Associated Press
Two weeks ago, as New Jersey was still very much in the midst of a post-Sandy crisis, Fox News' Rupert Murdoch insisted that Gov. Chris Christie (R) "re-declare" his support for Mitt Romney. The New York Times reports today that the governor took this quite seriously.
A few days after Hurricane Sandy shattered the shores of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie picked up the phone to take on a different kind of recovery work: taming the Republican Party fury over his effusive embrace of President Obama.
On Nov. 3, Mr. Christie called Rupert Murdoch, the influential News Corporation chief and would-be kingmaker, who had warned in a biting post on Twitter that the governor might be responsible for Mr. Obama's re-election.
Mr. Christie told Mr. Murdoch that amid the devastation, New Jersey needed friends, no matter their political party, according to people briefed on the discussion. But Mr. Murdoch was blunt: Mr. Christie risked looking like a spoiler unless he publicly affirmed his support for Mitt Romney, something the governor did the next day.
In case we needed a reminder about Christie's ambitions, and the power of Fox News, this ought to do the trick.
The political pushback from the right after Christie praised the president was fairly predictable, and Murdoch's public demands were par for the course, but the key here is that the New Jersey governor took the time to reach out to Murdoch directly, and then actually did as the Fox News chief demanded.
Of course, as the rest of the NYT piece makes clear, the right isn't even close to satisfied. It is now "conventional wisdom" among Republicans that the governor's praise of Obama "influenced the outcome" of the presidential race, and Christie continues to feel intense pressure for his public comments about the president's response to the storm.
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. [...]
His willingness to work closely with the president has cast a shadow over Mr. Christie's prospects as a national candidate, prompting a number of Republicans to wonder aloud whether he is a reliable party leader.
"It hurt him a lot," said Douglas E. Gross, a longtime Republican operative in Iowa who has overseen several presidential campaigns in the state. "The presumption is that Republicans can't count on him." Republican voters in Iowa, the first state to select presidential candidates, "don't forget things like this," Mr. Gross said.
It seems crazy to think this could undermine Christie's national ambitions, but Republican politics in the 21st century can be strikingly rigid and unforgiving.
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So the guy puts his constituents needs above all - and he's screwed politically? That is about the saddest thing in politics.
I'm not a Chris Christie fan, but his response to the people in his state when they really needed help from everyone who could provide it was classic "public service."
Note to GOP - that's a Good Thing.
Too bad the Repub's look like they are ready to destroy Christie's political career, he was beginning to look like that very smart, very effective, very electable, very rare person - a moderate Republican.
Christie is winning the middle with themes like this.
Remember, just 968 days until the Iowa Caucus.
Prepare to see Clinton II do the Bush II routine. Upon being freed from her official non partisan job, the standard drill is to veer to the far end of her party in order to convince loyalist ground troops she really is not the Bush-lite candidate she is.
You know whose staff was rubber stamping the XL pipeline deal with Canada.
Clinton versus Christie.
Now there is a choice.
NOT.
About as tribal as one could get, and coming from a guy who hires others to condemn their fellow Americans for practicing "identity politics!"
Murdoch Absent would be a good thing for our political culture. Forget the No Spin Zone, we need a Murdoch Free Zone! -Kevo
It's just more proof that republicans care more about their party than they do the people they supposedly serve. But since they don't really serve them, they just fleece them, I can see my way to how they behave as they do. I just wish the rest of America would wake up and see them for how they really are. Talk about living in The Matrix!
This proves the point that the teapubs don't care about the people they are supposed to represent. Like I said before, they are going to practice better lies from now on, but their views won't change a bit.
Yeah, I've noticed for some time that FOX actually IS the fruition of Orwell's warning about "the black boxes mounted on street corners that will tell you everything you need to know." And add to that the WSJ and every other vehicle under the Murdoch umbrella. It's double-speak at its finest.
What's more, Sheldon Adelson is doing the same thing with his paper in Israel, talking up Bibi Netanyahu. The paper is distributed for free, which is putting less-well-endowed journals out of business, not coincidentally.
As Thomas Jefferson said, "Where the press is free and all men able to read, all is secure." He must be turning over in his grave about now.
The Republican Party... They eat their own.
