Lunch Break: Chris Christie on the “bystander in the Oval Office”
by LauraLoo
Love Governor Chris Christie! His comment yesterday about “bystander President Obama” waiting for re-election states the obvious – that Obama’s a talker (with a TOTUS at that) and not a doer.
Of interest, Obama has been voted by GQ as one of its top 25 Least Influential People Alive, snap.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byvb5nrvPXU[/youtube]
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I am not a fan of Christie, but Obama seems like he doesn’t even want a second term. I think it’s a stretch to say he’s one of the least influential people alive, but his presidency has been a disappointment to many, including many on the left. However, with the quality of candidates in the Republican field (Herman Cain, anyone?) he might just be re-elected.
phillymiss,
Oh, Obama wants to be reelected, all right. It’s just that he’s so bad at governing that it looks like he doesn’t. But he loves the perks and the limelight. Look at him bask in it, with his chin in the air.
Christie is my third favorite wishful candidate, behind Palin and Bobby Jindal. I hope Romney listens well to his advice.
However, with the quality of candidates in the Republican field (Herman Cain, anyone?) he might just be re-elected.
Ummm…What of it? I don’t believe any of this garbage for a second.
I’m going to say something, and I’m sure I’m going to take crap for it, but I don’t really care.
Blacks voted for Obama overwhelmingly, and showed the highest voter turnout for their demographic in 2008 EVER. They voted for Obama at a rate of something like 70%. Obama and dems know where their bread is buttered. They know if an African American is running that will offer black voters an alternative to ultra-liberal Obama, his chance of re-election evaporates. They can no longer take for granted the majority of black voters who feel they have no other option to be represented in government. And the republican establishment is more than happy to go along with it and count him out, since he’s not an insider that they can control.
BLECH!!!
Ok – I live in New Jersey, so I am speaking first hand.
The ONLY thing I like about this guy is that he pro-life and defunded PP. (Very thankful for that!)
Everything else is just a headache and can’t wait until he is out of office!
So Chris Christie (republican) was able to get things done because the ‘other side’ (democrats) showed goodwill and felt they had an obligation to get things done, regardless of party.
Maybe if the republicans could show the same goodwill and felt an obligation to get things done regardless of party, then a lot more could be achieved.
But that’s not likely to happen given the republican mindset that a democrat, let alone a black one, being in the white house is anathema.
I have nothing against Obama for being black or Democratic.
In fact, as I’ve said before, it’s be cool to hang out with him and his family – they seem like cool, fun people.
But he supports abortion and is in bed with PP. He breaks his promises. He isn’t doing as good as we all expected.
I’m not a hard-core Republican – I’d say I’m more Independant, as there are many things that I disagree with from both main parties – but life is my number one issue – and that means Obama needs to go.
Chris Christie curled up in a little ball instead of running for President – so yeah, it is pretty easy for him to hurl bricks at others. What he should have done, if he’s got a problem, and since he had the opportunity, was run for President.
Maybe he didn’t get the same ‘message’ that most of the others claim to have ‘heard’ Ex-GOP?
Ex-GOP – DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM!! We (my friends, family, and I) were all OUTRAGED at the idea of him running.
Reality – Isn’t Christie a lawyer, lobbyist, and moderate? And the GOPers were so desperate for a candidate that they begged him to run?
I don’t know, the right wingers are confident – I have flashed of John Kerry in my head. Vulnerable President that the other side thinks will lose just because they hate the guy. If the GOP picks anybody other than Romney, I think they are toast. I think Romney has a chance. I’d even take him as President if he ran the country like he governed – I mean, not like he talks, but how he’s actually governed.
Moderate? I’d call Christie an extremeist, hypocrit, and liar.
He may be Ex-GOP, but there are a few skeletons in his closet. That may be why he didn’t hear that ‘special message’.
Romney is the only one of the current crop who has a scintilla of what it takes to be potus. The rest are nothing more than billboards.
I agree, if he governs in a way which doesn’t quite match what he has had to espouse to the usual suspects then we might survive a term.
