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.
Is Frank Lautenberg still one of them? If Lautenberg kicks the bucket, will Christie knock over chairs and hatracks to get to a podium to appoint himself to the seat? That would short-circuit the suspense and put him in Easy Street for life, and no Booker fight next year. Whaddayathink?
Like I said in a previous thread on this same subject last weekend, exspect this fat tub of lard to jump ship and go RAT within the next 16 months.
Yes, that’s about the same thing, I guess. Same goes for the NFL teams. They’re always high lighted and so wonderful.
And now Cory Booker is going to live on food stamps for a week. Sounds like he’s posturing for the governorship because now he can identify with those in NJ who are hurting.
I think if he runs, Christie can kiss his governorship goodbye.
Yes, Christie is overweight and I think he knows it. What disturbs me is all the fat remarks on this thread. Its as bad as the lefties calling people names. I don’t endorse what Christie did, nor have I walked in his shoes, but I know people who are overweight and are good friends of mine. It pains me to hear so many degrading adjectives toward him.
Slam him for what he did and his policies, but can’t we be a little more cautious on the name calling?
15 minutes are up. Next!
He committed the two errors fatal to all center-left Republicans.
First, he completely demoralized or enraged Conservatives.
Second, Democrats NEVER vote for a fake Democrat if they can vote for a real one.
Christie won in 2009 because Republican turnout was very high and Democrat turnout was quite low.
That will not happen in 2013.
Howdy Catsrus. I hear what you are saying, but try not to be toooo hard on me. I am totally guilty of calling Christie dirty names that I would never ever call an overweight person that I had respect for. I love diversity and the world just wouldn’t be any fun at all if everyone looked all alike! But in this case I am disgusted with Christies behavior, his selfishness, and his very poor decision making skills and its just so easy to express it by calling the man a bloated blubbering slob. But in NO way does that mean I view perfectly nice overweight people with the same negativity! In another example I could say, I hate Christie’s stupid face. While if his same face was on someone else it might be a perfectly nice face. Anyway you sound like a very nice person and your concern for others is commendable.
Yep, and then there was Bob Dole.
The Pubs have a list. When it is "your turn" you will be rewarded with the nomination because "you paid your dues" abd nothing in heaven or on earth can change that. Rising to your level of incompetence is a virtue in the party.
Praising obama (sucking up to get goodies for your state) will get him points with whoever is in charge of the list. The media has a few votes on who makes the list.Christie will be the new-style larger tent bipartisan Pub of the future, only to be shot down in the week before some future presidential election when it is discovered his favorite recipe for ribs was made by a white guy.
You seem to forget that Christie is governor of NJ. I seriously doubt there are many conservatives in that state anyway. The best they can hope for is a RINO, and that’s what they got. The Northeastern Republicans are a whole different breed.
I had a friend who is pretty astute in politics ask me Mon if Chris Christie is now the front-runner for the GOP in 2016. He was surprised to learn that I thought he was toast...that he had ruined his chance with the right. Goes to show different perspectives...
““Christie,” a Romney adviser said, “allowed Obama to be president, not a politician.”
Are they kidding? There is not one thing that obama does that does NOT involve being a politician. Christie allowed himself to be used as a photo op in husseins re-election. Ask the people affected by Sandy how much better off they are now than when obama said he had their backs.
Yeah; watching those two together was actually more disgusting than porn. Definitely worse for the country.
It’s possible Christie used the “I love obama” situation to his advantage. He wants to run in 2016. But he couldn’t run against Romney so he found an opportunity to help obama. I don’t trust any politician from New Jersey.
The Bushes are the other side of the same coin as the Kennedys and Rockefellers - One-world government elitists who take us all as rubes. They are right - we are rubes. You'll see that in 2016.
See #25. ;)
Christie is clueless.
Christie is an attention-whore. His convention speech was nauseating. I’m not a huge fan of pop-psychology, but I suspect it’s a consequence of suddenly being in the limelight after a lifetime of being the fat kid left on the bench after team selection.
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