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
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230 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
3:45 pm
Increase revenues-NOT by increasing taxes, but by creating an environment in which business NEED to hire workers
The environment in which business NEED to hire workers is an environment where there is DEMAND for their products. You expect the federal government to create demand for a companies product? The government should make us WANT a companies products? You want the federal government to force middle class consumers to begin spending money again?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
3:46 pm
jconservative is quoting the BS spouted by that guy?
Ryan
August 29th, 2012
3:46 pm
Christie: A more glib and direct delivery of the same regressive BS espoused by Romney. This whole RNC is so sad and offensive in tone and content that I want to puke, and they don’t even see it. They all want to perpetuate a regressive tax code which incentivizes the Wall Street wealthy who destroy our country, while talking bad about teachers and public education. They actually publicly tout that their prayers changed the course of Hurricane Isaac, as if God would care enough about their hate rally to move the trajectory of a hurricane from not particularly flood prone Tampa and instead send it straight back into a still recovering gulf coast. Millionaires talking about “shared sacrifice” in a country of people who’s tax dollars bailed out Wall Street while they lost their houses and jobs? These people are DEMONS.
Oh, and yeah. Ann’s high school presentation on why she likes Mitt Romney was VERY entertaining.
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
3:47 pm
Increase revenues-NOT by increasing taxes, but by creating an environment in which business NEED to hire workers…
Lulu, you do understand that we have heard that exact same claptrap for thirty years and look where it got us.
The environment you speak of does not exist in this perverted from of trickle-down capitalism.
Corporations are handsomely rewarded – via enormous tax credits – to ship decent American jobs overseas. 40,000,000 American jobs have been lost or sent overseas since the 1970s!
Maybe one day you fiscally irresponsible Republicans will understand the basics.
The American middle class has been devastated for forty straight years. As in FLATLINED wages. As in almost 80% of American workers make virtually no more money – in adjusted inflation dollars – than they did in the 1970s.
Though their productivity has doubled.
So, they cannot afford to buy anything.
When they cannot afford to buy anything, the makers of those anythings cannot sell them.
Which means that they do not hire any more workers, which means that more and more and more middle class workers don’t have decent jobs anymore.
But I’m sure you know that the millionaires and billionaires in this country are working really long and hard to fix that, huh?
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:47 pm
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.
“Please, Mr. Science, tell us more…”
Jose
August 29th, 2012
3:48 pm
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.
yet state governments have to balance their budgets like housholds and businesses by LAW…………. HMMMMMMMMMMMM
and investors of MUNICIPAL BONDS will invest in a local govt that has continuously outspent its tax revenues? NOT!!!
Maybe California should save money by not spending TAX REVENUE on the HIGH SPEED RAIL but issue BONDS to pay for it all since INVESTORS will NOT treat CALIFORNIA GOVT like a HOUSEHOLD OR BUSINESS!
Lulu
August 29th, 2012
3:50 pm
The government needs businesses to operate. Therefore you need to support business growth, from the “mom and pop” store all the way up to the mega corporations. Without it, the country is doomed to fail and become completely, 100% socialist, in which all people look to the government to provide all things. And I disagree with you that running a government is not like running household or business. Especially regarding the deficit. As a household or business, if you continue to spend more than you bring in, bankruptcy will be in your future. The government is basically already there. Unless things change, and change quickly….
They Did It Alright..CONS Used A Teleprompter. They Said Only Obama Uses A Teleprompter? CONS Are Hypocrites Once Again.
August 29th, 2012
3:51 pm
Fat Boy Chris Christe STOLE MYTH ROBME’S THUNDER.
Why Christie Won’t Mention N.J.’s Unemployment Rate?…….
BECAUSE IT IS 9.8%. Higher than the national rate of 8.3%.
Unemployment in New Jersey has climbed over the past two months
to its highest point in 35 years. OMG!
As Christie put it, “if we can do this in a blue state with a conservative
Republican governor, Washington is out of excuses.”
DO WHAT???????????
WHAT HAS HE DONE THAT WAS SO GREAT?
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:52 pm
Lulu; “How to help America
1. Cut spending-when your checkbook is in the red….STOP WRITING CHECKS-home finance 101″
Lulu, if you could hook that up with quantitive easing…
Matz
August 29th, 2012
3:52 pm
What Ryan said at 3:46.
