Reveling In Chris Christie


Ann Coulter has a new heartthrob, and his name is Chris.

Coulter endorsed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, claiming "If we don't run Chris Christie, Mitt Romney will be the nominee and we will lose." The bombastic arch-conservative also went on GOP TV to assert "I would say he's the only Republican who could win." Politico reports that she "slammed previous Republican presidential candidates, saying they 'can’t talk' and 'are not manly.' Reminded that Christie says that he won't run for President in 2012, Coulter replied "I don't care if he wants to run. His country needs him."

Christie was a big hit at the CPAC, where, Politico's Maggie Haberman observed, he remarked

Leadership today in America has to be about doing the big things and being courageous. You can't fix these problems if you don't talk about them.

The New Jersey governor, Haberman added,

suggested the items that Obama called for as “investments” in his State of the Union address were “not the big things” that need Washington’s focus.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that is the candy of American politics,” Christie declared, adding that it appeared to be a “political strategy” – or game of budgetary chicken – that both Republicans and Democrats are playing.

"My children’s future and your children’s future is more important than some political strategy," he said. “What I was looking for that night was for my president to challenge me … and it was a disappointment that he didn’t.

In another move touted as bold, Christie blustered "Here’s the truth that nobody’s talking about. You’re going to have to raise the retirement age for Social Security. Woo hoo! I just said it, and I’m still standing here. I did not vaporize into the carpet."

Washington guffawed, then swooned as the governor was witnessed displaying the courage to say what most of the mainstream media has been saying, as inaccurate as it is. To Governor Christie, high-speed rail is the "candy of American politics." Only a bold leader like he, however, can commit $261 million from a state he says is "broke" to complete construction of a half-built casino.

Truth being stranger than fiction, the "tough" governor from the Party of Family Values is subsidizing continued construction of a gambling hall because, presumably, it's a better use of funds than hiring back teachers or police offices laid off when he drastically cut state aid to municipalities.

Or may it's not partiality toward financing a business whose objective is to separate middle- and lower- class individuals and families from their earnings. NJ.com notes

another strange aspect of this deal. The prime backer of the half-finished Revel casino, Morgan Stanley, has put together a financing deal that relies on funding from the Chinese government. Yes, you read that right. The geniuses in Trenton are preparing to give a giant grant to a consortium of commies and Wall Streeters.

But as (New Jersey State Senator Mike) Doherty points out, both the Chinese and Morgan Stanley have plenty of money at the moment. Morgan Stanley got $10 billion in bailout funds, he said, so there’s no reason they can’t finish the project on their own.

"They’re always going to claim poverty," he said of the investors. "These guys have $42 billion in capitalization. This is just another shakedown from big business."

And Christie knows a thing or two about big business- and Wall Street:

In 1999, Christie registered as a lobbyist for Dughi and Hewit, the Cranford law firm where he was a partner alongside Bill Palatucci, a longtime ally now helping to run Christie's campaign. Palatucci was also registered as a lobbyist, and the two are the only lobbyists named on the firm's reports.

Quarterly and annual reports filed by Palatucci and Christie with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission list the clients represented by the firm, as well as the legislation it focused on in the Senate and Assembly. The clients included Hackensack University Medical Center, the Securities Industry Association, GPU Energy, the University of Phoenix and other education and economic development groups....

In an editorial, the Philadelphia Daily News suggested the deal

puts scarce and precious tax dollars in a highly risky venture: trying to prop up an industry that shares more characteristics with a soap bubble than anything else - shiny, pretty and expanding, but at some point, it's going to burst.

And calling it a "tax-reimbursement program" doesn't alter the fact that it's a gift.

It is a gift, moreover, that makes of the State of New Jersey a partner in an industry it regulates through its Casino Control Commission. Or rather, previously regulated, now that the state has laid off 115 of 144 inspectors prompted by a casino deregulation bill Christie proposed and proudly signed.

Ann Coulter can promote whomever she wishes for her party's nomination. But we ought to consider that endorsement in light of the individual making it, someone who not only believes being "manly" is a major qualification for the office, but who apparently finds this fellow from 2004 not quite masculine enough.

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