Monday, September 26, 2011

Suckers For Chris Christie

Christ Christie is reconsidering whether or not to run for the Presidency. Ok. I don’t think the Democrats will give him the nod over Obama, but he’s entitled to try. Wait, he’s thinking about running as a Republican? And there are conservatives pushing him? Grrr.

Rick Perry is flaming out. After Perry’s horrible debate performance, Herman Cain cleaned his clock in the Florida straw poll (37% Cain, 15% Perry) and Romney took him out in Michigan (51% Romney, 17% Perry). This has created an opening if someone else with strong name recognition wants to jump in. And to some people that means Christie.

Apparently, several big money types, including Rupert Murdoch and the billionaire Koch brothers have spoken to Christie about running. A group of 50 business leaders including Ken Langone, Jack Welch, Charles Schwab and Mort Zuckerman appealed to him in person. Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has been pimping him as well. So has The Weekly Standard and Bill Kristol. Even Ann Coulter, normally a thoughtful conservative, is a fan of Chris Christie and encouraged him to run as recently as this summer.

Mitch Daniels, who is generally conservative, has been agitating for someone new to jump into the race as well, and he just had a private meeting with Christie. Said Daniels of Christie, “he’s different, right?” Yes he is, but not in a good way.

Listen conservative suckers, this has to stop. Christie is barely even a RINO, much less a conservative. They think he’s a pro-life conservative who appeals to conservatives, moderates and liberals because he has Tea Party ideas, but isn’t ideological and won’t “demagogue” on issues like abortion or immigration. But that's not true. Consider these FACTS (read: not delusions) about Christie:

● Christie has been a tax raiser. His first budget included $250 million in new taxes and eliminated $1.3 billion in property tax refunds.

● Christie has been a big spender. Christie claims he cut spending by 9% ($2.56 billion), but spending actually increased by 6%. And even that relies on gimmicks like delaying $3 billion in payments a couple weeks into the next budget and forcing $1.2 billion in spending down to the local level through unfunded mandates.

● Christie took $1 billion in stimulus money, after promising he wouldn’t. And he borrowed $750 million to build schools in Democratic districts, after promising he would never borrow money.

● Christie took on the unions right? Wrong. There don’t appear to have been any job cuts and salaries went up 7% per year.

● He believes in global warming. In the past, he claimed he wasn’t sure, but now he claims he’s always been sure:
“In the past I’ve always said that climate change is real and it’s impacting our state. (lie) There’s undeniable data that CO2 levels and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are increasing. (wrong) This decade, average temperatures have been rising. (wrong) Temperature changes are affecting weather patterns and our climate. (wrong) . . . When you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role, it’s time to defer to the experts. (false logic)”
● Christie favors unspecified gun control because he “wants to make sure that we don’t have an abundance of guns out there.”

● Christie favors amnesty for illegal aliens:
“Being in this country without proper documentation is not a crime. The whole phrase of ‘illegal immigrant’ connotes that the person, by just being here, is committing a crime. . . It is not.”

* * *

“What I support is making sure that the federal government plays each and every one of its roles: Securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and having an orderly process — whatever that process is — for people to gain citizenship. It’s a very easy issue to demagogue and I’m just not going to participate in that.”
● He appointed liberals to all of his key positions. He appointed liberal Democrat Paula Dow as Attorney General of New Jersey. He appointed a global warming enthusiast as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. He appointed an ObamaCare supporter as Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services.

● He tried to appoint a Kinseyan (sexual perversion advocacy, masquerading as science) as Director of the Department of Children and Families.

● He fired the only conservative in his cabinet (Brett Schundler, his Commissioner of Education) for failing to grab Stimulus money which Christie had previously promised he would not accept.
So how is he different than Obama?

Let me say this to the conservative glitterati: do your damn research! Stop falling for soundbites and false images. Politicians have records and you need to examine them. If you don’t, then you end up choosing the wrong people, people who will destroy and discredit conservatism. . . people like your latest crush, Chris Christie.

52 comments:

Joel Farnham said...

I agree Andrew. Where are our conservative candidates? Herman Cain is the only one I see up there and he is struggling for just name recognition.

