Monday, November 11, 2013

Douthat's advice to Christie


"Don’t be Jon Huntsman...you can’t actively embrace that part, or give off the impression — as Huntsman did, obviously and fatally — that you agree with the media that your party’s full of rubes and cranks.

Don’t be Rudy Giuliani...As another charismatic politician defined by your handling of a catastrophe, you’re vulnerable to the same temptation: the belief that you, personally, are the solution to the Republican Party’s many problems, and that you can just run on your own awesomeness without specifying where you would take the country if you won.

Don’t assume that what worked in Jersey will work nationally...[where] the biggest issues are popular entitlement programs, not teacher salaries or bureaucrats’ health benefits. And you probably aren’t going to win the presidency wagging your finger at Social Security recipients, or painting the poor and elderly as dangerous special-interest groups. You need a different way to convince voters that you’re on the middle class’s side...

Don’t always listen to your donors...some [advice] will be terrible, because the right’s donors are loath to acknowledge that their party’s biggest problem isn’t gay marriage or immigration or even the disastrous government shutdown. It’s a brand identity, cemented by Mitt Romney’s persona and “47 percent” remark, as the handmaiden of Big Business and the rich.

To alter that identity, you’ll need substance as well as regular-guy style: a tax plan that doesn’t play just as a giveaway to the 1 percent, a health care plan that isn’t just a defense of the pre-Obamacare status quo, an approach to spending that targets corporate welfare as well as food stamps."

Pretty good advice, as far as it goes. What advice would you give Chris Christie were he to throw his hat into the ring?

NYT

35 comments:

edutcher said...

As we have learned, huntsman is a sack of slime.

Christie's already there.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Pretty good advice, as far as it goes.

Is it? Sounds to me like he's saying switch parties.

bagoh20 said...
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bagoh20 said...

Hey, you know what works really well?

Lying, and the bigger and bolder the better.

"Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies."

bagoh20 said...
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bagoh20 said...

Some of us are rubes, but if the rubes think we spend too much money on government, and have it interfere with our lives too much, then maybe being a rube isn't the worst thing you can be.

bagoh20 said...

My advice is tell us exactly what you think and what you will do. Then we are responsible for what we get. You see, it isn't about you.

We can't tell who lies, because we want told fairy tails so very badly, but anybody who cares about this nation and it's people more than their own ambition will tell us the truth.

If you think you can lie to us for our own good, and then make it worth it later, then you simply overestimate yourself, and thus are dangerously unfit.

bagoh20 said...

For others who might be typo infected like myself, may I suggest a shortcut that is slightly less difficult than to copy, paste and resubmit.

1) delete comment
2) use the back button to get the screen where you originally wrote the comment
3) fix and submit.

Of course getting it right the first time is the best, but that seems impossible for me.

Chip Ahoy said...

Almost interesting, somebody giving advice to a Politician that he has no intention of taking. And then "disastrous government shutdown." FULL STOP.

Disastrous for whom, for what? The political class' impression of itself, that's what. That means success for everybody else. Piss off.

Palladian said...

My advice to Christie: go away.

YoungHegelian said...

To alter that identity, you’ll need substance as well as regular-guy style: a tax plan that doesn’t play just as a giveaway to the 1 percent, a health care plan that isn’t just a defense of the pre-Obamacare status quo, an approach to spending that targets corporate welfare as well as food stamps."

Oh sure, Ross, and then howz about a press (other than Fox News) that would then actually explain to the low-info voters that the proposed policies are are something other than the Republican Party's standard support for the greedy & evil?

Maybe Christie should get Congress to pass a complicated healthcare reform package, and when we ask about it, tell us that we'll need to pass it to find out what's in it. I'm sure the press would give him a pass on that, just like they gave Obama & Pelosi.

bagoh20 said...

I'm 100% positive he won't be taking your advice, Palladian. The left loves this guy right now. He's all over MSNBC. They intend to pick the GOP candidate again, and they like the idea of the first woman President versus a fat white guy.

I think they are wrong about that, as Christie could be a very good candidate, but he does seem pretty soft and amorphous at the moment. No pun intended.

deborah said...

Douthat rather outs himself about the "rubes." The way he says it implies, 'yeah, they're rubes alright, but it's not politic to say it to their faces.' Douthat is a RINO extraordinaire, the strain of which doesn't get the Real Man aspect of conservativism.

Lydia said...

I don't get that Douthat is disdainful of the "rubes" at all. He's calling for changes in the substance of Republican plans, not just some cosmetic tinkering with talking points.

a tax plan that doesn’t play just as a giveaway to the 1 percent, a health care plan that isn’t just a defense of the pre-Obamacare status quo, an approach to spending that targets corporate welfare as well as food stamps

Lydia said...

Oh sure, Ross, and then howz about a press (other than Fox News) that would then actually explain to the low-info voters that the proposed policies are are something other than the Republican Party's standard support for the greedy & evil?

