Posted on 01/21/2014 2:58:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The Republican Party put all of their 2016 eggs in the Christie basket. Now the basket has George Washington Bridge size hole, Hillary Clinton has opened up an 8 point lead and Republicans are panicking.
The first whiff of GOP panic came from a recent New York Times story,
Of all the new realities that Mr. Christie must confront, perhaps the most humbling is a sense of losing the momentum that surrounded him just a few months ago. Last year, the governor’s staff had begun building up his foreign policy bona fides, quietly reaching out to Brian H. Hook, a Republican foreign policy expert who worked at the United Nations for President George W. Bush, and started planning his international trip.
Asked whether the trip is still on, Mr. Christie’s adviser William J. Palatucci responded: “It’s all to be determined.”
Inside the Republican Party, the once constant talk of Mr. Christie’s path to the White House has quieted. “I think anything about a 2016 deal, at this point, is on the back burner,” said Ray Washburne, the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
The panic grew after Christie’s disastrous fundraising trip to Florida, where instead of moving on from the scandals, he was so besieged that he had to hide out and avoid the media and the public.
The results of the latest Quinnipiac poll should turn the panic into a full blown inferno as Hillary Clinton has opened up an eight point lead on Christie. The December Quinnipiac poll was one the few that was friendly to the Republican cause, so the GOP has been beating this poll into the ground. But the January poll revealed that Christie is being immensely damaged by the scandals.
Christie went from being in a statistical tie with Clinton last month to trailing the former Sec. of State 46%-38% today. The scandals are destroying Christie with Independents. He has gone from leading Clinton 47%-32% to trailing 41%-40%. The percentage of respondents who think that he would make a good president has plunged from 49% in December to 35% today.
Republicans know that they don’t have another candidate that come close to Clinton in any way. The same Quinnipiac poll shows Clinton leading Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Jeb Bush all by double digits. The Republican establishment is behind Christie. The big Republican money is behind Christie. The RNC changed the party’s nominating process to benefit Christie, and now the New Jersey governor is being undone by scandals that highlight his temperament issues.
Christie’s image and reputation are being severely damaged by these scandals. His brand as a blue collar, tough talking governor who gets things done has been replaced by the image of a petty vindictive bully. Once a candidate has been negatively defined for the electorate, it is nearly impossible to change that image. It is this reality that Republicans have yet to face.
Chris Christie is damaged goods just like Mitt Romney was damaged goods. The Republican establishment may go through with their plan to nominate Christie. If they do, they will find out that it doesn’t matter how the investigations turn out. The damage has already been done, and Republicans may end up stuck with another fatally flawed candidate who has virtually no chance of winning.
The idea of Christie beating Clinton has always seemed like a dubious Republican pipe dream, but never did the GOP think that they would be spending 2014 watching their only viable candidate go up in smoke.
And that is why they keep losing....they don’t/can’t see that. We do but they don’t. They actually think that Democrats are their friends and don’t see them as nothing but the enemy,.
I didn’t back Romney at all. He was a fraud from the get go.
.......and mass celebrations start at FR.
Reagan was way behind Carter, at this point in 1978”. Cruz”almost singular stand against obamacare in 2013 will make him seem like a conservative prophet come 2016. Just watch.
May Christie’s bulk claim his mortality,
May Hilary’s age, and that hidden crystal in the plam of her hand, turn white, before 2016. Logan awaits.
Exactamundo, and that's the horrible calculus that faces the GOP-e today.
Any red-blooded conservative with a backbone and a proven record of accomplishment will get overwhelming support from Republican voters. A RINO squish, on the other hand, will cause the conservative right to stay home, or vote third party.
They can't win without us. I hope they realize that we're done giving our votes to country club Republicans who do not represent the country class. If they haven't realized the fundamental dynamics at work here, then they'll just put up another milquetoast loser and hand the White House the Dems again.
Excellent Geron, that line is going to be stolen in the future for my use. Thanks!
I swallowed vile and voted for McCain largely because of his running mate.
Romney was a little better but not by much.
Next time I’ll sit it out (except for the state and local races) if we don’t get a candidate of at least Cruz’s credentials or better.
B) Christie was only the favorite of RINOs.
C) Hellary was only the favorite of the Media.
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That's where I'm at. I've held my nose, and gagged while voting in the last two presidential cycles, but no more. If there isn't a Palin or a Cruz at the top of the next Republican ticket, they can kiss my vote bye-bye.
And I will NOT be bullied or shamed into voting for the lesser of two evils again. Ever. If the party machine can't put a righteous American at the head of our ticket, then let's just stop the whole charade and take it to the next logical step.
Not to worry, Jeb’s fat too!
Agreed.
Christie was never going to be the nominee.
Not if we pick a real leader and not a RINO farce.
Not predicting, but stating, I would be a better candidate than most of the names that seem to've been floated around (Christie, and Jeb spring to mind; Palin would likely be too polarizing1). I like Cruz, and so far seems to be the only Republican candidate who I'd vote for.
One of the things that I think the GOP did w/ Romney was spent the last of its credibility — they pushed a guy who was pretty much Obama's clone as their alternative, even as they added "no exceptions, not even rape and incest" to the abortion plank they heartily endorced Mr. "Of course I support abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and the mother's health." (And for people not versed in politician "mother's health" really means "at will".) And this was in addition to the lackluster efforts in anything the party's reputation/planks is for — In short, people got tired of the Republican party being all talk and no action.
1 The thing that turns me off about her as a candidate is that there's a [fairly vocal] group of fans that are too close to a cult of personality for my comfort; I didn't like that about Obama during his candidacy and I don't like it about Palin. — We do not need "yes men" in DC.
bkmk
Sounds like we can cancel the 2016 election over this.
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