Palin v. Christie

The Hill ^ | March 10, 2011 | A.B. Stoddard

[2ndDivisionVet]

If you were planning on running in the GOP primary for president — this year or any year — would you fight with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in public? Probably not.

Check out a piece by Christian Heinze in The Hill about the feud between Christie and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), a story neither side would comment on. Apparently it all started when Palin offered to campaign for Christie as he made his bid for governor in 2009, and he declined the offer. At the time he said "this is about New Jersey issues and New Jersey, and I don't think having Gov. Palin here would do me, or frankly the state, a whole lot of good in the sense that we need to talk and focus on what the New Jersey issues are."

If you were planning on running in the GOP primary for president — this year or any year — would you fight with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in public? Probably not.

Check out a piece by Christian Heinze in The Hill about the feud between Christie and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), a story neither side would comment on. Apparently it all started when Palin offered to campaign for Christie as he made his bid for governor in 2009, and he declined the offer. At the time he said "this is about New Jersey issues and New Jersey, and I don't think having Gov. Palin here would do me, or frankly the state, a whole lot of good in the sense that we need to talk and focus on what the New Jersey issues are."

OK, Christie didn't have to go that far. He could have quietly said no, thank you. But he was obviously courting independent voters in the Garden State and wanted them to know he had turned the offer down. He has not passed up the opportunity since, however, to criticize Palin. He not only told The New York Times he need more unscripted moments, saying, "If Gov. Palin never does any of those things, she'll never be president, because people in America won't countenance that," but Christie even went as far as to say that Palin shouldn't have used the phrase "blood libel" in the video she released after the Tucson shootings.

Indeed, Christie is doing what few Republicans will, criticizing Palin and risking the wrath of the grassroots conservatives who love her. And though she held her fire for a while, she finally let loose on him last week. "He has no choice but to cut budgets, because he's broke, his state is broke," she said on Fox Business Network, adding that real courage is cutting spending when the state has a surplus, which, she added, is what she did in Alaska.

Christie is willing to fight with Palin because he can — for one, he's said he isn't running for president — but more importantly, he is more popular with the base right now than she is. If Palin truly is running, which it doesn't appear she is, she wouldn't likely be fighting back. Another possible sign? Palin won't be at the first Republican debate scheduled for May 2 in California at the Ronald Reagan Library, and will instead keynote a Colorado fundraiser for families of fallen soldiers. Mike Huckabee isn't going to be there, but he isn't looking like a candidate either.

There will be another debate three days later, Friday, May 5, in South Carolina. Will Palin be there?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Okay, you and I are the "base" that they're talking about. Who is more "popular" with the base, Governor Sarah Palin or Governor Chris Christie? Sure I admire him for standing up to the unions in his state, but he's a gun-grabber, pro-WTC Mosque and a RINO in many other ways.

[glorgau]

From the quotes in the article, it doesn’t sound like they are arguing.

[SeaHawkFan]

Palin is far more popular with the GOP base. The GOP establishment fears her because she is against corruption by both Democrats and Republicans.

[unseen1]

the latest poll form Nj shows Chrisite lost 10pts in the last couple months. Mostly form the gop base. You tell me who is mor epopular even in NJ?

[silverleaf]

Christie’s arrogance and ego help him deal with the unions, but he has a problem in being gracious - to someone like Sarah Palin

I see this as a fault, and a disappointment in him, but not a fatal one to supporting him as a candidate

[unseen1]

Poll: New Jerseyans' opinion of Gov. Christie has dropped 10 points

Republicans are somewhat less positive about the governor’s job performance following his budget speech: Christie’s 39 percent excellent rating among GOP voters after last November‘s election falls to 27 percent. Another 38 percent rate his performance as fair or poor compared to 26 percent in December. Independents also are less likely to rate Christie excellent: 14 percent now compared to 21 percent in December. At the same time, they also are less likely to rate the governor poor: 19 percent now compared to 23 percent in December. Since the budget address, independents are less polarized about the governor’s job performance, and registered Democrats also are somewhat less extreme. More than half of Democratic in November rated Christie’s performance as poor. Forty-two percent rate him poor now.

Notice he is losing support from the gop base but his dem support is going up. It simply isn't enough to counteract his loss of support from the gop and indies. Christie is bleeding support. Now the NYT is out attacking him today. He choose to attack conservatives instead of Obama and the dems and now he is paying for it.

As far as the campaign issue. Mitt's people were behind that in NJ and in VA and IMO it made NJ a lot closer of an election than it had to be. Also notice that NJ did not follow the national gop wave of the 2010 election since Chrisite kept conservative s out of the state and didn't campaign for them in NJ

[Le Chien Rouge]

A governor like Christie works fine for New Jersey but his shtick would not work in Texas.

