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I refuse to get completely sidetracked

I refuse to get completely sidetracked

by Chris Christie. 

We need to focus on getting out the vote big time.  Sandy has been the perfect political storm for Obama.  It’s like calling three consecutive time outs before we were about to kick the winning field goal.

We care about New Jersey and the election. The notion that there is something wrong about still caring about the future of the country and the meaning of this election  is insulting.

It’s tough though not to get completely sidetracked.  But I’m trying really hard.

There will be time for it after November 6.  Plenty of time.

Some of the occasional clarity at Morning Joe (h/t Matt Lewis):

Here are the two reasons Republicans are really worried about this. Number one, politicians don’t like uncertainty. There’s a lot of uncertainty on the Republican side. How big a deal will this be? The coverage of the storm is going to carry all the way through the election in the national press and the President has hit every mark. On substance and on stage craft, he’s hit every mark. So, he’s going to blot out a lot of the effort of Republicans to message. The other thing is, what was Mitt Romney’s closing argument? I can work across the aisle. This President has a four year record of failure, doesn’t know how to work with the other side. The symbolism of, with Chris Christie, working across the aisle, getting things done, it goes right to the heart of how Mitt Romney wanted to close this election.

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Comments

I can walk and chew gum at the same time.

When you tell someone “Don’t think about this”- they think about it.

I’m afraid your post about not getting sidetracked is getting people sidetracked.

Okay. I’ll bite. Just what portion of this post is actually by Chris Christie?

Very confusing.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/10/catherine-herridge-state-department-culpable-in-death-of-ambassador-three-americans-video/

I am not sidetracked. Christie is a nothing to me…a remote NE pol who will do things…good and bad…for his constituents and his career. His people were hit hard, and he is going to the sugar teet.

Meanwhile, there is a major, multi-level, scandal involving the death of Americans and our very security, and we need to change the line-up in Washington.

For that, and so many other reasons. Get out and vote, and bring people with you.

    creeper in reply to Ragspierre. | November 1, 2012 at 10:24 am

    Nailed it, Rags. Well said.

    And while we’re at it, let’s get these idiots focusing on the Menendez “scandal” to quit chasing squirrels. The truth is, I suspect that story might have been leaked by Dems willing to toss one of their own under the bus just for the distraction.

casualobserver | November 1, 2012 at 9:34 am

It’s amazing how real events aren’t setting the narrative. The media is setting the narrative. Many of the sycophants have been dreaming of this opportunity, and it is THEY who will keep this Obama/Christie item on screens and in ink until the election.

All Romney needs to do is run an add with prominent GOP House members and Senators of how they were not only steamrolled for healthcare, but how they have been treated ever since. Paul Ryan can certainly give first hand accounts, no? That perhaps will neutralize the media’s efforts, especially if they have not choice but to play Ryan’s sound bites, for example.

It amazes me how little O does and how much credit he gets. He showed up for a change. Because he did what he was supposed to do – and there’s no way he could get out of it this time – he “hit all the marks”. And when Romney demonstrates his kindness and generosity and actual labor throughout the storm (something he’s done all his life), the Left criticizes him.

    “The soft bigotry of low expectations” seems to be at work here. The press is continuously amazed by the lightworker when he fulfills the most basic functions of his role. Too bad the President can’t be bothered to attend his national security briefings on a regular basis or engage in the boring but necessary work of engaging with his face-offs in Congress to get legislation passed when he doesn’t have a total majority in Congress.

    By the way, I’m still waiting for a photo of our “hands on” President in the Situation Room on Sept 11 making a “gutsy call” to help our guys in Benghazi. I think I’ll be waiting a long time for that.

      Rosalie in reply to RDA. | November 1, 2012 at 10:11 am

      “The soft bigotry of low expectations” seems to be at work here.

      How true.

      Rosalie in reply to RDA. | November 1, 2012 at 10:22 am

      “By the way, I’m still waiting for a photo of our “hands on” President in the Situation Room on Sept 11 making a “gutsy call” to help our guys in Benghazi.”

      O was probably sleeping because he had an important campaign rally in Las Vegas the next day. After all, the President must get his proper rest. If there is a photo, it’s probably with Jarrett at the helm.

Professor, maybe people are just upset because they think that Gov. Christie should have said “You know, Mr. President, while I appreciate your concern, I have better things to do with my state resources right now, like my state police, than to pander to you and provide you with the security you require. My state police need to be elsewhere at this point in time.”

And while Sandy is a big deal that will allow the lapdog media the chance to continue to ignore Benghazi, just as it ignored Fast and Furious, not so much to those of us in fly-over country, Professor.

