Chris Christies speech critiques Republicans at the RNC, “We all must share the sacrifice.” Is Rush Limbaugh going to call him a socialist tomorrow?
While there were a lot of expected talking points in NJ Governor Chris Christie’s speech at the RNC in Tampa, there was an enormous amount of content in Chris Christies speech that was not along Republican lines, and even more surprising, a critique of Republicans in Washington. Some keynote speech, Gov. Christie. Cheers to New Jersey for taking a stand!
Chris Christie is more of an Independent by his work, not a republican as defined by his party and how that party expects its members to behave. Listen to his speech! Forget about all of the lines that have been brewing in the campaign and are a result of what had to be in an RNC keynote speech. Listen to the themes, the real points: working together, sharing sacrifice, and making the hard decisions OUTSIDE of political or popularity motivations to get re-elected. It’s not about politics (republican led House of Representatives), it’s about getting stuff done. That’s not a critique of the Democratic Party that has compromised over and over again with the Republicans in Washington DC: it’s a critique of the republicans in Washington who refuse to work with democrats to get anything, even the simple things, done.
Christie’s speech had much more: much of it was a critique of how the Republican Party has been behaving in Washington.
In his speech Chris Christie compared how a “real” republican should behave, which is no how Washington has been behaving. A “real republican” referencing himself, of course. It’s worth noting Rachel Maddow’s comments that it was “the most remarkable acts of political selfishness [she has] ever seen.”
According to Christie, to govern is to get things done… that sounds very reasonable. But if that’s the case, remember which party has single handedly stopped more legislation in the last 2 years than any other in history… Republicans in Washington. While Chris Christie had the angry tone of a hard-core republican and did the obligatory Obama bashing… the speech was much more chastising his own party’s behavior then anything else. Examples:
“..stop putting a woman between her and her doctor”… that sounds like a democrat, not a republican, and is laughable in the face of all of the official Republican Party platform.
“People need to start working together, and care more about the people who hired them and not about getting re-elected”… that sounds like an Independent. Well… it sounds like what any politician would say, but in context of his speech and the tone he gave it, it was very much the anti-Washington speech in general.
“We have to stop all the fear and doubt”… that sounds like an Independent or a democrat –definitely not a republican, which is a party who has made fear their primary currency over the last 12 years.
All of the achievements that Gov. Christie has accomplished in New Jersey, he DELIBERATELY made sure to emphasize “bi-partisan” each and every time.
A large part of the theme was telling the truth, find solutions, STOP being so partisan in Washington. I think we all agree. Time for the Republicans in Congress and the Senate to stop acting like children so we CAN get things done. Mitt Romney is secondary.
Chris Christie even claims, “We all must share in the sacrifice.” How democratic does that sound? Certainly not the words of a Republican.
Chris Christie gave a harsh critique of the how badly the Republican Party has behaved since 2010 in his speech at the 2012 RNC… I just wonder who in the republican party will acknowledge it and take heed of the message.
We should be respected, not loved
That’s the one theme that falls outside of Christies overall critique of politics in Washington… and is just flat out wrong. I somewhat understand how he feels that’s in relation to “making the hard choices, not easy ones that make us popular” but most people won’t make that connection – all they will hear is “be respected not loved” which is a terrible, terrible message. We must always act with love… especially if you’re a party using religion as your primary motivation.
All in all, the speakers at the first night of the RNC were this: selfish, spoke mostly about themselves, and continued the republican theme that hating President Obama is the reason for voting for Mitt Romney. Vote against Obama, not for Mitt Romney. That’s the best argument they have. No positive, no solutions, no “here’s how republicans will save the country”… almost all of it was negative Obama bashing. Pretty sad. Republicans who are willing to break away from the party might have some solutions, but the Republican PARTY has nothing.