Yes, I also find the “we prayed the storm away from our party function to flood people out of their homes” thing utterly offensive.
Jose
August 29th, 2012
3:55 pm
FINN
there is a way to increase consumer demand but NEITHER party had the courage to take the steps
CONSUMER DEMAND will only return once the HOUSING BUBBLE has been cleaned up
THAT MEANS PAIN
houses need to be foreclosed
people need to file bankruptcy
banks need to take losses and write them off their books
they are on a pace to drag this out for 5-7 more years
then when it clears out confidence returns and people feel better about buying then companies start hiring
its not rocket science
but we have a LACK OF LEADERSHIP from BOTH PARTIES
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 29th, 2012
3:55 pm
It cracks me up that the only response that the libs have for Christie’s sensible speech is to call him fat, when he weighs less than moochelle obozo does, just laughing…
td
August 29th, 2012
3:56 pm
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
3:47 pm
“The American middle class has been devastated for forty straight years. As in FLATLINED wages. As in almost 80% of American workers make virtually no more money – in adjusted inflation dollars – than they did in the 1970s.”
WRONG again. The middle class has been devastated by the destruction of the family.
Two people making $30,000 per year can have a good life together and raise a family. One person making $30,000 per year is a never ending struggle that can not be overcome.
They Did It Alright..CONS Used A Teleprompter. They Said Only Obama Uses A Teleprompter? CONS Are Hypocrites Once Again.
August 29th, 2012
3:56 pm
OMG!!!
Unemployment in New Jersey has climbed to 9.8% over the past two months
to its highest point in 35 years. OMG!
IS THIS SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF?
Heck Obama AINT DOING SO BAD AFTERALL.
Lulu
August 29th, 2012
3:57 pm
Jam Vet
Where exactly have you been the last 30 years???? We had unprecedented growth and prosperity under Regan and Clinton, who both followed the “trickle down” philosophy. However, when socialist leaning administrations have had the power, social programs increased, the number of people on these programs increased and the drain on the economy was evident. Think FDR and the current adminstration. Yes, it is a complicated issue, but the basic tenants have been fundamentally the same since the beginning of time. People succeed when they get rewarded for doing so. They stop trying when it gets them nowhere.
Ryan
August 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
Just Sayin said: “1. Cut spending-when your checkbook is in the red….STOP WRITING CHECKS-home finance 101″”
Please stop with your disingenuous and irrelevant talking points…I mean, unless you actually think that home finance is synonymous with the economy in the way you’re representing, in which case…well…I actually wouldn’t know what to say to you.
HDB
August 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
@@
August 29th, 2012
1:20 pm
How do you tax cuts for the rich Republicans feel about the fact that the Romney/Ryan Republicans have dealt the race card from the bottom of the deck ???
Chris Matthews went with ^^^ that one.
Newt Gingrich responded with “How racist must you be to assume that we’re talking about African Americans?”
Good point….could’ve been talking about Hispanics also…….but we DO know that the GOP has HISTORICALLY played the race card! Kevin Phillips, in 1968…the architect of Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” came out and said “black people have no place in the GOP!”….and that has been part of the Republican mantra since…….
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
Whinner-
Most “Do what I say, not what I do” speakers do move the BS meter.
They Did It Alright..CONS Used A Teleprompter. They Said Only Obama Uses A Teleprompter. CONS Are Hypocrites Once Again.
August 29th, 2012
4:00 pm
@I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin…
August 29th, 2012
3:55 pm
It cracks me up that the only response that the libs have for Christie’s sensible speech is to call him fat, when he weighs less than moochelle obozo does, just laughing…
********************************************************************************
IT CRACKS ME UP THAT THE ONLY RESPONSE THAT CONS HAVE
AGAINST THE TRUTH IS TO CREATE A BLATANT LIE.
HE IS FAT.
IF HE DOES NOT LOSE THAT WEIGHT HE MAY LOSE
HIS LIFE.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
4:00 pm
I Report, I guess you just overlook the discussion of the unemployment rate being higher than the national average?
Or that Christie was able to accomplish what he did because he had Democrats who were willing to compromise and work with him? (Amazing what you can do with a lil ole thing like compromise, huh?)
Junior Samples
August 29th, 2012
4:01 pm
Chris Wallace was not impressed.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
4:01 pm
Christie 2016!!!!
That’s 3 heart attacks from now?
