It might seem odd that Daily Beast writer John Avlon would characterize the re-election of the profoundly anti-minimum-wage, anti-labor, anti-choice, anti-pension, anti-marriage-equality, anti-working-class, pro-tax-cuts-for-the-rich Chris Christie as follows:
Christie went a long way toward establishing himself as the Republican Bill Clinton, a charismatic candidate able to re-center his party and reach out beyond the base.Yes, it was an epic damn-fool mistake for the DNC to devolve back to the failed Rahm Emanuel strategy of writing off tough elections. And, yes, giving a bye to Christie -- who some were writing off as one-term, bullying fluke just three years ago -- has made him a much greater threat to the Democrats than he was six months ago. And, yes, someone should have used little words to explain to New Jersey Democrats/Liberals who lined up to give Christie a jet-assisted takeoff into 2016
that this was, y'know, a bad thing.
But Chris Christie is "centristy" when compared to the rest of the Teabagger Legion of Doom only in the same sense that a cinderblock is "edible" when compared to a stick of dynamite, so why pretend otherwise?
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in addition to being an executive editor for The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor, Mr. Avlon also serves a certain prefabricated political narrative --
In 2010, Avlon became a founding leader of No Labels...-- which depends heavily on this particular of fiction.
4 comments:
What's up with Bill Clinton? If the GOP treated me like they treated him in the 90s, I would be fire and brimstone pissed. It would be my life's mission to crush the republicans. Buono would have gotten all the help she needed from me without asking. Seeing first hand how fucked up those people are would give me a sense of urgency. If that were his mindset, we'd right now be talking about former President Gore's global warming initiatives. I guess I see the world differently.
Vic78
I live in NJ.
This was such a quiet election. The Fox watching people at work weren't saying anything. (I usually overhear them expounding on whatever they've just heard on Fox).
Howard Dean would have fought for Barbara Buono. Even if Christie won it would wound him if he squeaked by.
Or are the Democrats playing 11 dimension chess figuring that they'll let him fight it out with the whackos for 2016? The South Carolina primary was set up as a fire wall to keep a moderate (who stays moderate) from getting the nomination. He'd never get past it.
But he's not a moderate, MM.
So he'll get past it just fine if that's what they decide is required.
SC will welcome him with open . . . arms.
@Cirze
Sorry I wasn't clear. Christie is no moderate. I was thinking about an old-time Republican in the SC primary--the ones that are now conservative Democrats. Christie is only moderate in the sense that committing suicide with carbon monoxide is moderate compared to pouring gasoline on yourself and striking a match.
Christie is 180 degrees from being a progressive. (Using Bernie Sanders's definition as one fighting for the working man). He's only "moderate" in being willing to appoint a Muslim judge or accepting federal storm aid without lecturing the President.
Christie is depleting all the state specific purpose funds so that he doesn't have to raise taxes. When he came in he cancelled the rail tunnel project (to expand the number of trains that can get into Manhattan) and used the money for other purposes. When he leaves office the next governor will have to clean up his mess.
Paul Krugman wrote years ago that that's the Republican's plan -- spend all the money when they're in power so that the Democrats can't fund their programs when they get in.
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