The ghost of David Broder, writing through the keyboard of Dan Balz, expounds further on the Beltway theory of eternal return:
Fortunes change quickly in politics. Three months ago, Chris Christie was on the Republican mountaintop, and Mitt Romney was in the valley. Today, Christie’s once-bright future is clouded by scandal, and, wonder of wonders, Romney is enjoying a moment in the sun.
[…] Romney has done it once and probably could again. He’s personally worth north of $200 million, or was at the time of his last campaign. In 2008, he spent considerably from his own fortune. He needed to buy recognition. Last time, he got others to give. But personal money and the demonstrated ability to raise it elsewhere generate interest from those who have helped finance campaigns.Donors, however, are famously skittish, often the first to wail at signs of trouble in a campaign. Although often closely watched, they are not always the most reliable of political barometers. If Christie weathers this episode, many will be back in his camp.
In other words, if Christie plays his cards right, someday he could have the same political future as Mitt Romney does today. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.
Meanwhile, in the real world, where his poll numbers are in the shitter and his oppo team is working on press releases about Wildstein’s kindergarten report card, Christie is on a fundraising swing through the South. Even though someday he may rise to the exalted high level of reverence reserved only for political giants like Romney, today Republican governors are making sure they’re not within a hundred miles of Chris and a camera.
C.V. Danes
Christie would be better off right now focusing on retaining his Governor’s seat and staying out of jail…
Jamey
Yeah, but while President Christie may forgive, President Christie never forgets…
Hunter Gathers
I look forward to the press anointing Paul Ryan the new frontrunner. I also look forward to endless screeds about Ryan’s ability to attract the youth vote, ‘cuz he works out, yo.
Bob
Jesus fuck. Who was that guy running in 2012?
Mark S.
I must have missed this resurgence of Mitt. Did he join One Direction?
balconesfault
Ryan’s been making the tour of various Corporate PACs. He’ll be back.
MattF
@Hunter Gathers: Ryan or Jeb!, IMO.
So, Christie can scream and bully but must not be labelled a ‘screamer’ or a ‘bullyer’, Romney can be worth $200 million without being a plutocrat. And, of course there’s the misadventures of the Bushes, G, G, and maybe J, which are all off the table and beyond the limits of civility. There’s a temptation to go philosphical and point out there’s a connection between doing and being… But fuckit, Balz is just another hack.
dmsilev
Presidential loser whose wife goes around lamenting that America threw away its chance to experience the glory of Mitt? At least John McCain still has the Sunday morning hosts.
Another Holocene Human
OFFS.
Did anyone else catch deBlasio on TDS on Monday? I turned to my wife and said, “He’s gooood.”
I think deBlasio would be an awesome contender as a D presidential candidate and we could start a streak of African American FLsOTUS.
ps: I like Deval Patrick but he has Clinton stink on him. Fxck Hilary and the inevitability horse she’s riding in on. That goobernator of MD is fucked b/c their health exchange project bombed. Anyway, he kinda sucked anyway. Warren needs to stay in the Senate. Cory Booker is too too chummy with WS for my taste, although I do like him. AG Harris hasn’t had a big profile recently, guess we’ll see. And Gillibrand gives great speech but is actually (not virtually, like Ted Cruz) a Canadian.
Look, the guy won in a landslide. He appeals to just about every Democratic base demographic. And he can sell progressive ideas like nobody I’ve ever seen (that includes you, Bill C!!!!).
Another Holocene Human
Oh, and PPS, fxck the Cuomos, every one. I know they want to run.
aimai
@Hunter Gathers: Ryan is definitely going for it. His recent attempt to present himself as NOT CRAZY was the surprise lift he gave the CBO over the fictitious “ACA will cost 2 million jobs” argument. As soon as I saw the piece at TPM about how Ryan had asked Elmendorf back to testify in detail and explain the entire thing to his troglodyte republican caucus I knew he’s signalling to the crowd that he’s going to try running straight down the middle (from a right wing perspective) for at least part of the next election cycle.
