(h/t Heather for vid)
My god, you would think Chris Christie was Michael Jackson's doctor, the way the media treats everything related to his politics. I've never seen a newly elected governor get this type of gold-plated treatment before. Obviously, the hullabaloo surrounding him is a right-wing driven contraption which beltway media types cravenly picked up. He's done nothing for the state of New Jersey and will likely not be reelected, but he's the type of conservative bully that the tea party mentality loves.
Anyway, when he acted like such a jerk at the Reagan Library, I knew he wouldn't run, but he loves the stroking of his ego. I wonder if it will have a residual effect against him for the base since he is not a xenophobe or an NRA freak. Movement conservatives like Roger Ailes and uber-rich CEO's have been wooing him for months now (since the republican voters hate their field of candidates they have been elevating Herman Cain lately), which only whipped up the base to hate Romeny and Perry more than they already do and it raised hope that he might actually do it. The charge on Fox was led by none other than Bill Kristol, the man who helped create Sarah Palin, (which led Roger Ailes to hire her because he said she's hot) and who foolishly tried to turn the Murphy Brown incident into a career maker for Dan Quayle . Kristol had a dream in the Weekly Standard which got the ball rolling in renewed interest of Christie probably jumping into the primary. That led Jennifer Rubin to push the story over the cliff. So when push came to shove, Kristol made his prediction known on Fox to the delight of the teavangelicals. Here's what he had to say on FNS:
WALLACE: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie hammering the president's economic policies with tough talk that has so many Republicans pleading for him to get into the presidential race.
And we're back now with the panel.Bill Kristol, you have been following this as closely as anyone in the world of politics, maybe on this planet. Is he going to run? And when are we going to know?
KRISTOL: I don't know whether he's going to run. I'm not sure he knows he knows whether he's going to run. I think it's about 50/50. I think we'll know within a week, basically, this week or maybe the very beginning of next week.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a little item saying -- giving him a little schedule for announcing, and I suggested October 10th, which I guess is a week from tomorrow, or a week from Monday, and then he can suddenly emerge and appear in that October 11th debate in New Hampshire.
It will be exciting. If he jumps in the pool, he'll make a big splash.WALLACE: But what does your gut tell you?
KRISTOL: I think he could do it. I think he could do it.
WALLACE: No, that's not what I'm -- do you think he will get in?
KRISTOL: Yes.
WALLACE: You do?
KRISTOL: Yes.
WALLACE: Why? Because he said, "I'm not ready." That's tough to come back from, "I'm not ready."
KRISTOL: He can say, I was being honest, but I've been approached by an awful lot of people I respect who told me they think not only I can win -- I think too much of the focus has been on who can beat Obama. Romney is doing OK against Obama.
Who can govern? Who is up to this moment which is a genuine crisis? Who has shown the governing ability, both the boldness and the ability to actually work, in his case, with the Democratic legislature and get real budget reforms and (INAUDIBLE) reforms through? So I think he can make a case that he didn't want to run, he didn't expect to run, but a lot of people he respects have said he should -- have told him he should run, and he's going to do it.
Wrong, Bill. He's not going to do it. Christie made Bloody Bill and the entire GOP Grand Poobah donor class look like fools. They are spinning it now and saying that he's built up good will for 2016, but with an ego the size of Christie's, it's all about him.
Thanks for helping us out, Bill. You're usually wrong about most things, but depressing your base for us was well done.