A Lesson for the GOP: Chris Christie Makes Tough Choices and Wins Public Opinion by Doing the Right Thing

Image: Chris Christie looking out for taxpayers and polling well

by the Left Coast Rebel

Now and then a story comes along that smashes ruling class Republican orthodoxy to pieces. Typically the squishy, statist-appeasing Republican leadership trembles at the sight of blood or a good fight for the American taxpayer, left to cower in the shadows --- reading the New York Times --- betraying the party's limited government platform.

And then in the meantime these pols then lose public favor and elections as recent polling has shown that America is 40+ % self-identified as conservative.

But what about tough, plain spoken leaders like Chris Christie?

I'm sure that he is hated by the New Jersey taxpayer-pillaging interest groups/liberal-leftist lobby. And New Jersey is a deep blue state too. But what does the overall public in the state think of him and his tough governance?

Via Another Black Conservative:

New Jersey Online: The Quinnipiac University survey of 1,190 registered voters found 51 percent approve of Christie’s job performance, while 36 percent disapprove. Voters are also more likely to identify Christie as a “leader” (51 percent) than as a “bully” (39 percent) when asked to choose.

It’s a significant improvement from June, when voters were split down the middle on both Christie’s approval rating and whether he’s more of a bully or a leader.[…]

Christie’s ratings are better than what his predesessor, Democrat Jon Corzine, chalked up in his first summer. Coming off a battle with the Legislature that temporarily shut down state government, Corzine had a 44 percent approval rating in a July 2006 Quinnipiac poll.[…]

Garden State voters are split on how they feel about President Obama, with 47 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving — his lowest rating in any New Jersey Quinnipiac poll. [MORE]

Clifton easily sums this news up:

If Chris Christie can make the hard choices in a blue state like New Jersey and no suffer from it, then national Republicans need not worry about making the hard choices when they take control of Congress. The American people have pretty much figured out that the bill for decades of reckless spending has come due. They are pretty much ready to take the harsh medicine needed to put our financial house in order. All that is required is a dose of honesty from Washington and change in the national narrative.

Christie has successfully changed the narrative by casting the tax payer as the victim and government largess as the victimizer. Christie will continue to be a success so long as he stays clear of foolish comments like opining on Snooki and the Ground Zero Mosque.

Republicans running now and running the show after November - do you have the cajones to take on the statist special interests that are bleeding the wealth and future of our nation?

Paging Chris Christie.

Cross posted to Left Coast Rebel.

Wherein Obama is Beaten Up by the Media

Has any sitting president ever had it so bad?  Obama thinks not:

"I just want to make a little commentary about the media here, if you don't mind. When Congress included in last year's budget a whole bunch of earmarks, you remember there was a week worth of stories about how terrible these earmarks were. You remember this, Chip — a week worth of stories — 'oh, these earmarks, this is what's blowing up the deficit, this is terrible,' blah, blah, blah."

[Interesting.  We say: "Obama, you're breaking your promise to curb earmarks."  Obama hears: "Blah, blah, blah."]

Obama goes on:

"And yet, as I said before, that was less than 1% of that entire budget that had been signed. When we find $17 billion worth of cuts in programs, what do the same folks say? They say, 'Oh, that's nothing.' (Laughter.) 'Now, that's not even — that's not even — that's not significant. That's not important.' Well, you can't have it both ways. If those earmarks were important, then this money is important, too."

Reaction from Allah Pundit:

"Of course...he didn’t really 'cut' any money at all; he just reallocated it to other programs. Combine that with the fact that the total budget was revised upwards this week by another $89 billion — more than five times the amount of the cuts we’re all supposed to be so impressed with — and the more apt comparison here is between 1% in earmarks and, er, -2% in 'cuts.' Good work, Barry."

More commentary on the same speech (wherein Obama starts talking like a tea bagger), this time from Ace of Spades...

Obama: "The long-term deficit and debt that we have accumulated is unsustainable. We can't keep on just borrowing from China, or borrowing from other countries because part of it is, we have to pay for — we have to pay interest on that debt."

Ace of Spades: Shut up, really?!

"He's talking up 'spending cuts' even as he spends more and more. And he's selling his universal health care rationing program as some kind of savings, because, somehow, this will drive costs down. Or somethin'.

"I think we sort of know where this is headed. He's going to pull the old con man move of talking around a possibility, until it ultimately starts occurring to people 'Hey, maybe we need to raise taxes on ourselves!'

"At which point Obama will exclaim, 'Wow, what an interesting idea! ...Golly Gee Willickers, that sure seems to make a tremendous amount of sense! Sorta cuts the Gordian Knot right in half with a decisive chop, doesn't it? You really are a very smart person, you know that? Here, have a cookie.'"

More

Poll: By 3-to-1 Majority, Public Says It's Time for Obama to Stop Blaming Bush and Start Taking Responsibility.

Laying the Predicate: Obama Admits Long-Term Debt "Unsustainable"

Liberalism: Cruel, Corrupt, Unjust, Wasteful, Deluded

Is the financial crisis "accidentally feminist"?