A billboard just called and was very offended at being compared to Michelle Bachmann.
I’m not surprised that a billboard was able to respond faster ;-)
It was even able to look in the correct camera during the response!
I have no problem with anyone based on race. White, black, purple with green polka dots, I’d have a problem with anyone who supports abortion and leads our country poorly.
During the previous presidential election cycle, the journal Foreign Affairs invited the leading candidates to outline their views of world politics. They all responded with essays.
The same invitation has been made to the leading GOP candidates again this time around and all have either refused or not responded.
That says a lot.
Running a nation is a whole lot more complex and all-encompassing than the topic of abortion.
I applaud your ability to post two such funny comments on such a relatively short thread Ex-GOP.
Thanks Reality – I take the Herman Cain approach – why stop at one?
Reality,
Ex-RINO, like me and about every other person in the world believes that the US provides 70% of all NATO military/defense funding. And you claim the US only provides 20% of all NATO military/defense spending. Why should anyone give an ounce of weight to anything you have to say when you can be so incredibly stubbornly wrong about so many things? Are you really that slow or just a troll looking to annoy?
And I feel like I should post this for Lisa Grass she she is not here to post it herself.
“Rick Santorum is the true conservative running and the most pro-life and the straight shootinest candidate.”
truthseeker…..really?
“me and about every other person in the world” – uh huh.
I see you’ve reduced your claim from 75% to 70%. And mine from approx. 23% to 20%.
Doesn’t matter.
All you kept citing and providing as a reference was what one person had said.
I provided at least three references, one of which was a senate report.
I think the weight of evidence speaks for itself. Reams of it against a single statement, because that’s all you ever provided.
You do realise what repeating the same behavior and expecting a different outcome is indicative of don’t you?
I actually support anyone but Romney for the republican candidacy. That way obama is pretty much a 100% certainty to win a second term.
Ugh! Do NOT google ‘santorum’.
i hate to break it to you guys but we will have 4 more years of obama. lets not forget he is a biracial very pro abortion president who is not running the country. what gives me the shivers is how michelle as well as barak support abortion with black genicide. also wasnt all this herman cain stuff dismissed as bunk? ann coulter was talking about it on the joy behar show….( i guess another liberal is going off the air ) oh and pro abortion joy told coulter “abortion is a life saving surgery.” “we have got to keep it legal or tons of women would die.”…….liberalism is a mental disorder.
Sorry Heather. I disagree. Since you don’t actually KNOW who is going to be our next president….
I am going to do everything I can to make sure we get ONE TERM of Mr. Hopenchange.
well carla i do hope i am wrong……and no i do not know but who should we vote for? i like herman cain myself. i love chris christie…..but hes not running. i also know that obama is running again. and carla i will also do my best to cast my vote against him. i did last time. i guess we will just have to wait and see.
@ carla and all pro lifers…..serious question. who do you guys think would be our best choice?
Wait, are ya’ll trolls ripping on Michelle Bachman? Really? And Obama’s more than a walking billboard?
Talk about the emperor with no clothes.
My vote is for Ron Paul – I think he’s the best of both worlds. I know some liberal Democrats who are supporting him.
He supports states rights and the Constitution, and though I’m from Jersey my Dad’s from the South and I was raised a Southern girl ;) we’re strong believers in states rights.
He gives each state the opportunity to vote on what is right in their state on a wide varity of issues.
I think he’s real, down to earth, and honest (at least more so than other candidates.)
Heather,
I am waiting to see. :)
Truthseeker: “Rick Santorum is the true conservative running and the most pro-life and the straight shootinest candidate.”
And the darling of the coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs and Frankenberry crowd.
Truthseeker: Reality, Ex-RINO, like me and about every other person in the world believes that the US provides 70% of all NATO military/defense funding. And you claim the US only provides 20% of all NATO military/defense spending. Why should anyone give an ounce of weight to anything you have to say when you can be so incredibly stubbornly wrong about so many things?
