Posted on 11/17/2010 9:23:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Lately, it has become fashionable among conservatives and Republicans nationwide to lavish effusive praise and encomiums upon Governor Chris Christie as the “Conservative Savior” of New Jersey - and this trend has begun to mushroom into a fervent cult of pseudo-personality that is already calling for him to throw his hat into the 2012 Presidential campaign ring.
No less a luminary than Rush Limbaugh places Gov. Christie on his short list of putative contenders for the Oval Office.
If the polls are right and there is a conservative Republican landslide this week, Limbaugh will turn his attention to imposing the Limbaugh Rule in 2012. I recently asked him to rate a list of the leading aspirants—Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, and Chris Christie—on a scale of 1 (if this is the nominee, I’m moving to Costa Rica) to 10 (Reagan redux). In reply he gave Huckabee a 4; Pawlenty, Gingrich, and Romney 6’s; Barbour a 7. Palin and Christie each scored an 8.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…Chris Christie scores an 8… just two notches away from Reagan??!!
We at ConservativeNewJersey are left scratching our heads. (Let’s leave aside for the moment that the ordinarily astute Limbaugh passed over the likes of conservative stalwart Sen. Jim. DeMint). Are these people talking about the real Chris Christie - the one who actually occupies the Governor’s office in the Trenton State House…the one whose words and actions we have carefully followed for the past two years? THAT Chris Christie?
Not according to our facts and figures and the time has come to set the record straight.
Gov. Christie basks in the conservative limelight partly because the opposition party has veered so sharply to the left nationwide that it makes moderates and RINOs in the center look conservative by comparison. In a center-right country blighted by liberalism, people are hungry for true conservatism and to that end, Mr. Christie delivered the rhetoric: he talks a tough conservative ball game and is adept at crafting excellent soundbites for the television cameras. Translating those soundbites into actual policies, however, is an entirely different matter as we will explore in much greater detail throughout this series.
Christie’s popularity as a conservative can also be attributed to the echo-chamber effect of numerous conservative media pundits who are, for the most part, unaware of his actual record and take it upon themselves to promote him as a stalwart conservative for strategic political reasons. Like the electorate at large, these pundits hunger for conservative leadership at the top of the Republican Party, and of course the election of an ostensibly conservative Republican in Blue-State New Jersey lends powerful credence to the ‘Conservative Ascendancy’ narrative. Lately, however, the ‘image is everything’ myth that Christie has cultivated with carefully parsed rhetoric is beginning to unravel. The pundits who do their homework - like Mark Levin here and here - are catching up to the fact that Christie’s policies belie his rhetoric.
As it happens, many of Gov. Christie’s cheerleaders live outside of the Garden State and for the most part haven’t a clue to what really is going on here. If you are among that number - or even if you are a resident of New Jersey - we urge you to read this article first: it outlines in detail just how this state became a politico-economic basket case and who is responsible. During the primary and throughout the general gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Christie repeatedly pointed to myriad failures of previous administrations as the rationale for electing him Governor. Instead of a substantive or detailed plan of action for restoring the economy of the state, he offered vague generalities (”cut taxes across the board,” “eliminate wasteful spending,” etc.) and a torrent of conservative platitudes.
Other Christie supporters vaguely reference his tough talking stance on issues near and dear to the conservative heart while a (somewhat) informed few will refer you to the governor’s recent “Reform New Jersey” tour, based largely on the list of promises covering state finances, education, energy, ethics, cities and jobs that he posted on his website during the primary and general campaigns last year - promises that had about as much substance in 2009 as Barack Obama’s vague assurance of ‘Hope and Change’ did a year earlier.
To be sure, there were things he said and did that lend him a plausible conservative veneer - including the now famous YouTube videos in which he faces down an angry educrat at a town hall meeting and gives what-for to a snotty reporter at a press conference. He declined to re-appoint notoriously liberal state Supreme Court Justice John Wallace; he secured passage in the state legislature of a budget that he claimed cut spending by over $2 billion without raising taxes; he signed several health and pension benefits reform bills into law (including legislation requiring all public workers in New Jersey to pay at least 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care); he banned part-time employees from enrolling in the state pension system; he also secured a 2 % cap on property tax increases and just recently canceled the ARC Tunnel project for lack of funds.