It took Obama two weeks to get to Louisiana after the oil spill, and after the ice storm of late ’09 that blanketed the entire midwest, the floods in Tennessee and Missouri and the fires in Texas that destroyed almost 2,000 homes, Obama was AWOL. So you see, Professor, we know that this is nothing more than political pandering on the part of Obama, and Chris Christy fell right in line.

And while Mitt Romney may say that he will work “across the aisle”, funny thing about that policy; it takes both parties to do that. If the treatment of George W. Bush by the Democrats is any indication of how the Democrats will work with a new president who is Republican, Mitt Romney can wish for that until Hell freezes over; it ain’t happenin’.

Surely our guy is not trying to sabotage ’12, win himself re-election in ’13 and begin his ’16 campaign in ’14! You know what Rahm always says, “Never let a crisis go to waste”!

Im not going to worry over the political (voting) impact in what Christie has done: Give the President a platform to talk.
Christie made a practical decision (he reasons) by appealing to Obama’s vast vanity. A quid pro quo I figure.
New Jersey gets “faster action”/Obama gets to look Presidential to the media and folks within earshot of him yesterday.
The six million folks he was talking to have no way of listening.

Net net? I dont see any gain particularly for Obama in the entire mess.
No escaping the reality. Voter turnout will be down somewhat for Obama.

    Ragspierre in reply to jimzinsocal. | November 1, 2012 at 10:08 am

    Obama was going to do this kind of thing regardless. Christie gave him an assist, but nothing more. (Rush speculated that maybe this kept Obama tied up for another day…dunno.)

    And Romney has played this whole thing as well as it could be played. He has been gracious and expansive to the victims and to Christie, which is pitch perfect in these circumstances.

    If we just had a working media…

    So, today we go back to Benghazi, Biden gaffs, a whole new proposed bureaucracy, and BS from Obama.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFH2fowIc0Q&feature=player_embedded

      Libertymike in reply to Ragspierre. | November 1, 2012 at 10:50 am

      A working media would hammer Romney for the following:

      1. The astronomical fee increases authored by the Romney administration in 2003 upon Mittens taking the corner office on Beacon Hill. Everything from the filing of deeds, discharges, mortgages, releases and the like at the state’s registries of deeds to the filing of articles of organization at the secretary of state’s office.

      2. The failure of Mittens to submit a budget smaller than his big government republican party predecessors had like Bill “I’m a pal of Billy Bulger” Weld, Pauly “government lifer” Cellucci and Jane “not so” Swift.

      3. Each year of his governorship, Mittens submitted ever higher budgets.

      4. Mittens failed to reduce the Massachusetts income tax rate.

      5. Mittens failed to abolish the Massachusetts income tax.

      6. Mittens did not even try to ablish the Massachusetts income tax.

      7. Mittens supported the continued escalation of the drug war in the bay state.

      8. Mittens failed o abolish the Massachusetts estate tax regime.

      9. Mittens gave us socialized medicine.

      Yeah, Mitens is just what we need.

        Libertymike in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 11:11 am

        Looks like we have a fair amount of big government socialist republicans here.

          Observer in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 11:28 am

          No, what we have here are people who realize that getting rid of corrupt, incompetent, traitorous Barack Obama and his crooked Chicago cronies is our top priority, and that criticizing Mitt Romney for actions he took/failed to take as governor of one of the bluest states in the nation is not conducive to that goal.

        Ragspierre in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 11:15 am

        Mittens failed to turn Massive-2-spits voters into conservatives.

        You forgot that fantasy.

        Take is elsewhere, troll.

          Libertymike in reply to Ragspierre. | November 1, 2012 at 11:24 am

          Can’t deal with the facts?

          Can’t respond with substance?

          You just got checkmated.

          Ragspierre in reply to Ragspierre. | November 1, 2012 at 11:42 am

          Pure troll behavior.

          Deflect from the topic of the thread.

          Throw a bunch of BS against the wall.

          Imply others are stupid, ideologically impure, etc.

          Insist on “factual” refutation of your mass of BS. (psst…nobody cares that much, and your BS is obvious.)

          Declare self “victor”.

        Sanddog in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 11:42 am

        It sounds like you’re looking for a Republican “lightworker”.

          Libertymike in reply to Sanddog. | November 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

          Rags needs some help with his reasoning.

          You are the one who invoked the phrase “if we just had a working media…..”.

          You ended your post with, ” So, today we go back to Benghazi, Biden gaffs, a whole new proposed bureaucracy and BS from Obama”.