Last I knew, the US paid about 25%.
im gonna keep my fingers crossed.myself carla;) doug are you a liberal? it seems like youre kind of siding with us pro lifers more and more. i like that. doug…… o snow here! have ya heard?
Heather, I’m a huge, mega, fire-breathing Liberal. ;) Well, not really, but I’m economically conservative, socially liberal.
Hey, I call ’em like I see ’em. I did see pictures of the snow in the midwest and east – have been in Wisconsin for a while, didn’t get anything to speak of yet…amazing.
“Michele Bachmann signed a pledge in Iowa recently about protecting marriage, but it also said stuff about black children having it better when they were raised during slavery. Now her campaign is saying that while, yes, she did sign the pledge, she didn’t read it first. And had she read it, she never would have signed it in the first place. Well, thank God Presidents don’t have to sign anything so important they have to read it first.”
–Jay Leno
me and about every other person in the world believes that the US provides 70% of all NATO military/defense funding. And you claim the US only provides 20% of all NATO military/defense spending. Why should anyone give an ounce of weight to anything you have to say when you can be so incredibly stubbornly wrong about so many things?
Truthseeker, cruise past a mirror before you start talking about being stubbornly wrong about so many things.
Just who is the lunatic that you have apparently quoted or referenced about what the US pays for NATO?
From a Congressional Research Service report for Congress, dated April 22, 2010:
NATO has 3 budgets. Civil, Military, and Security Investment Program. The US pays around 22% to 25% of them.
Civil – 21.7%
Military – 25%
SIP – 21.7%
“New reports say that President Obama’s re-election team is going to try to portray Mitt Romney as ‘weird.’ They’re also going to try to portray Michele Bachmann as ‘Michele Bachmann.'”
–Conan O’Brien
As a longtime resident of NJ, I LOVE our Governor! I was torn about the idea of Christie running for president. On one hand I think he is our best chance at beating Obama. On the other hand, NJ still needs him. He’s a straight-shooter and I’m proud to have voted for him!
Heather: i hate to break it to you guys but we will have 4 more years of obama.
I don’t know, Heather…. Obama won most of the fairly high electoral-vote-count midwestern states last time, and I think some of them will go Republican this time.
Whether it was McCain or Obama, in the last election I thought there was a very good chance he’d be a one-term President, and if nothing else I’d say at this point it’s very far from certain that Obama will win again.
New Jersey and our nation needs someone who cares about us, our people, our jobs, etc. not someone who uses a state funded helicopter to go (LATE) to his son’s game…walk a few feet…then get in a limo because he apparently can’t walk a couple more feet…then leave the game early. If you’re not going to be there for your kid – save the state some money and just don’t show up at all – don’t use our tax payer money to chuffer yourself around in a big way.
New Jersey…. Good Grief.
It is so hard to understand anything he says when there is always a Big Mac in his mouth…
Bystander in chief… What a load of dung. Obama has been blocked by the GOP at every turn. Yes Dems have the majority but they do not have enough of a majority to actually out vote the GOP. They need 60% to pass anything and the GOP has a blanket “NO” to anything Obama breaths on. This recession would be over if the GOP would have just shut up for the last 3 years… but they would rather protect the interests of the VERY rich in this country. How can anything be blamed on Obama when the GOP went on national TV and said they were going to vote down everything he would do even before he was sworn in?
Oh and as for the “Budget” It has never been the responsibility of the president to create a balanced budget. That job belongs solely to congress. The president just signs it or vetoes it and nothing more. The GOP wanted Obama to fail in the worst way and have done everything in and outside of their power to see that he fails. You might think that to wish the president of the country to fail is wishing the country to fail as well but the GOP only cares about 1% of the country so they don’t mind.
The GOP are just lunatic obstructionists trying very hard to drag this country back into the late 1800’s. Back when rich white Christian men controlled everything and women did all the cleaning…
Doug, judging from the munbers you are using I am guessing you must be just looking at the Army’s budgeted standard contributions. All I can say is you need to check your data and how it is presented. How much in dollar amount to you say the US has contributed to NATO military missions? Are you aware that the U.S. provides two-thirds of the almost 150,000 troops in the NATO-led Afghanistan mission? At approximately 300k per year times 100k troops that cost alone to the US is 30 billion dollars annually.
