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Professor Krugman (shrilly) calls out the Big Fiscal Phonies:
Quick quiz: What’s a good five-letter description of Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, that ends in “y”?
The obvious choice is, of course, “bully.” But as a recent debate over the state’s budget reveals, “phony” is an equally valid answer. And as Mr. Christie goes, so goes his party…
… [T]here have been many claims to that effect; Mr. Christie, in particular, has been widely held up, not least by himself, as an example of a politician willing to make tough choices.
But last week we got to see him facing an actual tough choice — and aside from the yelling-at-people thing, he proved himself just another standard fiscal phony.
Here’s the story: For some time now Mr. Christie has been touting what he calls the “Jersey comeback.” Even before his latest outburst, it was hard to see what he was talking about: yes, there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison….
Right on cue, Dubya’s old speechwriter Michael Gerson oozes up out of his holding tank to propose “The Right Running Mate for Romney“:
By this standard, one Republican vice presidential prospect stands out. Chris Christie may have the aspect of William Howard Taft, but he has the manner of Teddy Roosevelt — tough, tenacious, tireless. Christie is naturally and constantly on the offensive. When he takes off his jacket at a town hall meeting, someone is in for a rough ride. But his most exceptional political skill is not confrontation but explanation — educating voters in the grim realities of state budgeting, public pensions, unfunded liabilities and teacher union obstructionism. He is both pugilist and professor — a good vice presidential combination.
Christie would not transform New Jersey into a presidential swing state — a persistent but hopeless Republican dream. But he could contribute to the repositioning of the Romney campaign in two important, seemingly contradictory ways. Christie would provide an infusion of blue-collar combativeness, which is foreign to Romney and pleasing to GOP conservatives. At the same time, Christie would represent a move to the ideological center. He is not a global warming skeptic. He supported an assault weapons ban in his state. He is an immigration moderate and has friendly relations with New Jersey’s Muslim community.
Christie, at his worst, is capable of nastiness and name-calling — tendencies he would need to keep in check on a national ticket. But who else in the Republican Party combines a tea party tone with a relatively moderate public record? What other choice would cause Republicans to pray for 10 vice presidential debates?…
That high-pitched screaming from the direction of Oyster Bay is Zombie Teddy Roosevelt clawing from the grave to eat Gerson’s face (since there are no brains behind it). And I don’t think Chief Justice Taft would be too pleased with Gerson, either.
Apart from smarmy grifters disgracing the good name of their historical betters, what’s on the agenda for the day?
HobbesAI
Link to Krugman needs fixing.
Feel free to delete comment after fixing link.
amk
Yeah, two wall street pricks from librul north east. That’s the ticket that will get the southern fundies to votting booths in droves.
JPL
@amk: Southern fundies will flock to the polls to vote for the white guy.
Linda Featheringill
Operating on the premise that Gerson is always wrong, I predict that Christie is out as VP choice.
Anne Laurie
@HobbesAI: Thanks.
(FYWP is a jealous godlet… )
MikeJ
Fiscal stimulus hit my aunt’s town this weekend. Well, the town and the middle of nowhere where she and my uncle live. After the tornado they can no longer be called “two sheds”, as one of the sheds has departed for parts unknown. The pieces of the second shed are in place, but useless. The house is mostly ok, other than having no windows any more. Which, as those things go, is getting off pretty easy. Regardless of how many sheds were destroyed, all the people are ok.
OzoneR
@amk:
Did you forget there’s a black guy on the ballot too?
amk
@JPL: @OzoneR: Nevertheless, these nutz are not gonna flock like they did for tundra twit.
amk
Obama Campaign hits the birther bastids mitt and chump with new ad.
OzoneR
@amk:
yeah, they totally will.
Geoduck
If anything sinks Christie’s chance of getting the VP slot, it won’t be his conservative credentials, or his personality, or his record. It’ll be because, yes, he’s fat, and fat is not dull and safe enough for Romney. As a fat person myself, I have to hold a tiny sliver of admiration for Christie for getting himself elected governor of an American state, much less being considered for VP. (Don’t get me wrong here; wouldn’t vote for the jerk for either office if you held a gun to my head.)
28 Percent
Zombie Teddy Roosevelt is not unreasonable, so maybe Gerson can keep his eyes.