On the other hand, there exists a growing list of words and deeds that cast him in anything but a conservative light:
In this multi-part series we will address all of these issues with specificity and abundant documentation. So buckle in and - if you are a member of the “Christie-for-President-in-2012″ fan club - prepare to be awakened by some very inconvenient truths.
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Ah. Apparantly some peopole DO miss Governor Corzine.
I'd rather like to see a Christie fan rebut this.
Chris Christie is the Rudy Giuliani of NJ. Good for the state, not necessarily good for the rest of America.
You left one out.
He appointed anti-gun liberal Essex County Democrat Paula Dow as his AG and she inaugerated her reign by making changes in the purchase rules for Garands and other rifles under the CMP program. Christie is NOT a supporter of the Second Amendment philosophically.
If conservatives are looking for the “perfect” conservative to run then we might as well prepare for another four years of Obama. If what Christie has done so far in NJ isn’t conservative enough then there isn’t much hope for our side.
....”has begun to mushroom into a fervent cult of pseudo-personality that is already calling for him to throw his hat into the 2012 Presidential campaign ring.”...
This is a sick joke, right?
“Translating those soundbites into actual policies, however, is an entirely different matter as we will explore in much greater detail throughout this series.”
I would comment that the legislature is liberal and any Governor has to live with that. When Reagan was President and Democrats controlled Congress, his policies were not always conservative either (Amnesty etc). It is one thing being conservative without any real-life responsibilities (like congress/legislature controlled by other party), such as conservative pundit or blogger (or maybe Gov of deep red-state) vs one that has to live with realities.
I don’t know enough about Christie to form a strong opinion one way or not, but sure he has been good for the conservative brand in the US.
Agreed. However I would happily swap Christie for Snyder in Michigan.
There’s a big difference between missing Corzine and pushing this guy as our national leader.
This is a good and useful piece that should probably be posted to FR weekly until the shallow bandwagon jumpers finally soak it in.
Conservative New Jersey should be titled Reactionary New Jersey.
Bingo.
Chris Christie and New Jersey PERFECT together.
Chris Christie and the Presidency - BAD news.
“If conservatives are looking for the “perfect” conservative “...
We MUST NOT fall for this kind of crap again. You all can drop the accusations against wanting ‘perfection’, arguments over who is or isn’t ‘electable’, the ‘any body but’s, etc....it will NOT work this time, GOP be danged!!
We do NOT want a McCain repeat!! NO PROGRESSIVE RHINO’S!!
Good grief! Some are sounding pretty high and mighty. Enjoy Obamba another 4 years if you think Christie is not good enough for you.
Maybe you want Christine O’Donnell to be our nominee?
Thank you for this. I also will weigh in and say that Chris Christie is great for New Jersey, but he would be a rotten candidate for President.
I would also like to see some discussion of his positions on the social issues. I don’t think he would show up very well there, either.
His strength has been budgetary. But even there, as this article suggests, there may be problems. Talk one way, act another. This guy is only a “conservative” in New Jersey. Kind of like the other Christie—Christie Whitman.
TEA stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” As a proven budget warrior, Christie is well qualified to represent the movement. The fact that he’s not especially ‘conservative’ is neither here nor there, except to social conservatives who think the TPM is about social conservative values.
You left another one out, lol.
He will not take a position of the Ground Zero Mosque despite the hundreds of New Jersey residents murdered on that day.
McCain won New Hampshire. He won South Carolina. And with those two elections effectively dried up campaign money for other "conservatives."
Chris Christie: A Conservative Myth - Part 1
Chris Christie: A Conservative Myth - Part 2
Chris Christie: A Conservative Myth - Part 3
Chris Christie: A Conservative Myth - Part 4
Chris Christie: A Conservative Myth - Part 5
Great comparison. Christie, like Rudy is a part conservative, who fights hard for what he believes in an area very hostile to conservatives.
At this point, it would be very difficult to elect a better Governor of NJ, but we can definitely elect a much more conservative POTUS.
I admire much of what Rudy accomplished and what Christie is trying to do, but neither deserve conservative support for POTUS.
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