This is getting delicious. The bitter recriminations are starting to come in fast and furious, and if there is anyone who is to blame for the Republicans losing this election, the wingnuts have decided that man is… Chris Christie:
Here’s Roscoe Robert Stacy McCain at the American Spectator:
The list of fools who have brought this disaster upon us certainly also will include New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the gelatinous clown who (a) hogged up a prime time spot at the Republican convention to sing his own praises; (b) embraced Obama as the hero of Hurricane Sandy; and (c) then refused to appear at campaign events in support of Romney’s presidential campaign. Good luck with the remainder of your political future, governor. It is unlikely Republicans shall soon forget your perfidious betrayal.
Here’s old Dick Morris, trying to explain how he was so spectacularly wrong about his prediction of a Romney landslide, and you’ll never guess who is to blame:
But the more proximate cause of my error was that I did not take full account of the impact of hurricane Sandy and of Governor Chris Christie’s bipartisan march through New Jersey arm in arm with President Obama. Not to mention Christe’s fawning promotion of Obama’s presidential leadership.
It made all the difference.
A key element of Romney’s appeal, particularly after the first debate, was his ability to govern with Democrats in Massachusetts. Obama’s one-party strident approach, so much the opposite of what he pledged in his first national speech in 2004, had turned voters off. But by working seamlessly with an acerbic Republican Governor like Christie, Obama was able to blunt Romney’s advantage in this crucial area.
Mary Matalin also knows who is to blame:
Unfortunately and unfortuitously, forces of nature bookended the general election: Our convention was compromised by one weather disaster and our momentum stalled by another. Two human hurricanes also radically altered the political atmosphere: Bill Clinton’s unique windbaggery constituted a campaign updraft, while Chris Christie’s deplorable and gratuitous gas-baggery infused the campaign with a toxic political pollution.
And so does the Romney campaign:
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, the adviser adds, is persona non grata in Romney’s inner circle. “He went out of his way to embrace the president during the final week of the campaign,” the adviser says. “It wasn’t necessary and it hurt us. Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and Chris Christie undermined the Republican message.”
Chris Christie- Public Enemy #1.
Bulworth
The first two by openly stating what the party believes and the last by caring about his state.
arguingwithsignposts
Romney or The Boss? I’m sure Christie had a hard decision to make. Eye roll
gogol's wife
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Bulworth
You stay classy, conservatives.
Alison
Good lord, they are so pathetic.
PeakVT
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, the adviser adds, is persona non grata in Romney’s inner circle.
Oh, I’d be shaking in my boots about that if I were Chris Christie, yes siree.
The Other Chuck
Aaaaand the circular firing squad warms up by picking the biggest target.
Baud
Christie is a traitor to the conservative cause. Even the liberal John Cole said nice things about him.
rdldot
Boehner on the TV right now explaining how, because the GOP owns 1/3 of the govt, the Pres should be more reasonable and come closer to their way of thinking. Eff Off.
Corner Stone
I like Gov Christie. He tells it like it is, you know where you stand with him and he seems like a guy we can work with.
MattR
Listening to talk radio here in Jersey yesterday, they were careful to note that Christie has to navigate his 2013 re-election before he can consider a run for President. But they also pointed out (and unfortunately I tend to agree) that his post Sandy bipartisanship will push him towards a decisive victory. Come 2015 those pundits will be pragmatic and if they believe Christie is the best hope to stop the evil Democrats from continuing their reign, then any complaints about his actions during Hurricane Sandy will go right down the memory hole.
MikeJ
And people are just fallin gall over themselves to get into Mitt’s inner circle now, aren’t they?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Yum.
EconWatcher
I’m sure Christie will respond to all of this calmly and temperately, as is his wont.
gbear
It’s pretty rich that McCain is saying that Christie ‘brought this disaster upon us’ when talking about a governor who was trying to do everything to help his state when an honest-to-god major disaster had blasted his constituents. McCain’s notion of the word ‘disaster’ is rather shallow and idiotic.
Disco
“Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and Chris Christie undermined the Republican message.”
What message is that? That women are second-class citizens? What a load of horseshit. But then, I expected nothing less.
Ben Cisco
The incredible C, Public Enemy Number One.
Bulworth
@rdldot: Yeah, anything else would be the president “spiking the football” and being uppity.
MattR
@Corner Stone:
He’s not. He’s Rudy Giuliani in a much larger body.
MattF
Ha. How about “Republicans nominated a dishonest, greedy coward, and a majority of Americans decided there was a better choice.” But I agree that Christie is kind of a gasbag.
Violet
Buzzfeed’s got a fascinating look into the Romney-Trump relationship.
Love the way the Romney camp insults people that “work with their hands”. The article goes on with plenty of description of how incredibly high-maintenance Trump is.
Midnight Marauder
@Corner Stone:
I don’t think it’s possible for this to ever cease being amusing.
JPL
@rdldot: Sounds like he is pushing Romney’s tax cut.
gbear
@MikeJ: Really. I imagine Christie is sobbing uncontrolably over the lock-out.
PaulW
At no time can any blame be assigned to the people actually responsible – the media con artists, the fundraising con artists, and those refusing to own up to how disastrous the Bush the Lesser years STILL are to us Americans – for the Republican Party flailing against reality.
At some point, the Far Right is gonna run out of scapegoats among their own ranks, because those ranks are gonna be pretty thinned out…
Karen S.
Yes, it’s certain individuals (Christie, Akin, Mourdock) who are the reason for the GOP’s less-than-stellar showing yesterday. Yes, keep telling yourselves that, you hateful jelly-brained vultures. That way, you’ll never get around to actually figuring what the real problems with your brain-dead ideology are. And I’m okay with that.
jonas
I cannot WAIT to hear Christie respond to this. Say what you want about the guy — and he can be an enormous douchebag at times — he doesn’t take shit like this sitting down, and he’ll speak his mind. The idea that putting the citizens of NJ ahead of the Romney campaign is now some kind of capital crime is just so in keeping with the craven assholery of the the entire GOP this season, whaddya expect?
Today’s GOP — like Seinfeld: no learning; no hugging.
Rosalita
Yeah, that’s okay, blame a governor for not attending a campaign rally when his state is ruins…despicable fucktards. Can’t wait for Christie to fire back.
Persona non-grata from Mittens inner circle? Ooooh, scary
J.W. Hamner
I’ve been sadly expecting that Sandy + Chritie’s “betrayal” would be the most popular media narrative as to how Mitt-mentum was stopped… but I’m still slightly hopeful that they’ll stay with “Whoops, I guess those polls were right after all!”
Brachiator
I love the smell of finger-pointing and recrimination in the morning.
Smells like… victory!
Jay in Oregon
So can we replace John McCain, the Village’s President-in-exile, with Mitt Romney now?
Not that people will be jumping at the chance to talk to him, like, EVER again, but the more irrelevant McCain is, the better.
The Red Pen
A lot of Freeper retrospectives start with the upfront statement that Romney was and awesome candidate who ran a great campaign and so we can rule out problems in that area.
Then they blame women (WHITE women, BTW), and “the majority of Americans who rely on government handouts.” You know, THOSE people.
cathyx
So does this mean that if the Republicans had embraced climate change instead of denying it, they would have won the election?
Violet
Matalin:
She doesn’t see fit to mention that the storms were God’s revenge for the Republicans immoral actions. Funny how she overlooked that.
