RNC 2012: Christie’s speech was better than the reviews it’s gotten
TAMPA — The consensus around here seems to be that Chris Christie might have been Tuesday’s keynote speaker, but Ann Romney stole the show from the New Jersey governor. I agree, and will have more thoughts on Mrs. Romney’s speech later. But Christie delivered exactly what I expected, and was quite good at doing so.
Christie built on a key theme developed earlier in the night by a series of Republican governors, most of them elected since Barack Obama entered the White House. Ohio’s John Kasich, Virginia’s Bob McDonnell, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Nevada’s Brian Sandoval and South Carolina’s Nikki Haley talked about how they’d gotten their states’ finances on track without abandoning their conservative principles, and Christie offered maybe the most dramatic examples of that:
They said it was impossible to cut taxes in a state where taxes were raised 115 times in eight years. That it was impossible to balance a budget at the same time, with an $11 billion deficit. Three years later, we have three balanced budgets with lower taxes.
We did it.
They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics. To take on the public sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefit system that was headed to bankruptcy.
With bipartisan leadership we saved taxpayers $132 billion over 30 years and saved retirees their pension.
We did it.
“We did it” offered a clear contrast to the untested Obama promise from 2008, “Yes, we can,” and the examples of the kinds of tough decisions he and the other governors have made offered a clear contrast to the unfulfilled promise of the three and a half years of Obama’s presidency. What Obama has been unable to do — balance, or in most years even pass, the budget; reduce both current and future obligations on taxpayers; create better conditions for the private sector to flourish — they have done. And then they all took that thought to the next step: Mitt Romney can make it work, too.
Or, as Christie put it, “if we can do this in a blue state with a conservative Republican governor, Washington is out of excuses.”
Christie has become a YouTube legend for the zingers he’s flung, off the cuff, at vocal detractors during public events. In a setting like a national convention, that opportunity wasn’t likely to present itself, and didn’t. (A few protesters were removed much earlier Tuesday evening for trying to shout down speakers from the rafters.)
But that fame hasn’t come strictly because he has a quick wit and sharp tongue. It’s because he packs principled truth into those one-liners, and he had several such moments Tuesday night:
- “They believe in teacher’s unions. We believe in teachers.”
- “You see, Mr. President, real leaders don’t follow polls. Real leaders change polls.”
- “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my children and grandchildren to have to read in a history book what it was like to live in an American Century. I don’t want their only inheritance to be an enormous government that has overtaxed, overspent and over-borrowed a great people into second-class citizenship. I want them to live in a second American Century.”
- “This is the American way. We have never been victims of destiny. We have always been masters of our own. I won’t be part of the generation that fails that test and neither will you.”
The delivery was a little rushed — Christie had to speed up toward the end to fit it all in before the networks cut away to local news at 11 — and it wasn’t quite the kind of performance that people will still be talking about even after Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney deliver their messages the next two evenings. But it had all the elements that remind us why Christie has become a conservative champion, and why 2012 is unlikely to be the high-water mark of his influence in the party.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
230 comments Add your comment
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
1:44 pm
When the rich get richer, everyone wins.
Tell that to the poor.
Let them eat cake I guess.
Common Sense
August 29th, 2012
1:44 pm
“And Republicans want a society where the rich get richer.”
Then they must be failing. Only three of the richest 100 Americans ever were born in the 20th century, and only one after 1950.
They better get busy soon, or we may never see another American break into the top 100.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
1:45 pm
You mean like the primary contributing factor to the recession, which was the government-backing of shoddy mortgages by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?
Ahh, Republicans and their everlasting lies…..or do we call it denial?
Class of '98
August 29th, 2012
1:45 pm
Finn, ever heard of Gregor Mendel? Science and faith are not mutually exclusive.
Centrist
August 29th, 2012
1:45 pm
The nut throwers probably could care less the color of the camerawoman – the fact she was representing CNN was probably why she was termed an “animal”. Left wing political animals and their trainers make up a majority of the media.