Since he's the only one of them who appears able to add 2+2 and get 4 on consecutive attempts and spell his name the same three times, all of which puts him in the upper .01% of the Republican IQ range, I'm fine with them declaring him persona non grata so we get to deal with dopes and mopes like Jindal, Paul and The Rube.
Lol now where did all that bipartisan talk go, Rethuglicans? I thought you guys were the party who works across the aisle? Guess not.
Now I just feel bad for him and other moderates in that Teapublican party.
Note to GOP pols: If you dare put politics aside for one minute, you will be attacked and disowned.
He was called indecisive, "a person of very inferior cast of character." He was even called an "imbecile, guilty of 'damnable blunders.'" Chris Christie? Nope.
An ordinary citizen's thoughts of Abraham Lincoln necessarily include the Emancipation Proclamation (now the 13th Amendment), the Gettysburg Address. Yet just two years removed from his 1860 election, President Lincoln's political fortunes had hit rock bottom following the disastrous 1862 Congressional midterm elections. How low is rock bottom?:
"As to the politics of Washington, the most striking of these is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters, none to bet on his head. If a Republican convention were to be held tomorrow, he would not get the vote of a State."
Read more at
http://lifeamongtheordinary.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-price-of-fame-part-two.html
Speaking of Twinkies. You know there is just something that just keeps going through my mind that I do want to know about. First NBC and MSNBC have increased in their ratings, but it was attributable to the very fact that they needed the way to do it. As I see it, many of us bloggers have definitely majorly contributed to changing NBC and MSNBC for the better. And I want to know what is in it for us bloggers who have really contributed majorly to the improvement of NBC and MSNBC, especially financially. Your terms and conditions in my frame of mind suck so if you could explain how it can really benefit us contributing bloggers who have stimulated NBC and MSNBC to change in the right direction? It would be appreciated if you didn’t use the typical business bull crap and pony out something substantial. How much do you really value your bloggers?
You might try a different approach, I'm still trying to figure out what the Hell you're upset about. This is a forum, use it or don't is pretty much the rule of thumb.
Speaking of Twinkies? Who was speaking of Twinkies? This is a thread about Chris... Christie... ohh. Hee hee! I see what you did there... :D
The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along.
- Arnold H. Glasow
;-)
Denying the truth is pointless and just maintaining a status quo for MSNBC.
It remains to be seen whether all these Republicans attacking Christie will be around after 2014 and 2016. If Dems can mobilize for the 2014 elections along with state elections, these governors and other officials may be gone before the 2016 primaries. In that case, Christie and other moderate Republicans may be able to move the party back to the center. I have my doubts about this because there are people who are trying to move the party further to the right. But if the Republicans sustain major losses on the state and federal level, all bets are off. Once moderates are in control of the party, they will be able to change the primary rules. And that would diminish the Tea Party's influence. We can assume that moderates would prefer this happen before 2014 so that the Republicans do not lose any more seats to the Tea Party who lose in the general election.
That party has rigor mortis and they don't even realize it. Their SS has declared war on Mr. Christie for trying to get help and maintain decorum after a natural disaster. Now that's stone cold rigid.
Christie had to choose between party and country. He picked wrong.
I doubt Christie's constituents that voted for him will forget! He did what he had to do and he's a smart man. Maybe he should run as an independent and run as far as he can away from the wingnuts.
I never saw him as a full fledged member of the good ol boy network anyway, come now, he's from NJ.
His national stature will be enhanced by his Obama moment, and the GOP will fall on their knees if he holds sway in polling.
OTH
His national stature will be diminished because he didn't stand up and treat Murdoch, the Aussie carpet bomber/bagger like the manipulator he is.
WELCOME to the Democratic party Gov Christie
It's crap to say it hurt Christie's chances in the first place. Christie isn't ideologically pure enough to be the GOP candidate, period. The party isn't going to change anywhere near enough in the next four years to make him a viable candidate.
Funny how it's illegal for foreigners to give money to American political campaigns, yet one rich Australian has more influence than 99.9% of Americans.
For someone who gained a lot of goodwill from me in a matter of hours, he just lost it by kissing the feet of the Republicans. I think he would have been better served sticking by what he said and telling Murdoch and his ilk to eff off. He could have been the moderate America is looking for in 2016 but instead he just pushed himself a little more to the right and hitched his wagon to the (badly) losing party.
