Governor Chris Christie: I believe that the Occupy movement and the Tea Party movement come — their genesis — is from the same feeling, which is an anger that government can’t get things done. And so, now, that is the last similarity between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement. But I believe that the cause for their anger comes from the same place. They look at Washington D.C. and they look at a president who is a bystander in the Oval Office. You know, I was angry this weekend, listening to the spin coming out of the administration about the failure of the Supercommittee. And that the President knew that it was doomed for failure so he didn’t get involved. Well then what the hell are we paying you for? It’s doomed for failure so I’m not getting involved? Well, what have you been doing exactly? I mean, I will tell you that I think both parties deserve blame for what’s going on in Washington D.C., both parties do. They’re spending more time talking at each other than talking with each other. We all know what the solutions to these problems are, we’ve done them in New Jersey in many areas, but we don’t have the political will to get them done. And in New Jersey, the reason why they got things done is because I called people into a room and said we’re going to solve this problem and I had people of good will on the other side who said they believed it was their obligation, regardless of party, to get done things like pension and benefit reform. That Mayor Redd can tell you personally how it’s helping her and her budget situation in Camden. Why the President of the United States refuses to do this is astonishing to me. I mean, you know, if he wanted to run for Senate again and just be 1 of 100, I’m sure he could have gotten reelected over and over again in Illinois. When you’re president, it’s kind of what I was talking about before, you know 41, 21 and 1, well he’s the one in Washington. And he’s got to get something done here. And it’s not good enough just to say well, I’ll get it done after the election.
There has been a lot of hullabaloo recently about whether Romney’s religion is relevant to this election. Most recently because some preacher caused a stir by calling Mormonism a cult.
Funny how Republicans all thought the church Obama attended was relevant. The Democrats have no problem raising Perry’s religious beliefs about creation. Let’s sweep away the hypocrisy and rank political correctness and ask a general question, “Are a persons religious beliefs fair game in an election”?
Of course they are and anyone who says otherwise is a damn liar. If someone is a Muslim of the Wahhabi sect or Salafi( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi) sect that is not going to play into whether you vote for them? What about if they belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Later day Saints that practices polygamy and child bride marriage or if they are scientologists a group that has been accused of being a cult and of engaging in criminal enterprises, does that matter? Then there are Santeria voodoo worshipping chicken sarificers and pot smoking Rastafarians and white supremacy churches, what about them?
Look me in the eye and say none of that matters.
Of course it matters. It matters because nothing tells you more about a person then their religious belief system.
Of course we don’t have religious tests for office and we have freedom of religion but it is a false dichotomy to suggest that this means we cannot as individuals question a person who will represent us about their belief system and use it to make an individual choice as to who to vote for.
For those who vilify anyone who questions Romney’s religious beliefs I ask this. Do you know anything about Mormonism, its tenets, its history? No well maybe you should before you make a decision. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying his religion disqualifies him. I am saying that questions about his religion and his beliefs and those of every single candidate are fair game. This is not a call for sectarianism. This is recognition that what we believe is important. I am claiming there is nothing wrong with saying I am not voting for John Candidate because I do not like his religious beliefs. I say that because those beliefs are integral to who that candidate is and how he think or she thinks. If you don’t like who they are you should not vote for them.
Let’s stop playing” the religion is not fair game” card and “it is a private matter” card. If you want to be a candidate defend your belief system. Tell us why it makes you a better person, a better leader or maybe you say I am a nominal whatever and it does not play a large part in my life. That says something about you too. Some voters will hate it and some will love it but at least we will all have a better idea of who you really are.
Multiple media sources are reporting that Governor Chris Christie will endorse Mitt Romney for President during a press conference in New Hampshire at 3PM this afternoon.
Locally, news of Christie’s endorsement has had a negative reaction from Bayshore Tea Party Group founder Barbara Gonzalez who sent an “urgent” email to the group’s members and other Tea Party group leaders asking that they “take a leap of faith” and endorse Herman Cain for President.
“THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ANTICIPATED WHEN HERMAN CAIN STARTED TO RISE IN THE POLLS”, wrote Gonzalez,
First, Christie was dragged out to run for President, and when that didn’t work, he is off to endorse Romney.
Are we really going to sit here and let them do this? Do you see what is happening here?
I know some of you don’t agree with me, but I am not going to sit back and let them dictate to me who is going to be the next President.”
Governor Chris Christie is not the only Jersey Guy who announced yesterday that he is not running for president. On the Real Jersey Guys Radio Show with former Senator Dick LaRossa and Art Gallagher yesterday afternoon, Scott Sipprelle, last years GOP nominee for Congress in the 12th Congressional District, said he’s not running either.
Following suit, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told Mark Levin that she’s also not running.
If you missed the show with Sipprelle, here’s a recording:
For months, I’ve been adamant about the fact that I would not run for President. My language was clear, and direct, no matter how many times I was asked the question. For me, the answer was never anything but no. My job here in New Jersey is my passion. I’ve always meant it when I’ve said I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to have this job. I’m doing a job that I love in the state I grew up in on behalf of some of the toughest and greatest people in this country.