? Martin
Democrats got a 2/3 majority in both houses in California – the minimum needed to raise taxes. With a Democratic governor, there’s a window of opportunity here. This is huge. This may have national consequences.
Bulworth
Yeah, very family values-ey
cbear
Ahhhhh, it all just tastes so sweet.
BTW, anybody know when the raping and pillaging is scheduled to begin? My email program has been screwed up the last few days and I’m afraid I may have missed the memo.
Will we be allowed to burn and salt their lands?
Also, too, is the selling their children into servitude thingy still on? I’m really behind on my yard work and could some help.
cathyx
But what I really hope it means is that they think they need to tack more to the right in order to win future elections.
joeyess
Makes me almost want to vote for the guy….. almost.
Ann Rynd
Oh no! To be excluded from Romney’s inner circle!! Is that the same as being shunned in the Mormon faith?
Christie is right where he wants to be. More rides on Air Force One, Dinner in the family quarters, state dinners. Who wouldn’t want that? He might even be asked to be Hillary’s VP.
There are advantages in being on Mary Matalin’s bad side.
28 Percent
fixed
Bill in Section 147
Republicans. Keep f*cking that chicken.
Sadly for the country they would have been happier if thousands died and Christie blamed Obama.
Romney lost. Republicans lost. And you now hate Chris Christie. Sounds like a whole lotta win to me.
Keep on believing your fairytale whiners. Clap louder.
The Moar You Know
Taking this tack against Christie is idiotic. He’s very powerful and liked within moderate Republican circles, and he has a nasty mean streak a mile wide and an ability to hold generational grudges that would impress any Middle Easterner.
And the last thing he’s going to do is lie down and take it. He is going to fuck those who fuck with him hard. The conservatives talk of “Chicago thugs”, but forget that the Chicago thugs were wiped off the face of the planet by the Jersey mob.
Corner Stone
@MattR:
I don’t think this is a fair assessment. It seems to me, and please tell me if this is off base, that universal disclaim from the R side directed at Christie pretty much tells us all we need to know. He’s clearly a partisan pol, but that doesn’t preclude him from working across the aisle. His press conferences and actions since Sandy have left the door wide open for Democrats to reach out their Springsteen soaked bandannas and ask Gov Christie to show us the way forward.
We’re just not going to get legislation done if we continue with all this one sided bickering bullshit. We need to identify and groom some people we can work with in the future. And Christ Christie is the model for that kind of framework moving forward.
halteclere
I like how Dick Morris validated the assumptions behind Nate Silver’s predictions, then went and said something completely opposite than what those predictions showed (that Romney was sunk before Sandy).
thefncrow
I actually like that section from Dick Morris, if only because he comes spectacularly close to having a point in spite of himself.
Christie hurt Romney, yes, but he hurt Romney because he helped expose the GOP myth of “Crazy Obama won’t work with us”. When you had Obama and Christie working together very pragmatically to supply disaster relief from the storm, something which happened because Christie softened to Obama, it made plain for anyone who hadn’t been paying attention and thought that gridlock was Obama’s fault. Christie was willing to come together for a pragmatic solution, and Obama was there and more than willing to help work amicably with Christie.
Christie helped expose for very-low-information voters that the reason for gridlock wasn’t an inflexible and dogmatic Obama but an inflexible and dogmatic GOP.
Dave
This is exactly what Christie wanted. Now he has the anti-GOP cred he needs to win again in NJ despite being a Republican.
And then, in 2016, he bails and goes American Elect. They have the ballot access and are just DYING to spend their totebag billions on a “serious centrist.” And Christie will be that guy.
Froley
A campaign of bros “neggin” on the voters has failed. Now that they’ve been rejected we’re in the excuses stage — “that fat fuck from New Jersey cockblocked us.” Next it will be the sour grapes — “that ugly bitch America doesn’t even deserve us.” Finally, they’ll become all misty-eyed, wondering why no one likes them, leading to a reevaluation of their lives and all they believe in (just kidding on this last one, they’re Republicans).
Bruce S
You left out the best part of that Mary Matalin thing:
“What happened? A political narcissistic sociopath leveraged fear and ignorance with a campaign marked by mendacity and malice…”
Yeah, the President is a “sociopath.” And HIS campaign was “mendacious”, not Mitt’s.
If ever there was evidence that the “mainstream” GOP punditry is utterly bankrupt morally and intellectually – and fully as nuts and irresponsible (or simply cynical) as Bachmann, Palin, West and the rest – you’ve got it. (Makes me wonder about James Carville.)
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
@MattR: Perhaps, but Hurricane Sandy shows he is in touch with reality and not just in the Fox News Bubble. Like it or not our government is based on loyal opposition and Christe maybe the (large) shape of things to come for the Republicans.
Which is probably a good reason for the hatred he’s getting from the pundits. They got to have that rage going.
jimmiraybob
The “Republican message” didn’t fail, the “Republican message” was failed. Sounds familiar.
Also too, when multiple hurricanes (of the natural, non-human variety) screw you at the front and back ends of your project, you might want to check with former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson to see why God hates your project. It’s very confusing but he’s your guy.
Cassidy
So…I guess the 2016 Primary just got a little smaller.
Alex S.
Christie – the new Crist.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
Stabbed in the back! Oh the classics never die.
different-church-lady
Not that he’ll care, but I fixed that for him.
Corner Stone
@cbear:
“The girl! How much for the little girl?”
Geoduck
@cbear:
Just remember, first you pillage, then burn and salt.
Bill in Section 147
@Jay in Oregon: McCain still has inside the beltway BBQ tickets so he will remain important. Romney and GW have no gig on the horizon so they are non-existent till further notice.
Wingers can now pray for a terrorist attack as a Pearl Harbor 911 is the only thing that can really make them smile again.
rob!
The wingnuts are eating their own. That’s a pretty large meal when you’re talking about Christie.
different-church-lady
@Cassidy: Take away Christie and there’s three fewer candidates for the GOP nomination.
Does… not… get… old…
mainmati
A lot of wingnut projection and blame flailing going on. I especially liked this gem oozing out of Ole Morris: “Obama’s one-party strident approach, so much the opposite of what he pledged in his first national speech in 2004, had turned voters off.”
If only Obama had been even a little bit bi-partisan, he might actually have won a second term…oh wait.
NotMax
Sour grapes.
In retrospect (Hurricane Sandy) think of the pictures and coverage had Romney chosen Christie for Veep slot. Would those same people be finger-pointing about his contribution to the loss?
OT: Two post-election tidbits from Hawaii:
1) Total turnout for the state was a shade under 62%
2) Percentage of total votes cast for Romney/Ryan (wait for it) – 27%.
MattF
@Corner Stone: We shall see. My ‘serious’ view is that Christie is still somewhat not-ready-for-prime-time. It’s unrealistic to expect him to be less arrogant, but he needs to learn to be more circumspect about it in order to play well with others.
YellowJournalism
“I hope the rhetoric calms down–from both sides.”-Shep Smith, conveniently forgetting he’s on Fox.
Roger Moore
@MikeJ:
LOL.
Joel
Oh god, we have waited this long for the circular firing squad. It’s finally happening. It’s finally happening!
Another Bob
I love that for years, conservatives have been crowing about this or that episode would be the “Obama’s Katrina” moment that would ruin his political career. When Obama got his Katrina for real — aka Hurricane Sandy — it turned out to be a showcase in which he demonstrated his competency and the value of his ideal of good governance, which only helped him win the election. It turns out that having a Katrina Moment is only a problem for your political career if you’re incompetent and subscribe to a bankrupt ideology that fails in the face of the real world.
jibeaux
I really enjoy picturing Christie’s reaction if someone said that to his face.
