. They are cutting spending.
This is exactly why he has no choice but to follow through on his pledge. It's not even a pledge, really -- it's no different than a consumer who has maxed out all of his credit cards pledging not to borrow any more money.
So far, I’m pleased. I’m glad I decided to vote for this guy.
Ping to NewJerseyJoe.
So what is his stance on conservative social issues(abortion, homosexual etc)? Are we looking at maybe a budding running mate for Sarah 2012?
I’m still reserving my opinion for when he appoints new members of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
I’ll cut him slack when dealing with the state legislature jackals. I’ll be happy if he cuts down on the corruption tax.
But it’s the NJ Supreme Court nominees that will impact state expenditures, school funding to corrupt districts, influence COAH regulations and potentially decide issues like the recognition of gay marriage. If he nominates a Jersey guy like Justice Alito, then he will have my unwavering support across the board, even if that means higher property taxes.
He needs to appoint Judge Andrew Nepolitano(sp?) for NJ SC!
My personal thoughts? ProLife and don't give a flying about the "gay agenda" until it shouts on Main Street.
If Christie wasn’t pro-life he wouldn’t be governor.
Who cares? We can’t afford to have an election on social issues for awhile. Stick with fiscal discipline, and libertarianism on social and constitutional issues. There will be no Sarah 2012, but this guy is certainly impressive enough to be considered on a ticket. The fact that he doesn’t have the handsome with good hair look might hurt him though.
The left in NJ (which is uberpowerful there) must be going out of the collective, freaking minds.
Sort of like they did on Guiliani when he started in NYC.
I remember the night Guiliani won the first time. There was no cable news at the time (at least that I had) and we were stuck with alphabet news.
There was a black news anchor on, and he went all angry and hyper, and I remember him saying, “They elected this man, and they are going to get what they deserve!”
Never forget the left is totally hostile to anyone who doesn’t regard government as a semi-fascist givaway.
Christie is personally pro-Life but wouldn’t use the office of governor to change abortion laws in NJ. Squishy.
Just finished watching the video. *sniffle* I love this guy!
His interview was perfect, but he missed making just one point: When he was asked if he would accept federal funds for the state, he answered honestly that he wouldn’t turn them down, and he later pointed out that more spending from Washington hurts everyone in the long run, even if it were to come back into his state.
But, he should’ve added: “You know, NJ taxpayers have always paid more into Washington than our state has ever received in return. So, Washington gets a lot of money from us.”
Anyway, overall, Christie’s answers were perfect.
True. Spending, taxes, corruption, national security are the winning issues.
But no pro-abort republican will be on the 2012 ticket, imho, so that social issue at least, does matter.
well said
Bttt
The fangs are out!!
NJEA is already moaning before made-for-TV legislative panals. Airing lots of radio commercials and I’m sure the TV commercials are coming up.
The CGW public workers union sent a memo out that they will be spending $10 million on an anti-Christie campaign.
It’s ugly alright. As ugly as NJ harridans can get!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.