Republicans are already making excuses for Christie the traitor

[^_^ 5,021]

The governor, who had spent days delivering bear hugs and words of sympathy to shellshocked residents, resented the pressure to choose between the state he loves with fervent, Springsteen-fueled ferocity and his future as a leader in the Republican Party.

...

“People keep asking me why you were so nice to the president,” Governor-elect Pat McCrory of North Carolina told Mr. Christie when they encountered each other beneath a gem-studded chandelier at the hotel.

“I tell them you are doing your job,” Mr. McCrory said.

“That’s right,” Mr. Christie replied, patting him on the back.

...

“Christie,” a Romney adviser said, “allowed Obama to be president, not a politician.”

...

Mr. Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, emphasized that Mr. Christie did “exactly what a governor should do” in a crisis.

...

Kenneth G. Langone, the billionaire founder of Home Depot ... told Mr. Christie to ignore carping party activists who he predicted would soon plead with him to seek higher office.

“I said, ‘Governor, if you lead a miraculous recovery of the state of New Jersey, that is all that is going to matter,’ ” Mr. Langone recalled.

...

Republican governors, past and present, offered a range of explanations for Mr. Christie’s warmth toward the president. They know from experience that nothing can kill a political career like a botched response to a disaster.

...

“People here understand Chris Christie’s effusive personality,” said Haley Barbour, a former governor of Mississippi.

And Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa said: “There are some people that think maybe he could have handled it — been a little less gushing. But that’s his personality. He has got that New Jersey edge to him, you know, for good or bad.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/us/politics/after-embrace-of-obama-chris-christie-woos-a-wary-gop.html

[james&olya 1,121]

It may make trouble for him with party apparatchiks who place party interests above the interests of the country as a whole and the citizenry. That might end his career if the GOP continues on the stupid course they have set for themselves the last few years. If he can survive the party it will be very helpful for him to have a chance at the presidency to be seen as above their hyper-partisan stupidity. People are seeing the Republican 'brand' in an increasingly negative light. Romney tried the other strategy, pandering to the tea party idiots during the primary and then trying to make a big left turn into the presidency. He couldn't do it and maybe no one will be able to pull that off in 2016. Rising above the fray is probably Christie's only chance. What good is the nomination if getting it makes you un-electable in the election?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Mr. Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, emphasized that Mr. Christie did “exactly what a governor should do” in a crisis.

I have been saying the same thing. I also said he no longer has a future as a Republican national candidate, not that he really ever did, and he knows it. But as an east coast governor, he is doing great, and may end up in the Senate or even as an Appellate Judge, or even in Obama's cabinet, when he is no longer Governor.

[Pooky 3,816]

He did what his constituents elected him to do - represent them and govern in their best interests.

Anyone who feels the need to find excuses for him doing his job, and doing it well, needs their head examined.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I'm sure they'll be over it in 4 years time