EconWatcher
Shorter Dick Morris: That bastard Chris Christie tarnished Romney’s reputation for working well with Democrats by working well with a Democrat.
Huh?
Ash Can
Speaking of lulz, via an alert commenter at LGF, here’s a post-election Jennifer Rubin sighting. Shorter JR: Romney’s campaign sucked, and forget all that stuff I wrote during the campaign.
catclub
I am only surprised they did not turn on Romney first.
But that is the kind of slack you get when you are a gazillionaire. But they will end up turning on Romney as too liberal.
Huntsman was considered a serious candidate. Why? Daddy’s money. Anyone else garnering under 2% of the GOP field was n on-candidate, but not him.
Mike in NC
@Jay in Oregon:
God forbid this soulless creep turns up on TV every Sunday sitting next to David Gregory.
Chyron HR
@Joel:
It’s twoo! It’s TWOO!
Geoduck
@Bill in Section 147:
Number one rule to remember: nobody actually likes Mitt Romney.
porlob
Christie’s GOP career is over…
Until 3 years from now, when Christie will be the Outsider, Maverick GOP presidential candidate, who we can all trust because he bucked party convention to do what’s right for his state, just as he’ll do with our country. Or something like that.
Bruce S
This is all good, but I’m still not going to start liking Chris Christie.
Dave
I just think it’s funny Mitch McConnell had one job for four years (according to him) and he fucked it up.
Violet
@Dave:
We’ll have to see how that works out. Storm relief is one thing, but rebuilding is another thing altogether. Will it move too slowly and will NJ residents blame Christie? Will Christie say something like, “We need to rebuild further from the shore” and piss off people who don’t think global warming is an issue and who just want it rebuilt exactly the way it was?
He’s involved and out front now with taking care of people. But it’s still early days.
different-church-lady
Probably overthinking it, but Christie is not a dumb politician. If he does have presidential ambitions, then he’s smart enough to know you don’t win by being a one-term governor. Which is what he would have become had he slapped at Obama when his state was in need.
Frankensteinbeck
It’s everyone’s fault but their own. The Grand Old Alcoholics Party continues its slide towards rock bottom.
Felonius Monk
Richard
Christie is now the Emmanuel Goldstein of the GOP.
rlrr
@Geoduck:
I’m sure Anne and the boys have some feelings for him…
Hal
Driving into work this afternoon and listening to Talk of the Nation, when one caller spoke about just how sad it was that the country was so divided. Just so, so sad and terrible.
Then he complained that Benghazi was murder, President Obama was covering up the incident and it’s so, so sad that America could not come together. And by come together, he meant voting for the Republican.
On Facebook, some of my conservative friends are lamenting just how there was no good candidate to vote for anyway. Never mind that they were all fuck yeah Mitt Romney just yesterday. This is the Republican ideal of compromise. Vote R or else.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
About fucking time. I don’t think they’re going to use that power any time soon, but OTOH, I don’t see the Republicans getting back above the 1/3 line in the near future, either.
Hoodie
New wingnut meme: Chris Christie was a false flag operation for the Obama campaign. Personally, I think Obama bought him cheap with a helicopter ride, a Springsteen stage pass and maybe a box of donuts. Not that Republicans would ever realize that Christie never really was their kind of guy, except he could make them moist by being an asshole to a teacher or a mailman. I get the feeling that “Romney’s inner circle” soon will have the cultural status of the shake weight, even among Republicans.
Fester Addams
Why that’s just schadenfreudelicious!
maya
I am from New Jersey originally. That state has been hit very hard by Sandy and is still a long way from recovery. The home town still has many without power 9-10 days after the storm and that is in the central part of the state. The shore towns may never recover
Yet, in the the old home town paper today, it was revealed that the town largely went for Romney in the election. Go figure. What the hell did they think RMoney was going to do for them after Sandy?
Marked Hoosier
Of course the party of personal responsibility will blame everyone else but themselves.
Jay C
@MattR:
Word. Whatever Chris Christie’s plans for his political future might be, “one-term ex-Governor” isn’t the kind of item that’s going to polish his resume. NJ is an odd place, politically: likely to toss out even popular politicos on a regular basis, and bipartisanly fickle: will equally turn on Democrats or Republicans in alternate seasons. Big Chris is going have to shore up his own base first and foremost if he’s going avoid the chopping block next year: and flubbing disaster relief after a major hit like Sandy – especially in favor of campaigning for an unpopular drone like Mitt Romney (Obama carried NJ by a 58-41 margin) is a sure ticket to unemployment.
The prophet Nostradumbass
I’m sure Christie is crushed. After all, he’s just the governor of a state, whereas Romney is President-elect of Nothing.
Bruce S
“persona non grata in Romney’s inner circle”
Since all Romney has left in the political world is an “inner circle” that’s pretty harsh – albeit inconsequential.
Steve LaBonne
@MikeJ: Mitt who?
cmorenc
@MattR:
IMHO Christie underwent a powerful political epiphany, induced by the catalyst of having to deal with the wreckage of a powerful storm inflicted by nature.
First, he realized as governor that his first, foremost duty by far was to do right by and serve his storm-traumatized constituents, and that close cooperation with FEMA and the federal government was the only effective way he could do so.
Second, he realized as Obama reached out to him that a coalition of convenience with Obama on dealing with the storm would ease the path to most quickly and effectively serving his constituents, whereas trying to both serve the Romney campaign and GOP party’s interests in minimizing cooperativeness with the feds and Obama to minimize any seeming credit and appearance of competent effectiveness Obama might receive as a collateral benefit, would betray, damage, and dis-serve his constituents’ best interests at a dangerously vulnerable time.
This led to a third realization: if he acted as the GOP’s agent to try to make Sandy Obama’s Katrina, it would unavoidably become Christie’s Katrina as well, and Christie also realized that in order to have a viable political future past 2013, he must first win reelection as NJ governor at that time.
This led to Christie’s final stage of epiphany: my chances of winning the GOP nomination might not be so great as I thought back in the summer; look at all the seemingly more plausibly solid candidates who ended up on the scrap heap in the 2012 while much less plausibly sound candidates surged past them. So fuck ’em, I’m going to solidify my position as governor of a very blue state, and if my chances for the 2016 or 2020 nomination open back up later on, I can take that course then, but if not, fuck ’em. I’m one of the most formidable governors in the country of a blue state, and Obama’s indirectly helping me achieve that.
Fuck ’em, said Christie. Fuck Romney, fuck the tea party GOP. I’ll take my strange political bedfellow Obama over them right now, even though that means “fuck Obama? not so much.”
John Carter
SO…a might wind was responsible for Romney’s defeat?
One might go so far as to presume man himself had a hand in that through Climate Change if that’s what I take the Right to be using as the excuse of the day. Or is it just possible God was more than a little put out over the whole thing?
Hmmm?
Climate change because of corporate pollution or wrath of God because SOMEONE, SOME GROUP of GREEDY PEOPLE were messing up HIS creation?
