General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDear Liberals: Please stop calling Chris Christie a "moderate" Republican. Thank you.
I heard Chris Hayes say it just last night.
I've heard Rachel Maddow say it.
I've heard Tweety say it repeatedly.
Dear God, I heard Ed Schultz call the guy a "sane Republican" and nearly threw up my dinner!
PLEASE STOP!!!
Chris Christie is NOT a moderate Republican.
Just because he may be "reasonable" on a few issues--not prejudiced against Muslims, for instance, does not make him a moderate.
Just because he pretended to like President Obama does not make him a moderate.
Just because he pretended to do something on gun control and ended up doing nothing doesn't make him a moderate.
On just about every single issue, he has been nothing but a corporatist pro-Wall Street, anti-woman, anti-union, pro-private education voucher, hostile towards racial minorities conservative. Period!
He is:
1. Anti-choice
2. Pro-school vouchers and pro-charter schools
3. Incredibly anti-union
4. Pro-Wall Street
5. Pals around with Tea Party candidates and campaigns for them
6. Champions states rights, even claiming that civil rights (including issues related to segregation should have been addressed at the state level)
But because the modern American political right has moved so far to the right, anyone that deviates from the extreme right is considered "moderate".
We liberals cannot and MUST NOT fall into this trap.
Chris Christie is nowhere near a moderate Republican. He has only been deemed that by the mainstream Corporate Media because he *appears* only slightly less crazy and extreme as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. But when it all comes down to it, he agrees with the Palins and the Bachmanns more often than he disagrees. Calling him a moderate excuses him and absolves him of every single rotten thing he has done to the great BLUE state of New Jersey!
Don't fall for it!!
Robbins
(5,066 posts)There are no moderate republicans politicans anymore.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)If he does not resign or impeached, we are less then 4 years until he is done in politics forever. It is a shame that the bridge thing didn't happen in July and found out in September. Oh well at least he DEFINITELY won't be President now for sure (even if it was a 1 percent chance before).
polichick
(37,152 posts)kimbutgar
(21,224 posts)I have never thought crispy was a good man so I am gleeful the spotlight is on him. That said there are NO longer any good reptilians I mean republicans anymore. They are now extinct like dinosaurs.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)RC
(25,592 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)even if you don't love the democrat, chances are the Republican will be the bigger dick.
We have many Democrats to blame for the re-election of this douchebag.
RC
(25,592 posts)Don't vote for the Republican, even if they have a (D) by their name. What good are "Democrats" if all they do is enable the Republicans.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)what you are usually stuck with is a conservative Democrat and an insane Republican. Vote for the Dem, even if you don't like him/her. :Shrug:
ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)Anytime someone like "RC" demands that you petulantly scream, cry, hold your breath until you turn blue until that one perfect Democrat that agrees with your every position 150%, is a choice... or else you'll take your ball home and let the Republican win because DINO DINO DINO DINO whaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!
...just remember that people like RC were the ones who voted for Nader over Al Gore, and are the reason we got George W. Bush.
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)vote for the most good or the least evil.
Iggo
(47,578 posts)So you can scratch me off your "we" list.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)in mainstream liberal circles who I've been hearing call him that. Not even just on MSNBC, too, but in liberal-leaning print media and other commentary as well.
Iggo
(47,578 posts)Kind of along the lines of: If you're not doing it, and I'm not doing it, who is this "we"?
I'm a grump sometimes.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)lark
(23,166 posts)WTF! She knows better than that. He may not be totally batshit, he doesn't think Obama is a Kenyan Muslim, but he is 100% for the 1% and against the 99%. In that, he is a true believer. Anything else is just for show to get to the point where he can enrich himself and his cronies.
Besides that - BRIDGEGATE, and Hurricane Sandygate! The guy is a complete backstabbing moron who thinks he can get away with doing any heinous thing, long as his underlings are there to take the fall for him. He's despicable, is what he is!
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)skimming threads post-Sandy in which Christie was welcomed to the big Democratic tent. Guess cuz he was *nice* to Obama?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)DU, of all places, should have known not to fall for the likes of Chris Christie. We know what he's all about. We know his record.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2014, 03:04 PM - Edit history (1)
That's what's so funny. Well, funny if not tragic. Too many people are hurting under CC, and these pics always come to mind when I think of him:
/
Laid-off cops and firefighters...
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)I literally have to fight to keep myself from throwing up.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Don't worry, I won't vote for them either.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)his partner, but could move to New York, Maryland and D.C. and marry. Go figure...