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
Upstate NY is Canada? How so? Burgoyne lost!
shortstop
This gave me a large chuckle. You excel at this kind of succinct snark, mm.
Another thing making me laugh: The rank humiliation of NATIONALLY RENOWNED TOUGH-LOVE POPULIST POL CHRIS CHRISTIE!!!!! being dissed by Mr. Rick Perry. This stuff has got to be sending Christie through the roof.
Paul in KY
@Bob: That was Mitt’s beta-version. When you’re that wealthy you can get a clone to actually do the meet & greets, debates, etc.
In 2016, he might actually campaign in person!
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@aimai: I haven’t seen Ryan doing a whole lotta slut-shaming recently. That’s how you signal that you are a serious candidate to today’s conservatives.
Shakezula
Lose a presidential election? Oh dear. This liberal hopes he doesn’t do that.
SDTMFARWP = Saying crazy things and then draping oneself in the Mantle of Victimhood when the media plays the unedited tape of you saying crazy things.
Really, the middle over there has boiled down to not using the N word to describe President Obama, tying the right to vote to ownership of at least two homes or calling for legislation that would make women the property of their nearest male relative or husband.
Napoleon
@Cervantes:
He must be confusing her for the woman who use to be Gov of Mich.
Mnemosyne
@Another Holocene Human:
I would LOVE to see Kamala Harris run for governor, but the California Democrats have a line of succession that’s stricter than the national Republicans’ so I don’t think it will be her “turn” anytime soon.
Cervantes
@shortstop: Off topic, but given your comments yesterday re Bernardin, etc., I wondered (incidentally) what you know about the role of the local police in covering up what was happening. What little I know about it is disturbing.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: Mayor of New York City has not historically been a path to the White House.
Saw interview & he does have some charisma & loved the points he made.
Cervantes
@Napoleon: Granholm! Yes, I see. That’s possible (although, to me, they’re nothing alike).
Thanks.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Holocene Human: Jennifer Granholm, not Gillibrand, is Canadian.
Napoleon
@Cervantes:
For one I don’t think Gillibrand ever appeared on The Dating Game with big hair and suspenders.
Mike in NC
No, Dan Balz has always sucked all by himself for as long as he’s been with the WaPo. Also check out Kathleen Parker’s latest embarrassing piece on how everybody is being just too darn mean to poor Chris Christie. His accusers are liars and he’s going to come bouncing back any day now.
She’s always had a pathetic need to suck up to the Republican daddy figures.
barry
@Hunter Gathers:
And how he had never even heard of this Ayn Rand person until the name was mentioned by the liberal media to smear him
slippy
Really? Is he polling really high? Does his candidacy attract a lot of positive attention? Or is it the same shambolic rich guy’s vanity affair that it’s always been?
I forget these people live in a bubble of turpentine and can’t stop fucking huffing it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: That’s interesting. Who’s in line to succeed Brown? Do you think Harris has a shot at the Senate? She won AG by a large margin, no? I’d love to see Dianne Antoinette replaced by a more progressive candidate.
Did Balz not notice that Willard barely beat Santorum and Gingrich?
Jeffro
@Mike in NC: Oh come on, Dan Balz isn’t THAT bad…
You know what though, I can see Ryan positioning himself as the not-crazy, not-a-Bush, not-under-indictment, not-religious-wacko “unity” head of the ticket for the GOP. Plus young, “serious” (in the Broder sense), and easy to back up w/ someone like Cruz, Haley, Jindal, etc to try and broaden the appeal in classic GOP fashion.
Cervantes
@Paul in KY:
Mayors elected president: Grover Cleveland; Calvin Coolidge; neither of NYC.
Ran but not elected (or even nominated): John Lindsay (NYC) and, in the same year, Sam Yorty (LA), both as Democrats; and Rudy Giuliani (NYC).