Here is a link to an article about former Secretary of State Robert Gate’s speech on this matter:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-10/gates-says-european-defense-spending-lag-risks-rendering-nato-irrelevant.html
Doug, judging from the munbers you are using I am guessing you must be just looking at the Army’s budgeted standard contributions. All I can say is you need to check your data and how it is presented.
Here’s what you said, Truthseeker: ”the US provides 70% of all NATO military/defense funding.” Gates said over 75%, but where is the reasoning behind that? 2/3 of one mission – Afghanistan – is certainly a lot of money, but unless everything else for military and defense spending was above 75%, Gates cannot be correct. It’s not only the Army that pays. The State Dept. also contributes.
____
How much in dollar amount to you say the US has contributed to NATO military missions? Are you aware that the U.S. provides two-thirds of the almost 150,000 troops in the NATO-led Afghanistan mission? At approximately 300k per year times 100k troops that cost alone to the US is 30 billion dollars annually.
Sure, it’s a lot of money, but even there, 2/3 is short of 70%, and that would be further diluted by the other NATO costs, some of which are 25% and lower, for the US. In fact, the US gets a break on contributions in view of the other countries’ recognition of the responsibility for “worldwide security” that the US has. Rather than going by GDP (which has been the standard for some countries) the US has had fixed rates much lower than some of the other countries. There have been times when the GDP of the US was greater than all the rest of NATO put together, and we didn’t pay over 50% but rather half that and less.
Gates may have a point about other countries not pulling their weight, but many of the high-US-expenditure missions involving NATO are things the US would otherwise be doing on its own. Additionally, Afghanistan hasn’t gone on forever, and it’s incorrect to generalize from one ongoing mission at the time.
at least with obama plenty of liberals are now seeing what a goof he is. the sad part is that they still blame bush. they always will. and lets not forget that clinton was an awful president as well. yeah dont forget billy boy told plenty of lies himself. mr. ” i did not have sex with that woman.”
Oh good grief. People have such short memories. If the collection of 2012 GOP candidates are like a traveling circus, then the 2008 Democrat field was a freak show.
John Edwards? The guy who basically said that John Kerry would use embryonic stem cells to raise the dead. Then he hid in a bathroom rather than answer questions about his affair. Edwards made Cain’s handling of the accusations against him look competent.
Dennis Kucinich? The guy who was prolife until he decided to run for president? No explanation at all, just that he woke up one day and decided to support abortion. Talk about a flip flop. He makes Romney look consistent. Plus he wants to disband the US military and start the Department of Peace. And they say Bachmann is crazy?
And who could forget the insane campaign ad from Mike Gravel? He stared into the camera for 2 minutes, then tossed a rock into a pond. Enough said.
Al Sharpton? A race hustling rabble rouser who should be in prison for inciting riots. “Resist we much!”
And the cream of the crop was Barack Obama, a street thug from Chicago who taught Constitutional Law despite the fact that he has absolutely no clue what the First Amendment means. Obama’s only legitimate skill? Reading off of a pair of teleprompters that have been placed up in the air on either side of him to make him appear larger than life. Why not just elect David Copperfield? His illusions are better, and he probably understands the Constitution better than Obama.
The GOP will eventually decide on a candidate, and no matter who it is, the vast majority of the GOP will find their candidate to be far superior to Obama.
Doug, Way over 75% of all munitions andway over 75% of warplanes and high tech drones and communications equiptment and way over 75% of the European missile defense costs; need I go on. One thing for sure; it is way the heck over 20% wouldn’t you think? Who who would you believe over the US Secretary of Defense on a matter like this?
Truthseeker, then, rather than engage in rhetoric and hyperbole, he should have said that in certain operations, the US has paid such-and-such percent of the cost. Or, how about an honest calculation of what percentage of the total costs of NATO the us pays?