Unemployment in New Jersey has climbed to 9.8% over the past two months,
August 29th, 2012
4:02 pm
OMG!
Jose
August 29th, 2012
4:02 pm
LULU AND JAMVET
trickle down DOESN’T WORK
trickle down from the rich
trickle down from the government
BOTH PARTIES HAVE WEAKEND THE MIDDLE CLASS
its time for a NEW PARTY and a NEW VISION
Unemployment in New Jersey has climbed to 9.8% over the past two months,
August 29th, 2012
4:03 pm
Enter your comments here
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
4:03 pm
Ryan @ 3:59:
Try a second look at the above posts, and notice that I was actually quoting Lulu’s Econ seminar, and making the same point to her that you’re making.
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
4:04 pm
td, talk about missing the point!
Those Americans making $30K per year SHOULD be making $60K.
And that is only a 100% gain over forty years!
An extremely modest 2.5% average gain per year.
Granted not every one can see the 280% gain that American CEOs made in one ten year span.
And to Lulu’s unwitting point, proof positive that trickle down has been a complete clusterf__ of a failure.
Until you cons started coming to grips with these facts, you will only beg for more of the same kind of Reaganesque/Clintonesque/Bushesque pain…
Michael H. Smith
August 29th, 2012
4:07 pm
Look at all these whining socialist liberal democrats trying to cover your blog Kyle, you must be doing something right?
Keep up the good work!
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
4:08 pm
And Whinner-
I didn’t say Christie was fat. I said he is morbidly obese.
Think of it as a Hard Truth…
DawgDad
August 29th, 2012
4:09 pm
Enter your comments here
@@
August 29th, 2012
4:10 pm
HDB:
I don’t carry my own emotional baggage around, MUCH LESS, somebody elses. Saving “brown stamps” is sure to clog up your tube.
Going back:
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2009/09/16/racist-a-term-that-must-be-applied-cautiously/?cp=all#comment-118628
The dem’s racist charge has lost its brigade.
Ryan
August 29th, 2012
4:10 pm
Just Saying: Sorry, I see that now. I’m not used to thread formats where people can’t just reply to each other.
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
4:12 pm
BOTH PARTIES HAVE WEAKEND THE MIDDLE CLASS
its time for a NEW PARTY and a NEW VISION
Absolutely agreed, Jose.
But you are preaching to the choir. I advocate the dismantling of both of them. And have for 15 years.
Cons and dems only talk about change. But their idea of “change” is making silly little meaningless tweaks around the edges of these massive problems.
And though I thought it was horribly crafted and misguided, at least BHO will go down in history as the only prez in fifty years to at least try making a massive change on behalf of working Americans with his PPACA. (Legislation that Republicans originally created, supported and sought.)
I support massive change to fix our dysfunctional government held hostage by the dual incompetent criminal organizations – the Tweedledee and Tweedledum parties. AKA the GOP and Democrats.
As you feel the same way, I presume that you too voted for Ralph Nader in the past three presidential elections and will vote for Rocky Anderson in November?
DawgDad
August 29th, 2012
4:13 pm
I tried to tune in to the GOP convention early last night, but the coverage on the mainstream media channels was just over the top unviewable. Constant split screen/cutouts to the storm, interviews cut in with fringe people seemingly designed only to distract from the message, and commentary that was so biased and off-the charts leftist it was unviewable.
Just saying. In my opinion, the MSM is embarrassing themselves. Anybody with half a brain understands what they are up to, and it’s brutally dishonest and mean-spirited.
HATES MEAN PEOPLE
August 29th, 2012
4:14 pm
grover norquest, everyone should google or bing this person. this is what the g o p is really about. i would really love to hear mr. romney discuss the nut throwing event last night.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
4:14 pm
Boy, I hope Brownie is in New Orleans keeping an eye on that hurricane. That dude can work a hurricane!
Henne
August 29th, 2012
4:15 pm
10 p.m. and after is too late for keynotes. Needs to be 9 p.m.
Unemployment in New Jersey has climbed to9.8 percent
August 29th, 2012
4:16 pm
My sister is right Chris Christe is fat. Everybody knows that.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 29th, 2012
4:18 pm
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Amish preacher testified Wednesday that he watched three men cut his father’s hair and beard during an attack last fall that left his father shaking and relatives screaming.
What was Mitt Romney doing in amish country?
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
4:18 pm
Ryan: Thanks, no prob.
