While Christie's bullying of a female teacher is upsetting to me as well (as is the clear glee with which his wife watches the bullying from the side), I would note that Governor Christie has gotten some exposure courtesy of the Romney campaign this week that suggests Christie has some storm clouds ahead for him if he intends on running for president.
Mark Halperin and John Heilemann have released Double Down, a chronicle of the 2012 campaign, and the politician who takes the most damage from the book is our so-called man of the people, Chris Christie:
According to the authors, Romney and his team were shaken by what they discovered about Christie during “Project Goldfish,” as the hush-hush veep search process was known. His “disturbing” research file is littered with “garish controversies,” the authors write: a Justice Department investigation into his free-spending ways as U.S. attorney, his habit of steering government contracts to friends and political allies, a defamation lawsuit that emerged during a 1994 run for local office, a politically problematic lobbying career that included work on behalf of a financial firm that employed Bernie Madoff. And that’s not to mention the Romney team’s anxiety about the governor’s girth.
For Christie, who is coasting to reelection on Tuesday and already laying behind-the-scenes groundwork for a 2016 presidential bid, the book’s revelations are a Drudge-ready public relations nightmare that will send his advisers scrambling to explain awkward aspects of his record and his personal life just as he is stepping onto the national stage.
Chris Christie and Mary Pat can yuck it up all they want as Christie sticks it to teachers and beats up on women on the campaign trail.
When Christie runs for president in 2016, he is going to take to have to counter so many attacks from so many different angles it will make his head spin- the blueprint for the opposition research and media scrutiny was first set during the Corzine campaign, where Christie got a little scrutiny for his padding his expense accounts as U.S. attorney and for his business dealings.
But that scrutiny is going to be nothing compared to what Christie gets when he runs as president.
Politicians in general are dirty - New Jersey politicians even more so.
But Chris Christie - the man who worked for Bernie Madoff, the man who has a documented track record of making sure his friends and allies get lucrative government contracts, the man who intervened on behalf of his crooked brother in an SEC investigation to make sure his brother wasn't indicted along with 15 of his brother brokers - makes even the crooked Jersey politicians look clean compared to his own crookedness.
I, for one, am looking forward to a Christie presidential run and the scrutiny that career move will garner him.
Teachers around the country should welcome it as well.
Chris Christie will, to quote Christie's role model Ralph Kramden, "get his."
I'm just wondering why Jersey doesn't bother giving him what he so richly deserves. Why does a candidate need to run for Prez before being called on his outrageous BS?
ReplyDeleteBecause New Jersey is full of morons. No other explanation I can see. But it's not like New York is doing any better, giving Andrew Cuomo 80% approval ratings for the first two years of his governorship.
DeletePeople in Jersey love Christie. A lot of teachers voted for him the first go round. He and his wife make me sick. I am voting for Buono who does not have a chance in hell of winning. The Democratic establishment abandoned her big time.
ReplyDeleteI know a teacher in NYC who is voting for him enthusiastically. For some reason, she hates when Bloomberg bashes NYC teachers, doesn't hate when Christie bashes NJ teachers. I am voting Buomo, as is my wife. I don't vote for Dems much any more, but I am voting for her. I like her and I like her platform.
DeleteI think Christie is too thin skinned to run for president. It would very easy to provoke him into a rage.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteVoters view his rages as authentic. He is a man of the people. He spends a tremendous amount of time out of state. He is attracting a lot of money. How does Hillary stand up against him?
ReplyDeleteHe'll never face Hillary. First, who knows if she's running, and second, do you think he'll make it through an increasingly Tea Partier Republican Party primary? The conservatives activists despise him. Then there's his potential for blowing up on the trail, there's the corruption stuff, and there's his health. He's a long shot at best.
DeleteSchumer endorsed her this morning. Is that a trial balloon?
ReplyDeleteDemocrats will support Christie. He does not need the Tea Party.
I might join the Tea Party myself. Barack and Arnie are destroying my career and I am too old to switch gears.
He cannot win the GOP nomination without Tea Party support. He will be like Giuliani - a politician with national cachet but no real base within the national GOP. Doesn't matter if some Dems will vote for him if he can't win the GOP nomination.
DeleteFirst good news I have heard all day!
DeleteI should also mention that he still has the health issues and the corruption issues as well. I put his chances for the GOP nomination at slightly above Rudy Giuliani's in 2008. But not much above. And remember, Rudy won only one delegate that year. Spent something like $34 million to win one delegate.
DeleteHe has his yahoos supporters who are probably the same adults with the ringside seats and facepaint at professional wrestling events. But the guy is a punk and a bully and a crook too and there's no way to hide all that in this era.
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