As you may know, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been having an ongoing feud with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul over whether or not libertarianism is consistent with keeping the country safe from 9/11-type attacks. But Gov. Christie is only the latest Republican to complain about Rand Paul. Back in March, when Sen. Paul conducted his melodramatic filibuster on drones, Sens. John McCain and Linsey Graham blasted him on the Senate floor.
Whatever you think of the merits of these arguments, the following approaches infinite schadenfreude:
“I’m on team Rand. Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of don’t tread on me government. Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go-along-to-get along in so many respects,” [Sarah] Palin said.
Of course, almost no one would know who Sarah Palin is if John McCain hadn’t decided to listen to Bill Kristol’s advice and make her his running mate.
How’s that working out for them?
Well, we know that Republicans didn’t keep the “country safe from 9/11;” so, Christie might be on the losing side of this “debate.” And neither supports public policies that would “keep us safe” from another Sandy Hook Elementary School type massacre. Maybe they could spar over who would better thwart another Boston Marathon bombing type event considering that it did happen when a DEM was POTUS.
Or maybe Christie could stop channeling his inner Giuliani and ask if libertarianism is consistent with public response to devastating mega-hurricanes. (And hope that nobody remembers Andrew and Katrina.)
McCain was so screwed in “08. I can’t think of any VP candidate who would have fired up the base and given him a decent chance of winning. Maybe Ryan, since that insincere MF, like any decent sociopath, has a way of seeming warm and caring. Perhaps he would not have turned off a significant chunk of the electorate. But Obama is such a brilliant politician, and his candidacy was so historic, and the country was so burned out on the Republican brand.
He should have picked someone who would make the center feel comfortable and said to hell with his base. After 8 years of Bush, there was no way he could fire up the GOP base more than the Dem base. Feeding them red meat was the exactly wrong strategy.
You think? I doubt he would have done any better. He needed to fire up his base. There weren’t too many Republicans sincerely enthusiastic about ringing doorbells for the guy. McCain2000 had once appealed to moderates in both parties, but after 8 years of GWB, there weren’t enough moderates left.
When the financial crisis hit, if McCain hadn’t completely destroyed the idea that he would be the experienced “steady hand” by selecting a running mate clearly unable to even clean her own ass, he might have had an opening.
Of course, the way he flipped out and suspended his campaign suggests that he wouldn’t have been able to grasp that opportunity because he never was “steady” at anything. And President Obama can do calm and collected like nobody’s business, so there wasn’t much of an opening. But the Palin selection closed that door before he had the chance to see it.
Palin did fire up McCain’s base, didn’t she? It’s just that she turned off everybody else.
Very true.
Christie is a bona fide northeastern asshole.
Rand comes off as a big west libertarian (with a serious White House jones) having to play the role of a dixie chamber of commerce stiff. I think that’s a problem for his presidential ambitions.
“As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where- where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.”
A heartbeat away from the presidency.
Country First.
this is one of my favorite quotes ever, mainly because of this jpeg
Sarah who?
I don’t know anyone except a few leftie bloggers who still pay any attention to Palin. Even the people I know who were her fans have quietly excised her from their memory.
Rand Paul, like Ron Paul, appeals to some people because he has a lot of positions which make a hell of a lot of sense for the country as a whole but which are rarely expressed because they are verboten in Washington Insider circles. For the same reason Rand, like Ron, will never be allowed to be a viable candidate for President – Fox and all the others will simply deny Rand any air time like they did his daddy. Fights between Rand and the rest of the GOP mean nothing.
Chris Christie is a classic New Jersey asshole – sorry, Boo but what you see as being self-assured and “doesn’t suffer fools” is actually just rude, obnoxious, self-indulgent, and selfish asshole behavior and 95% of the country out side of the Philly-New York region see it that way. Any good polling numbers he gets now reflect the positive coverage he gets in sound bites played by the Kool Kids in the media, but put him on TV every night during a national campaign and he’ll be toast faster than you can say Herman Cain.
Paul thought this little spat was over and here comes Palin talking trash. She talks like she coming from a position of power. Christie may show her how weak her tea is.