“Maybe the folks in Washington, D.C., should tune in
their TVs right now and see how it’s done,” said the big winner of Tuesday
last.
“I did not seek a second term to do small things,” Chris
Christie went on, but “to finish the job — now watch me do it.”
Humility is not the governor’s strong suit.
Yet, Christie registered a remarkable victory. He won
with 60% in a blue state, winning 55% of women, half of the Hispanic vote and
20% of African-Americans.
If he could replicate those numbers in New Jersey and
nationally in 2016, Chris Christie would be elected president in a landslide.
“This fellow is really on the right track,” says
seven-term Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, “if the Republican Party is not too stupid.”
To fill out Christie’s ticket in 2016, Hatch proposes Susana Martinez of New
Mexico, who made eight campaign stops with Christie on Monday.
Democrats concur with Hatch. The headline on the lead
story on page one of Thursday’s Washington Post reads: “Democrats Take Aim at
Christie: He’s Seen as GOP’s Best Hope for 2016.”
“The Elephant in the Room” is the title of Time’s cover
story.
And with the corporate contributors and Beltway bundlers
gravitating to him, Christie is emerging as the establishment’s hope to
recapture the GOP from its Tea Party, libertarian, social conservative and
populist wing.
Will Christie be the candidate in 2016?
Put me down as a skeptic.
* ME TOO!
Some of us yet recall James “Scotty” Reston of the New
York Times writing in 1963 that Nelson Rockefeller had as much chance of losing
the Republican nomination as he did of going broke.
* NELSON ROCKEFELLER WAS A NEW YORK POLITICIAN...
* OH... NEVER MIND... GOOGLE HIM!
(*GUFFAW*)
Comes the retort: Christie is no Nelson Rockefeller, but
a pro-life conservative with five kids and Middle American values.
Why then the skepticism?
(*PAUSE*)
Geography, persona and culture — for openers.
(*NOD*)
The Republican Party is a Southern, Midwestern and
Western party; suburban and rural. Not since Tom Dewey in 1948 has the GOP nominated
a candidate from the urban Northeast.
And Chris Christie is not only from New Jersey; he is
indelibly and proudly so.
The candidate who comes closest to him is Rudy Giuliani,
hero of 9/11. Christie may be the hero of Hurricane Sandy, but Sandy is not
remembered nationwide like the shock and horror 9/11.
* AND POST-SANDY HISTORY IS STILL BEING FORMULATED,
FOLKS...
(*SHRUG*)
As Rudy won two terms in the toughest turf in America for
a Republican, New York City, Christie has now won two terms in New Jersey.
(*NOD*)
So, how did Rudy, who started off 2008 as the
front-runner in the Republican polls, do? He did not win a single primary.
* YEP... AND I SUPPORTED HIM!
Then, there is the “in-your-face” persona of Christie, a
pol who does not suffer fools gladly and is forever finding them along rope
lines and at town hall meetings. (Not a good fit for Cedar Rapids or Sioux
City.)
Moreover, Christie seems to have no coattails. Despite
his triumph, he failed to make significant gains in the state House or state
Senate, both of which remain solidly Democratic.
* TRUE...
Then there is the reputation Christie has built as a self-centered
politician. At the 2012 GOP convention, his prime-time address was the
political counterpart of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Mitt Romney went
unmentioned until 16 minutes into the speech.
(*SNORT*)
According to Chuck Todd of NBC, though heading for a
blowout, Christie rebuffed a desperate plea to come down to Virginia for a few
hours to help Ken Cuccinelli, whose late surge almost won the state.
* DOUCHE...
And while Christie embraced and thanked President Obama
profusely for federal assistance during Sandy, when asked about a visit by his
party nominee Romney to view the damage, he retorted, “I have no idea, nor am I
the least bit concerned or interested.”
* ...BAG.
Christie trounced state Sen. Barbara Buono, who was abandoned
by her party. Yet, according to an NBC poll, were he running for president
against Hillary, Christie would lose New Jersey 48-44.
* WHICH TELLS YOU HOW F#CKED UP NEW JERSEY IS... (BUT,
YEAH... NEW YORK IS WORSE...)
In congratulating the governor, the Wall Street Journal
noted that Christie has failed “to improve the state’s economy.
* YEAH... THERE IS THAT...
New Jersey ranks 49th in the Tax Foundation’s state
business tax climate index, ahead of only New York.
(*SHRUG*)
The state jobless rate is still 8.5%, among the 10
highest in the country.”
(*YET ANOTHER SHRUG*)
Christie appears to be peaking more than two years before
the Iowa caucuses. And not only will Democrats be spending 26 months blocking
him in Trenton and trashing him nationally, so, too, will those elements in the
GOP who see in the coalescing Chamber of Commerce-Beltway elite alliance a plot
to seize the party from them.
* YEP...
These folks will not be going gentle into that good
night.
* NO WE'RE NOT!
Nor is Christie being helped by all the bouquets being
tossed his way by a media that regards his party’s base as extremist.
(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)
If a civil war is coming inside the GOP, does Chris
Christie wish to be the champion of the establishment? Because that is where
the forces assembling are pushing him.
No comments:
Post a Comment