The Everything Chris Christie Thread

[88Comrade2000]

Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Paul Ryan are all pretty attractive candidates to large parts of the population.

 

Large enough? IDK.

Scott Walker is my dark horse for the nomination.   Christie will not win the nomination; he's despised by the base.  Marco Rubio sealed his fate when he pushed for immigration; he won't even keep his seat in 2016.  Rand Paul is took cooky to win the nomination but he could do well as a third party candidate.  Paul Ryan is kind of bland, I see him as a future speaker of the house.

 

 

What will hurt the Republicans in 2016 is that the country have moved more to the left on the social issues.   2004, Bush used gay marriage on several state ballots to help propel him to reelection.   Today, I would say the issue has flipped.  The majority would accept gay marriage.   The republicans are hard line right on many issues that will trump any economic issues they might win on.

 

That electorate that gave Obama his wins  aren't going to support a Republican party that is right to hard right on social issues and on immigration. 

 

I don't see liberal or moderate women voting for a republican and if the Democrat is a female; that will draw some conservative females.  I don't see minorities voting for Republicans, especially Hispanics.   The country is more tolerant of gays now and see the gay marriage issue as a civil rights issues and not a moral issues that Republicans do.  The millennials just don't agree with what the Republican stands for.

 

The Democratic candidate starts out with a lock on about 200-230 electoral votes; so they don't have that many states they need to fight for.  The Republican candidate starts out with a lock of about half that.  The Republican candidate needs to basically sweep all the swing states.  I don't see it happening.

[skinsmarydu]

And if we make sure the electorate remember what you just typed, Rdskns2000, it won't be happening.  It'll take a lot of work for the Dem candidate...as much as I've supported the POTUS, I'm not "jumping up & down happy" about the entire policy of the administration.  I don't know anyone who is.
But I'd take it over the alternative any day.  Even if it is Christie, who I thought to be a reasonable person once.  I don't see any politician publicly calling people "stupid" as being very nice.
And even though "nice" isn't a prerequisite to nomination or election, one's constituents certainly don't want to think you're going to be an a-hole to them. If you go ahead and do it, for days, they'll remember.
And to these voters, they're the only people who count.
And they're right.

[Dan T.]

I don't know where else to say this, but Fallon and Springsteen teamed up to sing a song last night about the bridge crisis. And, like everything Fallon does, it was a painful and poor imitation of a classic rock artist. I did not approve of it at all and I did not find it funny. 

 

 

It's posted five posts above yours.  I think Fallon's musical parodies are brilliant, and I enjoyed this one.

[88Comrade2000]

My dream would be for an indepedent candidate to win in 2016; that would be such a shock.

[Springfield]

My dream would be for an indepedent candidate to win in 2016; that would be such a shock.

That's quite a dream. Dream big!

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click on the link to read the rest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/18/christie-sandy-money_n_4622869.html

 

 

Mayor Claims Christie Camp Held Hurricane Sandy Money Hostage

 

 

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer charged on MSNBC's "Up With Steve Kornacki" showSaturday morning that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held Hurricane Sandy relief funds hostage to force her to approve a development plan that overly favored one specific property holder.

 

"I cannot give a windfall to one property owner because the governor and other people want me to do it," Zimmer said on Kornacki's show. (You can watch the full interview here).

 

Christie's office denied the allegations as "outlandishly false" in a statement to the show.

 

Zimmer alleged that Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno told the mayor relief would be contingent on supporting the development project. "The word is that you are against it and you need to move forward or we are not going to be able to help you," Zimmer says Guadagno told her.

 

Christie's community affairs commissioner Richard Constable also allegedly told Zimmer that if she moved forward with the development project, money would "start flowing to her." Christie denied the claims through a spokesman, and Constable has called the accusation "categorically false."

 

The property owner favored in the deal allegedly being pushed by Christie's office, the Rockefeller Group, told "Up With Steve" that they have no knowledge of any political pressure around the proposed development.

"If it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable," the company said in a statement to the show.

 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click on the link to read the rest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/nyregion/43-count-indictment-of-a-christie-ally-quashed.html?_r=0

 

 

The Quashing of a Case Against a Christie Ally

 

FLEMINGTON, N.J. — Prosecutors sent tremors through rural Hunterdon County when they announced a sweeping indictment of the local Republican sheriff and her two deputies in 2010.

 

The 43-count grand jury indictment read like a primer in small-town abuse of power. It accused Sheriff Deborah Trout of hiring deputies without conducting proper background checks, and making employees sign loyalty oaths. Her deputies, the indictment charged, threatened one of their critics and manufactured fake police badges for a prominent donor to Gov. Chris Christie.

 

When the charges became public, the indicted undersheriff, Michael Russo, shrugged it off. Governor Christie, he assured an aide, would “have this whole thing thrown out,”according to The Hunterdon County Democrat. That sounded like bluster. Then the state killed the case.

 

On the day the indictment was unsealed, the state attorney general, a Christie appointee, took over the Hunterdon prosecutor’s office. Within a few months, three of its most respected veterans lost their jobs there, including the one who led the case.

 

Not long after, a deputy attorney general walked into a local courtroom and handed in papers that, with little explanation, declared that the indictments were littered with “legal and factual deficiencies.”

 

 

[twa]

they are really going to town on him,I figured they would wait.

[Larry]

they are really going to town on him,I figured they would wait.

Yeah, the important thing to talk about, here, is that the stories are coming out. Not what they say.

