Christie: the great fat hope
Chris Christie—or people in his retinue, or reporters in the MSM—are like Lucy and the football to the Republican electorate’s Charlie Brown: tempting, teasing, and ultimately (at least so far) not delivering.
Now come new rumors, much like the old rumors, that the reluctant Christie is considering giving in to entreaties and running for president in 2012.
I’m going to go on record here and make a prediction, something I don’t do too often: Christie won’t run. But I would like it if he did— despite his relative inexperience and the fact that as soon as he announced the press would dig up all the dirt on him—because he’s got some assests the other candidates don’t have, mostly a straight-shooting hard-hitting persona that is nevertheless full of humor, wit, intelligence, cojones, common sense, and the ability to speak extemporaneously with flair and brilliance. I also like most of the policies he’s instituted in New Jersey during his (admittedly brief) tenure as governor.
And I like the fact that he’s fat.
Yes, you heard that right: I like the fact that he’s fat. I’m sick and tired of Ken-doll candidates and their slickness. If that’s shallow (or reverse-shallow?) of me, so be it.
It’s said that fat candidates don’t have a chance. I think it’s quite different where Christie’s concerned, as NJ Democratic ex-governor and Christie opponent in 2010 Corzine discovered during the 2010 election. When Corzine tried to use Christie’s adipose in a campaign ad against him, he found Christie throwing his considerable weight against Corzine in a jujitsu move that ended up decking the slimmer Democrat.
Watch out for the fat guy; he’s a fighter. But I still don’t think he’ll run this time.
“The Great Fat Hope” –Priceless!!! Thanks. And I fully agree: we haven’t had a really great president since Taft, IMHO.
Look at it this way, he’s got a lock on the American Samoa vote.
Fat and bald would make him the ideal anti-Ken.
Christie strikes me as one who fights for principles he has tested with experience. That is why he appeals to the common sense of people. I don’t think he would be happy about making decisions based solely on input from advisors. He is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, and probably won’t run till he feels he has at least a grasp on all the problems the presidency must deal with. He is the complete opposite of Obama. To put it in physical terms, Christie go with his gut.
Sorry, Christie goes…
Neoneocon,
“It’s said that fat candidates don’t have a chance.” I think, perhaps it has more to do with being comfortable in “one’s own skin” so to speak.
IMO, many candidates who look like the proverbial Ken doll knock-off often do so because they undergo a regimen to keep themselves looking the part to further their career. That might work for a Hollywood star or starlet where sincerity isn’t an issue, but I submit that in politics, if one is trying to promote onesself as sincere and honest, a manufactured body type just doesn’t ring true (e.g., Anthony Weiner’s pics, John Edwards’ obsession with his hair, etc.). This “fake it ’till you make it” approach, BTW, is one of the disconnects I’ve seen with Mitt Romney. In 2007-08 he simply looked too manufactured. Today, his more casual appearance still has me believing that it’s manufactured, too.
I agree with all you say about Chris Christie. IMO his weight is not a liabilty because he understand exactly what he is, an overwieght middle-aged man. That he recognizes this and moves on in spite of it is testimony to his sincerity as a human being.
Now don’t mis-interpret me. I’m not saying that someone who works out and tries to remain physically fit and attractive isn’t sincere. For some people their physical makeup just isn’t congruent with the kind of physical fitness we hold as ideal. I am in that group. I could lose weight, but it’s even harder to keep it off than it is to lose it, and I just have too many other things to do. So, my choice is 1) to not do many of the things I need to do and use that time for an exercise regimen, or 2) to pretend I’m NOT overweight (riiiightt!), or 3) simply accept it and move on. #3 makes me much more productive than either of the other alternatives. As for my sincerity, that must be for others to judge.
Odd that you would be in favor of a candidacy of a man whose only claim to fame is an innate ability to smack down someone verbally that disagrees with him.
Absent those YouTube videos, what exactly has he done that merits promotion to the White House?
By all means, let him run. I doubt that he will successfully run the gauntlet for more than a weekend.
turfmann: you seem to have missed the part where I said I like the policies he’s instituted in New Jersey. That’s his other claim to fame.