How ’bout that one all you evangelicals and wingunts?
japa21
Let’s see. It looks like they are set up to blame Christie for the next 4 years rather than accept responsibility for have a pathetic ideology, a pathetic candidate and a pathetic base. Sounds like they are doing what they have been accusing Obama of doing.
flukebucket
@gbear:
McCain
’s notion of the word ‘disaster’is rather shallow and idiotic.FTFY
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
BTW someone should point out that Obama’s eldest daughter is grown up and quit hot looking. It was pretty amusing to see the lengths her clothing designer went to dull her down last night.
I wonder if her boy friend is going to get a talk from Barrak along the lines of “touch her and I will send the same SEAL who put one in ben Ladin’s head after your ass kid”
rlrr
It says a lot when doing the right thing make one the “anti-GOP”…
NotMax
Breaking; Bolton, Senor and the others slinking back to Legion of Doom headquarters to commiserate with Cheney.
Brachiator
@Ann Rynd:
I think that Christie would be willing to pass on the rides on Air Force One for some more dinners.
@porlob:
No, things are getting interesting. For the GOP to kick Christie to the curb right now is suicidal. They are going to lose the white middle class vote, to go along with their alienation of other demographics.
New Jersey is trying to dig itself out from under Hurricane Sandy, and the GOP bashes Christie instead of embracing him. Damn. These are some seriously delusional fools.
scav
@Steve LaBonne: Airbrush too many people out od the historic phographs, and all you have are tanks in a line going past a podium.
Bubblegum Tate
@Bulworth:
BOOM! Roasted.
dewzke
HaHa!/ Nelson Muntz
hells littlest angel
It isn’t just post-religious, globalist intellectuals who are a threat to America, but also bitter-ender, socialist sluts.
That’s right, PORGI and BESS.
MattR
@Corner Stone: I would argue that Giuliani gave similar indications of reasonableness immediately after 9/11(It is a bit different since Bush was a Republican but I don’t think things would too different if Gore had been president). But then soon after his true, bullyish personality returned to the forefront.
(For what it is worth, I lived in Manhattan under Giuliani for 4 years prior to 9/11 and have been living in Jersey for the entirety of Christie’s term as governor)
japa21
@Felonius Monk: He has been known to emit some flatulence as well.
me
@Bruce S: Looks like projection to me. That sentence describes the whole Romney campaign.
28 Percent
@maya: I don’t know, but every interview I hear from the Sandy area (admittedly on NPR, so of course they don’t correct the interviewee) complains that the government hasn’t done such a good job of disaster relief because the power is still out. Since when does the government own ConEd? And repair crews are converged on the area from all over the Eastern Seaboard, what exactly more do they think that it’s possible that anyone could do?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Sweet!
Ash Can
@Hoodie: He’s been a dick in the past and he’ll be a dick in the future, but I find myself wondering if Christie’s support of Romney ever actually made it past the entrance to his voting booth yesterday.
Surreal American
I wonder if Christie’s Fox News pass will be ceremoniously shredded by Fox & Friends and Sean Hannity. Christie will feel *so* forlorn (not).
Higgs Boson's Mate
Republicans haven’t examined their own ideas since the Reagan years. Why should they start now? The rationalizations and accusations will continue, anything to keep from facing the fact that they’re fundamentally wrong and completely out of step with America, circa 2012, on many, many, issues.
Redshift
One of Obama’s underrated skills is his ability to kneecap potential future GOP stars by doing good things for them — John Huntsman and Christie come to mind, and I know there are more but I was up celebrating until 4am, so I can’t think clearly enough to call them to mind.
We often talk about how one of Obama’s strengths has always been his luck in his choice of opponents, but it’s not just luck. And the best part is that he kneecaps them in such a way that the only barrier to their success is the GOP’s insanity, giving them incentive to push the party to a better state. Not even to moderate their policy positions, just to act like a normal party that negotiates and compromises, instead on an insane death cult.
jl
Yeah, who could not see that coming. They always need a Satan. Christie makes a cute cuddly one.
I’m sure Christie started the trend of recovery for Obama that began within a week of that first bad election.
Christie can time travel, just like Obama!
Amir Khalid
@arguingwithsignposts:
Christie had a legitimate reason for blowing Mitt off: with such a big crisis on his hands, he had no time to entertain a presidential candidate with no real means to help him. He needed to spend time with the incumbent President, who did have such means, and who needed Christie’s input on how to help New Jersey — which is why Obama’s been on the phone with him every day since Sandy hit. Mitt’s got no right whatsoever to complain about a governor doing his job.
I reckon Obama just took the opportunity to put him and Bruce on the phone together. So now, in addition to being made one of the Republican party’s scapegoats in Mitt’s defeat, Chris Christie owes Obama a big personal favor. I don’t quite see Christie switching parties over this, and I don’t know how it might affect his presidential ambitions; but I expect he and his fellow Republicans will be rather less keen on each other from here on out. Obama may have just done to Christie’s presidential ambitions what some say he did to Jon Huntsman’s by appointing him.
Hoodie
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques: I think Obama would be more subtle:
“As you may be aware, I’m a fan of burial at sea.”
MattR
@maya: My very conservative town in NJ still has no power. Despite that, I am getting some enjoyment from all the complaints by residents that the town next door has had power back for several days. The reason being that they have a government run electric company rather than relying on JCP&L. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and the residents will realize the errors of their ideology, but I am not counting on it.
Gravenstone
I am anticipating with great relish those future moments when Gov. Christie tells the quoted worthies what he really thinks about them, to their quaking and sweat soaked faces – at full volume. Can’t stand the man, but damn if he doesn’t suffer fools and assholes the least bit gladly.
Just Some Fuckhead
If Romney had a legitimate shot, Akin has a way of shutting that down.
Moar popcorn.
red dog
Somethin different. So Puerto Rico wants to be a state and make their people pay taxes and stuff. They also owe billions. Will Congress approve this admission…NEVER.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Dave:
Christie will have no need to do any such thing should he have national ambitions in 2016. For all of their bark the Jesusland freaks in GOP have had little bite the last couple of cycles when it comes to selecting the presidential nominee (Congressional races are another thing entirely). They hated the RINO John McCain in in 2004 and hated the RINO Mitt Romney in 2008 and look how well that worked out for them. That leaves the Randroids, but Christie is both geographically and ideologically positioned to be a prime recipient of Wall St money, and when push comes to shove the Randroids do whatever the fuck Wall St tells them to do.
Culture of Truth
After the first debate Mary Matalin said “maybe Barack Obama is just stupid” or words to that effect
Maybe Mary Matalin just isn’t too bright?
Bubblegum Tate
@Hal:
The wingnut bloggers whose tears I’m presently drinking are pledging unceasing antagonism for Obama’s second term…then concluding that Obama is just so damn divisive!
LanceThruster
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” ~ Pogo
Reformed Panty Sniffer
I did not vote for Christie: I voted for the Independent Chris Daggett, who I thought was better prepared than both Christie and Corzine to deal with NJ’s issues: property taxes, environment, shore problems, school funding and education reform, etc.
What turns people off about Christie is that far too often Christie goes out of his way to bully those that disagree with him, which is (a) lazy and (b) typical of today’s Republicans. [I’m surrounded by them in Morris County and many love him initially for his attacks on unions, creeping socialism, the debt crisis, corrupt politicans, etc.]
But he soured people on property tax and education reforms: he’s sacrificing funding while our schools are starting to lag behind and lose ground to other states.
His personality is pure Jersey: bluster and sarcasm mixed with bluntness. This can be refreshing unless its directed at you. He will be a strong opponent in either his 2013 re-relection or a 2016 presidential bid.
