Jimmy Fallon and New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen played a duet last night and had some fun at New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's expense.
Click through for their performance:
Showing posts with label Christie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christie. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Monday, March 18, 2013
Gov. Chris Christie in a good place for 2016...
I say Christie had more to gain by not being in the clown tent than he could've by showing up.
Think about it.
Why did Governor Romney lose the 2012 election to Barack Obama? Was it because he didn't earn enough support from conservatives? Probably not, as most conservatives still voted for him, even if they had to hold their nose while they did it. They sure weren't going to vote for Obama.
Was it because Romney failed to woo enough Democrats over to his side? No, because that wasn't likely to ever happen. Romney won self described independents but lost self described moderates. So, why did Romney lose?
Blacks, Women, Hispanics and Asians. In other words, minorities.
While there was some lip service paid to minorities at CPAC, consider how the GOP announced its "new direction" with the release of its "Growth and Opportunity Project" today. The New York Times started its write-up of it with this:
"Republican leaders on Monday offered a sweeping self-critique of a party they said was in an “ideological cul-de-sac” and needed better outreach and a new brand of conservatism to appeal to younger voters, ethnic minorities and women."
Uh, duh...
The ink was barely dry before conservatives like Rush Limbaugh began to attack its authors as being "totally bamboozled and lacking confidence."
Safe to say, the Republican Party and Conservatives are not on the same page. They can't even agree on immigration, which is going to be a hot button issue for the next few years. How in the world hard-line Conservatives expect to win over the Hispanic and Latino vote is beyond me. History tells us that African Americans since the late 1950's simply don't vote for Republicans above the 10-13% range, which is squat. Mitt Romney got less than 7% in the last election.
Gov. Christie doesn't need nor want any of the chaos that was found at CPAC. Its a bit like flypaper and once its on you, its hard to get it off. Let the others give speeches, drink big slurpies and incite the believers. Think minorities are feeling the love now after this year's CPAC? Why would they?
Its so, so early to make predictions for 2016, but I suspect Christie will be a factor and his not being viewed as "one of them" to many independents, moderates and yes, minorities can only help him. He doesn't need to win over the hardliners. He watched what that strategy did for Romney which was kill any chances he had to beat President Obama. They made Romney run so far to his right during the primaries that he simply couldn't find his way back during the general.
And that, as they say, was that.
In the end, the next successful GOP candidate will not go too far out of his way to woo the far right. Rather, the far right will...eventually...climb on board the campaign and play nice. Gov. Christie is positioned very smartly for a run in 2016. I'll be shocked if he makes the same mistakes Romney did.
Sources:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2012/1107/Election-results-2012-Who-won-it-for-Obama-video
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/624293-republican-national-committees-growth-and.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/politics/republicans-plan-overhaul-for-2016-primary-season.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229225/Presidential-election-2012-Record-number-Hispanic-voters-head-polls.html
Friday, March 8, 2013
New Poll Shows Clinton/Christie at Front of 2016 Presidential Pack...
Remember, polls are a snapshot of current opinions. Keep in mind that Michelle Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll last election cycle and we know how that turned out, don't we?
The poll also found that Hispanic voters prefer Clinton to Marco Rubio by a significant margin, (60-24%). A stat that likely sends chills down the backs of GOP party leaders.
The poll also reveals that President Obama is trusted more than Congress is when it comes to the economy (44-40), health care(46-41) and immigration (45-40).
Also from the poll this info on gun reform:
By an 88 - 10 percent margin, including 85 - 13 percent among voters in households with guns, American voters support background checks for all gun buyers. Voters also support 54 - 41 percent a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons and back 54 - 42 percent a nationwide ban on the sale of ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds.
The poll was conducted between February 27th to March 4th, surveying over 1900 registered voters.
Sources:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-centers/polling-institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1861
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Best Tweets from First Night of GOP Convention...
Some of the more entertaining tweets I've seen after tonight's speeches at the GOP Convention in Tampa...
Comments on Gov. Christie's speech:
Comments on Gov. Christie's speech:
From @BorowitzReport: ROMNEY HAILED AS REGULAR GUY BY WOMAN WITH HORSE IN OLYMPICS: http://nyr.kr/NBtf3u
Christie used "I" 35+ times; MT @peterbakernyt: Since it's been asked, Christie used Romney's name 7 times;
.@Maddow: "This was Chris Christie accepting the Republican nomination for 2016."
A few words on the Republican / Democratic Conventions...