Tealiban Party
August 29th, 2012
1:48 pm
Chris Christie: “You see Mr. President, real leaders don’t follow polls. Real leaders change polls.”
Looks like Gov. Christie has joined the Romney camp in finally being able to talk about Obama’s ACA Healthcare law.
Class of '98
August 29th, 2012
1:49 pm
Finn, are you denying that DEMOCRATS were the ones who demanded that poor, under-qualified people with poor credit and little collateral be granted government-backed loans?
Does that sound like a REPUBLICAN position to you?
Specifically, we can thank Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.
Please educate yourself before debating me. This is too easy.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
1:52 pm
The nut throwers probably could care less the color of the camerawoman – the fact she was representing CNN was probably why she was termed an “animal”. Left wing political animals and their trainers make up a majority of the media.
And Ive got a bridge in Brooklyn you’ll just love.
Funny with all that media around. They only threw nuts at the black one.
Kind of odd wouldn’t you say.
Jack
August 29th, 2012
1:52 pm
Christie scares liberals. They just don’t like to see or hear anyone speak that has common sense. And Rep Davis probably scared them more than Christie.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
1:56 pm
The Fannie Mae lie has been debunked over and over
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/opinion/nocera-the-big-lie.html
Its one of those lies Republicans keep repeating and eventually it sticks.
Id quit digging class of 98
Your starting to look kind of dumb.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
1:58 pm
Fannie and Freddie were bad actors in a lot of ways, and that makes them an easy target for conservatives who are desperate to absolve the private sector of any blame for the financial crisis. But when it comes to assigning blame for the housing bubble, the evidence against them is laughably thin. Like it or not, this was Wall Street’s fault.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/12/housing-bubble-and-big-lie
Buzzy
August 29th, 2012
1:58 pm
Chris Christie has the inside scoop. He knows Romney is going to lose, therefore Christie used his speech to run for election in 2016.
Christie showed last night that he had thrown in the towel as far as Romney goes. Did you see the look on Romney’s face? Not a happy man.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
2:00 pm
http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/201110140001
Here is another one.
zeke
August 29th, 2012
2:01 pm
wondering if our host has any comments on:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829
Buzzy
August 29th, 2012
2:04 pm
It’s obvious that Christie shafted Romney.
What I want to know is when George W. Bush is going to speak.
Ray
August 29th, 2012
2:06 pm
I was impressed. He’s an independent thinker, and a breath of fresh air, when so many politicians just go with daily party issued talking points. To make badly needed progress in this country we need elected officials to govern. Making partisan gamesmanship the highest priority, like McConnell so frankly stated, caused too many lost years.
Someone like Cristie, who really wants to govern, could make America greater.
kayaker 71
August 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
It is pathetic that criticism of people of means is so vilifying. Wonder how all of those limousine liberals like Kerry, Gore, Ted and Jack Kennedy and John Edwards feel about the plight of the unfortunate? Answer…. every time there is an election. They trot out the same old tired rhetoric about Republicans caring about nothing but their wealth. Republicans only care about how much money they make and certainly don’t care about women, minorities, the unfortunate, our water supply, someone’s job, social security, medicare…… nothing. Only about making money and screwing anyone they can just to make more. That crap might win over someone who is stupid enough to believe it, and unfortunately, thanks to that joke we call the media, there are those who will believe anything as long as they hear it from some liberal talking head who is “supposed to know”. I just hope that the majority of the electorate is intelligent enough to grasp the truth. The rest of them, including the vast majority of the black community, is hopeless.
zeke
August 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
and try this on for size:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/28/republican-national-convention-the-one-graph-you-need-to-see-before-watching/
Jefferson
August 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
Knows a good menu when he sees one.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:09 pm
Romney party boat flying the Cayman Islands flag?
You betcha
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/29/mitts_cayman_party_boat/
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:10 pm
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/romney-party-yacht-flies-cayman-islands-flag/story?id=17105028#.UD5HBGjybOD
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:11 pm
There’s only one reason why millionaires register their mega-yachts in the Cayman Islands — and it’s the very same reason why Mitt Romney has offshore accounts registered there. Taxes — or, more accurately, the lack thereof. It makes a perfect kind of sense. Millionaires want to help Romney get elected because not only will that prevent Obama from raising their taxes, but it could well result in their current tax burden falling even further. So there’s a beautiful honesty in gathering together on a yacht that pays no U.S. taxes — see, America, this is what we’re all about.
salon.com
OUCH!!!!!!!