Giuliani is a total douche; Christie just acts like one. If he wasn’t a Republican with some crappy ideas, I might support him. (But I learned that lesson from an early infatuation with McCain in 1999-2000.)
Christie’s been good about Sandy and I support him on what he’s been doing in that area: working with Obama helps both and whether Romney supporters liked it or not, that’s what adults in-charge are supposed to do: work together to solve issues. Romney pretty much ignored Sandy, which tells us everything we need to know about him.
On the other hand, I’m 10 days without power, the house is 46 degrees or so, another storm is here, and the family wants to move, like now. But we did enjoy a muffled cheer this morning (three layers of sweatshirts are needed)when we found out Obama won.
Obama: 2
Grumpy Old White People (mostly men): O
The other bonus of the nights without power and all of us in the bed with our three Collies, is that my wife and daughter have learned to master the art of the “Dutch Oven”.
Cheers
Digital Amish
O.T. but doesn’t anyone know where to go to find a round-up of state legislature gains/losses? I’ve seen a couple of mentions of state houses and senates going Democratic after long absences (ND and NY iirc) I’d like to see an overview that hopefully shows Republicans losing at the state level as well as the national.
geg6
@Mike in NC:
Meh. Who’s going to be subjected to it? Based on the ratings, no one.
Dancin’ Dave is dead meat.
aimai
Here in MA the “Republican” spokespeople for the “Independent” voters are pushing this line hugely. 1) Independent or “unenrolled” in MA are largely people who are embarrassed to vote Republican in front of their neighbors. They are not centrists. They are ill informed assholes or people who are just contrarian and prefer to do the opposite of the hated enemy in the cities and exactly what their suburban neighbors are doing. 2) Those voters were good people who liked Scott Brown but Brown’s “message” to them was put off kilter by Warren and the Democrat’s machine politics which woujldn’t let scott talk only about the economy. Because Scott was an independent (though he was registered and voted as a Republican) he should not have been linked, even rhetorically, with the actual votes his actual party was taking. That was just meeeeean.
Its weird to me how the Democratic messenger and interviewers at NPR keep letting the Scott Brown Republicans and their voters run away from the actual, you know, issues and policies of the Republican party. Brown supports his party. His party went bat shit crazy and pissed all over all the voters except rich old angry white guys. They didn’t deserve anyone’s vote and they specifically told us (women, minorities) over and over again and now they are pissy that we returned the favor? Fuck them. Call them out on it every chance you get.
aimai
Rekster
@rob!:
The best thing the Dems can do now is just sit back and watch as these loons convince themselves that they just need to continue down this road.
Let them continue to listen to these all knowing pundits and gas bags! Remain inside the Fox News hermetically sealed bubble.
We can only pray that the American Taliban continues to encourage the tehadists to double down on the crazy. I suggest we all make a monetary contribution to Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition. As long as the Religious Right continues to be such a force in the Republican party it can only be good for us.
I hate to give credence to Michael Steele but will give him kudos. He has stated repeatedly that 50,000 Hispanics turn 18 every month and the impact this has and will continue to have on the future of the GOP. It actually sounds like Mr. Steele is a voice of reason. We can only hope they continue to ignore this.
To me the most important thing we need to think about now are the mid term elections. This could be a real opportunity for the Dems if they can convince us to get out and vote.
Finally, the two most fortunate people in the country today are David Plouffe and David Axelrod. Do you think there might be a prospective candidate for 2016 who might offer them a bit of money to shepherd a campaign?
LD50
Seize the moment, we’re seeing enduring myths being formed right before our eyes, like Germany in 1919.
Culture of Truth
I don’t see why I should like CC just because a few nutters are scapegoating him over hurricane relief.
He’s still the great GOP hope and by the way NJ is a freaking disaster area right now. It’s Thunderdome, so a little less tweeting and a little more action would be welcome.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Culture of Truth:
That may be the most forbearing sentence I’ve ever read.
KG
@Corner Stone: I tend to agree with you here. It’s why I voted for the pro-choice/pro-gay marriage/anti-repeal Obamacare Republican in my Congressional race (he lost by 10 points, FWIW). My thinking is that the GOP needs some voices like that in it’s caucus, just as the Dems need some Blue Dogs – it gives each side a pathway to working with the other, even if it’s just on a couple of issues here and there.
As for Christie and 2016… I just don’t buy it. He comes off a bit too angry sometimes and Americans don’t want to elect an angry man. Seriously, who was the last “angry” nominee from either party? Nixon, maybe? We want optimism, pragmatism, level heads…
Comrade Jake
Hannity on his radio show is about to talk about how Ann Coulter got it so wrong re: Christie. I’m gonna have to miss it, but tune in for some schaudenfraude if you’ve got the energy and the time.
Culture of Truth
Hey, I’m also 10 days without power. Remind me what an effective leader this guy is again?
oh, the goppers meant bully. not always the same.
The Golux
All I have to say is (as others have noted), life in the Carville-Matalin household has to be one of the strangest experiences imaginable. (Not to mention the strangeness of imagining those two getting their freak on.)
One thing I’m looking forward to in the immediate future is no longer having to mute NPR every time they play a clip of one of Rmoney’s utterances. Nails on the blackboard.
28 Percent
Do none of these people think for even a minute about what it would have looked like and how it would have played had Christie rebuffed Obama after Sandy? Do they think for a minute that that would have improved the country’s opinion of Republicans and their safety being governed by them? They’re pissed at Akin and Mourdock because they said explicitly what Republicans are only supposed to say in code, they’re pissed at Christie because he didn’t go down with the ideological ship.
Seriously, do they think that Florida would have looked at media coverage comparing New York’s recovery with FEMA to New Jersey’s recovery without it and think “wow, voting Republican seems like a totally sane thing to do that could never go wrong for us!” Seriously?
Joel
@red dog: I hope the DNC is paying notice. The right wingers could really lose their shit over PR being admitted to the union. That could sink their hispandering strategy for 2016.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m deeply skeptical that Christie ever had a future outside of NJ. His election was a fluke, and as I can’t remember who said, something to the effect of “Fat jokes aside, how many people are gonna vote for President Eric Cartman?” the last couple weeks aside, he’s a nasty fuck, thin-skinned and arrogant. He was briefly the dream candidate of those who fantasized that Obama was the affirmative action shell of a man who would collapse in a debate without his teleprompter, then they went back to Gingrich.
and Mary Matalin is George W Bush’s portrait of Dorian Gray, the Gollum of Post-Poppy Rightwing, her soulless viciousness written on her shrunken, permanently snarling head. If Hillary does run in ’16, it’ll go a long way with me (though I can’t imagine who I’d like more) if she left the equally horrid and even more over-rated Mr Matalin on the sidelines.
LAC
“Unfortunately and unfortuitously, forces of nature bookended the general election: Our convention was compromised by one weather disaster and our momentum stalled by another. Two human hurricanes also radically altered the political atmosphere: Bill Clinton’s unique windbaggery constituted a campaign updraft, while Chris Christie’s deplorable and gratuitous gas-baggery infused the campaign with a toxic political pollution.”
This from a woman whose face and personality should be listed as a form of chemical warfare.
GregB
I hate to bang the NH drum too often, but I think we have finally atoned for the 2000 vote for George W.
I love you wooommeeeeenn!
