Christie - Guilty By Decree

I suppose it's time to ease back into my political commentary after a hiatus of a few days and  some sizable gaps in between posts.  It's called burn out.  One can only be negative for so long before it wears you down. But down I shall remain until I see some glimmer of light in Washington.  Both parties and all branches are engulfed it and it's smothering the country.

That being said, let's look at one of the few people I thought had Presidential potential.  Chris Christie.  Here is a man who is truly a victim of politics of the most nefarious kind.  Whatever happened to being innocent until proven guilty?

First, I don't believe for one minute that any of this character assassination would be going on had he not been out polling Hillary for 2016. It would have happened to the Pope could he run.  Such is the way of politics.

It's so much easier when the target isn't the most attractive of men and brash to boot.  It's even worse that he's a Republican who was extremely popular in a strongly Democratic state. His brashness doesn't bother me.  I lived in New Jersey for a time and he is pretty much the way they are.  What you see is what you get.

He is smart.  I cannot believe he would think he could lie his way out of the accusations against him  what's more actually try.  I'm waiting for the evidence that is said to be 'out there'.  If it in fact is then it should be brought forward and made public. If not, put it to rest.

That of course will not happen.  This sorry look at politics as the weapon of choice for personal destruction will be stretched out for as long as possible in an effort to make sure any Presidential ambitions he may hold have been extinguished.

It's the same old story from the political heavy weights who sway opinion.  Rather than looking at the merits of your own candidate, look for everything you can to destroy the opposition. One, does that mean their own candidate has no merit?  There's a fair amount of that.  Two, are the voters so dumb they can't see a candidate's faults?  There's a fair amount of that too! Destroy.  It has such an ugly finality to it.

There is no indication that Washington, and it does stem from Washington, understands people are tired of negative politics.  I'm afraid that's because there is no indication they are.  For some perverse reason, we seem to strive on it.

I wonder how many realize the perpetuation of this climate is the reason why the country is in such dire straits. Negativity breeds negativity.  I'm trying to be negative about it too, but with the purpose of negating it rather than perpetuating it. One little voice preaching to a very small choir. It is, however, a voice.

Some People Are Never Satisfied

When nothing else catches my attention I'll flip around the dial to see who is ranting about what.  FOX doesn't get much of a listen after Bret Baier finishes up at four.  I don't like the new lineup so it's usually reruns of Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War or whatever else might be on PBS.

Last night however, I caught a bit of Hannity who seems to be losing it.  He and Ann Coulter were trashing Chris Christie.

Not so long ago Ann Coulter was politically in love with Christie. "We have to nominate people who can win!" was her mantra. I guess it ended when he opted out of the presidential sweepstakes in 2012.

Last night is was a whole different story.  The election in New Jersey was calculated to be all about him., so she said. Well, yes, it was.  Had he not called for a special election to fill the  Senate seat of the late Frank Lautenberg  the Republicans would have won, so she claimed.  How so?  Once voters pulled the lever for Christie they'd have continued to vote Republican.  Booker, obviously, is a Democrat. He is also a super star of sorts. Not that we need another one in Washington, but it did help in his election.

Maybe it's a generational thing again, but voting a split ticket used to happen quite often.  Of course that was back when people bothered to look at the qualifications of a candidate, not just his/her party.  They even seemed to have done so when they first elected Christie, a Republican, in what is a very blue state.

Then the two were angry because he wouldn't take time to campaign in Virginia for Ken Cuccinelli.  Had he done so Cuccinelli could have won and they would have had another Republican governor! But no, it was all about the selfish Christie.

And you wonder why I have no respect for these pundits who fill far too much air time.  The crux of the problem is too many "conservatives" are trying to mold every Republican that runs into the "conservative" image.  Christie won't budge.  His responsibility is doing the best he can for his state and he at least realizes that includes working with the opposition.  What a novel approach! Do you suppose that's why he wins?

Funny, Christie is still the politician Coulter loved.  He still wins.  Quite handily I might add.  It's refreshing to see a politician who isn't afraid to buck pundit pressure and to what is necessary to get the job done.

Is he smart enough to be able to handle the very different presidential primaries?  Time will tell if he runs, but I'm willing to bet he'll figure it out.

As for Coulter, Hannity et al, if they'd spend more time promoting the positive about candidates rather than having a hissy fit because Christie would not call the President a liar, more good would come of it.

If and until they stifle their antagonistic manner, they're not worth the air time they are given.  Note that. Given.  If viewers had to pay, a whole lot of that time would be up for grabs.  If I'm going to pay, whoever is speaking had best have something worthwhile to say.  Maybe that's why there is so much better programming on PBS.  We viewers help pay for it.

The Hypocrisy Of It All

Ron Fournier wrote an interesting piece in the National Journal wondering if we're seeing the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. His thought is that the Millennials will get to the point that I have; they'll be so disgusted with government as it is they'll take the bull by the horns and change it.

The Millennials and a whole lot of we old timers feel much the same way.  We've gone from dysfunctional to non-functional and everyone shares a piece of the blame. Take Michele Bachmann telling Greta last night that Congress deserves the subsidies! And I read today where John Boehner spent weeks trying to cook up language with Harry Reid to make them possible without drawing much attention. Fortunately for Boehner the President took care of it for him.  What hypocrites!

So what do we have here?  Five parties, maybe six?  On the Democratic side we have the progressives and the moderates, such as they are.  On the Republican side we have the conservatives, the tea party conservatives, the social conservatives and the moderates, such as they are.

Throw into the mix the independents that tend to be a combination of the parts with a dash of Libertarian thrown in for the heck of it.

So there is no cohesive group in either party.  Plus, they've all become little more than self righteous name callers no matter how much they try to tell us its all for us.

What's needed is an outsider and that just may be the old thorn in the side, Chris Christy.  He has his own ideas on how to fix the disconnect in Washington.  If it sounds familiar it's because it's how it used to work and how it's supposed to work. He'd call leadership into a room and not let them out until the problem was solved - with him leading the discussion.  Not dictating; leading.

He also suggested he'd make off limits the places congressional members rush to after confrontations to lambaste one another.  No media until a real meeting has been held producing real results.  That would be a shock to all sides and a refreshing change for those of us who listen to them.

I hope the Millennials do get angry enough to motivate themselves.  Even though Christie is a bit older, maybe his approach would be one they'd like.  To them it may seem to be reinventing government.  To those of my generation it may seem more like returning to our roots.  I can live with either.

What I can't live with is what we have now.