DawgDad
August 29th, 2012
4:22 pm
To all of you people commenting on Chris Christie’s weight, do you understand just how small-minded and mean-spirited you are? I mean, it leads me to ask just what your motives are? Put him in a concentration camp? Tax him by the pound? Disqualify him on the basis of his WEIGHT???
td
August 29th, 2012
4:26 pm
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
4:04 pm
td, talk about missing the point!
Those Americans making $30K per year SHOULD be making $60K.
And that is only a 100% gain over forty years!
An extremely modest 2.5% average gain per year.
Granted not every one can see the 280% gain that American CEOs made in one ten year span.
And wages for College grads with such majors as engineering, math and science have been keeping pace. It is the global economy that has caused wages of the unskilled to be stagnate. If the average unskilled worker made $60,000 today then how much would everything cost?
Just Saying..
August 29th, 2012
4:26 pm
Henne: “10 p.m. and after is too late for keynotes.”
I agree. I think they are throwing away viewers, and potential voters.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
August 29th, 2012
4:29 pm
Please stop with your disingenuous and irrelevant talking points…I mean, unless you actually think that home finance is synonymous with the economy in the way you’re representing, in which case…well…I actually wouldn’t know what to say to you.
Ryan is absolutely correct, home finance and government finance have nothing to do with one another. At home, you have a limited amount of money to spend, to finance your home, food, cars, entertainment, etc. You are responsible for protecting those you love. You have to balance your budget or lose everything and your family suffer.
Government could more appropriately be compared to a drunken sailor, who has discovered he has found Bill Gates’ debit card and an ATM. He has an unlimited amount to spend, no guidelines on how to spend, no accountability on how it is spent, and no conscience about blowing the money.
JamVet
August 29th, 2012
4:29 pm
Anyone who is HUNDREDS of pounds overweight has serious issues.
And notwithstanding the very real chance of imminent heart attacks, diabetes and other terminal maladies, not just physical ones. Likely they have emotional and psychological issues as well.
We all have heard of the jolly fat man and he seems to play that role well. But deep inside, I suspect he is anything but happy.
The man NEEDS immediate help and I truly hope that he gets it. Part of that help would be for him to address the question of how did he allow himself to become so morbidly obese?
Getting that way HAD to take a lot of work!
And it calls into question if he can put in the gargantuan amount of work to get healthy and whether he is fit to lead…
Jose
August 29th, 2012
4:30 pm
td
GREAT POINT!
THE FAILURE OF BOTH PARTIES TO EDUCATE AND PREPARE US FOR GLOBALIZATION
PROOF OF OUR LACK OF LEADERSHIP
DebbieDoRight - Dixie Chicks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, and Rosetta Scott King -- Unafraid To Say It; Unafraid To Do The Right Thing...
August 29th, 2012
4:31 pm
Of course. Just as the Republican-led House has done, passing bills to reduce the deficit, create jobs, and reform entitlements.
OMG too funny!! I laughed so hard when I read that!! Republican house creating jobs!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah they’re creating jobs for the gun lobbyists!
Too funny!
Secular Humanism Is Ruining America
August 29th, 2012
4:32 pm
JamVet…what plan do you support for fixing the problem you so eloquently stated?
Jose
August 29th, 2012
4:33 pm
OBAMA SMOKES CIGARETTE
SMOKED MARYJANE
AND SNORTED COCAINE
he is UNFIT to be President
His lack of control and emotional and mental issues are a THREAT to our security
@@
August 29th, 2012
4:38 pm
For those of you, who didn’t take the time to check out my link @ 4:10, I’ll go straight to the most important part.
Can White Americans Criticize President Obama and Not be labeled A Racist?
In order to move forward, and perhaps closer to the post-racial era that Americans have been striving for – supporters of Barack Obama, particularly African American supporters, must learn that every time someone – particularly White Americans harshly criticises him, it’s not racist and doesn’t necessarily reflect racism. If the African American community insist on using the “race card” as a political defense against criticism of President Obama, White Americans will ultimately throw in the towel and say “enough is enough” and re-unite around issues of race thereby setting the stage to wipe out potential Democratic gains in 2010 and setting the stage for a defeat of President Obama in 2012.
Democratic gains in 2010? That already happened.
I’m addressing the liberals here…don’t know if you’re black or white…don’t care. Keep up the charges of racism and the damage might JUST become irrepairable.
Is that what you want?