Ed said...

Excellent reminder Andrew. I wish conservatives would stop falling for people sight unseen. It's not good for conservatism by any means.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the breakdown on Christie. Our local radio guys is a big Christie fan and he keeps playing that clip of Christie going after the union teacher, but he never mentions anything else Christie believes. He really isn't that far from Obama is he?

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I find that frustrating as well. The MSM has really buried Cain (probably because he doesn't fit their meme that all blacks must be liberals), and the conservative media has ignored him because they've bought the idea he's unelectable. So instead, they are hopping from bandwagon to bandwagon looking for the next shooting star, no matter that these people are horribly flawed.

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, True. It's not good for conservatism and it explains why we keep losing. We spend our time looking for candidates who don't exist and ignoring huge warning signs looking for anything but a moderate.... and we end up getting moderates because conservatives can't make a rational decision about who to support. Meanwhile, the moderates picked their guy (Romney) just as they did last time (McCain) and the time before that and before that. We are letting them decide the winner because we can't get our people together. Indeed, the only conservative to sneak through was Reagan and he had to face a moderate running as an independent because moderates were so outraged that he'd snuck through.

We are our own worst enemies.

AndrewPrice said...

Anon, You're welcome. When I line up Christie next to Obama, there isn't a whole lot of difference. I honestly think Christie makes even Huntsman look like a hardcore right winger.

Unknown said...

Andrew: This is the result of the problem of focusing on single-issue candidates that both of us have tried to warn about. His confrontations with the teachers unions gave him lots of traction and publicity, as if that were the only issue that matters to conservatives.

As I've also mentioned before, I am very concerned about future US Supreme Court appointments. His appointment of a sharia-compliant judge to the NJ superior court put him out of the running for me permanently and unalterably, and I hope for a great many other conservatives. His reasoning that a Muslim could better understand the problems of the large Palestinian population in Passaic flies in the face of every legal and consitutional principle of equal justice that we hold dear. Ann Coulter of all people should have caught that.

It's time to out this guy, and your article is a great start.

T-Rav said...

Don't fret just yet...Christie aides told the WSJ this morning that despite all the interest, his "no" answer from a few months ago hasn't changed. We'll see if that holds up, but at least it's not something we have to worry about in the immediate future. Because I agree, Christie should remain NJ gov and not become our next President. I think people have just fallen in love with those YouTube videos, and not looked any deeper.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, I hope conservatives start to "get it" about Christie. I think his reasoning for appointing that judge was pretty shocking, and I think it along with his other views really puts him smack dab in the middle of the progressives. I really think he's further left than Hillary Clinton at this point.

On Ann Coulter, I don't know what she's thinking. Has she simply not looked into this? How can she not know? It's all out there for anyone to see.

This is what happens when people think by youtube... they fall for images.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, That's exactly true. People saw the youtube videos and decided they knew everything they needed to know about him. But that's ridiculous. And it makes me wonder about the "elites" who are claiming to run the conservative movement. Could they really be that daft? Or are they not as conservative as they seem?

I'm really starting to wonder. They've flirted with a whole succession of horrible candidates here and I'm finding it hard to explain.... though it does explain why conservatism has fallen off the rails since Ronald Reagan.

DUQ said...

T-Rav, Let's hope Christie says no, because that may be the only thing saving us from Christie!

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, That's an interesting way to put it. And it might be an accurate way to put it.

DUQ said...

Andrew, Rush talked about Christie and Perry and Cain this morning. He think that Christie entering the race won't hurt Perry, but will instead hurt Romney because he's more likely to attract Romney voters than Perry voters. What do you think about that?

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, I kind of doubt that. Christie is appealing to conservatives who are currently in the anybody but Romney crowd. I don't think moderates will split their votes. If they were ready to split their votes, they would split between Huntsman and Romney. I think they've settled on Romney.

AndrewPrice said...

How's this for misleading. Cain gave an interview in which he said he finds campaigning to be frustrating but that he only thought about pulling the plug on his campaign twice --

"I can't tell you what those two days are, but think about the number of days we've been on this campaign. Two ain't that bad."

