Happy 50th Birthday Governor Chris Christie

Keep surprising us.

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Chaos in Charlotte

A divided Democratic National Convention amended the platform they had adopted just yesterday to reassert the party’s commitment that Jerusalem be the the capitol of Israel and that God is the source of American values.

The amendment was offered by former Ohio Governor Ted Stickland who served as the chair of the platform committee.

The convention’s by-laws require a 2/3 vote to amend the platform.  Convention Chairman Antonio R. Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angelos, called for a voice vote three times before he declared that the motion to amend the platform had passed.

Does it look/sound like a 2/3’s majority to you?

The New York Times reports that opposition to the Jerusalem amendment came from Majid Al-Bahadli, an Iraqi-American who is a delegate from Washington.  Al-Bahadli spent time as a prisoner of war during the first Gulf War for taking up American calls to rebel against Saddam Hussein.

@CoryBooker, the co-chair of the platform committee, has yet to explain why “God” and “Jerusalem” were omitted in the first place.

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Internal Poll has Kyrillos within 4 points of Menendez

The Kyrillos for U.S. Senate campaign released an internal poll this afternoon that shows the GOP challenger within 4 points of the incumbent, Democrat Robert Menendez, with 65 days left to go before election day. 45% of those survey said they would vote for Menendez, 41% would vote for Kyrillos and 14% are undecided.

Of the Menendez voters, 76% said they were definitely voting for the Hudson County incumbent while 24% said they probably would.  71%  of Kyrillos voters were solid compared to 29% probable.

The poll, which was conducted by Magellan Strategies between August 30 and September 3rd, is a survey of 746 likely general election voters from New Jersey.  The margin of error is +/- 3.5% with 95% confidence.  The survey was weighted based upon past general election turnout demographics.

29% of the respondents were Republicans, 39% Democrats and 35% Independents.  27% of the respondents consider themselves conservative, 16% say they are liberal and 51% say they are moderate.

“Joe’s message of creating jobs for the middle class and working together with members of both sides of the aisle is resonating with the voters of New Jersey,” said Kyrillos Campaign Manager Chapin Fay. “It’s clear New Jerseyans want change and, if this surge continues, in two months they will have it when Joe Kyrillos is elected the next US Senator from New Jersey.”

“This marks another poll in which Menendez is yet again under 50%,” said Adam Geller of National Research, the Kyrillos campaign’s pollster.

Menendez 2012 communication director Paul Brubaker was not immediately available for comment.  This post will be updated if he calls back.

If they follow their usual pattern, Quinnipiac will likely release a Kyrillos-Menendez poll from the survey they took August 27-September 2 within the next few days.

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What we won’t hear tonight:

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Empty Chairs Strike Again

First it was Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair followed by a ongoing viral response on twitter and facebook depicting the president as an empty chair.  Now empty chairs are moving President Obama’s acceptance speech away from Charlotte’s 74,000 seat Bank of American Stadium.  The DNC announced that the speech will be delivered indoors at the arena where the rest of the convention is being held due to a 30% change of rain.

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Governor Chris Christie on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

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Proof of the War on Women

Photo Credit: Dave Lewis, LewisArtandPhoto.com

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Democratic Platform: God and Jerusalem out. Taxpayer funded abortions, gay marriage in

What has happened to the party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy?   Isn’t Jimmy Carter a born again Christian?

I can’t imagine the delegates in Charlotte knew what they were voting for last night.  Like ObamaCare, they had to pass it to find out what was in it.

Senator Dick Durbin went on the offensive with FoxNews’s Bret Baier over the omission of “God” and “Jerusalem” rather than simply answer the question:

“God is not a franchise of the Republican Party.”   This is the first time I’ve ever heard God referred to as a “franchise.”

New York Senator Chuck Schumer could not explan why “Jerusalem” was taken out of the platform. He said he does not know President Obama’s postion on Jerusalem. Charlie Rose is not buying what Schumer is selling:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker was co-chair of the platform committee. I sent him a tweet asking why “God” and “Jerusalem” were taken out of the platform. Hopefully Booker will be more forth coming than Durbin and Schumer.

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Quinnipiac says Christie got no bounce from keynote address….but they started polling before he delivered the speech!

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning indicates that Governor Christie’s approval numbers remain strong among New Jersey voters…53% approve of his performance compared to 42% that do not….and that Christie would have been reelected if Newark Mayor Cory Booker was his Democratic opponent and the gubernatorial election was held last week when the poll was taken.

That’s good news for Christie, the NJ GOP and New Jersey taxpayers. Yet, in their write up of the poll, Quinnipiac did their best to spin the poll as a negative for Christie and the lazy main stream media is so far following that lead.

While 58 percent of New Jersey voters watched Gov. Christopher Christie’ keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, only 22 percent of voters say it makes them think more favorably of the governor, whose 53 – 42 percent job approval rating is barely changed, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

…..

“If Gov. Christopher Christie’s speech marked the opening of a 2016 presidential campaign he might want to try again.  People who like the governor liked the speech; those who don’t didn’t.  The net result – zero,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1560 registered voters from August 27-September 2.  Christie delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention late in the evening on August 28.   The Bobcats pollsters didn’t start asking about Christie’s speech until the third day of the seven day poll.

While showing their own biases, the Bobcats purported to measure New Jersey voters’ prejudices regarding offices seekers’ gender, race, creed, sexual orientation and waste line.

The numbers say that New Jersey is accepting of most.  In the poll that has a margin of error of +/- 2.5%,  3% said they would be less inclined to vote for a female candidate while 10% would be more likely to vote for a female. 4% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who was African-American and 1% would be less likely to do so. 11% would be less likely to vote for a homosexual and 1% would be more likely.

Atheists and Muslims did not fare as well.  39% would be less likely to vote for an atheist, 1% would be more likely.

15% said they would be less likely to vote for an obese candidate, 1% would be more likely to vote for the big boned.

Does this mean that we should adjust Governor Chirstie’s numbers?  Would his numbers be 14% higher if he was svelte?  No, it doesn’t mean that.  It means that this poll is seriously flawed.  It reveals more about the pollsters than it does about those being surveyed.

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Pallone Spoofs Christie At Dem Convention

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