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)right winger. You did an excellent job, we could list right wing aspects of Christie all the live long day.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)okaawhatever
(9,469 posts)the state legislature on his side, he'd be doing a N Carolina, Ohio or Michigan end-run around the Constitution. Look at what he did do given the opportunity, soon after taking office he declared a state of emergency (fiscal emergency) to defund already approved budget measures. That's probably when he started threatening people to play along. He vetoed gay marriage knowing it had the votes to become law. He's also vetoed just about everything a moderate or even right wing Republican would sign into law. His move declaring an emergency is straight out of the tea party/Koch brothers handbok. New Jersey is the moderate here, not Christie. You just didn't hear about all the crazy laws being passed because the legislature wasn't Republican. Wake up sheeple....Christie was never the solution, only a better disguised problem.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)That doesn't make him bipartisan. He's forced to work with Democrats, not because he wants to--because he HAS to! First of all, he has vetoed more bills than any governor in Jersey's history. And yet he brags about compromising with Democrats? He's a fucking liar! Why Jersey Democrats fall for these lies, I don't understand.
It's like George Bush. It drove me crazy to hear people praise him because he worked with Democrats in the Texas legislature. Get real! Texas governors have the weakest constitutional powers of ALL governors in the country. He was forced to work with the Lt. Gov. who is elected separately and was a Democrat, and he was forced to work with a legislature, which at the time, was Democratic! And the American people bought into this lie that George "Dumbya" Bush was some moderate and "compassionate conservative" who *willingly* worked across party lines. He didn't!! He was forced to! He had to!! He was a weak-ass governor who never did shit and never accomplished shit!!
Wounded Bear
(58,743 posts)glowing
(12,233 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)I want to know why they think Crispe Creme is a moderate. So far, I've seen NOTHING moderate about him.
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)Yeah, a bridge-closing bully IS a moderate.
joeglow3
(6,228 posts)I seem to remember MANY on here championing Washington and Colorado a lot lately.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)This place is scary sometimes.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Sorry, but being from the South sends a special jolt of fear as well. While I understand the difference based on specific policy issues, it has been a mantra of the conservative movement when speaking on civil rights. I can't go down that road.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)So why would anyone implicitly equate the two in the first place?
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)compared to other even more conservative Republicans yes..he is moderate...thus moderate Republican.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)have actually done to the state of New Jersey. He is systematically trying to destroy public education. He has destroyed public unions. He has not created one job. Not one single job! This man is dangerous. Incredibly dangerous precisely because he wields such great constitutional authority in the state. One of few governors with very strong line item veto powers can wipe out projects, and as we know, carry out politically motivated vendettas, OR reward friends with funded projects he likes. There is no such thing as "even more conservative" Republicans. Chris Christie is putting on an act because he leads a blue state. If you go down every single issue of import, you will see that he lines up very well with the most conservative of conservative Republican.
He wholeheartedly endorses and campaigns for Tea Party candidates, and were it not for this scandal, would have gladly campaigned for Rick Scott down in Florida. His inaugural speech was all rhetoric about compromising and working with Democrats, but it all was a huge lie!! He has done no such thing!! He has not worked with Jersey Democrats; instead, he has vetoed more compromised bills that he has initially agreed to than any other governor in the state's history. Please do not fall for these appearances. He is no moderate.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)on and on and on would do to that state....ad nauseum.
Compare NJ to say...South Carolina...and Gov Nikki Haley for example...
No Medicaid expansion there!
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)They don't represent diverse, heterogeneous populations.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)at least he had the good sense to expand Medicaid for NJ citizens....there is THAT!
that's a big that!
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Those policy stances that I listed in this thread. None of them are moderate; they are wholly conservative philosophically. Just because the Jersey legislature forces his hand by overriding his veto on gay marriage or expanding Medicaid, for instance, doesn't make him a moderate. It makes him a conservative Republican leading a blue state working within the confines of a state assembly that is controlled by Democrats.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)I'll let the record speak for itself, but all credit is due to Prophet 451 who posted upthread (post #75).
In no particular order:
http://www.onenewjersey.org/christie-by-the-numbers/
http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/111064/chris-christie#.UuCeZrTFLs0
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/11/don-t-believe-the-chris-christie-hype-look-at-his-economic-record.html
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/15-chris-christie-controversies-you-missed-101999.html#.UuCfc7TFLs0
Bottom line: Chris Christie is NOT a moderate. I'm sorry, but he's just not.