I have no essay prepared for either political convention. I have no long-winded thoughts to share on either Party's group hugfest. These are nothing more than political pep rallies where each Party will demonize the other Party's nominee's to no end, describe the fall of a nation that will surely transpire if "fill in the blank" is or isn't elected. This election will be described as the most important election in our lifetimes. There will be praise aimed at the nominees from each of their Party's-much of which is undeserved.
This week, if you're a Republican or to a lessor degree a Conservative, you'll probably enjoy the speeches, the feigned drama, etc. unfolding in Tampa. You'll hear all the great things about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and all the terrible things about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. You'll hear countless speeches from fellow Party members all basically saying the same things. There is a Party line that needs to be adhered to, and woe to anyone (Todd Akin?) who wanders too far off the reservation.
Next week, if you're a Democrat or to a lessor degree a Progressive, you'll probably enjoy the speeches, the feigned drama, etc. unfolding in Charlotte. You'll hear all the great things about Barack Obama and Joe Biden and all the terrible things about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. You'll hear countless speeches from fellow Party members all basically saying the same things. There is a Party line that needs to be adhered to, and woe to anyone (Joe Biden?) who wanders too far off the reservation.
We'll meet Mrs. Romney and Mrs. Obama. Both will take time to paint their husbands as the consummate husband, father, partner. They will share stories they reflect sides of their personalities that we don't often get to see. Mrs. Romney especially will drive home the warmth and character of her husband, who has been portrayed as a cold, money-grabbing sort. The real Mr. Romney lies somewhere in between the two representations of him.
This week, various attack dogs will be unleashed upon Barack Obama's record. Tonight Rick Santorum and then in the headliner speech of the evening, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will pull no punches. I suspect Mr. Santorum will address Obama's alleged "war on religion", while Christie hammers him on everything else. (This is batting practice for Christie...I suspect it to be quite rough and the crowd to be in an absolute frenzy by the time he's done.)
Next week, various attack dogs from the Left will attack the Romney/Ryan ticket with equal fervor. I'm not sure of the order, but we'll be hearing from former President Bill Clinton, former Chief of Staff and current Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel, plus Elizabeth Warren, Caroline Kennedy and Sandra Fluke. (I suspect Emanuel will be the Democratic attack dog...)
There is no question as to whom each Party will officially nominate as its candidate. None. There will be a slight bump in the polls, a temporary one, for each candidate after the conventions are over. I'm aware of no political scientist or pundit who feels the election will be won or lost over the next two weeks. Yes, if Romney can re-introduce himself as a caring, compassionate, warm, capable executive it'll help his cause. If he can't, it won't help his cause. Barack Obama is mostly well-known to his supporters and has no such challenge before him. I suppose in that vein, the Convention is more important to Mr. Romney than it is to Mr. Obama.
After the Conventions, we'll spend a month of more stump speeches and a few interviews, which bring us to the debates, the first of which is scheduled for Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012. There will be two additional Presidential Debates and one Vice Presidential Debate by October 22, 2012.
The debates will be far more important to determining the outcome on Election Day than either of the Conventions. I caution supporters on both sides of the debate to take the next two weeks with a grain of salt. They are pep rallies and you're supposed to walk away from those feeling like there's no way in the world your team candidate can lose. Republican's will be on cloud nine by late Thursday evening, as Democrats will be by late next week. Look for a heightened level of rhetoric on facebook and your favorite message boards. Take that too with a grain of salt. Or put another way, I'll share a favorite quote from Mr. Shakespeare:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Catching up on the Al-Alawahi killing, Niggerhead and Gov. Christie...
Catching up on the Al-Alawahi killing, Niggerhead and Gov. Christie...
Its been a few days since I was able to do much writing. Time to catch up...
1) Anwar Al-Alawaki was ended last week. The United States literally dropped a 100 lb. Hellfire drone on him and his associates as they walked across a parking lot to their cars in Yemen last Friday. You might say they all went to pieces. There's been some comments from all sides of the political spectrum that suggest President Obama has taken us down a very dark lane by authorizing this killing of a US citizen. The concerns from progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Rachel Maddow. Even Libertarian and candidate for the GOP nomination Congressman Ron Paul of Texas is distressed by this. Kucinich and Maddow are apparently worried about a lack of due process, as is Mr. Paul. Mr. Paul, however, goes on to suggest that Obama may have subjected himself to impeachment proceedings with his decision.