Or maybe Christie would be able to talk over the MSM talking heads and get those low-info voters' attention. You know, the way Reagan did.

Amartel said...

Don't be John McCain. Don't be born stupid. Don't fall for the lie that you're a "maverick" because you sell out core constitutional principles in order to "reach across the aisle" in the "spirit of bipartisanship." At least be smart enough to realize that no one on the other side of the aisle is reciprocating nor gives a shit about constitutional principles or bipartisanship. Please be smart enough to realize that after the primary you will be overtly despised by the mainstream media. Be smart enough to realize that they are only pretending to like you now.

Don't be Mitt Romney. Don't be a brainy blue state governor with a very moderate record and one odd personal attribute that allows opponents to define you as freakish, bizarre and unelectable to the sheep-like moron masses. Whoops, too late.

I'm Full of Soup said...

"Christie must prove, without a doubt, that he has really and truly gotten his fat blubbery arms around state govt spending" .

Because I have my doubts and if he can't prove it - he will have no real argument to win over the real conservative voters.

chickelit said...

My advice would be to keep Bruce Springsteen out of his campaign because "The Boss" blew his political cred and savvy on Kerry and Obama. Of course Christie won't be able to do this as evidenced by his podium the night he accepted reelection last week: link.

Cf this: link

Alternatively, if Christie could get Springsteen to recant his evil ways, the disconnect would go away.

Unknown said...

Fat props for Hillary. Come get em' while they are hot.

ricpic said...

Fingers crossed that if the GOP makes Christie its standard bearer it will be the end of the GOP.

Cruz; Lee; Paul; Palin: stop dickin' around and found a third party already!

deborah said...

I guess you're right, Lydia, the wording seems awkward, though.

deborah said...

Armatel:
" Please be smart enough to realize that after the primary you will be overtly despised by the mainstream media. Be smart enough to realize that they are only pretending to like you now."

Surely Douthat knows this.

Ricpic, by the time a third party could eradicate the original Republican Party the whole shootin' match will be over. It would take at least 20 years.

Michael Haz said...

My advice is: Do not take advice from anyone on the east coast except Mark Levin.

rcocean said...

My advice - run for the senate and forget the Presidency - because you'll lose.

rcocean said...

The problem with Ross is he's a captive of the East coast punditry.

Huntsman never had a chance. Period. But that didn't stop the east coast pundits from acting like he did.

Republicans like Rudy or Christie are selling something the rest of the country doesn't want. "Moderate Republicanism" with a NJ/NY accent. All kinds of positions that NJ/NY Republicans think are "right-wing wacko" are considered mainstream in Red state America. The California Republicans are getting to be just as out of touch.

rcocean said...

You can only sell Moderate Republicanism on a national level if you pretend to be a conservative cf:
Dole, Ford, McCain, Bush I.

In your face, Moderate Republicanism is a loser. Ask Nelson Rockefeller, if you get him to talk.

ampersand said...
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bagoh20 said...

Hell, I'd settle for a competent communist at this point.

deborah said...

rcocean:
"My advice - run for the senate and forget the Presidency - because you'll lose."

Absolutely, the Sentate's for life. By the time he loses the presidency NJ will be sick of him.

Trooper York said...

Run as a Democrat because that is the only way the skeletons in your closet will be covered up.

If you listen to the praise of the main stream media douches like Chris Matthews and Paul Gigot you deserve everything you get.

deborah said...

That is a good idea, Troop. He should switch, especially if he could get on as Hillary's running mate. That way, he could follow her.

If he were to switch and run against her, he'd be seen as the mean man trying to take the presidency away from a deserving, hard working, team playing mother goddess.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

My advice to Kristiekreme: Stay in Jersey.

Trooper York said...

I don't think all of these liberal media munchkins know how much Christie is despised by most conservatives.

You see everybody they know loves Christie.

chickelit said...

deborah said...That is a good idea, Troop. He should switch, especially if he could get on as Hillary's running mate. That way, he could follow her.

If he were to switch and run against her, he'd be seen as the mean man trying to take the presidency away from a deserving, hard working, team playing mother goddess.


Yes, he should switch parties, but only if he runs against Hillary. The presence of Bill in the White House would overshadow any positive influence Christie could have and I think they'd both get frustrated. I wouldn't voted for a Clinton/Christie ticket.

Christie's value is that he could provide the Dems a with a pseudo fiscal conservative makeover. I've often asked why the Dems can't pony up a fiscal conservative/social liberal. The Ingas of the world are forever haranguing conservatives to lighten up and embrace things like abortion and gay marriage. Not gonna happen.

On the other hand, Dems like Obama and Hillary are social liberals but always come bundled with leftist economic policies and I think a lot of independent voters are sick of it, if not outright worried about the sustainability of socialism.

deborah said...

Yes, he would probably be good for fiscal issues for the Dems, I just don't see him beating Hillary.