A reader takes exception with me calling the following quote from Christie on the shutdown “pitch-perfect“:
All you need to do is look about 200 miles south of here to see the mess that Republicans and Democrats have made of our national government and we should haul all their rear-ends to Camden today to see how bipartisanship works and government works together.
This is decidedly NOT pitch-perfect. Well, maybe it is to Republicans. Personally, all I see is more of the insidious false equivalence that allows Republicans to act like lunatics and then avoid accountability by yelling that Democrats are guilty, too. Democrats may be spineless and lame, as a general rule, but to accuse them of being culpable for our current morass anywhere near so much as the Republicans is wildly disingenuous and irresponsible. At best.
Give Christie credit for being more honest and sane than the rest of the Republicans. Yip de doo. But that doesn’t mean he’s doing what would really make him a hero true to his no bullshit-reputation: unequivocally calling out the Republicans for actively trying to destroy the American economy and the ability of the federal government to serve even the most basic functions. Once he does that, I’ll consider voting for him in 2016. Until then, being slightly less crazy than the rest of the GOP doesn’t make him presidential material.
Another reader:
Not one mention of Christie and Obama actually working together after Sandy? Remember, the GOP primaries will be run by crazy people. They will savage Christie for actually being friendly with the president. This is all you will see:
@amylutz4 stupid voters voted for Obama on election day based on a Photo Op if Christie runs I will not vote for him pic.twitter.com/cIGKDaOO
— Chris Garner (@Chris_Garner1) December 7, 2012
Another elaborates:
The far-right base is sick of the establishment telling them who’s “electable.” Even if they weren’t swooning over Ted Cruz (who got an 8-minute standing ovation from Republican women in Texas on Monday), 2016 is the year they’re adamant a “true conservative” will be the nominee. And while you may believe Christie is one, the base of the Republican party emphatically does not. He’s the governor of a northeastern state, he welcomed Obama after Hurricane Sandy, and he just rolled over (in their perception) on marriage equality. There is no way Christie will ever be the Republican nominee in 2016.
Another turns to Christie’s weight:
I don’t think he’s too fat to be elected president – I agree it augments his populist appeal – but he may well be too fat to successfully run for president. Eighteen months of (first) primary battles with Ted Cruz for the soul of the GOP and (second, if he wins the nomination) winner-take-all presidential campaigning in the late, sweltering summer of 2016 will require enormous physical stamina. (Ever been in Richmond, Virginia, on Labor Day? How about Tampa? It’s not pretty.)
Most of our recent candidates have been in tip-top shape for their age: Obama, Romney, Bush, Kerry. The flabbiest of the last 20 years was probably Al Gore, who was a damn sight fitter than Christie, and, remember, he won the popular vote. Contrary to the SNL image, Bill Clinton was 15 or 20 pounds overweight at his worst, and he was preternaturally durable mentally and physically. Same with McCain, who seems to have a titanium constitution against his prisoner-of-war injuries. Christie probably also has a deep well of energy despite his size, but since the emergence of the 24-hour electronic news cycle, nobody of his physique has attempted the most grueling task a politician can take on.
Another quotes me:
“The Jacksonian wing of the GOP – think Zell Miller or Dick Cheney – loves a fighter, cheers a brawler, and would swallow whatever disagreements they have with Christie on social issues because of his attitude.”
Like this guy?
Another goes local:
Here is what Chris Christie has done that should “render him unacceptable to a majority of the 2016 electorate”: he killed the proposed Trans-Hudson Passenger Rail Tunnel.
None of this can be reasonably disputed: New Jersey is highly dependent for its economic success on travel into New York. There are terrible bottlenecks getting New Jersey commuters past the Hudson River. It is inevitable that another bridge or tunnel has to be built on the Hudson. The 2008 crash made the cost of building historically low.
Christie killed that project for no good reason other than to stick an ideological thumb in Obama’s eye during an economic crisis. He said that it would be expensive, which is true, but given that that cost has to be incurred sooner or later it was foolish of him not to seize an unusually opportune moment to build. Maintaining the Lincoln Tunnel is also very expensive, and presumably Christie would not suggest that New Jersey could save money by closing it.
Christie’s decision was horrifically stupid and destructive, and New Jersey will suffer for a generation as a result of it. If that is what conservatives call bipartisanship, moderation, and “common sense governing,” thanks but no thanks.
(Photo by Nicholas Roberts/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 