          I responded to your “if we just had a working media” asseveration. How, pray tell, is that deflection?

          You chose to deviate from the thread topic with your aforesaid assertions. Yet, you accuse moi of deflection and deviating from the thread topic?

          You claim that my post is “BS”? What factual assertions of mine are in error?

          You, like many conservatives and republicans, suffer from a distinct form of cognitive dissonance and when called upon it, react like an emotionally crippled adolescent.

Chris Christie is filth at this point.

    I confess, this is more my reaction than anything. And to think that I was PRAYING that he would throw his hat into the ring for President, and I didn’t support Romney at first.

    More and more I’m impressed with Romney, more and more I’m POSITIVE that he’s the right man for this job (besides having the qualifications, it’s hard to find dirt on a Boy Scout, and Lord knows Obama’s tried).

    Whereas with Christie, first there was his disappointingly lackluster keynote address, and not the final nail in his specialty coffin, THIS. There was no need to lay it on quite so thick.

      Observer in reply to SoLongSong. | November 1, 2012 at 11:12 am

      I watched Christie’s interactions with the NJ unions, and thought he had some potential. But when the Ground Zero mosque issue came up, he railed against those who said it was inappropriate, and basically called all GZ mosque opponents bigots. Then he opined (and keep in mind, Christie is a lawyer) that there was absolutely nothing wrong with firing a municipal employee who had burned a Koran (his own personal property) on his own time, as a form of political speech.

      That was it for me. Leave Christie in blue NJ with the other lib fools. That’s where he belongs.

        Libertymike in reply to Observer. | November 1, 2012 at 11:32 am

        So, municipal employees have some sort of right to keep their government payola coming?

          Radegunda in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 12:54 pm

          Municipal employees have a First Amendment right to express their political opinions on their own time without being punished by Sharia enforcers in the guise of government agents.

          Municipal and state government officials in New Jersey have no right to forbid a citizen (whether a government employee or not) from expressing a negative opinion about the Koran.

          If a municipal employee had burned a Bible, Christie would most likely have defended his right to do so — and so would you.

          Christie is either clueless about the reality of creeping Sharia and stealth jihad around the world, or knowingly complicit in imposing Islamic restrictions on non-Muslims.

          Libertymike in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 1:07 pm

          I would defend any person’s right to burn any fairy tale, be it the Koran or the Talmud or the collected works of Zoroaster.

          However, public employees do not, consistent with a free society, have a permanent right to keep their job. They should be employees at will. If they displease their socialist bosses, they may lose their prized parasitic positions.

No need to get completely sidetracked. Just mark the RINOS for removal.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83148.html?hp=l4.

Hagel must go as well as others we already know.

We need the audio of the SEAL calling in for air support, with gunfire in background, being denied by team Obama. That would have to penetrate even big media.

Facebook first blocked the bin Ladin message, then put it back.

“Obama called the SEALs and they got bin Laden
When the SEALs called Obama they got denied”

Maybe we need people at the Obama events to scream “what about Libya?” SEALs died, Obama lied.

I don’t know Chris Christie’s motives, but to the extent I am paying attention to this (not much) all it does to me is reinforce who is a proactive leader (Christie) and who is a failure of a leader (Obama). Obama does not look like a great leader standing next to a governor who has been a pretty good leader. At least not to me. No idea why the Campaign thought it would be smart to put Obama in a situation where the folks would notice the obvious comparative differences. Despite any praises by Christie, it just does not reflect well on the weaker, more passive, less likely to take any action to get anything done President.

    gasper in reply to mom2ads. | November 1, 2012 at 10:59 am

    I agree wholeheartedly with you. First, Christie is the one who has proven he can work “across the aisle”, not Obama. Obama is a very small man next to Christie…in more ways than one.

      Libertymike in reply to gasper. | November 1, 2012 at 11:39 am

      The corpulent one who fancies himself a caesar is demonstrating that he knows how to beg uncle for the federal payola.

      Socialist reeces piece of shit.

        Many of the arguments here, including yours, sound like those that would come from a liberal. You didn’t like Christie before this incident did you? Know what? Neither did I. But, I realize he has been relegated to politics in New Jersey. He would never survive a primary. He is a RHINO, but, he is Governor, and he has a job to do. He made a decision. Romney and Ryan have no problem with it, why should we?

          Libertymike in reply to gasper. | November 1, 2012 at 12:21 pm

          Mittens and his government lifer VP will not reduce the debt one penny and their failure to reject the proposition that the continuation of business as usual relative to federal disaster relief only serves to underscore this reality.