There's virtually no debate that Al - Alawaki was a known terrorist. If you believe he wasn't, then stop reading now. If you believe he was, then let's move on. This was a bad guy, a radical guy who loved to recruit new members to Al-Qaeda for the purpose of doing harm to the US and her allies.
The Obama administration loves the drones and has used them more than five times ALREADY than President Bush did during his time in office. That's not a shot at Mr. Bush, just a comparison. There's already been at least 225 drone missions, resulting in the deaths of over 1500 people. Very safe for the military to use these. yes, there's been a few tragic mistakes, but all in all...they work, they work well and they go along way to keeping our servicemen out of harm's way.
When President Obama wanted to try terrorists in US Courts, he was widely criticized for providing foreign terrorist suspects the same rights as US citizens. How the tables have turned. Now, he's getting heat from all sides for NOT giving this terrorist due process and a day in court. For all intents and purposes, Al-Alawaki had already forfeited his US citizenship by fighting with Al-Qaeda against US interests.
I say President Obama handled it exactly as he should have. Kept the risk to US soldiers to a minimum, and still got rid of a bad guy. Not a lot of endzone dancing, its not Obama's style. This won't produce much if any bump in his polling numbers, but at least this time I didn't hear of any one obsessing about the number of "I's" of "me's" in his remarks about the killing.
We have nothing to worry about when it comes to Obama dropping bombs on any other US citizens here in the US. Unless they behave really, really badly and threaten the rest of us. I haven't sunk to the point just yet where I have such little faith in this man's moral fiber and believe he's capable of attacking us right here in the States.
2) Niggerhead is a rock. An old rock on a hunting ranch that was leased by Texas Governor Rick Perry's family almost thirty years ago. A rock near the entrance to the camp that had the word "niggerhead" on it. At some point in time, the word was painted over, in an effort to remove the offensive term. As the years passed by, it seems the paint faded a bit and the word became more legible. Some people commented from time to time that this could be a problem for Gov. Perry someday. Some day came earlier this week.
The word Nigger was at one point in our history, a common term. That doesn't make it right, of course, and times have changed. Most of the former locations around the Country with Nigger in the name have been changed to "Negro." An example would be Nigger Skull Mountain in North Carolina, which was changed to Negro Skull Mountain back in the early 1960's.
I think anyone trying to make the case that Governor Perry is a racist because of this rock is making a mountain out of a mole hill and insulting the real issues of racism where they once existed and to a lessor degree, still exist today. Mr. Perry named the first African American Chief Justice of the Texas State Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson, which is an odd thing to do if you don't like black people.
Should the rock still be there? Of course not. Its a clumsy detail thing that should've been removed long, long ago. Call Perry on his insensitivity I guess, but to me its pretty weak sauce to build that old rock into a case for him being a racist.
I think some of this zeal with which the left ran around in circles earlier this week is shameful. I've hated it when those on the right gin up some fake controversy when Obama or so Democratic leader does something stupid but benign. I can't ignore it when I see the left doing the same thing to a figure on the right. It's absolutely no better and an insulting diversion to the real issues of the day.
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3) Governor Chris Christie finally put the rumors/hopes to rest yesterday by announcing he will not be seeking the GOP nomination for President this go round. "Now is not my time" he said in an afternoon press conference. If he says its not time, then that's good enough for me. He's mid way through his term, and upside of quitting your job as Governor isn't so high politically. Financially, he may have done well ala book tours, bus tours, etc, but its clear to me that Christie likes his job and doesn't want to leave it.
I like Chris Christie. He sounds real to me. While I'm sure he doesn't just say anything that comes in his head, he does speak with a certain freshness, that the other GOP leaders of the day seem not to have. Maybe Congressman Thaddeus Mccotter (MIC-R) speaks in the same way. Its easy on the ears and sounds, to me, more real, more credible.
I also like him for his ability to occasionally embrace a non Republican talking point like when he defended his appointment of Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim, to the NJ state court earlier this year. He blasted those as "crazies" who suggested that he was basically enabling Sharia Law to creep into the NJ courts. That took some guts and the ease and irritation with which he had to defend Mohammed, impressed me. I have a hard time seeing some of our other GOP candidates doing something like that.
I like his character, and I like his realness. I'm not so wild about his politics, but some day I may be looking for a moderate conservative to consider and Mr. Christie may very well be worth a look.