Sarah Palin does not count.
(There may be others I have forgotten.)
dmsilev
Meanwhile, NewsMax is leading with “Gov. Scott Walker: GOP’s New Hope?”.
Can’t they just dig up and reanimate Reagan’s corpse? Zombie Reagan 2016!
Cervantes
@dmsilev:
Funny you should say that. Today’s his birthday. He’d have been 103.
slippy
@Mike in NC:
Well, I’m now on a warpath to say the cruelest, most unkind things I can about that loser, in as many forums as I can manage. You Republicans want to cry victim now? Fuck y’all!
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Zombie Reagan has a 22nd Amendment problem.
JustRuss
I love the fact that Mitt’s 200 mill is his main qualification to seize the nomination, especially now that income inequality and opportunity are getting play in our political discourse. Yes, please do run Mittens, you’ll make one hell of a piñata.
shortstop
@Cervantes: I only know rumors from friends on the force. Nothing substantiated, so I’ll only say this: Chicago is still a very Catholic town among certain demographics, among them many aging, socially conservative Irishmen and Poles helping to run the CPD.
Alex S.
@dmsilev:
Walker is going to be a major factor in 2016. I guess the best possible ticket for the Republicans is Bush/Walker.
shortstop
Y’all are missing what great news this is for John McCain.
Betty Cracker
@Alex S.: On paper, he sounds good (from the wingnut perspective), but he seems to have the charisma of a moldy old turnip plus some serious ethical challenges.
muricafukyea
You silly internet bloggers and your obsession with polls. As you seem incapable of understanding, polls don’t mean shit this far out.
You were all wanking about the poll numbers when Repubs shut down the gov’t. Is that even a factor now? Hell no! Voters have the attention span of a house fly and nobody will remember any of this bullshit months from now.
Not saying KhristieKreme is not toast. He probably is.
Cervantes
@shortstop: Thanks. Understanding that we’re talking about the suburbs as well as the city of Chicago, I’ve seen indications that, for decades, local police departments (heck, specific police chiefs) sheltered these criminals, and then surreptitiously shuffled them around in much the same way the church did — indeed going so far as to exchange notes about them with Archdiocesan officials.
Meanwhile, as we know, these same corrupt police departments were joyfully beating up on kids and radicals and hippies every chance they got (and then some).
What a world.
Cervantes
@shortstop: You’re right — I was missing that!
Omnes Omnibus
@Alex S.: Walker is not going to be a factor.
Jeffro
@Alex S.: Ryan/Haley…Bush/Jindal…they do have options other than Santorum/Cruz, the question is, will they take them?
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: yes he is yes he is yes he is!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: IMO Walker has enough baggage of various types – none of which is deadly in and of itself – that his opponents will destroy him. Add in the absolute lack of personality and charisma and you have a non-nominee. Plus, I still have hopes that he will not be reelected this fall.
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: I know; we keep saying the same things in every conversation about this. As bad as he is, I think the others, with the exception of Bush, have more baggage. (Bush has huge family baggage, but he would be the establishment pick and thus would survive a nasty primary season in much the same way Romney did.)
It’ll be a case of last man standing. Doesn’t mean it’ll be a good or charismatic man.
aimai
@shortstop:
One other thing: If Romney learned anything (can learn anything) he learned that 200 million of his very own money is chump change. The Koch brothers dropped twice that in the race. He’ll never run again on his own money and no millionaire will. They will all demand up front funding from the big guys before they even stick a toe in the water. They know their own value, if the voters don’t.
StringOnAStick
@aimai: And once again it becomes apparently that politics, especially rethuglican politics and campaigns, are all about the grifting opportunities on every level of the org chart. The overarching goal might be power, but the secondary one is grabbing as much off the gravy train as you can while the donor wallets are open.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: not gillibrand, fuck me, the Michigan lady. DAMMIT!
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human: Not to worry, Napoleon helped me figure out what you meant to say.