The whole interview comes across very positively and he makes it clear he's never seriously thought about quitting and he's ready to go.

But the headline is "Cain nearly quit campaign before Florida straw poll" -- which makes it sound like he was ready to give up.

That's a total distortion.

rlaWTX said...

I really hate the MSM. And so-called "fair & balanced" isn't really much better.

Right after the union speeches I was sort of a Christie fan, then I started hearing things here and there that didn't hold up that perspective... And this seals the deal.

While I would like conservatives to stop chewing on each other so much, I'd also like them to realize that the MSM-supported candidates are NOT our friends!! They are wolves in sheep's clothing being pushed by straight-up wolves (OK, I hate being a sheep, but you know what I mean)

rlaWTX said...

Go, Cain!!!!

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, Well put. Even though we know the MSM is biased and will do whatever it takes to stop conservatism, conservatives let the MSM make their candidate choices for them time and again because we let them drive the agenda.

And I agree about "fair and balanced," they are just another branch of the establishment -- they don't represent conservatives and they don't have our interests at heart.

I wish our more-famous thinkers would start thinking again, like they did in the 1980s when conservatism had a strong intellectual wing. These days, it seems to be nothing more than celebrity gossip and whining about leftists.

AndrewPrice said...

"Go Cain"... I agree. Right now he's the only guy pushing a truly conservative message. His message isn't perfect, but it's the closest thing we have. So either other genuine conservatives need to step up immediately or conservatives need to get over this idea that they need an MSM-approved candidate.

AndrewPrice said...

By the way, here's the article I was talking about: LINK

Tennessee Jed said...

I would actually have a tough time voting for Christie. I guess he is a little better than Obama. Still, if he gets in, I think this post needs to be sent to all the others still left in.

Ed said...

Andrew, That's an excellent point that conservatives need to stop letting the MSM make their decisons for them. I hear conservatives complain about the MSM all the time, but then they listen to what the MSM tells them to do.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Jed, I would too. The problem with a Christie is that you'd be getting a Hillary Clinton or Obama acting in the name of conservatism. That would do a lot of damage to conservatism as we would be blamed for all the things liberalism causes while still being attacked as heartless conservatives. It's the worst of both worlds.

Ed said...

"decisions" -- sorry.

T-Rav said...

"And I agree about "fair and balanced," they are just another branch of the establishment"

But they're right-wing establishment, so that makes it okay.

I read on HuffPo this morning (I know, I know, but I still have my main email account with AOL) an interview with Roger Ailes, where he basically said that Fox was going to have a "course correction" from the far right, and mentioned a lot of damaging tidbits, like the fact that O'Reilly and Hannity don't like each other. Shoot me. I already get 90% of my news from blogs; I would really prefer not to make it 100%.

Oh, and Go Cain.

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, Absolutely. It's time conservatives revived their intellectual tradition and thought things out for themselves. That's a great thing about our audience -- you all do that. But too many conservatives (especially those in the conservative media) don't do that anymore, they just emote their way through the news.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Wow. I wonder how they define "far right"? It sounds to me like they are going from "corporate/establishment/K-street center (hint to the right)" to "corporate/establishment/K-street center (hint to the left while pretending to be right)".

If Fox moves left, then they are no better than CNN, which honestly does a better job of just covering "news" news.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, P.S. Anybody who thinks O'Reilly is actually "far right" doesn't understand left and right. O'Reilly is a creature of marketing, that's all.

And for the record, I don't like Hannity or O'Reilly.

Koshcat said...

Thanks for the article. Since he seems left of most RINOS, does that make him a RINOINO?

What the last few weeks have illustrated to me is how important the primaries are. With time, strong candidates weather the storms and weak ones just make too many gaffs.

Romney - looking good right now; second time around has polished him. Remember, during the last one, Romney won nearly all of the caucuses over McCain.

Perry - looking really bad

Bachmann - too many stumbles; maybe 2016 or 2020.

Paul - can I guy be awesome and insane at the same time?