WereBear
For three Presidential election seasons in a row the Xantians got a thrilling choice. Bush x2, and then Palin. For them, this is Vindication of all they hold dear, and a chance to “be like other people” that apparently only those who have escaped the talons of the Christian life-style can understand.
This is why, just like McCain, Romney is going to feel pressure to please these rabid nut-jobs; the last reliable demographic they have. Since their mutant cult of a religion has deliberately removed all paths to reason, they go for straight tribal identification; and a Mormon ain’t it.
Mitt was chosen by the Money People as one of their own. The Xantians just aren’t going to buy it without considerable sweetener to their own palates.
waratah
I just have a hard time seeing Romney chose someone that will have a stronger personality than him, and one that will attract the the news media and not him.
Jerzy Russian
I hate grading papers like the Gerson one. It is so full of wrong I don’t know where to start.
Jerzy Russian
@28 Percent:
How would the Zombie Teddy Roosevelt do against the Reaganosaurus?
jurassicpork
I don’t go looking for trouble. But sometimes trouble hires bounty hunters to find me.
Ash Can
@waratah: I can easily see Willard “choosing” the running mate he’s told by the PTB to name, and in fact I fully expect this to happen. If this running mate goes on to rub Romney the wrong way, it should be both interesting and entertaining to see how he expresses his irritation.
tjmn
@amk:
Only if Christie wears his Naughty Monkey pumps.
amk
@tjmn: well, he does seem to have ginormous man boobs.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Men’s room in Minneapolis airport rough or two wetsuits and a dildo rough?
xian
@JPL: Yes but will they take to the phonebanks? Will they donate?
tjmn
@amk:
60 FF?
chopper
i can imagine a lot of people would vote GOP just to get the dude the fuck out of the governor’s mansion.
i’d imagine the coat check guy, yes. getting that thing on a hanger probably takes upwards of 5 dudes.
Chris
@amk:
Eh, I don’t know. I think what the guy calls his “working class combativeness” (e.g. the fact that he’s a bully who never misses an opportunity to shove a weaker kid into a locker) does a lot to endear him to conservative voters from all over – I know a few heartlanders who, if their facebooks are any indication, despise Romney but would vote for Christie in a heartbeat.
IMHO it’s Romney’s personality, much more than his “Wall Street prick” cred, or his Northeastern roots, or even his Mormonism, that turns off base voters. Christie’s is much better suited to them.
Steeplejack
Someone remind me: what was Christie’s attraction that got him elected in the first place?
Juju
@Steeplejack:
He wasn’t Corezine.
catclub
@waratah: Likewise for Paul Ryan — No way, too popular, independent of Rmoney
Chris
@waratah:
That’s true. And Christie doesn’t seem interested anyway: I suspect 1) if he’s going to run on a presidential ticket, he damn well wants the top spot, because his ego’s as big as Romney’s, and 2) he’d rather run at some time in the future when the economy’s better off and he’s not going to be responsible for fixing it should he get elected.
Steeplejack
@Juju:
Meowch. Good point. I forgot about that.
Nutella
@waratah:
I was trying to imagine someone blander and less interesting than Romney but I nodded off before I could come up with any names.
Joking aside, I’m sure that’s going to be a major consideration for Romney. He does not like sharing the limelight.
schrodigner's cat
@Nutella: Santorum, blander than Romney and a crazy religious person, the 27% will totally fall for him.
FlipYrWhig
Chris Christie has been a lawyer and a lobbyist, and his wife was, no fooling, an investment banker. His dad was an accountant. He’s not working class. He’s just an abrasive dickbag.
Ed Dane Defender of Donuts
Gerson is one of many conservative pundits the local paper has added over the years as they cut back on reporting actual news.
If Romney does not want someone to share the limelight and desires another governor with leadership, and we can debate that qualifications, Butch Otter of Idaho?
quannlace
Turning New Jersey into a presidential swing state? Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Does he have any idea how much Christie is disliked in this state?
Wallis Lane
Beware, Zombie Teddy Roosevelt walks stiffly and carries a big stick.
gene108
@FlipYrWhig:
He’s not rich enough to live off his investment income, which really is the definition of middle class for Republicans; people who have to draw wages to make ends meet, rather than cash a dividend or interest check twice a month.
LanceThruster
That poster always gives me a case of serious belly laughs.
You GO, Paul!