In blaming Christie for Romney's defeat (as ridiculous as blaming Susan Rice for Benghazi), the wingnut wing of the Republican party is trying to marginalize him for 2016. He's not a true believer, they can't control him, but he's a good, smart politician and they're terrified he might snatch the nomination away from them in four years. They'll do everything they can to block Christie, Jeb Bush and virtually anybody but a god-fearing, woman-hating, minority-fearing "conservative." The good news for Democrats is, that person will not be electable.
Chris Christie should have said what his party's leader believed.
"I don't need the president to come here with his fancy FEMA help. New Jersey can and will handle it on our own. FEMA SCHMEMA"
I wondered at the time if Christie would begin to see the light, and maybe run - as a Democrat.
He's way too conservative to feel at home in the Democratic party, but it might be a good thing if he were to run as an independent. Shake both parties up a bit!
Nancy Pelosi once made a point of mentioning that the Democratic Party welcomes diversity, and that includes Democratic officials that choose to have conservative views on some of the most controversial social issues: Marriage Equality, Abortion, etc. I'd like to think that Nancy Pelosi's words hold merit, after all, we've had Democratic officials voting on the side of Republican bills (I'm not happy about it, but it proves Pelosi's point).
I don't know if Chris Christie won't "fit in". He might fit in just fine because Democratic officials tend to be less insane than their Republican counterparts. He should consider joining the Democratic Party. I personally don't like how he can be so rough, rude, and how he disagrees with the ACA and certain women's rights, but he did good to Jersey when Jersey needed him. He's got political will that I can grudgingly respect. If he joins the Dems, we can possibly teach him a thing or two about social issues and the rest just sort of follows. ;) In any case, a Republican with good sense might be good for striking a balance on fiscal policy.
Maybe we could get Bruce Springsteen to call Christie and demand that he unredeclare his support for Mitt Romney.
A glowing, excruciatingly obvious example of exactly how the Republicans think and care only for themselves, their politics and holding power and whatever the cost! Here's hoping their followers can recognize it from within their tightly sealed bubbles.
The right wing purity police have done tremendous damage to the repub party, and most likely will result in it fading away and dying. By driving off moderates, (and anyone with an IQ over 75), they have guaranteed that their positions look more and more clownish and irrelevant every day. Christie can be an arrogant bully at times, but in many ways, he is one of the few "moderates" left in the repub party. Until the party is taken back from the extremists, Christie will never make it out of the primaries in a presidential campaign. And of course, as long as the lunatics run the asylum, that's all your going to see as their party's candidates each and every election. As we reaffirmed two weeks ago, there may be a lot of gullible, stupid folks out there, but not enough for repubs to win an election.
Christie is way more conservative than I am, and I'm particularly troubled by his anti-Union stance, but I would consider voting for him for President in four years if it turns out that I don't like the Democratic candidate. I value competency way more than purity, and I think that pretty much all independent voters feel the same way. The Republicans who turn out for primaries don't seem to understand that.
"It seems crazy to think this could undermine Christie's national ambitions, but Republican politics in the 21st century can be strikingly rigid and unforgiving."
Ah, such is fascism.
I guess if you're in the GOP/TP, Orders are to be Obeyed, not Questioned.
Ugh. I live in Jersey and I watched Sandy wipe out the Jersey shore and cause an incredible amount of suffering, and I felt pride in Christie, who policy wise I despise and believe to be an obnoxious, bullying GOP blowhard. But when he said, flat out, "I don't care about national politics" when asked how Sandy would affect the election, that he had a job and a duty to the people of his state who had lost so much, I felt a deep respect for him. I felt that when things really matter and time is of the essence, Christie did the right thing and so did the President: putting human lives, and suffering, before petty obnoxious bullcrap partisanship. And it hurts to see his party rip him apart for daring to do the definitive right thing in his circumstances. It's absurd, it's disgusting, and I feel bad for him.
And then he bows to Murdock, and I don't feel bad anymore. I can't tell whether to pity him for not having a spine to run as a moderate (or even, gasp, a democrat?) or despise him, or simply fear the raw power Murdock has over our political discourse. It's deeply troubling and upsetting that the GOP are so out of touch with the reality of their loss (that, hey, when you hate on minorities, women, and young people, they don't vote for you!), they lash out and rage at every threat, real and imaginary, to their more and more extreme base. Depressing, really.