Friday, September 23, 2011
Governor Awesome on urban education, and the word "screwed"
Rumor has it, New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie is "reconsidering" his decision not to run for president. He must have seen last night's Republican debate...
Part of me loves the idea, and another part hates it. We need Christie in New Jersey. For example:
Awesome stuff, if you care about effective government. My question, though: Will "screwed" play in Peoria?
Reminds me of a conversation I had just today with a nice woman from the heartland, who was particularly offended by the word "douchebag." Here in the Garden State, it is a totally acceptable and frankly mild term of opprobrium.
17 Comments:
By 
Bomber Girl, at
Fri Sep 23, 07:16:00 PM:
that last comment is as good a reason as any for Christie to get out of Joisey.
By 
, at
Fri Sep 23, 07:24:00 PM:
A few months ago a series of ads were broadcast on Illinois radio encouraging businesses to flee to the entrepreneur-friendly state of...New Jersey. Chris Christie appeared in them. Beyond the obvious ironies, I, as a conservative, found the whole thing very distasteful.
By , at
Fri Sep 23, 07:43:00 PM:
His arrogance is just getting to be too much. He started out very well but must have heard people calling him Governor Awesome and it went to his head. He's a public servant and should not be telling anyone who asks him a question that "it's none of your business". If he weren't so arrogant, he could have been so much more effective with the teacher who asked him about his children attending a private school. Nope, he had to tell her that it's none of her business instead. What boggles my mind is Coulter; she loves him. What kind of a Conservative is she? I think she's more the Establishment Republican kind who are no different than the Democrats. I could just see him in the White House as president telling everyone that gets on his nerves to go to hell. I'll take Governor Walker's style any day over Christie's.
By TigerHawk, at
Fri Sep 23, 09:45:00 PM:
You are seriously questioning whether Ann Coulter is a conservative? How right wing are *you*?
By TigerHawk, at
Fri Sep 23, 10:29:00 PM:
RoseB - One other observation. In the late summer polls, Christie has a higher approval rating than Obama in New Jersey, and Walker has a lower approval rating than Obama in Wisconsin. Now, that almost certainly means that Walker is more conservative than Christie, or at least comes off as such. But it is also reasonable evidence that Christie is more electable. Add to that the fact that Christie has already been in office almost two years, so there has been a longer time for the bloom to come off the rose, and New Jersey is a deeper blue than even Wisconsin. So Ann may be interested in nominating a winner, even if she has to give up something on principle.
By , at
Fri Sep 23, 10:40:00 PM:
arrogant? f no... just saying what thinkin Americans
believe. If money was the cure the 4T out arrogant narcissitic PoTUS would have us all in shaefer city. And btw the aholes who get none of your biz earn it...
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 12:31:00 AM:
And I live in the Chicago suburbs and found those ads refreshing. If we are going to continue to elect the bozos we do, we deserve to lose the businesses. To each his own.
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 08:23:00 AM:
TH: I wonder how Republicans would feel if he were a Democrat or a Liberal talking this way to Republicans? Would they still feel the same way? I doubt it. If I'm not mistaken, Ann was in his corner a long time ago. I guess you could classify me as a Tea Partier, so I'm not at all interested in just another RINO. I realize in a state like NJ that's all you're going to get, but it's those RINOS and moderates who always play nice with the other side that do us more harm than good. I only got interested in politics since O was campaigning, so I'm really new at this, but I think this time around we need another Reagan. Don't cringe when you read this but I think Palin's the only one who could really change things for the better. She's smart, has a proven record, and can work with the other side, but not to the detriment of her party. She's right, we shouldn't just change uniforms next election because they're all the same in the end. However, I will vote for anyone who runs against O. I may not like it, but I'll do it.
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 10:41:00 AM:
@RoseB I get to the same answer as you do re: Palin. But we're in the minority right now.
Perry may be an electable compromise, but I'm not sure if he's exportable from Texas. Part of Perry's success in Texas was to do little and not get in the way. But we need at least a two year burst of activism from our next Republican President. Is Perry up to it?
Usually "cool" wins in Presidential contests, but we're in an unusual cycle.
Part of Christie's appeal is his earnest passion. Christie rocks this metric. You know he believes what he's saying. Congressman Ryan scores high too, followed by Palin. Romney, not so much.
But at this moment, if you take Christie out of New Jersey, he'd lose his magical powers. I'm not hearing Born to Run. More like "there's a fat man in the bathtub... with the blues."
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 01:13:00 PM:
Ignoramus: I wouldn't give up on Palin just yet. She said it was going to be a very unconventional election, so there's more to come. You may be right about Christie outside of NJ. And let us not forget that he will have his turn at being vetted. That's the other gripe I have with Coulter, she and Ingraham were being critical of Palin for not making a definitive decision about running. I guess they feel Palin should do things on their terms. Yet how many times have we heard that Christie might run? As far as I know, Coulter hasn't complained about him.