Gingrich - see Paul

Hunstman, Santorum, etc - they will drop soon and through support behind someone (I would be Romney)

Cain - He is interesting. Inexperienced in terms of politics but has good ideas and organizational skills. He also seems to bounce back really well if he has a weak outing (HE LEARNS). His outsider status, especially if he even comes close in an early state, could really electrify the base, particularly the tea party base.

Heavily contested primaries don't always predict a good president. Look at Obama and how he fought off the Clinton machine. Pretty remarkable and pretty clear now that he had nothing to do with it.

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, You're welcome! And thanks for the interesting thoughts. I agree with you.

I think the primaries are actually a good system for weeding out the candidates who can't hack it. The one caveat on that is what happens when all the candidates stink? I think that's how Obama got through -- I think Hillary and the rest just fell apart and he was the last man standing.

On our people, I agree that Romney has really improved since 2008. Some people think he will stumble once everyone turns on him instead of Perry, but he did pretty well before Perry got into the race back when he was everyone's target.

Perry, yeah, looking bad. Bachmann too.

Paul... absolutely! He's got some great ideas and part of me would love to see him as President. But the bad parts are just too bad.

Gingrich... ditto.

Cain intrigues me. What I like are (1) that he's got a way with the public which the other candidates don't -- he seems to speak to us, rather than at us, and (2) as you say, he learns. That's the impressive thing. He's never made the same mistake twice and that would probably make him an incredibly good president.

Ed said...

"emote their way through the news" -- that's pretty true of most of what I'm seeing these days.

Notawonk said...

ruh-roh, christie's leaning to the left. save yourself!

will be linking this one as well on wednesday. well done, andrew.

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, That's exactly what's going on -- look at the number of articles written by reputable conservatives that have no facts except "boy do I like this guy."

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Patti! Let's hope people realize this quickly.

Koshcat said...

There is one other person out there I am wondering about. You know who I am talking about. People are very polarized about her, but she is still the GOPs #1 fund raiser. Does anybody know what she is going to do, especially with Bachmann and Perry stumbling?

rlaWTX said...

Kosh - I hope she who is nameless supports Cain! could you imagine the bump he'd get with that????

as for Fox, I think Andrew's definitions of "Fox-right" are correct... problem is, a lot of conservatives have bought the line!

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, I don't think anybody knows what she's thinking, but now would be the time to do it. Right now everything is in flux and that means lots of people who wouldn't look at her would be prepared to give her a second chance.

Also, with that book that just came out, she probably won quiet few people who feel that she's been unfairly attacked.

The problem is that I honestly don't think she wants to run. I think she's using the possibility of running as a moneymaking gimmick.

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, That could be huge for Cain.

As an aside, I understand that Cain has almost no endorsements from Republican politicians. Maybe a wave of those would help?

On Fox, yeah, I'm amazed how many people think Fox is truly conservative. I think they believe that because they keep hearing it over and over from the left and the right, so they assume it must be true. But it really isn't true. Ug.

Koshcat said...

rlaWTX-

I have always suspected that when she feels comfortable with one of the candidates, she will campaign furiosly for him/her. Not wanting to be president probably is a sign of sanity on her part. She is sort of getting the post-president speaker tour without the headaches of dealing with congress.

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, I've got to say, I think you almost have to be insane to want to be President these days. Not that I don't think it wouldn't be a great job or that it's not a noble thing to do... but look at what the media will do to you, your family and your friends. Look at how readily politicians call for investigations and criminal charges. Look at all the nuts who would love to kill somebody famous -- and you and your family are it.

Our society has almost ensured that nobody "normal" would ever want the office.

That's very bad for us.

Writer X said...

Herman Cain is beginning to look better by the day.

AndrewPrice said...

Writer X, Isn't that the truth! I just don't know that he's getting any traction.

T-Rav said...

Andrew, are you saying the network of Geraldo Rivera isn't strictly "news" news? Unbelievable! ;-)

On the Hannity/O'Reilly thing, I don't listen to either one much, but I definitely prefer Hannity. O'Reilly has never, even in my teenage political novice days, struck me as anything more than a demagogue. And anyone who knows anything about him and holds him up as a symbol of the "far right" is out of his mind, frankly.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, What makes O'Reilly even worse is that he pretends he doesn't have an opinion the whole time he's giving it and then when people challenge him he acts like they're being unfair to claim he has an opinion. That's a pathetic tactic. He also doesn't distinguish between the crazies and the normals when he brings them on, so he gives as much credit to the race baiters, etc. as he does to people being rational.