Judas Escargot, Bringer of Loaves and Fish Sandwiches
@? Martin:
IMO the ‘Reagan Era’ really began in 1978, with CA’s Proposition 13 (MA’s different but similarly intentioned Proposition 2 1/2 followed in 1980).
Wouldn’t it be nice if the proper end of the Reagan Era (which we’ve been heralding for over a decade but never really seem to reach) began in CA, also, too?
Seriously, though, while the GOP will not go away (and needs to be watched like a wounded animal for the foreseeable future), vibrations tell me that this election will be considered the end of the Reagan Era, and the beginning of whatever political Era is to follow.
jl
” Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, the adviser adds, is persona non grata in Romney’s inner circle. ”
Oh dear! Christie is finished. Some one persona non grata with a team that ran one of the worst campaigns in modern US political history is in big trouble.
If I were Christie, I would worry about hitting the gym and losing some weight for 2016, and his health, first. Then work on down the list. After he finds the perfect presidential candidate power necktie design, might want to look into patching things up with the defunct and extinct Romney campaign.
MaxxLange
Well, what do you expect? That he’ll get an invite to come play touch football with Romney and the boys at Thanksgiving?
Svensker
@MattR:
I have conservative friends who are SCREAMING because their health insurance premiums have gone up, which is all Obama’s fault because Obamacare. They don’t seem to realize that their premiums are still in the lovely, caring grip of the American Free Market (blessed is its name) for at least another year.
Still, on the power front, I don’t blame people for being frustrated. Even if everyone’s doing the best they can, being without power in November in NJ is no fun at all. My mom-in-law just got power back today. Very tough.
maya
@MattR: Yeah. I was thinking NJP&L might be one of the best buys in the market right now. No place to go but up.
Gian
Somewhat OT but it looks like the state that brought you Nixon and Reagan will have Democratic supermajorites in the statehouse.
I can only hope this trend goes national
KG
@Judas Escargot, Bringer of Loaves and Fish Sandwiches: Newt Gingrich use to say that the American political winds start in California and blow east…
Ash Can
BTW, the presidential helicopters are flying over my house as I type this, taking the Obamas and Bidens to O’Hare on their way back to DC. :)
Reformed Panty Sniffer
@Culture of Truth: If you also have JCP&L, I’m afraid we are both SOL for now.
I heard we might have power tonight only to probably lose it with the storm. Otherwise, it looks like the 11th, perhaps.
Culture of Truth
LOL
Onihanzo
As expected… they’re doubling down.
“Tea Party feels strengthened even in midst of Mitt Romney defeat and GOP failure to take Senate”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/2012/11/07/tea-party-feels-strengthened-even-midst-mitt-romney-defeat-and-gop-failure-take-senate/SQVKnXBxc8wScMa2cxPtjJ/story.html
Graham
@hells littlest angel:
Awesomeness
Culture of Truth
I wouldn’t worry about a bunch of whining idiots. Christie made himself look better after the storm, not worse. He’s clearly an early favorite now for 2016.
On the other hand, if we go 4 years without electricity…
Rommie
I can’t see how the GOP, knowing the electoral college math, do not pick one of the Florida guys to make it go red in 2016. (Barring said Florida guys doing something stupid, of course) CC doesn’t bring one EV with him in his pocket, and he’s RINO and DMW.
And honestly, the appeal of the *smarter* Bush to lead the Republicans out of the wilderness – c’mon, they won’t be able to resist that mermaid call. Especially if they are facing another Clinton..
MattR
@Reformed Panty Sniffer: Didn’t know there was another Morris County person on the board. Living in Chatham myself. Just read a note from the Mayor that we could have power back today, but I doubt it with this new storm coming through. Luckily, the dog and I are holed up at mom’s in Rockland in NY.
MattF
@Onihanzo: Yeah, Cognitive Dissonance 101.
chopper
anybody else think ‘gelatinous clown’ is a perfect description of christie? lol.
Ash Can
@Onihanzo:
Awesome.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@MaxxLange:
Every good team needs an immovable run-stopping nose tackle on defense.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Funny how hurricanes are only signs from God when they affect the poors and the browns.
This is too awesome. Romney lost the election the day he was nominated. He never had better than a 50% chance of winning; the closest he came was after the first debate.
Put another way, if a natural disaster a week before the election was enough to sink Romney, he wasn’t that high above the water line to begin with.
The GOP picked a crap candidate. Romney was the smartest bag of hair to come out of the primaries, but he was still a bag of hair.
Baud
@Onihanzo:
Does the article say how many sure GOP Senate pick-ups are they planning to ruin in 2014?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
God, it’s beyond pathetic that a would-be, almost president of these United States was grovelling to that weird little troll, and how weird is the little cult of personality around Trump at NBC that even off-the-record and behind his back, he manages to get people to refer to him as “Mr Trump”. I think he even insists on it with Matt Lauer et al. Even Willard allowed himself to be called “Mitt” in campaign situations, though I bet he really hated it.
As to the speculation that Willard will replace Gampy Walnuts as the MTP president-in-exile: Never. Willard doesn’t trigger anybody’s daddy issues but Tagg’s. I think he’s gonna fade faster and more completely than Dukakis. If David Gregory wants anyone to speak for beleaguered billionaires (and he will), he’ll bring Bloomberg on to express his disappointment that Obama has wasted his precious endorsement.
Liberty60
Whats delicious about the Christie hate, is that he is, IMO, the most formidable candidate on their bench for 2016.
ETA- By “Formidable” I mean most likely to peel off elements of the Obama coalition.
Reformed Panty Sniffer
@MattR: I’m about six stops pass you on the train (which may be out for another 4 weeks I heard). Long-time lurker, sometime caller.
David Koch
I love the smell of fratricide in the morning.
Smells like VICTORY!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Joel:
Admitting Puerto Rico to the union is still, in my mind, still very much of a long shot.
OTOH, Obama can, and I hope, will, present comprehensive immigration reform. Now that will really fuck with Republicans; if they vote against it they’re fucked demographically, if they vote for it they’re still fucked demographically.
maya
@Culture of Truth: Christie’s damn lucky the hurricane wasn’t named Snooki after he chased her and the Jersey Shore cast out of town.
mainmati
Only slightly OT, this from a yammering fool at Feeble Recroom (FR) on why the Asians (or Latinos for that matter) don’t vote for them: “The GOP got killed among Asian-Americans, who logically should be strong GOP supporters. The GOP is not even asking itself why.
Can somebody tell me why Asian-Americans vote for democRATS? You’re right, Mr. Jeeves… logically they should be strong GOP supporters.
WHY do they vote for ‘RATs? I don’t understand this.”
Having spent a good deal of my career living and working in SE Asia, the idiot poster obviously doesn’t understand the difference between the Tea Party/Gooper political and social culture and that of many Asian and even Latino cultures. Asians come from cultures in which collaboration and cooperation are traditionally essential for survival. They live cheek by jowl. Rice cultivation requires an elaborate and interdependent division of labor. Visit a rural village on Java and one in Iowa and they are vastly different. The religions, cultures and many of the political systems do not worship so-called rugged individualism and the kind of dog-eat-dog savagery that the right-wing in this country espouses. They laugh at “I built this.” The point is that a lot of Asians and Latinos are turned off by extremist individualism, frankly. Until that changes or until a lot more of these immigrant communities are socialized into a Gooper perspective (FSM forbid), the right wing is not going to win over a significant fraction of these communities.
