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.
Obama played him like a fiddle.
The only good thing here is that because of his Obama ash kissing his personal appearance and his appearance on SNL the media won’t be able to make Krisky Cream our nominee in 2016.
That sums it up. They are Republicans (insert trademark symbol). The are not Conservatives, except as compared to the Communists around them.
Judging from the election results, it appears ALL of the New England states can be totally written off..... forever. They should just split off from the rest of the country along with New York, Philly and California.
In a nutshell, this is pretty much all you need to know about the self-impressed gasbag.
Obama hadn’t done anything, so just what was the fat slob thinking? Photo-op. That’s it. Screw Christie.
Mister Christie went from rock star (kinda) to persona non grata in one big fat flip.
He will never serve as governor again, or anything higher than that. One suspects that he won't even have the "numbers" to run again.
(I just removed a Twinkie remark as too mean.)
.
Don’t you mean upright base?
” 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.”
Sounds plausible. Anyway, this RINO whale is a POS
“I don’t mind a parasite; I object to a cut-rate one.”
— Humphrey Bogart (to Peter Lorre); CASABLANCA (1942)”
One of the great lines in film history : )
My all-time favorite film, hands down, without any question. Every last line in it is one of the great lines in film history. ;)
I think that cow heart of his won't even make it to 2016.
"I wouldn't bring up Paris if I were you. It's poor salesmanship."
My favorite movie too. Rick Blaine is my hero.
seems accurate
However, Christie's one shot at reelection is based on overwhelming approval and high turnout by New Jersey Republicans.
That part of the equation collapsed when Christie poured unconditional - and completely undeserved - praise on Obama just days before the national election.
Christie nailed his own political coffin shut when he responded to completely reasonable political criticism from Republicans by telling Hard Left reporters that he didn't “give a damn” about the outcome of the presidential election.
Christie has no future in the Republican Party, he will be decisively beaten in 2013, and he will start a new career attacking Conservatives on Hard Left TV programs.
Christie will not be president. He doesn’t have a chance.
I think that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s perfectly plausible. The left, decades ago, began infiltrating and taking over the media and academia. They’ve accomplished the infiltration of, and are in the midst of the takeover of mainstream “Christianity”. One of the few remaining large institutions left for them to infiltrate and then rot from the inside out is the only significant opposition political party. Some of the Republican politicians have been more leftist than Democrats of a long-gone era. They seem to be using the double tactics of pulling actual Republican politicians to the left, and posing as Republican politicians themselves.
He’ll lose anyway.
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