Memo to WaPo's Eugene Robinson: It's the Baseline And Not the Waistline that Voters Care About

ATR ^ | 2011-10-04 | Patrick Gleason

[92nina]

The media has been consumed for the past week with speculation over whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will jump into the presidential race. The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, apparently having trouble coming up with anything of value to write about, penned a laugable column in last Friday's Washington Post alleging that Christie's weight made him unfit for the Oval Office (Flashback: remember when calling Obama skinny was considered racist by folks at Slate.) As ATR's Patrick Gleason recently responded in the Daily Caller:

If the best Obama supporters can come up with against Chris Christie is “bu bu but, he’s fat,” then White House staff should begin circulating their resumes if Christie enters the race, because that argument didn’t work for former Democratic Governor Jon Corzine, who ran campaign ads in 2009 not so subtly drawing attention to Christie’s weight. The fact is, when it comes to discipline amongst politicians, voters are more interested in fiscal discipline — and in that regard Gov. Christie’s record stands in stark contrast to that of President Obama. When Chris Christie was elected in 2009, he was confronted with a massive budget deficit as a result of both the recession and years of profligacy under Jon Corzine. Christie responded by putting expenditures in line with revenues and making necessary spending cuts. And we’re talking about real cuts, not the kind of cuts that the White House bemoans, which are nothing more than modest downward adjustments in increased spending. The first budget Christie signed into law cut spending by five percent from the previous year. The FY 2012 budget signed into law by Christie this summer was $900 million less than what legislative Democrats wanted. Christie also vetoed job-killing tax hikes on small businesses while increasing state education funding by $850 million. What’s more, Christie stayed true to his campaign promise to fix the state’s broken and unsustainable public employee compensation structure, enacting reforms that will save the state $130 billion over the next 30 years. The Washington Post’s Robinson feigns concern over Christie’s health and Bloomberg’s Kinsley questions Christie’s ability to lead, yet it is due to Christie’s political courage and leadership that New Jersey’s long-term fiscal health is improving. Contrast this with Obama, who, like Christie, came into office after years of overspending by his predecessor. Rather than begin to rectify the spending problem in Washington, as Christie did and continues to do in Trenton, President Obama doubled down on George W. Bush’s overspending, increasing annual federal spending by 31 percent — from $2.9 trillion in FY 2008 to $3.8 trillion in 2011.

[92nina]

Professional Left Pathetically Attacks NJ Gov. Chris Christie's Weight

Take this article and others I found to the fight to the Libs on their own turf; put the Left on the defensive at Digg and at Reddit and in Stumbleupon and Delicious

[DPMD]

One suspects there is less fat on all of Christie than there is between the ears of the average liberal columnist.

[burroak]

This is not quite on point, but Robinson is unwatchable, for me, on the talk shows. He has a nasally, whining, yammering, shuck n jive delivery in which he says very little. It reminds me of William Buckley. But, Buckley, after that searching pregnant pause, actually had something to say. Robinson is so predictable that by the time he has gathered the end of his thought yarn, you know what he will say.

My reaction is to either change the channel or turn the TV off. But, that’s just me.

[92nina]

Agreed about not watching the talk shows. I'd add don't pick up the Washington Post either.