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 02:12:00 PM:
"I wouldn't give up on Palin just yet."
I haven't.
Hunting teaches patience. Palin can jump in late. Few others can.
As a *candidate*, she's the polar opposite of Romney, and is *running* her campaign that way.
Romney's Monte Carlo simulation told him to move early to maximize his superior capitalization and Buffed Brand to starve the competition of venture financing, and then lever off his established market share in New Hampshire.
Palin is running a guerilla start-up. She'll enter the race if Perry falters.
Romney only commands about 25% of Republicans. He won't go higher if there's real competition. Perry proved this by jumping ahead of Romney as soon as he got in the race.
By Gary Rosen, at
Sat Sep 24, 02:21:00 PM:
I'm with Rose and Ig: Palin.
"But we're in the minority right now."
Yes. But things may change drasctically in the next few months, especially if the economy continues to go nowhere, or down. Nobody on either side is at all satisfied with the current candidates including BO.
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 07:44:00 PM:
@ rose compare and contrast to rham biden and the kenyans crew of thugs dropping the f bomb at the opposition or the chosen one giving the finger. christie is the real deal and would shred obama with or wirhout a teleprompter
By , at
Sat Sep 24, 10:04:00 PM:
He's a one-issue candidate.
He's only awesome vs teacher's unions.
On everything else he's a moderate Democrat.
Before you think of backing him, do some research on his track record on other issues. You won't be happy.
By , at
Sun Sep 25, 11:22:00 AM:
So Rick Perry is dumb. Who knew? I mean Aggie dumb. I mean Blazing Saddles Governor William J. Lepetomane dumb.
Mitch Daniels was recently on with Jon Stewart. Mitch is running ... for Vice President.
He'd have made a good Presidential candidate. Too bad that he has more skeletons in his collegiate closet than I do, and that his wife once ran away with a biker gang.
By , at
Mon Sep 26, 12:11:00 PM:
Chris Christy has done a great job in NJ, so far. Let's keep him here so that he can finish the job he was elected to do: Save NJ.
If he enters the Presidential race, I predict a disaster that will make hurricane Irene look like a sun shower. Tea party hawks will chew him up and spit him out in less than two weeks. He has serious issues, primarily his social liberalism. The GOP is sending a clear message to Romney and Perry; we have low tolerance for liberal policies! Why would anyone who knows Christy expect him to breeze through such scrutiny? If he enters this race, his views will be hung out like laundry for all to see.
In my humble opinion, "conservatives" that support Christy, like Ms. Coulter, disappoint. They are like a horse with blinders; they only see the fiscal fighter in Christy. Our next President is going to have a broad range of issues to deal with and I believe that Christy is neither ready nor right for the job of president.
My advice to Governor Christy: save yourself the humiliation and save GOP treasure. Your place is in Drumthwacket, not in the White House. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is reserved for a real conservative.
By , at
Mon Sep 26, 01:37:00 PM:
... "Tea party hawks will chew him up and spit him out in less than two weeks."
... ""conservatives" that support Christy, like Ms. Coulter, disappoint. They are like a horse with blinders; they only see the fiscal fighter in Christy. "
The "Tea Party" label has been misappropriated by many social conservatives like Michelle Bachmann.
Now I read about "tea party hawks". That's an oxymoron.
The "Tea Party" wants smaller government -- especially at the federal level. It uses the Constitution as a rallying point. "Fiscal fighters" are exactly what we want.
Too many "conservatives" are actually Big Statists. Your typical Tea Partier looks at Bush/Cheney has having been awful at being "conservative".
For the last several cycles, we've been forced to choose between two parties that have become increasingly non-representative of Americans who aren't Inside the Beltway. The Democrats are now far worse on this score than Republicans, especially after the Republicans seemed to embrace Tea Party principles in the 2010 election -- the one that gave them their biggest mid-term victory since the dawn of time. But the Republicans are backsliding.
We've had decades of political Taste's Great / Less Filling, but we're about to have a global financial train wreck. It'll either be (1) Bad, (2) Really Fucking Bad, or (3) The End of the World as We Know It. I expect #2.
If so, it'll put the legitimacy of our Political / Financial Establishment in question. Abortion and Afghanistan shouldn't figure. If the Republicans insist on splitting ranks over these issues, they're over. The Democrats will have a bigger core base -- the one that Obama's going after right now.
If it's Really Fucking Bad, "cool" won't do. We'll need leaders who are earnest, passionate and trustworthy. I'd give Christie high marks on this. I just don't think he's ready yet, and I think that he knows it.
