New Hampshire Union Leader editor Joe McQuaid makes himself look like a fool on MTP, trying to explain why he endorsed Chris Christie for president.
November 30, 2015

Some comedy just writes itself, and watching the editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader explain why he chose Gov. Chris Christie over the rest of the 2016 GOP presidential field on Sunday's Meet The Press was must-see TV. Editor Joe McQuaid wrote the endorsement for the newspaper and went on to justify why he's trying to resurrect the long dead candidacy of Chris Christie. As any political junkie knows, the extreme right wing base of the GOP hates Christie almost as much as Hillary Clinton.

He's an East Coast conservative, not a staunch supporter of unlimited gun rights, Bridgegate, immigration, horrific 2012 GOP convention keynote speech-- and he dared to hug President Obama after Hurricane Sandy, just to name a few. His poll numbers are so bad that he didn't get the support he needed and fell off the main debate stage and onto the kiddie table at the Fox Business debate in November.

McQuaid is only interested in supporting Republican governors at this point (because Obama) and seemed stunned that Rick Perry and Scott Walker were no longer in the running. You'd think the editor of the Leader would follow politics enough to know why those two buffoons were already toast. And this also shows how little respect the Republican elders actually have for Sen. Marco Rubio, who is trying to become the de facto establishment candidate. When questioned about Christie's economic record, McQuaid said that Jeb Bush had it easier in Florida and he doesn't seem to want to be president. Say what? He's running for president... oh, forget it.

Christie's record is so bad on guns and Bridgegate, yet McQuaid tells Hugh Hewitt that he still get his support because he doubts Christie will get indicted in the Bridgegate scandal.

I'm not making that up, seriously. How bad do they hate Trump?

HUGH HEWITT: He knows how to push buttons on bridges. And as a Republican primary voter, Bridgegate and the Second Amendment, how did you deal with those two issues?

JOE MCQUAID: Well, Second Amendment Christie sort of waltzed around and came to a position which we could agree with, which is the Second Amendment rules. Bridgegate, I was astonished when I asked him what, if anything, he'd learned from this. And he said he learned not to be so trusting.

And I said, "You were a U.S. attorney. You trust people?" But I think it shows that it's a big state and he's weathered that. There are a couple who were under indictment. Nothing has tied Governor Christie to Bridgegate. I asked him when this trial is likely to happen. He said it's supposed to be in the spring. He suspects, for some reason, it will be in the fall. But I don't think they're going to lay a glove on Christie. Because I don't think he had anything to do with it.

McQuaid made fun of his own endorsee when Christie used the failed excuse that he was too trusting of his own staff on Bridgegate, but the hijinks played to new heights when the editor of the major newspaper in New Hampshire believes he doesn't think the Bridgegate trial will lay a glove on Chris!! This is the basis for a presidential endorsement?

Imagine that. He's betting that Christie will slip free of an indictment. Wow, just wow.

When we look back at past endorsements by the Leader, we see they have a penchant for picking losers, (Pat Buchanan twice, Steve Forbes, Newt Gingrich) but they do seem to have had an impact on immediate poll results for their picks.

unionleader_endorsements

I'm betting McQuaid is throwing a hail Mary to try to keep Christie's poll numbers from falling so he doesn't get booted off the CNN's main debate on December 15th.

Location – The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada
Moderators – Wolf Blitzer, Dana Bash, Hugh Hewitt

Who’s in – Main segment: All candidates with a recent polling average of at least 3.5 percent nationally, 4 percent in Iowa or 4 percent in New Hampshire.

Secondary: Remaining candidates reaching at least 1 percent in four separate national, Iowa or New Hampshire polls.

The Republican establishment is doing all it can to try and derail Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson's efforts to win the GOP nomination and this is THE last ditch effort to save Gov. Christie's chances. How ridiculous does Joe McQuaid look trying to accomplish this?

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