Posted on 11/20/2012 8:51:44 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
I keep thinking, “Christie can’t possibly come back from this.” And then I think, “Wait, did we actually just nominate John McCain and the guy responsible for RomneyCare?”
Never underestimate the Republican capacity to forgive, my friends:
But behind the scenes, the intensity of the reaction from those in Mr. Christie’s party caught him by surprise, interviews show, requiring a rising Republican star to try to contain a tempest that left him feeling deeply misunderstood and wounded...
The tensions followed Mr. Christie to the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Las Vegas last week. At a gathering where he had expected to be celebrated, Mr. Christie was repeatedly reminded of how deeply he had offended fellow Republicans.
“I will not apologize for doing my job,” he emphatically told one of them in a hotel hallway at the ornate Wynn Resort...
Inside the Romney campaign, there is little doubt that Mr. Christie’s expressions of admiration for the president, coupled with ubiquitous news coverage of the hurricane’s aftermath, raised Mr. Obama’s standing at a crucial moment...
“Christie,” a Romney adviser said, “allowed Obama to be president, not a politician.”
Romney 2012 donors, many of whom were doubtless prospective Christie 2016 donors, are supposedly “furious.” Two things here. One: While Christie will wisely and strenuously attempt to frame this as an argument over whether he was supposed to “do his job” in the aftermath of a ferocious disaster, that’s a total red herring. The objection isn’t that he worked with Obama, it’s that he seemed bizarrely determined to lavish fulsome praise on the guy with election day bearing down. He could have simply said, “I’ve been working with the president throughout the crisis. He and FEMA have been helpful.” Mike Bloomberg, who ended up endorsing Obama, politely declined his request to visit NYC after the storm on grounds that it would have been disruptive. Christie could have done that too. Bottom line: How would it have interfered with Christie’s ability to “do his job” if he had merely refused to provide Obama with a glorious bipartisan photo op just a few days before the election? Was O not going to take his calls for FEMA aid anymore otherwise? It’s impossible to believe that this was all a product of storm-induced blindness to the political implications rather than Christie working an angle to appeal to Democrats in New Jersey ahead of a tough gubernatorial race potentially with Cory Booker.
Two: How much will it hurt him really? If Booker does run and Christie beats him next year, it’ll be a morale booster for conservatives nationally who are still bummed about 2012. Then, eyeing a presidential run in 2016, he’ll start tacking to the right. He’ll do a lot of grumbling about Obama to media outlets to try to purge the lingering aftertaste of his Sandy press conference. He’ll also do some outreach to Latino voters and young voters, both in New Jersey and nationally, to build media buzz that he’s “building bridges” to key demographics that the GOP lost in 2012. (His Jersey persona lends itself to a paint-by-numbers “in touch with the middle class” narrative too.) He’ll have more viral-video confrontations and people will ooh and aah over those. He’ll stand out at the debates too as the brusque, no-nonsense guy among more polished candidates. The point in all this won’t be to ingratiate himself with grassroots conservatives; between the Sandy episode with O and his various other heresies, including his belief in man-made global warming, that bridge is probably burned. But, per my McCain/Romney point up top, it’s certainly possible to win the nomination even if grassroots righties disdain you, especially if the base is split several ways among other candidates (Rubio, Ryan, Paul?). I’m not saying he will win, just that it’s silly to write him or anyone off right now. We nominated Mitt Romney and John McCain, guys. Repeat that to yourselves until it sinks in. And then, when it does, tell me how you did it. Because it still hasn’t sunken in for me.
Anyway. Even if Christie rehabilitates himself in time, it won’t be anytime soon. Via Mediaite, here’s “The Five” dumping on him on yesterday’s show.
Chris Christie = F N Judas
I will donate to anyone that runs against Christie ..... even a democrat.
Awww....Don’t worry, Governor, we’ll remember in 2016.
That and worse.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up being one of those that end up either defecting to the Dems or becoming an “independent” (so-called).
I've been predicting right here, for months now, that the GOP-e/CINO brain trust would (and most likely will) ecstatically champion a Jebbie Bush/Chris Christie ticket in '16.
It won't be even remotely conservative, of course... but, oh my: won't they concede victory to Hillary ever so gracefully, on election night -- ?!?
I’ll be voting for the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party nominee in 2016 if Chrispy Creme is on the Republican line. What a dufus!!
Not sure why people are so surprised that one Romney Republican would turn on another. After all, it’s what liberals DO.
He said that Christie had to suck up to O on camera to win his future re-election in Blue state NJ which he needs to do to have a chance to get the R nomination in 2016. Adding that his popularity in that area has soared compared to Boomberg and Coumo for that photo-op.
So it goes that once Christie wins NJ re-election that Republicans will be so starving for the WH that they will be begging for him to be the nominee.
OK, if this sounds made up he also pointed out how the R party picked McCain and then Romney as nominees. That they will ignore conservative principles for the ‘most electable’.
OWCH, that hurt!
"A tender-hearted woman finds a dying, half-frozen snake on the side of the road. Taking the snake home, she revives it by the fire and and hugs it to her bosom.
"The snake then promptly bites her, then hisses smugly as she lies dying in disbelief: 'Silly woman! You knew I was a snake before you brought me in!'"
Booker will beat Christie. The end.
she did. she told Barak to let Hostess go tits up.
He’s dead to me.
SNL was the coupe de grace. He’s dead to me.
Socratic moment
Corey Booker, Mayor of Newark, is a black, Rhodes Scholar, like Slick Willie, Democrat. The fat man only beat Corzine by 4% last election. NJ is a Democrat state and Booker will bury him.
It is discouraging, but it took us generations to get to this point, and the fix is not going happen overnight. We are winning within the party, but it would sure help if the party wasn’t so insistent on shooting itself in the foot.
I know folks directly impacted by the hurricane. Christie is still running around, giving speeches with the democrat senators. There is nothing out of the ordinary being done for the citizens of NJ, in fact there is wide scale suffering.
I watched Christie during the hurricane. He praised Obama to high heaven when Obama had done nothing, and he absolutely treated Romney like a leper at the same time.
It’s Christie who is playing politics with this, and I’d love to know what “job” he is doing to help anyone. He’s a perfect democrat at this point, pretend to care while people go to hell.
These East Coast Republicans are always built up by the East Coast media and East Coast pundits, like Ann Coulter.
And guess what, Booker isn’t that bad. He put his life at risk tossing out a corrupt democrat machine in Newark. I’m very conservative and he can have my vote, because Christie sure is not getting it.
“If Booker does run and Christie beats him next year, it’ll be a morale booster for conservatives”
Fascinating. How does Christie winning anything from this moment forward boost my morale?
And that fat guy will never be president. A few pounds, maybe,, but that kind of obesity is a huge deal killer.
Besides, he’s a one trick pony. He can talk tough to unionized teachers. But he loves Islam, illegal immigration, gays, abortion, etc. He’s no conservative.
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