Christie Losing GOP Support by Being Reasonable

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It was startling enough when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called out Islamophobes who were throwing fits over his appointment of a Muslim judge:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appointed Muslim-American judge Sohail Mohammed to the state bench this week and has no patience for his detractors.

“Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed… He is an extraordinary American who is an outstanding lawyer and played an integral role in the post-Sept. 11. period in building bridges between the Muslim American community in this state and law enforcement,” Christie told reporters.

When asked about fears that Mohammed could bring Sharia Law into his practice, Christie (who is known for his combative interchanges with reporters) snapped back:

“Sharia Law has nothing to do with this at all, it’s crazy!”

Now Christie is saying that he thinks global climate change is real and probably man-made:

“I can’t claim to fully understand all of this,” he said. “Certainly not after just a few months of study. But when you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role it’s time to defer to the experts.”

He added that climate science is complex and “we know enough to know that we are at least part of the problem.”

He said this while he was explaining why New Jersey is backing out of a 10-state initiative to curb greenhouse gasses, mind you, but he still said it. And the rightie blogosophere is apoplectic. “RINO” is one of the milder names they are calling him.

Christie’s problem is that if he’s going to be re-elected in New Jersey he needs to back off being too crazy. I believe New Jersey’s population has a higher-than-average percentage of college graduates in the sciences, for example. And although parts of NJ are pretty right-wing, and moderate Republicans win NJ elections regularly, the state as a whole will usually elect a liberal over someone who is far-far Right.

But by backing off being too crazy, he’s looking less and less like someone the Republican base is likely to support in the presidential primaries. The establishment still loves him, however, and I understand that unemployed Pawlenty staffers are hoping to snag a spot on the Christie team if he decides to run.

If he is thinking about running for POTUS, perhaps Christie plans to position himself as the guy who hates taxes and government spending but who is smarter than Perry, less crazy than Bachmann, and not as plastic as Romney. It could work.

10 thoughts on “Christie Losing GOP Support by Being Reasonable”

  1. Poor Chub’s, I think he just broke Scott Brown’s hero to RINO land-speed record.

    How DARE he try to be reasonable?
    Why, the very word “reason” is right there!

    If these people weren’t a viable political force, they would be comical with their Manichean and Luddite world views.

    I hope before I die, that we can all sit back and say, “Remember when…?” and laugh and laugh!
    But I think we’ll all be crying instead…

  5. erinyes …for entertainment I sometimes go to tampabay.mugshots.com at the St.Pete Times web site.. They post all the mugshots for 5 surrounding counties. When you see a mug that for whatever reason intersts you, you can click on the mug and the specs on the suspects are viewable…Last night I saw a girl’s mugshot posted who looked rather normal so I decided to find out what she got busted for..In her specs was listed a tatoo. The entry read…TT at base of neck of Rebel flag -Words -100% Southern Bread.
    I wonder if the tatoo artist was a Texan?

  6. Swami, I was driving by one of the ubiquitous mobile signs that small churches have in their parking lots. It said’ “If you can Raed this sign, you know you didn’t evolve from a monkey!” I think there was another misspelling, but, I had to keep my eyes on the road. It was amusing. By the way, as my wife delivers babies, she sees a lot of tattoos, some are truly something to marvel at, putting it kindly.

    Neal Gabler had an interesting article in the NYT, “The Elusive Big Idea”. It’s worth reading. Personally, I am more concerned with small ideas. I”d be happy if most Americans just engaged the world with rationality tempered by compassion.

  7. Swami, I think that should have read “inbread”.The artist might have been a Plant City boy.
    I know, I know…..
    I pass that huge rebel flag at the interchange of I-4 and I-75 weekly, I wonder if it is really “heritage, not hate”.

  8. Here’s a couple of questions the election will answer.

    Can a Teabagger win the nomination (and election) when moderates are repulsed?

    Can a moderate republican win the nomination (and election) when Teabaggers withdraw all support from an almost-sane republican?

    The GOP is the most schizophrenic organization you will find outside an asylum. After the democratic election, Barak & Hillary were able to make up. I don’t see the tea party doing that with mainstream republicans specially if the tea party should lose.

  9. “The GOP is the most schizophrenic organization you will find outside an asylum. ”

    Very true. It’s the Faustian Bargain Ronald Wilson Reagan (666) made between the Fundie rednecks and the Daddy Warbuck’s.

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