Trolls Bane
August 29th, 2012
2:15 pm
Class of ‘98 – synonym for uneducated, conned rethug tool …
The causes of the ongoing recession are way to complex for you to understand. Please go back to your sandbox.
Old Farmer
August 29th, 2012
2:30 pm
Christie did not respect Romney.
Does anyone know when George W. Bush is going to speak?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:33 pm
Good link, zeke. Very informative.
southpaw
August 29th, 2012
2:36 pm
Zeke @2:09
Interesting graph. The debt really starts exploding in and after 2009.
southpaw
August 29th, 2012
2:37 pm
Should be Zeke @2:07, not 2:09
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:38 pm
wow, and this from a conservative?
[M]illions of Americans who do not pay federal income taxes do pay federal payroll taxes. These taxes are regressive, and the dirty little secret is that over the last several decades they have made up a greater and greater share of federal revenues. In 1950, payroll and other federal retirement contributions constituted 10.9 percent of all federal revenues. By 2007, the last “normal” economic year before federal revenues began falling, they made up 33.9 percent. By contrast, corporate income taxes were 26.4 percent of federal revenues in 1950. By 2007 they had fallen to 14.4 percent. So who has skin in the game?
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/revolt-of-the-rich/
Old Farmer
August 29th, 2012
2:39 pm
Yes, the debt is bad. It was a mistake putting in those tax cuts back in 2001 and 2003. The Bush tax cuts. God knows they didn’t do anything for the economy. The economy went bust.
By the way, speaking of George W. Bush, he did a lot to the country. Does anyone know when he will speak at the convention? I can’t find his name on the schedule.
southpaw
August 29th, 2012
2:39 pm
Trolls Bane @2:15
You have a very strange thesauras
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
2:49 pm
Christie scares liberals.
Most 700 pound human beings do!
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
2:50 pm
The causes of the ongoing recession are way to complex for you (98) to understand.
southpaw, but he got that part spot on!
Jose
August 29th, 2012
2:56 pm
you bed wetting liberals are ignorant
you have millionaires in your party and they are just as bad
read this is you can read
http://bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view/20100723senator_skipper_skips_town_on_sails_tax
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
2:58 pm
Hey, no more guessing at what is the 700lb elephant in the room….
Sorry folks but overweight people are the new smokers – you can make fun of people who do something they can stop by themselves.
southpaw
August 29th, 2012
2:58 pm
JamVet @2:50
Don’t be too sure. If Trolls Bane’s synonym for 98 is inaccurate, which you appear to concede, then the descriptions of “uneducated” and “conned” are questionable at best. I won’t address “rethug,” since Dictionary.com’s closest match to it was Theodore Roethke, author of Words for the Wind and The Far Field.
independent thinker
August 29th, 2012
2:59 pm
Must be something in the drinks Kyle had at that GOP love fest but in sixty years of watching conventions that was the absolutely worst keynote speech I have heard. Scott Walker and Nikki Haley had my attention riveted and would have been excellent in that slot. Christie shoule be on Jersey Shore and give up politics. I have no idea what he was saying about Romney and all those GOP governors made Romney look really bad touting their accomplishments and no one dared mention Mitt’s accomplishment of that unmentionable state with that umentionable healthhcare program as his main non-accomplishment.
Anne Romeny talked about compassion and love which have no place at this convention. Mr. gangster from Jersey says in typical mobster fashion moments later- to heck with that love respect-we only want respect. I hope those two campaign together. quite a pair.
Did some Democrat sneak into his speech the part about compromise, bipartisan support and truthtelling?? And this is after Santorum embellishes the big lie and race baiting tactic of saying Obama illegally cut work out of welfare?