          Do liberals typically hammer socialism and socialized medicine?

          gasper in reply to gasper. | November 1, 2012 at 12:30 pm

          Liberty Mike: the system doesn’t allow me to respond below you, but I did want to say: By all means, either vote for Obama or sit your ass down and don’t vote at all, or vote Libertarian or Green. You apparently have strong opinions and know what you want to do, so do it. Why the hell are you here? What’s your purpose? To agitate and show us how much insight you have? I’m done.

          Libertymike in reply to gasper. | November 1, 2012 at 12:41 pm

          Gasper, do you really think that I would vote for the Kenyan communist? I loathe almost everything about him.

      What Chistie is doing across the aisle with Obama is no mentionable in a public blog.

[…] agree with Prof. J, we cannot get sidetracked, we care about New Jersey AND the […]

Christie is a petulant POS. He spent yesterday getting even with Romney for not picking him for VP.

All Christie did was to launch his 2016 bid for the Democrat nomination for POTUS.

As much as I believe Christie is a RINO playing out the classic and perverse flaws of the RINO, i.e., masochistic appeasement of the liberal mainstream at crucial moments (a kind of inverse opportunism), I don’t think this is going to matter. This is not a typical election involving a typical liberal. The fact Obama has so uncharacteristically plunged into this is only a stark contrast to his entre presidency. It’s too late

But I like the fact that so many liberals do think it will matter.

Mark Lavine called it right. This is 2 politicians doing photo ops. , patting each other on the back. The story as usual is the little people doing what needs to be done ,not these 2 showboats. ln the Waldo Canyon fire here ,the politicians ,state & local ,both kept a low profile & the emphasis was where it belonged. To borrow a Jersey referance ; Christie is dead to me.

I admittedly did not see much news yesterday with the Halloween events I had to get my child to, so I really need someone to tell me what Christie did wrong. I understand that he kissed up to Obama, but governors apparently need to do that to get him to do anything. In a few days when nothing is still better and FEMA doesn’t have things taken care of, all NJ residents will think about is how their Governor did all he could do and the federal government isn’t. This. An turn rather quickly against the federal government.

If Christie hadn’t played nice, don’t you think the story would have been that a Republican governor was not working with Obama? In my opinion, that would have been more damaging.

    retire05 in reply to Annie. | November 1, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    Christe didn’t have to play nice. He simply could have told Obama to hold off a few days because he was pretty busy at this point.

    Why have to designate state services to provide security for Obama and clear a path so Obama’s entourage could get where they wanted to go? What is more important? The photo-op with Obama or concentrating the full force of state resources in the direct of the citizens of that state?

    Why do we even need a federal response? When the raging fires took out 40,000 acres and almost 1,700 homes in my state, the county officials went public with where relief supplies could be recieved that were being sent by Americans all across the nation (except for the Beast and Left coasters). By the time FEMA arrived, fire victims had been housed, feed, given housewares allowing them to begin to start over, provided for medical treatment for the sick, put clothes on their backs and cash donations gave them some money to survive. All this was done with church/private organizations help. Not the federal government.

    Christie should have told the nation “We are going to centralize donations to the victims of this storm. Here is where they need to be delivered. We need volunteers to help distribute those gifts from caring Americans to make sure those who have the greatest need are having those needs met.”

    Pretty simply, isn’t it? Not all of New Jersey is devastated.

    Instead, we get pandering. I, for one, am sick of it.

Christie said more than he needed to when asked about Romney. Otherwise, he is to be commended for cooperating with the federal government. Natural disasters are not the time for political maneuvering.

Did Chris Christie “sudden love-in” with Obama hurt Mitt Romney?
Compare the Christie’s interaction with Obama to the way Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco interacted with President Bush after Hurricane Katrina.

“Governor,” I pressed, “you need to authorize the federal government to take charge of the response.”

She told me she needed twenty-four hours to think it over.

“We don’t have twenty-four hours,” I snapped. “We’ve waited too long already.”

The governor refused to give an answer.

    Midwest Rhino in reply to n.n. | November 1, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Good point, though I think Bush was dealing with much more gross negligence in Louisiana. Christie is sucking up to federal money and building his own profile, but getting federal help immediately is the right course for his state.

    Democrats in Louisiana I think were fighting over who would be first in line to pilfer the federal funds … pigs at the trough. Couldn’t have all those billions come into the state without running it through their friends’ fingers. (imo)

      Sucking up is clearly required. Obama is on record for extorting concessions, for example: Social Security for raising the debt limit. He is on record for less than optimal responses, which we can speculate is related to personal or special interests. As for Christie raising his own profile, that is to be expected and is actually an integral part of such a high profile job, and to a lesser extent in every other job, occupation, and any relationship, really.

