John Nichols: Chris Christie, a GOP Moderate? Fuhgeddaboudit!

[marmar]

Chris Christie, a GOP Moderate? Fuhgeddaboudit!
The governor needs to peddle a moderate image to win re-election in New Jersey, but on everything from reproductive rights to the environment to austerity, he’s very conservative.

John Nichols
May 15, 2013 |


When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked in mid-May about his political bona fides, he replied, “I’m a damn good Republican and a good conservative Republican.” Believe what he says—especially the “conservative” part.

Sure, Christie goes out of his way to say nice things about President Obama, who worked closely with the governor to provide immediate and essential support to New Jersey communities battered by Superstorm Sandy. And yes, Christie’s been willing to call out some of the most absurd excesses of his fellow Republicans. But these gestures are about style, not policy. The first-term governor has been meticulous about positioning his fall re-election campaign as a “bipartisan” effort. Christie knows that New Jersey, which gave Obama 58 percent of the vote last November and sends two Democrats to the US Senate, has a long history of preferring Republican moderates—like former Senator Clifford Case and former Governor Christine Todd Whitman—over conservatives.

To a greater extent than most Republicans running in the busy 2013 election season (Virginia will also elect a governor this year; New York, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle and other big cities will elect mayors), Christie is mounting the sort of broad-appeal campaign that used to be typical of Grand Old Party contenders at the municipal and state levels. For Christie, this is a strategic necessity. He makes little effort to hide the fact that he is looking for a big win in a big blue state—one that will propel him into contention for the presidency in 2016. While other prospective candidates play it coy, the bodacious governor pops off about “if and when I ever decide to run” for the presidency.

But Christie also knows his party won’t be looking for a Northeastern moderate in 2016. The GOP has never been more conservative than it is now; and while the motivation to win may be powerful, the common wisdom among the folks who actually nominate presidential candidates says that experiments with supposedly “mainstream” figures like John McCain and Mitt Romney will not be repeated. So Christie is executing a delicate maneuver. He needs to run left this year to pump up his gubernatorial re-election vote numbers, and then pivot right in states like Iowa and South Carolina. Amid all the gamesmanship, it’s easy to lose sight of where Christie is really coming from—unless you look at his record. ..................(more)

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/article/174352/chris-christie-gop-moderate-fuhgeddaboudit#ixzz2TeENqd1U

[Walk away]

1. The people of NJ pay some of the highest Health Insurance premiums in the country

while Christie plays politics with Obama Care. He has thrown thousands of desperately poor people off of Family Care and then left them with nothing. New Jersians are losing their homes and their health while Christie gets Lap Band surgery paid for by our tax dollars. He has the best health insurance our money can buy.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/12/7-best-and-worst-states-for-individual-health-insurance/