[twa]

Yeah, the important thing to talk about, here, is that the stories are coming out. Not what they say.

 

I've already conceded he is a Jersey politician ,nothing new to me.

 

much like the choice to criticize Obama.....timing many times is more interesting and informative to me.

 

don't let me hold you back though , extol away on his virtues and vices

[88Comrade2000]

Yeah, the important thing to talk about, here, is that the stories are coming out. Not what they say.

The Bully's Skeletons are coming out.  Better now, than later.

[twa]

I have no desire to defend the Great White Hype, but this was interesting

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/19/hoboken-mayor-zimmer-has-a-lot-of-differing-stories-to-tell/

[mjah]

 

As long as there is a Democrat in the race the GOP always have a good chance to win.    The only reason the GOP lost twice to Obama was after their primaries the choice they offered to the American people wasn't a viable choice....

 

Actually, logic dictates that the GOP would have a much better chance to win if there were no Democrat in the race.  It's nonsensical to believe otherwise.

 

The reason why the GOP lost twice to Obama was that each time, Obama was a stronger candidate than anybody the GOP could convince to run against him -- not just stronger than the candidate they chose.  The GOP was lucky to have McCain and Romney in the field for those respective elections, honestly, as they were the closest thing the party had to viability.  It would have been worse for the GOP without them as standard bearers.

 

(Anticipating: Huntsman!  Think it through... nope, quite likely not the right's own 1648 Cromwell.  I like him though.)

 

Fully agree that having to play-act as a far right jerkass for a few months during nomination season absolutely kills a candidate's general election prospects.  For any partisan voting body of any stripe, reacting to Presidential losses by remaining radicalized, or getting worse, is a time-honored way to lose the next election too.  At some point you have to cut out the rot, electing to live a healthier, saner, more productive political life.  

[chipwhich]

Actually, logic dictates that the GOP would have a much better chance to win if there were no Democrat in the race.  It's nonsensical to believe otherwise.

 

The reason why the GOP lost twice to Obama was that each time, Obama was a stronger candidate than anybody the GOP could convince to run against him -- not just stronger than the candidate they chose.  The GOP was lucky to have McCain and Romney in the field for those respective elections, honestly, as they were the closest thing the party had to viability.  It would have been worse for the GOP without them as standard bearers.

 

(Anticipating: Huntsman!  Think it through... nope, quite likely not the right's own 1648 Cromwell.  I like him though.)

 

Fully agree that having to play-act as a far right jerkass for a few months during nomination season absolutely kills a candidate's general election prospects.  For any partisan voting body of any stripe, reacting to Presidential losses by remaining radicalized, or getting worse, is a time-honored way to lose the next election too.  At some point you have to cut out the rot, electing to live a healthier, saner, more productive political life.  

 

No actually the Mccain Palin ticket was a terrible strategy and Americans seemingly can't vote against an incumbent.

 

So Obama's second election was just more of the same out of our voters.

 

Who ya know is better than who ya don't know.  See average congressional lengths of term.

 

That's why a Bush can get elected even though everyone thinks they can't.  I know the name

[88Comrade2000]

This article shows why any Republican will have a tough road to 270 in 2016.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-gops-uphill-path-to-270-in-2016/2014/01/18/9404eb06-7fcf-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html

[skinsmarydu]

This article shows why any Republican will have a tough road to 270 in 2016.

Good article, thanks.

Also, the comment by "809..." (I think it's the third one) is a good description of the last 8 years, and proves that some GOP voters are smarter than their candidates/representatives.

[PF Chang]

This article shows why any Republican will have a tough road to 270 in 2016.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-gops-uphill-path-to-270-in-2016/2014/01/18/9404eb06-7fcf-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html

 

Sounds like it's time for the GOP to turn to its biggest strength -- somehow gerrymandering the national election. 

[Kilmer17]

Does MSNBC talk about other than Chris Christie?

[Larry]

Does MSNBC talk about other than Chris Christie?

Does MSNBC talk?

[Larry]

Sounds like it's time for the GOP to turn to its biggest strength -- somehow gerrymandering the national election.

They've been proposing it. Politicians publicly announcing that they think it would be a Good Thing if their state were to intentionally make their own electoral college votes less important.

That is, IF the state voted Dem for President, but has a Republican legislature. You know, states that have already been gerrymandered.

Curiously, states where 51% of the state votes Republican seem to think that having the entire state's vote go to that winner is a great idea.

[PF Chang]

They've been proposing it. Politicians publicly announcing that they think it would be a Good Thing if their state were to intentionally make their own electoral college votes less important.

That is, IF the state voted Dem for President, but has a Republican legislature. You know, states that have already been gerrymandered.

Curiously, states where 51% of the state votes Republican seem to think that having the entire state's vote go to that winner is a great idea.

 

My favorite old adage. If you can't beat 'em, change the rules. 

[Predicto]

Does MSNBC talk about other than Chris Christie?

 

They've gone full FoxNews.

 

Don't ever go full FoxNews.

 

[Kilmer17]

I think back to a decade ago and how much I liked Chris Matthews. It's really a sad story how far he's fallen. It would make an incredible book

[Special K]

My dream would be for an indepedent candidate to win in 2016; that would be such a shock.

Keep dreaming, dude

[Predicto]

The claims by the Hoboken mayor about the threat of Hurricane Sandy relief funds being withheld until a private development favoring a friend of Christie was approved seem to have some legs.   She has contemporaneous diary entries, witnesses who she told the story to at the time, and she has offered to take a lie detector test.  Whoof.