Villago Delenda Est
Looks like God Himself did not want Rmoney to be President, too me.
Stick that in your brainless hats, God bothered asswipes.
MattR
@Reformed Panty Sniffer: 4 weeks ?!?! Good thing I work from home. Chatham has been chartering buses, but there are some strict rules and it sounds horrific. I am in a condo complex with a couple hundred units and the fire department has had to be called out a half dozen times due to carbon monoxide issues when people left the gas burners in their apartments on for too long.
kerFuFFler
The conservatives have a real problem understanding how they lost this election. Naturally they want to trash someone they will paint as too moderate——-and hey, Chiristie must be moderate since he was willing to interact with the President!
I don’t think in a million years that they will figure out that given the 18 point gender gap just maybe, maybe the problem was how many of them have treated Rush Limbaugh as the de facto leader of their party. The way he viciously attacked Sandra Fluke for expressing he opinion revealed an ugliness in the conservative movement, especially when they enjoyed, defended and repeated his lies and distortions.
I was always in the tank for Obama, but I know several women who are somewhat conservative who tell me that shocking episode opened their eyes about the prevalence of out and out misogyny in the conservative movement.
Rush lost them the election…….
unsympathetic
All the calls for revolution and internal scapegoating show the Repubs to be a party that doesn’t actually believe the notion that they only exist to govern for a short time, not “forever” as superior beings. One of the first things you learn when facilitating groups is the necessity of establishing buy-in: you are there at the group’s request, not called to tell them “how it is” — or you’re gone.
If Republicans don’t learn to respond to feedback, they will be dead very soon. And good riddance!
NotMax
@mainmati
Wingnut to English translation:
We’ve got dibs on the word “tea.” Asians all love tea, right?
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Liberty60:
Was listening to our local NPR affiliate (KUT) this morning, and they were seriously talking about Ted Cruz being a candidate in 2016.
Oy.
Bubblegum Tate
@Onihanzo:
Verbatim quote from a teabagger when told that teabaggerish radicalism really fucked the GOP last night:
PsiFighter37
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques: Dude, she’s like 15 years old – just a very tall 15 year-old. Pretty sure her height would intimidate any would-be suitors (as well as Secret Service).
GxB
Whelp CC this the treatment you get for having to be reasonable and effective (as a R gov in a Deep Blue state) while dealing with shoals of blind, hypocritical piranhas who must lay blame outside their blind, hypocritical selves. Still don’t like the guy at a personal level, he’s a bully through and through so if he were to change teams there would be a lot of side-eyed skepticism on my part.
More likely, he will lead his own branch of Republicanism, along with Frum and a few others that have mumbled about the GoP having lost it’s way. We may well be seeing the very schism that breaks the psychos off from the old school “reasoned” republicans.
Maike
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques:
Malia is fourteen. She’s a child, albeit a tall one.
Poopyman
@Onihanzo: Here’s the purple prose (sic) from the TP newsletter they insist on sending me:
It goes on, of course, and that’s more than enough to give you the flavor of it. They ain’t happy with the GOPee.
The Populist
Idiots – What kills me is this…when Christie was the darling of the right, they would circle him (and what a big circle it was!) and call out us libs who called him overweight, fat or idiotic.
Then they defend his speech at the convention as a man of conviction. Every con I talked to would tell me how they LOVE his “honesty” and how he calls it like he sees it (if you are a union member or somebody the right loathes). He called it like he saw it with the hurricane and now they all want him out.
What a bunch of fucking fools. I am by no means a supporter of Christie, even if I have some begrudging respect for the man and his abandonment of the bubble during a crisis, but I find it amazing he is the reason they lost. They picked an idiot to run for president. No different than when the dems chose Dukakis (weak) to run against then-VP Bush.
What kills me most? The fact that IF Christie did throw the election Obama’s way? He isn’t done at all, they are making the case that average people have a certain perspective of Gov Christie and were impressed he was willing to BE BI-PARTISAN!!!! Fucking bubble dwelling morons, all of them.
Christie has the best chance to be the GOP nominee in 2016 unless he goes back to being the loudmouth lunkhead shouting down teachers and anybody who annoys him. They loved him for his “honesty”, “integrity” and “straight shooting style” until he basically stopped playing ball with their stonewalling tactics. Whatever…
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
Well, regarding Christie, this may well remove him from the list of possible ’16ers (now that’s he such damaged goods). Maybe the conservatives will forgive him this youthful indiscretion, or maybe they’ll now be forced to trot out an unseasoned Rubio or (more comically) Bobby Jindal. Sure, I know that right now Ryan and the Jebster are the E-ticket rides, but much will be determined by the impending GOP civil war for purity and truth and justice and the right to be governed by a non-blah person.
Oh, what entertaining theater!
Poopyman
BTW, since this thread touches on the post-Sandy conditions in NY/NJ, I got an email from Doctors W/o Borders today. They’re working on American soil for the first time. Ever.
(Second lengthy block quote this thread. Sorry ’bout that.)
Maude
@MattR:
I am west of you in Rich County. Morris is not as rich as this place.
The affluent people are veddy upset that they have no electrical service. They are veddy, veddy important people.
The rules, be it laws or nature don’t apply to them.
They are whining about the utility companies. There are still tree branches and power lines down.
I heard a man try to explain that it was complicated to get power back in some areas. It did not go over well.
They are special and they should not have to have any inconvenience in their lives.
They also hate poor people.
You are too young to remember Mother’s Pantry. Best pie anywhere.
Bubblegum Tate
@Poopyman:
So America is divided, but it’s united in its desire for a conservative leader. Which is why Obama won last night.
Makes sense as long as you don’t, you know, think about it.
MattR
@Maude: For some reason, I am reminded of this Chris Rock bit about his home in Alpine.
El Cid
Maybe O.J. can help them track down the Real Election Stealer.
Chris
I may have to reassess my opinion of Chris Christie being their best candidate for 2016. Sans Sandy, he would’ve been, but his performing responsibly during Sandy + their need for scapegoats, all of a sudden, he’s up shit creek.
One prediction I will stick to: there will be no GOP civil war. Just like after 2008, there’ll be a purge, where a few people (like Christie, it’s now looking) who, like Bush and McCain in 2008, will be excoriated as “the reason we lost” and the counterrevolutionary RINO liberal saboteurs who didn’t have the boldness and vision to push a TRUE conservative agenda which would have rallied everyone. The party will lurch further to the right again in search of that mythical True Conservative Purity, and the 2016 candidates will have the same rabid, mouth-foaming, neurotic mob to appease, which will have gotten even harder than it was this time around.
Bookmark it, libs, but I’m open to being proven wrong. (Like I seem to have been with Christie).
Maude
@MattR:
Thank you so much.
We have rain here with flakes of snow. The winds have been minimal so far.
NotMax
If, in a hypothetical case, Abbie Hoffman and Eldridge Cleaver were raised from the dead, had run and won with 438 electoral votes, the exact same sentence would be trotted out.
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
I.e., “save us saint Sarah, you’re our only hope. “
Strandedvandal
Roasting what could very well be their best and only hope of a President elect in 2016 over open flames. Excellent.
NotMax
Typo in #192 (no edit option). Corrected:
had run and won with 538 electoral votes
Chris
@jibeaux:
I know I’m not a Real American(TM), being a faggy East Coast latte-sipping Volvo driver an all that (and a French half breed to boot), but someone clear this up for me: do people actually talk like that?