Sources:
http://www.politico.com/rogersimon/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/us/politics/for-obama-success-battling-terrorists-seems-to-mean-little.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_three_ways_to_lose_your_citizenship
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/opinion/gov-perrys-rock.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_B._Jefferson
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/politics/opting-out-of-race-christie-says-now-is-not-my-time.html?ref=politics
http://www.christianpost.com/news/gov-chris-christie-defends-muslim-appointee-against-crazies-53461/
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Perry: Buzz doesn't equal support...
Gallup has a new poll out, with Mr. Perry zooming to the top...
This isn't a shock. There's been a substantial amount of chatter about his candidacy and now that he's officially in the race, a lot of people are rather excited. I suspect its similar to the kind of splash New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would make if he decided to run for President. Right now, things look good for Mr. Perry. Which is probably not such a big deal to Mitt Romney, but certainly a big deal to Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, etc.
The buzz is nice for Perry, but it may be short lived. There are three GOP debates scheduled in September, on the 7th, the 12th and the 22nd. Then there's two more in October. Front runner Romney has a major jobs speech planned for September 6th from Nevada, which while aimed at President Obama, is also a shot across the bow of Perry and all the other GOP candidates to do the same. Romney's ready, are any of them? The three debates will give us a chance to see how Perry presents himself within the mix of the rest of the GOP field. Will he be aggressive and go on the attack? Will he "play nice" and try to survive September and save his big guns for later on? I think for those candidates who are hanging on by a thread, (Santorum, Gingrich, Huntsman...) Perry has a bull's eye on his chest. I think the upper tier of Romney and Bachmann will play nice...Bachmann doesn't really need to push anything just yet and I think Romney isn't convinced of threat level the Perry campaign poses to his. Plus, I've written before and suggest again today that a Romney/Perry ticket would have a lot of appeal across the Republican party, hold strong geographical strength and pose a massive threat to Obama's re-election hopes.
So, while its Rick Perry all the time on the cable news channels, this will pass. I've seen nothing yet that suggests Perry is now a shoe in for the nomination. He's an interesting guy who seem to have a lot of sizzle about his campaign right now. We'll have to wait a while to see if there's any steak on the way as well.
September will be very interesting in the GOP world...
Source:
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Credit where credit is due...
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and I are not natural allies, to be sure. That said, I really liked what I heard on this clip where he defends his appointment of Judge Sohail Mohammed to a position on the NJ Superior Court.
Rather than morph this into some tactical move on Christie's part to position himself uniquely from other GOP candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination, I choose to view it on its own merit. He selected a Muslim American to take a spot on his State's Superior Court. The nominee has made it through the process and will serve. To hear the Governor defend him so cleanly, so directly was refreshing. He didn't ( and doesn't usually) mince words. He went further than he actually needed to. He could've just rejected those concerns and not elaborated as he did. He could've qualified his remarks by saying that while he's not worried about his guy, there ARE reasons to be afraid of other Muslims. But he didn't.
I'm sure there are limits to Christie's tolerance of Islam. There are limits to mine and probably yours. Most Americans have no issues with ANY Muslims as long as they are following the rule of law and not attacking the United States. The same way we feel about Christians or Jews or Athiests.
Other Republicans running for President who have taken a similar stance to Christie's include Congressman Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann have issued warnings about creeping Sharia. Bachmann was the first to sign the no shariah pledge, in fact. Sarah Palin is also on record about her concerns with Sharia in the US.
Gov. Christie deserves credit for his remarks...
Rather than morph this into some tactical move on Christie's part to position himself uniquely from other GOP candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination, I choose to view it on its own merit. He selected a Muslim American to take a spot on his State's Superior Court. The nominee has made it through the process and will serve. To hear the Governor defend him so cleanly, so directly was refreshing. He didn't ( and doesn't usually) mince words. He went further than he actually needed to. He could've just rejected those concerns and not elaborated as he did. He could've qualified his remarks by saying that while he's not worried about his guy, there ARE reasons to be afraid of other Muslims. But he didn't.
I'm sure there are limits to Christie's tolerance of Islam. There are limits to mine and probably yours. Most Americans have no issues with ANY Muslims as long as they are following the rule of law and not attacking the United States. The same way we feel about Christians or Jews or Athiests.
Other Republicans running for President who have taken a similar stance to Christie's include Congressman Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann have issued warnings about creeping Sharia. Bachmann was the first to sign the no shariah pledge, in fact. Sarah Palin is also on record about her concerns with Sharia in the US.
Gov. Christie deserves credit for his remarks...
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