There is NO feud between Palin and Christie but the media are doing EVERYTHING possible to create one.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Christie is willing to fight with Palin because he can — for one, he's said he isn't running for president — but more importantly, he is more popular with the base right now than she is.

What a joke. The clown who wrote this piece doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just been listening to Ann Coulter's delusional rantings about Christie.

BTW, there is no "feud," just a LSM manufactured story based on a couple of Christie cheap shots and eye rolls, followed by Palin's response WHEN ASKED ABOUT IT BY JUDGE PIRRO on Fox.

[rsflynn]

Is it possible to like both? Just sayin’.....

[hosepipe]

Palin shot a bullet into the Republican machine in Juneau..
What she missed was the democrat machine..

Truth is the democrat machine and the republican machine are incestuous bed partners..

They have political sex with each other..
Same in Washington D.C. except there... gender does not matter..

[SarahPalin2012]

Ann Coulter is never delusional.

Christie is a welcome fighter for a state like NJ. I like him a lot, but he is not a national figure at this time.

Sarah is about the only person in the 2012 field who can get this country back from the path of failed socialism. However, as I have said in the past, if she does not run in 2012, almost all of the enthusiasm she generates will diminish. The enthusiasm is there because of the timing and the promise of great things. It will not be there if she does not run.

It’s like the Winter Olympics’ cross-country ski relays. It’s exciting for the Olympics, but one does not continue to care at other times. This is Sarah’s time. All those that think she should stay on the sidelines need to get aside themselves. She should formally declare first.

[dools0007world]

This just another attempt by the left to influence the choice of “conservative” candidate for presidient.

Personally, I don’t believe Palin wastes her time on feuds and vendettas. Attending to the business of seeing to it that a conservative runs for president is far more important and potentially world changing. Only really small minds buy into this kind of thinking.

[MattinNJ]

I love them both, but for different reasons. I live in Joisey and Christie is a Godsend. Nothing beats youtube clips of "Christie porn" as he kicks the smack out of the media and unions.

Whom do I prefer on the Ground Zero Mosque and 2nd Amendment? Palin, obviously. Whom would I rather see debate Obama? Christie-hands down.

I hope one of them wins the primary and the cleanup begins.

[Col Freeper]

It is humorous to watch the lefty presstitutes try to goad a response from Gov. Palin (and Gov. Christie), to keep the colossal "Palin vs Christie" battle (created by the presstitutes themselves) in the "news".

Poor A.B. Stoddard, probably praying to Gaia right now that one of the two will respond to her with an email or a tweet, and then she will get a "scoop".

Betsy Fischer (l) and A.B. Stoddard (r)

Here's what the leftys at Wikipedia think they know about her:

A.B. Stoddard

Alexandra Brandon Stoddard (born circa 1967) is an associate editor of The Hill newspaper, a regular contributor to the paper's Pundits' Blog and a regular guest giving political commentary on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS, HBO, BBC, CSPAN and Court TV.

Professional life

Alexandra attended the Spence School in New York City. After graduating from Connecticut College in 1991, Stoddard was employed as a reporter by the Potomac News in northern Virginia. She was a Congressional reporter for The Hill from 1995 to 1999.

In 1999 she moved to ABC News. From 1999 through 2002, she was a producer for World News Tonight and covered the U.S. Senate. She also wrote a column for ABCNews.com and contributed work to ABC Radio and ABC webcasts.

She has also done a significant amount of work as a freelance writer, working for the Boston Globe, Congressional Quarterly and The Federal Paper. She is known for her commentary on the 2008 U.S. presidential election on numerous cable news programs.

She was a regular guest on Verdict with Dan Abrams at MSNBC.

Personal life

Her father is Brandon Stoddard who was the president of ABC Productions, ABC Motion Pictures, ABC Entertainment and a partner in Ancient Mariner Films in Los Angeles. Her mother is Alexandra Stoddard, a prolific author, interior designer and lifestyle philosopher. Her aunt is Barbara Johns Waterston, owner of Providence Magazine. Her cousin is James Smallwood Waterston, an actor. Her great-aunt is Ruth Elizabeth Johns, renowned social worker.

She was married September in 1997 to Peter Scott Roberson.

[Friendofgeorge]

Absolutely the base are more for Sarah Palin, the big lie out there is that Republicans want Christie, sure some/many do, but certainly not Social Conservatives.

Who are the base?? They must mean the base minus Social Conservatives.

[Friendofgeorge]

Clear to me that CC has disrespected Sarah, I did not need this article to tell me that.

[dforest]

A whole lotta hoopla over nothing.