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New York Times to Bottom-Feeder Chris Christie – “Go Home!”

The New York Times, the epitome of The Media. Republicans don’t like the media and often refer to media establishments as “lamestream.” So having a top shelve media outlet call for his departure, Chris Christie is sure to send out his fundraising letter, telling his supporters to donate, because the lamestream media is calling for him to “go home.”

The New York Times Editorial Board took the time to pen an article, urging Christie – a bottom feeder in the presidential polls – to go home and take care of the crises in New Jersey!

It’s that time in the ever-long presidential campaign when candidates lacking money and mojo are starting to go back to their plows. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey should join them.

Mr. Christie has been called a lot of things, but until Wednesday’s debate performance, “barely there” was not among them. In eight minutes of speaking time, Mr. Christie said little of substance. As for his parting pitch that he’s “deadly serious about changing this culture” of government, well, his constituents in New Jersey know better.

This isn’t strictly about Mr. Christie’s fitness for the presidency. His role in New Jersey’s budget crisis, betrayal on affordable housing and the interlocking scandals on his watch, from Bridgegate to “the chairman’s flight,” say a great deal about that.

The point is that New Jersey is in trouble, and the governor is off pursuing a presidential run that’s turned out to be nothing more than a vanity project. Mr. Christie’s numbers are in the basement, and he’s nearly out of campaign cash. This is his moment, all right: to go home and use the rest of his term to clean out the barn, as Speaker John Boehner would say.

Needless to say, Chris Christie responded to the Times call for him to bow out, and he has apparently decided that the troubles in his state are not as important as his selfish goal to have the word ‘president’ attached to his name. In a tweet back to the Times, Christie said, “Can’t read the article because I don’t have a subscription, but I can tell you this – I am not going anywhere.”

Of course!

.@nytimes Can’t read the article because I don’t have a subscription, but I can tell you this – I am not going anywhere.

— Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) October 29, 2015

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I came across this article by Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard because I happened to be trolling around right wing sites and thought he had a provocative, interesting idea. I also found a site that castigated Progressives for Palin Derangement Syndrome. You know, that knee-jerk negative reaction the left has whenever Palins’s name comes up. The author seemed to suggest that those on the left were offended by Palin’s obvious feminism and suggested that the left loved women’s rights and opinions, but not Palin’s. Especially when she was shown shooting a gun. What the author missed is that Sarah Palin just sounds uninformed whenever she speaks. I have plenty of respect for her as a woman, as a mother, as someone who wanted to serve the people of Alaska. I just happen to disagree with every single word she utters. Nothing more, nothing less.

But I digress.

Fred Barnes wants the GOP to Go Big or Go Home, hence the title of my response. He says that if only the Republicans would advocate abolishing the IRS and a stronger, more muscular foreign policy, then they would win the hearts and minds of the American people. He does say that these positions might not win the GOP the Senate this fall, but would provide a template for action that the party could run on in 2016.

The problem is that most Americans do not want to get rid of the IRS, even though they hate its very guts. Deep down, they understand that if the United States is going to make good on its mission to protect the homeland and the common good, then it will need funds and a means by which to collect them. That’s what the IRS does. What Mr. Barnes should really be advocating is that all the companies that evade U.S. corporate taxes should actually pay up. That might lessen the burden on the overburdened middle class and it might provide more funds for, you know, schools, roads, bridges, job programs and Medicare.

Barnes is not at all specific when he talks about why the country needs a more muscular foreign policy, or even what that looks like. I have a suspicion that it looks like a foreign policy that throws bombs and bullets on people who are either innocent or who already hate us to the point that more bombs and bullets will help their recruiting efforts. But he doesn’t say, so this is all conjecture.

The article is instructive because these positions are precisely why the GOP has only won one big election since 2008, when they took over the House in 2010. Every other election has gone to the Democrats despite the baying from the right that Obama is abusing his power and is wrong on every issue. Clearly, America does not agree with that.

And that’s why the Republicans will not win a majority in the Senate this fall, nor will they win the presidency in 2016.

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