Can Christie Shit Where He Eats?

Can New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie get away with shitting where he eats?
He lambasted his own Republican majority in Congress for delaying aid to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut following the devastating Hurricane Sandy. Can he really say, "There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner."

 

 

 Yes, he can. And, he has to because he’s trying to take over the GOP. He has presidential ambitions and an uncomfortable relationship with the tea baggers so  he's got to move them out of his path. Americans for Prosperity’s New Jersey Director Steve Lonegan opposed him in the Republican primary when he first ran for governor in 2009.

Christie has since tried to suck up to the tea baggers by doubting the human impact on climate change, by pulling New Jersey out of a regional green gas emissions program, by weakening the state’s environmental regulations, by failing to oppose choking coal winds from Pennsylvania and by entertaining the Koch brothers at a secret political retreat. So, when it comes to the environment, something he acts like he thinks is expendable, he gets along with the petro-chemical billionaires and their minions.

But when it comes to bailing out New Jersey from the Sandy mess they are at odds.  David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, the moneyed force in the tea party, is actively opposing Sandy aid in Congress. But not a word has crossed Governor Loudmouth’s lips about the AFP-Koch opposition. Instead, he’s picking on Speaker John Boehner, an easy target considering tea baggers and cross-over democrats don’t care for the weeping, beleaguered man. Besides what Republican is going to get pissed at Christie for being selfish and demanding money for his state?

He does have a very valid point. Burdened with their own internal battles, Congress has left New Jersey, New York and Connecticut hanging for more than two months after Superstorm Sandy beat the crap out of them. More than 100 people died, billions of dollars in property was lost, hundreds of  thousands of homes were damaged.

If Christie is to run for president, he needs Sandy. He needs the storyline of a guy who’d even hug a Democratic president to rebuild his state. What a story, right? He’s so amazing that turned back the hell Mother Nature heaped on the East Coast.

You can see the ads.

So Sandy has been great for Christie. His handling of the initial devastation after the Oct. 29, 2012 storm shot his approval ratings to 70 percent – an unheard of rating for a governor. Of course, ratings will go down. The economy still sucks in Jersey. Unemployment is above the national rate, the state GNP is the lowest in the region and Christie’s revenue projections are $700 million off target. They have been all year. The Democrats had to stop him from giving a 10 percent income tax break, which would have befitted the wealthiest earners, who just happen to be his supporters.

Will Christie pay a price for calling out the right wing nuts in Congress? No way, he’s drawing attention away from the bad job he’s done on the state’s economy and he needs to soften the party up. He is a master at the craft of shitting where he eats.