      That said, it is important that Republicans speak plainly and on principal. It is not in their favor to be perceived as fanatics or extremists. There are reasonable roles for each level of government and the private sector. We need to clearly define and justify those divisions.

If I see any more of this Christie/Obama bromance, I’ll vomit.

I for one am enjoying the crap out of the Libertymikes of the country screaming bloody murder as their Obama-piloted liberal jetliner corkscrews at Mach 3 into the ground out in bitter clinger territory.

Thanks!

    Libertymike in reply to Henry Hawkins. | November 1, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    Henry, if you read upthread, you will see what I think of the Kenyan communist.

    Reading comprehension deficit much?

      Henry Hawkins in reply to Libertymike. | November 1, 2012 at 2:16 pm

      LOL. Well, if you’ve said a thing, by golly, it must be true!

      Look, blog comment sections are not new, nor are the behaviors of the trolls who frequent them. One indelible experience of the blog veteran is that shortly before an election, trolls for the losers hit the opposing blogs, new names never seen before jump right in like they’ve been regulars for years, hijacking posts and calling out people. In this cycle, that would be liberal trolls hitting conservative websites. Typically, they claim to be anything but liberals, truth be damned. Why, they are just like us regular posters, only concerned, of course, hence the term ‘concern trolls’.

      The troll’s goal is clear – pretend to be anything but an Obama supporter, and do everything possible to denigrate the winning side, in this case, Romney/Ryan.

      “Reading comprehension deficit much?”

      LOL, again. you’ve already stated you’re somewhere between a libertarian and a liberal, which is like being somewhere between an apple and a vacuum cleaner, which is also to say that either you forgot your cover story or you told the truth and reveal yourself to be deeply confused.

      Flail away, troll, but try to keep the story straight, eh? Hopefully by the next cycle you’ll get a better blog assignment.

        Libertymike in reply to Henry Hawkins. | November 1, 2012 at 2:34 pm

        I have been a regular poster at Reason’s Hit&Run for years. For the past year or so I have been a regular poster at the Volokh Conspiracy and at Eric Peters’ site for a couple of years. I have always posted under Libertymike.

        Yes, I am a libertarian who resides in Massachusetts.

        The winning side? The state.

I think that if the weather was good for golf Obama would have been AWOL in spite of the storm.

Henry Hawkins | November 1, 2012 at 5:59 pm

Dunno what’s up with Christie, but I can attest to certain changes that come over a person when dealing with death and destruction.

I was front and center, ground zero, for the flood of 1999, caused by Hurricane Floyd and affecting NC, SC, and VA. I was stranded in my home for a week, though I was able to move about at 2 mph in my boat on the Tar River, jammed with flood flotsam. Over 50 people died. I live 1/2 mile from the house where 8 members of the same family drowned trying to escape the rising waters in the middle of the night. They climbed ever higher in their home, thinking the water couldn’t possibly come any higher, and eventually had to bust through a wall to get out, then into a small boat which they overloaded and all died. I was present on the second day at a relief station when a woman was informed that her missing son and granddaughter had been found in his truck floating upside down in a field, both drowned. You leave your neighborhood, your town, your county, and go in the house to weather the hurricane, and when you step out the next day, your neighborhood, town, and county are gone, literally gone, no longer exist. The enormity of what has happened changes you and it’s like a form of shock takes over.

Professional first responders do it for a living and I expect they develop a sort of detachment so they can operate and perform. Not so with me, the layman, and perhaps not so with Chris Christie, the governor and former US Attorney.

Name your conservative hero or prophet – Reagan, Goldwater, WFB, Jr, etc. – if any one of them had given me the least little bit of guff or distraction during the Floyd Flood, I’d have slapped his head off his shoulders. I’m not making excuses for Christie’s lovemugging for Obama. I am trying to perhaps explain otherwise inexplicable behavior. US Attorneys don’t handle mega-crises, but governors must, and Christie is doing it for the first time. Perhaps he’s been affected by the scope of death and destruction, and his experience with Obama is of the foxhole buddies sort, soon to dissipate as the country moves on.

I don’t think it will have any effect whatsoever on the presidential race, Christie may still walk back some of the lovemuffin stuff before Tuesday, and I personally am not prepared to pass judgment as yet on someone in the middle of what he’s in the middle of.

Christie’s Obama Love is a distraction. Do not let it spoil your enjoyment of the coming destruction of the Obama administration and the banishment of the liberal agenda for at least another decade or so (before we forget the pain that was Obama Nation).