P.S. I found an article about Fox and Ailes at Daily Beast. From what I'm seeing Ailes is delusional.

StanH said...

I’ve followed Cain for years, he’s great and he’s no wilting flower. I expect he will play tougher and stronger as the campaign moves on towards real voting in January. If we can look back a week ago the professional pontificators in the MSM including FOX didn’t even mention his name in contention for the Florida straw poll, yet he won decisively. I expect this election to be nontraditional in regards to what the Tea Party effect will be, I think it will be huge. That’s how Herman Cain won that straw poll. As far as Palin, I like her a lot, if anything she would bring the fight that folks want, to me that’s the attraction of Christie and Trump the willingness to counterpunch, and Sarah is conservative, for the most part.

Also one point about Romney, look at his withdrawal speech at CPAC February 08. Check it out on the web, it’s easy to find. If he would become that man in that speech I would support him completely, rock-ribbed conservatism at it’s best. Where is that guy?

T-Rav said...

Andrew, I just found that article at The Daily Beast and was about to link it. Besides all the dirt on Ailes, that piece has some--um--"interesting" things to say about how the moderators planned the debate last week.

T-Rav said...

Stan, I certainly hope so too (regarding Cain, that is). For whatever it's worth, keep in mind that every winner of the Florida straw poll since Reagan has gone on to win the nomination, elected or no.

AndrewPrice said...

Stan, I hope there is a groundswell of support that the MSM just hasn't noticed. We're going to need that if we want to get a conservative into the White House.

Cain has truly impressed me lately and I'm honestly thinking Cain needs to be on the ticket either as President or Vice President. He's proven to be a smart, solid leader with some great conservative ideas and a compelling personality. What more can we ask for?

On Romney, he is capable of solid conservatism. The only question is, is that really what he wants or is he another "soft" leader who just wants to be liked and is never going to stand for anything? I honestly don't know. But he is growing on me through the debates because he's finally showing a spine and an ability to throw political punches. He's not my favorite, but I'm getting more comfortable with him.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, That's the one. I'm amazed he admits what they did to prepare for the debate. I'm going to talk about that tomorrow afternoon.

StanH said...

T-Rav: If you get a chance to hear Cain deliver a speech, go, it’s exciting and uplifting. I’ve always liked Cain, and would be thrilled if he were our standard bearer. I’m aware of the Fl. Straw Poll, being determinate in the party’s nominee, that’s exciting as well to ponder. Be certain no one from the ruling class really wants to see Herman Cain as president, he would shake thing up in a good way for us, bad for them.

Andrew: I’ve read recently that the 2010 was the largest shift in power since 1892, not 1932 as was earlier reported. That was and is the Tea Party, and I feel we’re going to kick ass in 2012 again. Look at the two recent special elections in NY and Nevada, all the while the establishment has been working tirelessly to diminish the Tea Party to no avail. I think, scratch that…I know the electorate is as pissed off as I’ve ever seen it, and there will be Hell to pay in 2012.

AndrewPrice said...

UPDATE: According to a Zogby poll, Herman Cain is now the leader at 28%!

Cain: 28%
Perry: 18%
Romney: 17%

LINK

Anonymous said...

Cain is no conservative either. I don't know how any of you think he is an outsider, the man was the Federal Reserve Chairman of Kansas. You don't get much more insider than that as being a Fed operative. He'll surround himself with the same big bankers as Obama and Bush did and nothing will get better. Do your research on that man as well as Christie. Even at the last debate, Cain was asked what one federal agency he would abolish and he said the EPA, but then he said he would build it right back up. Wow, really? Good job! For that matter, Perry, Romney, Santorum, Gingritch, Bachman...none of them are true conservatives. Do your research and learn where they truly stand. Look to the Declaration of Independence and Constitution for your answers; these candidates have been compromised. Only one has not and he's been consistent and honest for 30+ years. Oh, but he's "crazy"?

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