Chris Christie’s gay marriage gambit: Still hoping to hustle the loons in 2016 - By Joan Walsh

[DonViejo]

It takes real chutzpah to tell fellow governors to fight marriage equality -- when you gave up in your own state

JOAN WALSH

I still don’t think scandal-tainted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a prayer of being the 2016 GOP presidential nominee. But he’s praying nonetheless. The latest evidence: Christie telling reporters that Republicans shouldn’t give up on fighting marriage equality, even as they lose in the courts. “Certainly I’m not going to, because these are opinions that I feel strongly about,” he told reporters at the National Governor’s Association meeting this weekend.

Now, Christie knows about losing in the courts: the New Jersey State Supreme Court struck down the gay marriage ban there. So did the governor fight back? No, he didn’t.

“When I know that I’ve been defeated you don’t bang your head against a wall and spend taxpayer money to do it,” he told reporters this weekend.

I guess his message to other Republican governors is: “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Back when Christie was the GOP establishment’s favorite, the guy who was going to make Republicans competitive even in blue states like New Jersey, he might have been expected to take a more courageous stance on marriage equality. Christie was the candidate of the big donors who know their party will never again win the White House unless it wins young voters, who care about marriage equality, and Latinos, who want to see immigration reform.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/07/14/chris_christies_gay_marriage_gambit_still_hoping_to_hustle_the_loons_in_2016/

[Jim__]

1. If Christie thinks he can get the nomination in 2016 - he's the loon.