After enduring more than a year of snide answers and unveiled contempt by the White House’s First Responder at his daily “pressers”, I tend to avoid video material that entails journalists asking questions of politicians or their representatives. Mr. Gibbs has degraded the genre.
I can’t remember a more unpleasant Press Secretary than Gibbs. Boring ones? Of course. Inept? Sure. And a whole bunch of evaders and pontificators. But not this chronic contempt. No doubt the administration finds him eminently suitable for the task assigned. However, I wonder if they realize that his condescension is a reflection on his boss? Probably not.
To change my mind about the genre this little gem showed up today via intrepid Gates of Vienna reader, REP. He says upon watching this he knows who he’s going to vote for to replace the current resident of the White House:
Evidently this video was linked on Drudge (or so it says in the comment section on You Tube), so if you have trouble loading it try later when the traffic dies down. It’s worth the two and a half minutes of your time it takes to view his response.
Meanwhile, having read them both, I can recommend these essays from City Journal for background on Governor Christie:
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“As Goes New Jersey…” by Steven Malanga, who says:
Pundits have debated the national significance of Republican Chris Christie’s gubernatorial victory in heavily Democratic New Jersey last November. If the past is any guide, though, the importance of the win will depend on how the new governor actually governs…
and
“Hope in Jersey“ by Jacob Laskin.
Partway down the essay, Mr. Laskin says:
Several studies have documented that New Jersey’s tax burden is driving wealth-as well as the jobs, job opportunities, and revenues it creates-from the state. The most recent is a February study conducted by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, which found that New Jersey lost more than $70 billion in wealth between 2004 and 2008 as wealthy households departed for lower-tax states like Pennsylvania and Florida.
Things sure are changing under Christie’s leadership. A town hall meeting in Hoboken??
I agree with REP: Christie bears watching. A refreshing change from what’s on offer from the national Republican Party at the moment.
And given the novel, straightforward delivery by Christie, he will no doubt appear on You Tube again. For those of you who are interested in keeping up with or ahead of this particular curve, The Njmusicman has a place to sign up. I look forward to seeing more of his videos.
It’s a sad sign of the times that both REP and I are clutching at straws so early in the game. However, the current leadership has us both dispirited. Christie is a ray of hope.
Governor Christie’s remarks were honest and refreshing. In a time when politicians put on a vaudeville routine rather than to give a point blank answer to a direct question, he is exactly the kind of politician that America desperately needs.
Yes, our need has become desperate, hasn’t it?
Lt Col Allen West is direct also, but he is running at the Congressional level, so we have to wait a bit for his turn.
Christie has got either the third or fourth toughest state to rein in. The union is powerful, corruption is its middle name as in New Corruption Jersey — thanks to the old mob and now the new mob, i.e., the unions.
California is about to be sucked into the vortex, with NY next and then either NJ or Michigan. That last has the albatross of Detroit to manage.
It is good to have decisive action at the state level as a counterweight.
If anything, I’d have to give Governor Christie points on his willingness to offend. One hallmark of modern times is an almost pathological fear of offending anyone, with Muslims at the forefront of this behavioral modification exercise (Pavlov, does that name ring a bell?).
At this point, somebody who is willing to short circuit all of the blather and psychobabble that passes for informative communication is a person who respects the time of others. Inoffensiveness has been elevated to such a supreme character trait that we live in a world populated by Caspar Milquetoasts that are, as Pat Condell puts it, “… prepared to chop off their own hand to avoid being seen scratching their @ss in public.“
This desire for conflict-free existence is now seeing businesses hire platoons of unobjectionable drones who are as unlikely to cause a workplace incident as invent a product of actual use to modern society. We are confronted with the spectacle of these conflict-avoiding multicultural appeasers attempting to wrap the entire world in soft leather so as to avoid abrading even the least nerve ending of perpetually aggrieved Muslims.
Again, per Condell, they’re people who’ve “… tied themselves up in such knots of relativist guilt that they’re incapable of acknowledging the truth, let alone dealing with it.” It is as if the truth has somehow become offensive and, if that is so, I say; “Let the offending begin!”
It appears YouTube pulled the video. . . “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The Star-Ledger”
HotAir still has it up for anyone who missed it.
With the Star Ledger pulling it – you know Christie really ripped this journalist a new one!
Meh. Before you jump for joy, ask him what he thinks about mass immigration and Islam.