I am a passionate Christie fan, and trying not to get my hopes up too high. To have a mensch in the White House, a smart man, a man who can talk! I can really see him uniting the country. Americans have forgotten what it means to have a leader.
I just read a twitter from Ari Fleischer to the effect that the money people tell Christie he can’t win again in NJ, so this run for POTUS is his last chance.
mizpants said, “I just read a twitter from Ari Fleischer to the effect that the money people tell Christie he can’t win again in NJ, so this run for POTUS is his last chance.”
Is he saying Christie can’t win because he has instituted some good, but unpopular, policies that may get N.J. out of the fiscal mess they are in? If so, that shows how badly we need more citizen education and to transform the MSM back into somewhat objective purveyors of the news. He is saving N.J. but can’t get re-elected? WTF!
Christie has impressed me with his ability to think and speak on his feet. I guess he was a successful prosecutor and it shows in his performances on the hustings. He is fat and may have related health problems but not all fat people are diabetic, cardiovascular wrecks, or hypertensive. If there is a health issue, I’m sure it would be blown way out of proportion. I wish he had decided to run, and had been in the debates thus far.
I agree with expat that he seems to know his limitations and doesn’t think he’s ready yet. An admirable quality, by the way.
I’m inclined to agree with neo that he probably won’t run.
I normally don’t listen to or watch Don Imus, but for some reason I just happened to tune in on the day he was interviewing Chris Christie about his fatness. Christie is a funny guy when he wants to be, and during this interview he wanted to be funny. He cracked me up. Here’s the audio. The interview starts at about the 50 second mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooCnmlIKqX0
Amazing that there are so many like turfmann who are so ignorant of Christie’s accomplishments, and at the same time so ignorant of Obama’s lack thereof.
J.J. Formerly Jimmy J.,
I wondered the same thing, but it’s a twitter, necessarily brief. What seemed significant is that it suggests a strong motive for Christie to run.
I’d love for Christie to run, for a variety of reasons, but most of all for the Presidential debates. That should be on PPV. After watching Christie mop the floor with our Messiah I could die with a smile on my face.
Neo: Fair enough. I think I will wait for the results, myself.
OlderandWheezier: Oh, please. Ignorant of Obama? I think not. And as a result of enduring the specter of Obama, should we not insist upon demonstrable executive results in our candidates in the future? Or at least that they love their country?
Allow him to steep a bit before we catapult him on to the big stage.
Christie/Cain 2012. I could really go for that.
Heh, ken dolls
My man is Herman Cain. Even before the Florida straw poll I have so much respect this man as a leader with solutions who goes against the repub establishment.
Is Cain electable? Hell yes!
Screw the Jersey guy. The last Jersey guy that screwed me was Charley Weiss (I am an Indiana Notre Dame guy)
I say Cain/Daniels. Anyone got a problem wit dat?
All I care about is:
ABO 2012.
(Anybody but Obama).
The GOP nominee needs to be somebody who can beat Obama. Period. Whoever it is, he/she is going to more likely than less like to nominate Federal Judges (and remember, we’re not just talking about the USSC, but ALL Federal Courts) more along the lines of Roberts, Alito, Scalia. And less likely to appoint Sotomeyers.
Only a conservative Fed Court will do things like declare things like Obamacare and D.C. gun control laws UnConstitutional.
If we don’t get him out of office in 2012, we may NEVER recover whatever freedoms are judiciallly legislated away or removed by Executive Order, and then subsequently upheld by “wise Latinas” and Manhatten based Harvard Elites, in their black robes, who will comprise the court majority for decades to come….
The VP candidate need to be somebody who can swing a large Blue state to Red and/or who can otherwise cause the Statist Media and the Progressives to crap in their pants. Marco Rubio comes to mind. Blue in 2008, GUARANTEED to turn Red in 2010 if he is the VP. (I am a Floridian. Take that one to the bank). Plus the 3,4,5,? percentage points of the Hispanic vote he will swing over?
Cain or Allen West would also be good choices. A Black man on the GOP ticket? Democrat heads will explode. Cain/West will become the most hated and reviled Black man since Idi Amin.