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 29th, 2012
3:00 pm
read this is you can read
LOL
Darwin
August 29th, 2012
3:07 pm
If you’re talking about all the success of these sitting Republican governors, then may I suggest that the Republicans have nominated the wrong governor. Or ex-governor as it may appear.
Gimme Gimme Gimme
August 29th, 2012
3:07 pm
The problem is that it was so hyped it came up as a let down and a little self-indulgent.
Plus he needs to lose weight…..there I said it.
Jose
August 29th, 2012
3:12 pm
http://2016themovie.com/
the real obama
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
3:16 pm
Chris Christie — 2016!!!!
td
August 29th, 2012
3:19 pm
Old Farmer
August 29th, 2012
2:39 pm
“Yes, the debt is bad. It was a mistake putting in those tax cuts back in 2001 and 2003. The Bush tax cuts. God knows they didn’t do anything for the economy. The economy went bust.”
Let us say we did not do the Bush tax cuts. How much less would our national debt be today?
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:21 pm
Thank goodness the GOP keynote speaker wasn’t a morbidly obese white guy telling a diverse electorate to live with discipline and just say no…
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:22 pm
td-
Google everywhere. The primary contributor to the current US debt is the Bush tax cuts.
Jose
August 29th, 2012
3:26 pm
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:22 pm
td-
Google everywhere. The primary contributor to the current US debt is the Bush tax cuts.
THEATER OF THE ABSURD
the primary contributor to the current US debt is a FEDERAL GOVT controlled by Democrats and Republicans who spend more than they take in
Li'l Aynie
August 29th, 2012
3:27 pm
Christie and the other governors Kyle cited did not “get their states back on track”. They killed hundreds of thousands of jobs, and turned down multiple opportunities for enormous infra-structure inprovements. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is the 4th highest in the nation, higher even than Michigan’s.
The action of the states in cutting jobs is the primary cause of the slow economic recovery. The federal government spent trillions in borrowed money to keep the economy from falling into depression. The states could have done their part in job recovery by raising their fuel taxes by a penny or two, and raising the income tax of high-earners by a few percent.
Lulu
August 29th, 2012
3:31 pm
How to help America
1. Cut spending-when your checkbook is in the red….STOP WRITING CHECKS-home finance 101
2. Increase revenues-NOT by increasing taxes, but by creating an environment in which business NEED to hire workers…..the more people working translates to more tax revenue generated, which translates to fewer people needing government assistance-It’s a win/win-In effect you are cutting spending and increasing tax revenue in one fail swoop!
How do you create this environment? Make it profitable for companies to stay in the US, and not outsource jobs, etc…does this mean….GASP!!!….tax cuts for the wealthy? YES!!!! Ask most people if they want their boss to be successful and rich, or poor and struggling? The intelligent people want their bosses (i.e. the company they work for) to be successful and rich.
You see, when people become successful in business, they tend to continue to grow their businesses and henceforth, they provide wealth making opportunities for their employees. And if not wealth making, at least the ability to provide a decent living for themselves and their families. When you stifle business, the exact opposite occurs. They will inevitably cocoon what wealth they have and live with the status quo….which leads to stagnation and recession. It’s all pretty simple. I learned this in my freshman year of college in micro and macro economics….
Jose
August 29th, 2012
3:37 pm
yesterday i DROVE MY CAR to downtown atlanta………… walked the street next to georgia state university and asked the homeless guy if he would give me a raise……….
guess what he said to me……
$@$!$!@…………….. go ask your the wealthy owner of the company where you work for a raise and give me $10!
maybe we should make all registered democrats go work for companies where the owners are homeless people and give the currently unemployed people THEIR jobs
jconservative
August 29th, 2012
3:38 pm
“With bipartisan leadership we saved taxpayers $132 billion over 30 years and saved retirees their pension.”
A tip of the hat to the other party. Unusual in today’s ideology driven Washington. It used to be an everyday thing in Washington. We will see if it returns.
Jefferson
August 29th, 2012
3:40 pm
Lulu the gov’t is not like a household at all, nor can you run it like a business. Sorry.