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.
That fat ba$tard is dead to me. Not that he was my favorite to begin with - with his reflexively anti-gun stance and his nomination of multiple pro-Islamist judges in the name of “diversity” - but he all but gave Bathhouse tongue during Sandy and positively sunk any chance of getting rid of that Commie SOB.
I will be a broken glass Republican for anyone BUT Christie.
Narcissitic behavior is the “new Normal”!
Where ya been Hildy?
/s
I think you are right. I think those lunatics would indeed nominate Jeb. I swear by all thats holy, i will NEVER vote for anyone named Bush. Even if they aren’t related. Even if the dems run Lenins grandson against him.
I mean it, i really do. At that point it would be better to vote for the democrats directly, rather than endure the death of 1000 cuts with the GOP.
I formerly loved Christie.....not anymore. I can understand working for your state and being emotional about the devastation, but he went too far praising and hugging Obama. Fool.
Does anyone think that people will vote for a guy who could keel over at any time from a massive coronary?
The colloquial New Jersey comment would be: “He thinks who he is’’.
Too comfortable in one’s skin.
Not far at all. A fat-ass Lou Costello look-a-line f’ing RINO would be a heavy load indeed.
Chris Christie is the new Charlie Crist and will soon suffer the same fate!
I enjoyed watching his take no prisoners attitude but that was te end for me. He is dead to me. He is worse than a rino. He is a traitor.
That fat freak will never get my vote for anything...including dog catcher.
When Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie took Obama to a Atlantic City, New Jersey to see the storm damage from the big storm called Sandy and Christie decided to bizarrely gush over Obama and hug him, I could not believe my eyes. My first thought was that Obama or an Obama inner circle person or an elect-Obama person must have threatened him or his family in some major way. That thought was only strengthened when a day or so later Mayor Bloomberg of New York City also surprisingly put on a big nervous over the top act of praising Obama and recommending him for president and scraping the barrel for a plausible reason. Reason: the environment. I understand they both needed federal disaster relief aid for their regions. But, their behavior seemed to go further. Under the not too good acting, both Chris Christie and Mayor Bloomberg looked pained and frightened when as they lunged overboard and acted out of character, as if their very lives depended on pushing Obama over the top to being reelected president.
What an unmittigated pantload!!!
A political anminal with a futre I don’t intend to have any part in.
His choice to lavish Obama at the critical hour rather than simply making like the New York Democrat and tending his States business seems to demonstrate that this man has at the very least very poor judgement. Perhaps not as poor as his new York Counter parts in all other areas but in the critical political area he is sorely lacking.
Assuming hes not wolf in sheep clothing which I am prepared to believe he is as you suggest. Hes got me wondering what Ann Coulter sees in the man, and if she really still sees it.
If his political ambitions extend no farther than another five years in the governor's residence and maybe 12-18 years in the Senate, he needn't care at all what Republicans or conservatives in other States think.
But it won't work. Blacks will elect Booker with a 98% straight-ticket Democrat vote (and some help from Axelgrease sending extortion threats to key election officials, and a big chunk of runaway Mexicans voting 75/25 Democrat), and 12 years from now we'll have to think really hard to remember who this guy was.
Like their coverage of NCAA football: They always have perennial faves, like Notre Dame and anyone in the ACC.
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