(Maybe he's less crazy than Michele Bachmann, but don't set the bar so low! :hugs
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)in fact I just agreed that maybe he only "seems" less "severe" because he has opposition pushing him back.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)But do check out the links.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts). . . a thoroughly mobbed-up, lying asshole who is unabashedly shilling for the Kock brothers, so they will secretly fund his 2016 run for the Presidency?
Is that still OK?
rocktivity
(44,580 posts)rocktivity
Cha
(297,809 posts)lark
(23,166 posts)Who cares whether it's "OK" to say that? It's true and should be repeated.
He's "a thoroughly mobbed-up, lying asshole who is unabashedly shilling for the Kock brothers, so they will secretly fund his 2016 run for the Presidency? "
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)progressoid
(50,000 posts)There are some in the White House that are like that too.
obxhead
(8,434 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 22, 2014, 03:26 PM - Edit history (2)
that fall into those standards.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)rocktivity
(44,580 posts)So "Governor Soprano" never had a chance.
Besides, it's only the right wing national media who have been calling him that. The good news is, his cover is blown: Christie's idea of moderation is "my way or the highway," and his idea of bipartisanship is "my way, or I'll CLOSE your highway."
As Bush II himself once attempted to say, fool me three times -- you're a Republican.
rocktivity
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)What is sad is that he would be considered fringe right pre-Reagan
ashling
(25,771 posts)This is the same king of thinking that led to George W. Bush being called a moderate in 2000.
He wasn't even a "compassionate conservative."
on point
(2,506 posts)He very much a conservative
NancyDL
(140 posts)...trouble is, he seems to be in the pockets of the money people. So, I say, "Keep calling him 'moderate'. The base hates it. 8
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)But if doing so dupes Americans into voting for him as they did Reagan and Bush II, then no way, no how. Absolutely unacceptable.
I'm going on his record. And his record tells me that he is not, in any way, a moderate Republican.
quakerboy
(13,921 posts)I mean, he only wants to see liberal policies fail and millions of his constituents broke and suffering. non moderate republicans want to see us "hung high" or shot in the streets, not just stuck in traffic for crossing them.
Republicans are scum who aim to damage our nation at any level they can. The difference between a moderate or extreme republican is only how far they are willing to go in their desire to harm others.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)The question is: what did the Governor know and when did he know it? When "it" is pay-to-play politics, withholding emergency relief funds from a community pending a re-election endorsement from the mayor and deliberately manufacturing traffic jams also to punish a community whose mayor declined to endorse Christie for re-election, then it makes no difference whether the people doing "it" push a political agenda that is moderate or ridiculously extreme. It doesn't matter if Governor Christie advocates abolishing democracy and elevating the crooks on Wall Street to a level of aristocracy or advocates the confiscation of all private property or any point in between, his underlings have got to go and perhaps he needs to go, too.
This is not about any political agenda. This is about the universal principles of good government. We can disagree about abortion or the benefits of casino capitalism or of privatizing drinking water, but we cannot disagree about government acting to make people miserable because their mayor doesn't do something the governor and his staff want him to do. That is just wrong.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)His lies may classify him as a potential candidate, not a moderate.
We have been shown that candidate for POTUS is synonymous with liar IMO, especially those of the "two party system."
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)on MSNBC who I haven't heard act like CC is all sane and cool is Reverend Al. He knew what was up with him from the get-go. CC is just like his other anti-poor Republican brethren. It's just that he is somewhat more pragmatic and employs the use of different tactics than the likes of Rand Paul and Michele Bachmann types in order to get ahead. Unfortunately, though, some so-called Democrats (particularly in NJ) apparently already did fall into the trap and contributed to his re-election.
Phentex
(16,334 posts)go away!
longship
(40,416 posts)...and he can sleep until noon every day.
(Paraphrasing Samuel Clemens.)
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)He's a hard-right corporatist, propped up by an adoring media that pretends he's moderate just because he's not a gibbering madman like so much of the party.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Christie's record. It's late tonight, and I have to prepare for work tomorrow, so I'll have to wait and post some stuff then. If you have anything, I'd be grateful. I'm not sure what it's going to take. I didn't realize how strong this Christie facade was in influencing, but I guess it really is. Once the image takes old, it's hard to convince people otherwise.
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)In no particular order:
http://www.onenewjersey.org/christie-by-the-numbers/
http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/111064/chris-christie#.UuCeZrTFLs0
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/11/don-t-believe-the-chris-christie-hype-look-at-his-economic-record.html
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/15-chris-christie-controversies-you-missed-101999.html#.UuCfc7TFLs0
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,771 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)I was going down the list of MSNBC commentators. I know Tweety is far from liberal.
Gothmog
(145,667 posts)Christie is very right wing