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Suggestion to DK writers: lead any Christie stories with a reminder that he's a rightwing creep [1]

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Date: 2023-07-09

x Christie ordered beaches closed down due to a gov shutdown. Today, he and his family enjoyed a state beach alone https://t.co/8zBkkShcBn pic.twitter.com/xpLQynT18r — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 2, 2017

I’d always prefer to see Daily Kos publishing stories about admirable Democratic candidates and caucus members rather than about Republicans, but I understand this website is going to cover the Republican presidential primary and their internecine skirmishes.

But when Daily Kos staff writers publish stories about forced-birther Chris Christie attacking Trump (or DeSantis or whomever), I believe reminding readers that “Christie is no hero” should not be left to the very end of the article (or left out entirely); a reminder that he’s an atrocious candidate should be at the top of the story, akin to the convention of starting stories about the egregious GOP frontrunner with phrases like “Twice-impeached, twice-indicted Donald Trump...”

For example, neither Laura Clawson’s nor Kerry Eleveld’s article which I linked to above, nor Markos Moulitsas’s cheery contribution to this genre bother to mention that Chris Christie is a prominent forced-birther: he defunded women’s healthcare in New Jersey, leading to several clinic closures, and since Roe was overturned Christie’s been helping coordinate efforts to restrict access to abortion all across the country.

Let’s always be clear that Christie’s on the attack simply because he’s a competitor — there’s no noble purpose afoot when he dings his fellow rightwingers. Let’s remember that despite all the tangible horrors inflicted on America by Trump’s presidency and all he did to disgrace the office, Christie continually supported Trump.

NorthJersey.com (2019): Former Gov. Chris Christie defended President Trump and bashed Congressional Democrats as not credible on Thursday, saying the phone call that made the president the target of a near-certain impeachment inquiry was just Trump being Trump.

Despite his bipartisan impeachment, Christie still embraced Trump — literally to the point of catching Covid from him while trying to prep him to debate Joe Biden. The fool ended up in the ICU and might actually have died for the sake of toadying to the fascistic leader of the degenerate party which he longs to lead himself.

WHYY (2019): “There’s nothing else [besides the presidency] I want to run for. I couldn’t imagine myself in the United States Senate. I’d rather commit suicide than be in the United States Senate, when the greatest part of your day is, ‘Oh my bill just got marked up in the subcommittee,’” [Christie] said, eliciting chuckles from the audience.

That’s how Christie admittedly views public service and you can bet he holds most folks in the private sector — except for CEOs — in the same low regard. Even if he doesn’t say that part out loud, his disdain for working people and unions has always come through loud and clear.

The Guardian (2016): Republican Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday vetoed an attempt to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in the next year and to at least $15 an hour over the next five.

Politico (2015): Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday the national teachers union deserved a punch in the face.

Of course his coveting the presidency is the one and only reason Christie is attacking Trump now, his longshot strategy being to dominate the nearly empty “stand up to Trump” lane.

Let’s keep in mind that Christie hates Democrats and progressivism just as much as the next rightwinger. His main criticism of Trump is that Trump isn’t good enough at beating Democrats.

It’s not that Trump tried to use the power of his office as a cudgel against his perceived political enemies. That sort of behavior is hardly something that would concern Chris “Bridgegate” Christie.

BBC (2016): New Jersey Governor Chris Christie laughed about his staff closing part of a bridge in 2013 over a mayor who refused to endorse him, a court heard. ... Mr Wildstein, who worked at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, said he and his boss, Bill Baroni, told Mr Christie that Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee, was "frustrated" over the lane closures. Mr Christie allegedly laughed and responded in a sarcastic tone: "I would imagine that he wouldn't be getting his phone calls returned."

And Christie’s attacks on Trump (and DeSantis) aren’t motivated by their being foes of democracy and human rights. So is Christie:

Bloomberg (2015): Republican Governor Chris Christie vetoed an overhaul of New Jersey’s voting procedures that Democrats and the League of Women Voters said would have increased turnout, calling it wasteful and politically motivated.

Gothamist (2012): Chris Christie has vowed to veto any gay marriage bill that passes his desk—causing him political headaches since it looks like he may have to put that vow to the test. Also giving the … governor of New Jersey headaches? A comment he made earlier this week suggesting white Southerners should have been allowed to vote civil rights gains for blacks during the 1960s. See, as part of his push to have New Jersey voters vote on gay marriage in a referendum (so that he doesn't have to be on the record vetoing or not vetoing gay marriage) Christie said: "The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South." But would they have? ... In Asbury Park, Mayor Ed Johnson, who is both black and gay, said: "Can you imagine President Truman placing integration of the Armed Forces on the ballot? Or us voting on whether women should have equal pay for equal work?" And in Bergen County, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, who is also black, said in a statement: "The governor apparently doesn't even understand that minorities likely would have been blocked from voting on a civil rights referendum in the South. Because they didn't have civil rights!"

The Hill (2023): “What I stand for, Anderson, is what conservatives have been arguing for for 50 years, which is that Roe [v. Wade] was wrong, there’s no federal constitutional right to an abortion and that the states should decide. And I absolutely believe that each state should make their decision on this,” Christie told host Anderson Cooper during a CNN town hall Monday.

Axios (2022): The president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America told Axios on Friday that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, her group will work to restrict abortion ‘in every state and in every legislature, including the Congress.’ … Dannenfelser said she’s working with governors and state legislatures in dozens of states. As we spoke, she said she was getting a call from former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been working with her to coordinate efforts.

It is Christie’s “absolute belief” that childbearing is not the right of each woman to decide — it’s the right of each state to decide. In Christie’s view, American women have no fundamental, Constitutional right to make health care decisions about their own bodies.

Don’t we dare think of Christie as anyone but an egotistical rightwing dictatorial creep bent on becoming the Republican Party’s new Grand Wizard. And if he didn’t see a pathway to that position, he’d still be sucking up to the current Grand Wizard.

And if anyone’s thinking, “Well, what does it matter, he has no chance anyway of being nominated" keep in mind that A) politics can be surprising: for example, early on, John McCain did not seem at all likely to be the Republican standard-bearer in 2008; early on, both Bill Clinton’s 1992 primary campaign and Joe Biden’s in 2020 seemed to be headed off the rails; and most of us were shocked when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton; and B) Christie is only 60 years old, so this may not be his last rodeo. He will use this opportunity to try to hone his credibility as a national candidate, to try to come across to swing voters and the mainstream media as a supposed voice of reason. We may regret it if we sit back and let him make the most of that opportunity.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/9/2180132/-Suggestion-to-DK-writers-lead-any-Christie-stories-with-a-reminder-that-he-s-a-rightwing-creep

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