Patricia Kayden
This post is hilarious!! So Christis is dead on arrival for the Rethugs, huh? What can he do to get back in their good graces? Perhaps he’ll find a way to lambaste President Obama in the near future to make the Righties happy.
Now he’s a “gelatinous clown who (a) hogged up a prime time spot at the Republican convention to sing his own praises”?
HAH!! I cannot laugh hard and long enough! I’m tired from staying up late last night. I beg of you to please stop the jokes.
Chris
@cmorenc:
Very well said, I think.
Triassic Sands
A quick check reveals that among those who voted early, i.e., prior to Sandy, Romney held a 99%-1% lead over Obama. Then, Christie did his “thang” and the tide reversed with Obama getting 127% of the later votes. With than kind of impact, the Dems shouldn’t even bother running a candidate against future President Christie.
The unanswerable question: Who is more repulsive — Dick Morris or Donald Trump?
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@Patricia Kayden: It is quite a remarkable fall, isn’t it, from keynote speaker to scapegoat in six weeks….
PurpleGirl
@28 Percent: Actually, FEMA did not initially start to get involved with recovery in NYC. Bloomberg, the arrogant one, told FEMA that NYC didn;t need the help and had everything covered by their own Emergency Management agency.
kabiddle
Enemy camp is good.
The Other Chuck
@Bruce S:
There are no two people in the world as cynical as Mary Matalin and James Carville. They make Bill Maher look like Martin Luther King. It is really all a game to them. They richly deserve each other. I just wonder what the rest of us did to deserve them.
JWL
“It is unlikely Republicans shall soon forget your perfidious betrayal”.
No doubt about that. Christie will never be the republican party nominee for president, not in 2016, not ever.
Patricia Kayden
@EconWatcher: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I would advise him to ignore the foolishness. What would he gain by going around throwing out insults to an already pathetic and demoralized party?
Patricia Kayden
@West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.): But I heard that he basically spoke about himself during his convention speech and only mentioned Romneybot 2.0 during the end. Didn’t watch it, so I’ll take everyone’s word on that.
This is all so sweet.
FlipYrWhig
Why do so many wingnut pundits write in this style? So often it’s like sword-and-sorcery fanfic, like, “Black curses shall fall upon your children and your children’s children, and, lo, how demons will gnaw upon their souls!”
patrick
this is amusing….
I am a little confused, wasn’t DIck Morris on Big Bill Clinton’s staff? did he have a stroke or head trauma or something? guess I never really paid attention back then….in my defense, I was in college at a professional drinking school (Michigan Tech)
FlipYrWhig
@patrick: Yes, Dick Morris was a Clinton staffer, IIRC one of the architects of the “triangulation” strategy for co-opting Republican opposition.
Brantl
@Corner Stone: How many times are you going to say this stupid shit? Chria Christy is the same egomaniacal asshole that had a government owned helicopter land him on a field next to his son’s ball game, had a limo drive him over to the game, and left in the 5th inning of that game. The dumb son of a bitch didn’t even stay for the whole game, after wasting the taxpayer’s money in a major league way (don’t mind the pun). He’a a human shithole.
And Christie’s never going to live this down. Those miserable little republipricks aren’t ever going to forgive this.
Ellyn
Being a republiKKKan means never having to take responsibility for your actions.
Richard Fox
None of you are focusing on what is important. Christie perfidy, real enemies, schmeal enemas.. whatever! …What about Romney’s transition team? Hmm? They were all rearing to go, assignments all set, policy papers formulated, cabinet appointments mulled and sifted for conservative bona fides. And what about– what’s his name? Romney? Rodney? I am blanking. Well what about his luminous acceptance speech? What archive will now lodge this historical goody? Sorry but my mind is reeling on so much one HAS to keep up with. Priorities, people. Priorities. Christie and his enemas can wait.!
Corner Stone
@Brantl: You know, it’s small and petty thinking like this that is going to damage the D party as we move forward and try to govern a split electorate.
Who cares about the helicopter beyond petty partisan assholes?
Did you not see any of the press conferences Christie gave immediately post-Sandy? He told it like it is. Just because humps like yourself took it as tough to swallow, that’s probably a good sign for the next stage.
We need pols like Christie. We need people on the R side who don’t BS, who don’t donut sugar coat it for the simples like you who just want what they want, when they want it.
He gave it up for good government, for the Obama administration and made it clear he’s someone we can work with.
Hate on that, homie.
Brantl
@Corner Stone:
Chris Christie has only cooperated decently with other people when they held all the cards, he’a a bully and a mean little shit.
Craig
Look, when we all remember how much we detest Chris Christie, I think we’ll stop sticking up for him. His convention speech was a total shiv in the kidney–you have to admit that. And while it’s ridiculous to yell at him for working with Obama after the storm, he certainly didn’t have to go on Fox News and tell Romney to go take a long walk off a short pier. That was gratuitous, and it was all about positioning himself for today and beyond.
I wonder if it will work? Republicans value loyalty, but Christie’s brand is plainly going to be The Man Who Can Slap Some Sense into the GOP.
FlipYrWhig
@Brantl: Corner Stone is, as the Brits say, taking the piss. John said he liked Christie (which was stupid), CS wigged out, and ever since he has been amusing himself by continuing this particular troll campaign. See also John’s remark that he would crawl over broken glass to vote for Joe Manchin.
g
@Bulworth: Chris Christie’s deplorable and gratuitous gas-baggery infused the campaign with a toxic political pollution.
No doubt they’d have preferred he use the opportunity of Hurricane Sandy to deliberately obstruct the Federal help for the citizens of his state? Further proof that for the conservative hive, tribalism triumphs over civic duty.
JustRuss
@JWL:
Right. Now imagine what his chances would be if he’d done something crazy like instigated a local version of Obamacare within his state.
Voters have the memory and attention span of…SQUIRREL! Sorry, what was I saying?
Brantl
We need duplicitous assholes like that, cutting programs that benefit the poor so that he can ride a helicopter and ride in a limo to a partial game, because he can’t get off his fat ass and get to his kid’s game. He;s got no business screwing the people who earned real assistance, so that he could piss the momey away having government resources used for his personal errands. He was a lying sack of shit long before he was governor, get your illiterate head out of your ass and read up on him.
Hump this!
grandpa john
@gbear:
Well McCain himself is also shallow and idiotic
Tehanu
@Chris:
@FlipYrWhig:
I noticed this too. Fanfic is a kind description. It brings back happy memories of how James J. Kilpatrick, the original hifalutin blatherer, is dead.
(My entire James J.K. list is too long to include here, but:
arrant
balderdash
ballyhoo
bamboozle
billingsgate
blather
blithering
blockhead
bombastic
bootlicking
botheration
brummagem
bunkum (buncombe)
bushwah
…
tosh
villainous
whippersnapper)
grandpa john
@Violet: Yeah, maybe they should stop and think a little. Sounds to me like God is trying to give them a message about his commandments and keeping them. things like you are your brothers keeper. You are commanded to care for the poor, the sick, the lame, the hungry. You are to love your brother as your self, but I don’t remember any commandments about cutting taxes for the rich.
Ken Pidcock
Christie’s behavior lifted my spirit. This is a man who knows which way the wind blows. When he indicated that there was nothing to gain from standing with Romney, I figured it must be over.
Lurker
@? Martin:
This is awesome. I hope you’re right.