It wasn’t until recently that I paused to really reflect on my decision. When you have serious people from across the spectrum, not to mention from all across the country, passionately calling on you to do something as consequential as running for President of the United States, I felt an obligation to earnestly consider their advice. Together with Mary Pat and our children I believe I had an obligation to seriously consider what people were asking me to do. I will always be grateful for their confidence in me.
Over the last few weeks I’ve thought long and hard about this decision. I’ve explored the options. I’ve listened to so many people and considered whether this was something that I needed to take on. But in the end what I’ve always felt was the right decision remains the right decision today. Now is not my time. I have a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon. That’s the promise I made to the people of this state when I took office twenty months ago, to fix a broken New Jersey, and when I look at what we’ve accomplished so far, I’m proud, but I know we’re not nearly done.
I’ve made this commitment to my state first and foremost. The people sent me to Trenton to get a job done, and I’m just not prepared to walk away. I know not everyone agrees with my decision, but my loyalty to this state is what it is.
Abraham Lincoln said, “I’d like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives; I’d like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
That’s how I feel in my heart about New Jersey. I’m proud of this state and its people, and I know there’s still much more we need to do together to insure the future we want for all of our children. So this is not the time to leave unfinished business for me. The stakes are too high and the consequences are too real. So New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.
Let me say this. I’m grateful, I’m grateful to the many people both in New Jersey and around the country who have spoken to me over these last weeks and months. I’m grateful for their confidence in me. I’m grateful for the faith that they place in me. It’s been unbelievably humbling and inspiring. I can only hope that I’m able to live up to this confidence and to make it count doing the job I need to do here at home.
New York Republican State Chairman Ed Cox, son-in-law of the late President Richard M. Nixon, told Ben Smith at Politico that Governor Chris Christie should run a “modern front porch campaign” for president:
As Chris Christie weighs the obvious appetite for his candidacy against the tremendous logistical impediments and political risks, a prominent Christie admirer is offering a path forward: A campaign run largely from New Jersey, its television campaign waged by an independent Super PAC.
New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox, an old Republican hand who is formally neutral, outlined the suggestion in an interview today.
“He just can not desert his job in New Jersey. He’s a recently-elected governor with a Democratic legislature on which he’s trying hard to impose fiscal discipline,” Cox said. “That’s the success on which his campaign rests.”
“The only way I can see him doing it,” he said, is a “modern front-porch campaign,” consisting of large-scale policy addresses like his speech at the Reagan Library last week, of participation in debates, and of a basic ground organization — but none of the immersive early-state retail campaigning that’s widely seen as a necessity.
“The air game would be [Home Depot founder] Ken Langone and others doing a completely independent committee,” he said.
Cox suggested Christie make a “Christie-like” declaration: “I’m governor of New Jersey, I’ve got a job to do here. If financial supporters want to go out and do an independent Super PAC, they can do it. I will register to run for president. But my duties as governor come first.”
Cox said his post prevents him from endorsing a candidate, but said Christie “should get into the race. His views are views that should be heard.”
An intriguing idea, even if it hasn’t worked since 1920 when Warren Harding did it.
I know, mentioning Nixon and Harding in the same post is not exactly showing my Republican love. Still, it is an intriguing idea.
Christie continuing to do his job as Governor full time while campaigning for president part time would not be all that different a schedule than he has kept for much of this year.
The worst case scenairo for Christie in a presidential campaign is that the loses the nomination race and also loses his standing with the voters of New Jersey. Should he start campaigning for president full time now, spending most of his time out of state and ultimately lose the nomination, he might come back to governing New Jersey full time with approval ratings in the 30’s and an New Jersey electorate that resents him for abandoning his post before the job was done.
But, if he spends the next several months primarily in New Jersey forwarding his reform agenda, education reform in particular, his New Jersey agenda becomes part of the national conversation. Instead of witnessing him live on the stump, voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida will be witnessing him on the job via television and youtube.
Television and youtube is why Christie is tied with Obama in the polls now.
If it doesn’t work, Christie is no worse for the wear in New Jersey because he kept doing the job we elected him to. He’s still a front runner for 2016 or 2020 nationally because he wasn’t “really running.”
If it does work and he wins the GOP nomination, he was drafted, not just by the party elite elders and the big money donors, but drafted by the rank and file Republican voters.
We probably won’t know Christie’s decision tomorrow. He has no public schedule.
Lt. Governor Kim Guadango will be making company visits in Ocean County tomorrow. Gaspari Nutrition will receive Guadagno at 1:30, KOMO Machine at 3:00. Both companies are in Lakewood.
Governor Christie’s public schedule for Monday has just been released. His only public appearance scheduled is the swearing in ceremony of Judge Donna Gallucio in Passaic County.
On Friday, Gannet’s Bob Jordan told me that the Statehouse Press Corps was preparing for Monday to be “the biggest day since McGreevey resigned.” That will have to wait.
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will be visiting SGS North America Inc and American Fittings Corporation, both of Bergen County, tomorrow afternoon.