Yes, appointments to the federal judiciary are vitally important: we need only principled, conservative jurists to be nominated. Also vitally important is signing legislation sent over from the Republican Congress. I think those, and only those, are the non-negotiable essentials.
BTW, I don’t trust Romney to do either.
ELC,
You don’t trust Romney to nominate principled conservative jurists? You think he is MORE of a squishy middle of the road “Rino” than W was? Or than Christie will be?
But regardless, he CAN be trusted to be more likely rather than less likely to nominate a conservative than Obama – who has show he is GUARANTEED not to.
And if there are enough idiots who decide ‘on principle’ to vote for some third party guy, or sit it out altogether, then four more years of Obama is what we shall get. And if I happen to find myself face to face with any loon who says its okay to write in a vote for Ron Paul, because we “need” to have four more years of Obama, because we REALLY “need” to tear down this country and destroy it before we can start from the bottom and start over again, or some such nonsense, I shall have to do my very best to refrain from punching said loon in the nose.
Principle-schminsiple. Get..That..Marxist…Cluster-f–k of a Jackass…out of office.
ABO 2012!
If he declares, I will look into his ideas. The few videos and bites I have seen, I like. And the fatness appeals to me, too. It makes him genuine.
Currently, he’s a fat nobody to most people. Nobodies probably can’t be shy if they want to win the starring role.
I suspect he will have flaws. But he fights. Following the current phony Lincoln, maybe he’s the next President Grant?
Which pulls me back to the tiresome topic: Palin fights. Can we spare her?
I’d vote for a cabbage before I voted for Obama but I’m not crazy about Mitt, and I think after continually blowing off his mouth about not running for President, Christie needs to say as the Governor of NJ. I would like to have a candidate I’m enthusiastic about which would be Palin, or to a lesser extent Perry but I agree with SoutherJames we need Obama out of office BADLY and anyone who who is a purist who wouldn’t vote for whoever the Republicans put off I would be quite annoyed at. I wouldn’t put it past the Democrats to try to run a third party candidate so that Obama wins.
Jonathan Tobin had a brief but poignant response to the sudden Christie buzz:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/25/christie-gop-race-perry-romney/#more-769238
Don’t get me wrong, I admire Christie’s accomplishments and respect his ability. But, no, he is not a “Great Fat Hope”, but rather, the latest flavor of the week. The latest ideal candidate who will humiliate the “weak” GOP field, then mop the floor with Obama.
The main reason Christie is so appealing is precisely because he is not (yet) running. Therefore, one can project all of one’s hopes and ideals onto him. One can look at his positives without even considering any negatives. If he runs (and I doubt that he will), this will change overnight. The media will pounce, as will the other candidates. We will learn plenty of unpleasant facts about him and his past and will doubtlessly find many areas of disappointment. And then what? On to the next idealized non-candidate (Rubio? Ryan?).
The bottom line is: every candidate will have weaknesses and skeletons. Unlike many of you, I am very pleased with the GOP field, not because any of them are ideal, but because the broad cross section of backgrounds, ideas, factions and issues that the announced candidates bring and the ongoing debate these candidates generate, will only make the ultimate nominee stronger, more battle tested and more focused when he or she goes up against Obama.
Ari Fleischer is premature, but reasonably predictive of Christie’s chances for re-election. Christie is less popular in NJ than he is nationwide for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being that people outside NJ don’t know that much about him.
In NJ, his re-election problems stem partly from the heavily blue nature of this state and the ability of Dems to get out the vote during a “routine” election. He has also managed to piss off the public employees in the state, and this state has a LOT of public employees. He only needs 50% plus one, but that’s an uphill battle for any Republican in this state, much more so for one who has angered the Democratic establishment as much as he has. Fleischer’s prediction is premature, though, because it is not yet re-election season here.
Christie would never make it through the Republican primaries this year, though. He’s much more like a combative Romney than a conservative darling when you scratch the surface. That would be a huge benefit in a national race, but I doubt that he would ever be the Republican candidate.
Neo, as usual, is correct. Christie’s not running in 2012. He saw how Palin destroyed her chances by quitting in the middle of her governorship, and he’s way too smart to make the same mistake.
There’s that word “smart” again. As if people have bought into the eugenics Democrat propaganda leaf that leadership requires smarts.