Uncommon Knowledge: Boardwalk Empire: Chris Christie’s Unfinished Political Journey

 

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie began his political career as a teenager watching Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford joust for control of the Republican Party at the 1976 GOP convention. From there, he soon entered the University of Delaware and then received his JD degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law. He served as US attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008 and as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Gov. Christie ran for president briefly in 2016. The governor guides us through all of those—often embattled—chapters of his life in the course of this interview, including giving us his view of the Bridgegate scandal, and what it was like to be on the debate stage with Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican primary race. But it’s not all politics: we also cover the governor’s views on China, COVID policy, and domestic economic policy. Finally, while he doesn’t make any announcement about his future plans, Christie does describe why he might be the best choice to run—and win—in the 2024 presidential election.

Recorded at Fox News in NYC on October 28, 2021

Published in General
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  1. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    CC says he doesn’t think the gummint should issue mandates — BUT employers?  Suuuuuure!

    “Employers set terms and conditions of employment all the time.”  I’ll sidestep the obvious things that employers are not even allowed to ask about.

    But combine this with his earlier talk about there not being mandates in place currently, and he’s just signing off on the OSHA/CDC/federal-and-contractor instruments of coercion.

     

    • #31
  2. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Franco (View Comment):

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Max (View Comment):
    Christie’s “political journey” ended quite a long time ago. About October 29, 2012, or whenever it was he hugged Obama.

    LOL:

    Hey, how’d those “nuclear negotiations” work out anyway? Anyone remember?

    Oh, right…

    It’s weird who you guys think is acceptable to suck up to and who isn’t. 🤔

     

    Yep. Weird…

    Democrats want the best for America. Keep telling yourself that, and make sure you promote loser Republicans so more Democrats can win.

    My gooooooooooood friends …..

    • #32
  3. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    CC, asked about woke-ism, explains why we no longer use the term “negro” in general.  But he gets it WRONG!  He says it’s because “African-American people would be offended by the term, and would prefer another term.”  But that’s not why the term went away.  That is a MISERABLE reason to do or not do anything.  I’m totally okay with the idea that we no longer use the term negro because it was plastered about like the word colored in official usage to effect among other thing Jim Crow laws.  The point is not that it’s offensive (or not) to this group or that, but that it rings to richly with a denial of equality under the law.  Not because some feelings are hurt.  There’s a difference.

    So Christie’s foundation for opposing wokeness is still the woke agenda, just not so much.  Figures. 

    Progressivism doing the speed limit is not Conservatism.

     

    • #33
  4. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    BDB (View Comment):

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):

    Peter Robinson: Gov. Christie ran for president briefly in 2018.

    I think it was 2016, but you’re right about “briefly” since he was summarily rejected in the primaries.

    Fixed. Thanks.

    Unfortunately, PR said 2018, but I chalk it up to him not sounding like he feels well. Hope he’s okay.

    Stockholm syndrome?

    • #34
  5. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Columbo (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    Columbo (View Comment):
    We are being overly kind. As if at a dinner party with Christie. He is toast. DOA.

    Yup. Not gonna go all-in Christie-whacking on a PR podcast post. I figure we’ll have another post up for the rest.

    But we could, if the CEO wants it.

    Oh — we will.

    • #35
  6. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    BDB (View Comment):

    BS alert. PR asks him about COVID, sets the table with quotes from Biden and Fauci. Christie pivots to anti-Trump, then says “we have 65% vax rate without mandates.” I am not interested in the sort of quibble that makes the current oppressive, suffocating vax regime somehow not “mandates”.

    Pressing on just out of respect for PR. I certainly hope this gets better.

    He was especially smarmy there. He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    But he’s all  for businesses demanding it. I wonder if it’s constitutional for a business to demand such things. Not in my world.

     Pregnant? Get an abortion or your fired. After all it’s a private business…

    He also stated that the vaccine was fully tested with zero negative reports. 

    Another statement he made about China putting political prisoners in jail and “we don’t do that here”. Oh, we don’t???? Good to know.

    • #36
  7. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    He finally mentioned Biden.  Jill Biden, “forcing her husband to” blah blah something about the teachers’ unions.

    Is this guy another Friend of Joe?

    OHHHHH, wait, I get it.  Joe Biden is just a cut-out for Obama & pals, and Christie and Obama are buds.  Christie cannot come down on this administration!

    EDIT: 46 minutes he finally mentions Joe by name and says he’s lying.  This is an almost throwaway line after Robinson serves Trump on a platter and Christie has a big old bite.  More on that later.  Watch this space for link to separate post.

    Oh, nevermind.  I gutted it out to the end, and I’m not going back.

    EDIT again:  Oh nevermind the nevermind.  Her’s your stinking link toa brand-new post on the topic:  https://ricochet.com/1090656/donald-trump-wins-first-debate-with-chris-christie-hosted-by-peter-robinson/

    • #37
  8. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Franco (View Comment):
    But he’s all  for businesses demanding it.

    Oh, well then he can go [REDACTED] himself.

    Franco (View Comment):
    He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    And twice on Sundays.

    • #38
  9. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Franco (View Comment):
    Democrats want the best for America. Keep telling yourself that, and make sure you promote loser Republicans so more Democrats can win.

    One, I never said that to myself or anyone else. But nice obfuscating. Two, your point has nothing to do with sucking up to murderous and despotic dictators. Three, that “loser” Republican President you posted a photo of won a second term (so did Bill Clinton, for that matter).

    Unlike some people.

    • #39
  10. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Christie defends the steal even while making it clear it was a steal.  This is some revisionist stuff.

    • #40
  11. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):
    Democrats want the best for America. Keep telling yourself that, and make sure you promote loser Republicans so more Democrats can win.

    One, I never said that to myself or anyone else. But nice obfuscating. Two, your point has no this to do with sucking up to murderous and despotic dictators. Three, that “loser” Republican President you posted a photo of won a second term (so did Bill Clinton, for that matter).

    Unlike some people.

    The difference is that Trump was not sucking-up to Kim Jong Un. He was putting the squeeze on him and offering a way out. Trump held the cards. 
    Interesting to see how you give prominence to left-wing criticism of Trump with their shallow out-of-context reportage as though it means something.

    These Democrats have done more harm to America than any two-bit dictator has. By a factor of 100.

    Trump won twice. That’s just my opinion, but it’s better than your opinion which, apparently, is that Biden got 81 million votes! LOL

    McCain lost. Deliberately I suspect. Campaign manager Stuart Stevens is (now?) a Democrat! He wanted Joe Lieberman as his running mate, then he scuttled the vote to repeal the ACA. But your GOPe faction just shrug and try to forget. Or you don’t care. You certainly don’t learn.

    Then Romney. What a joke. Do you see now how pathetic that approach is/was? I don’t think you do. 
    Things have changed. The ground has changed. You guys are fighting the last war. The war you already lost.

     

    • #41
  12. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Get well soon, @peterrobinson!

    • #42
  13. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Franco (View Comment):

    Peter Robinson: Gov. Christie ran for president briefly in 2018.

    I think it was 2016, but you’re right about “briefly” since he was summarily rejected in the primaries.

    And will be again, should he choose to run.

    • #43
  14. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Franco (View Comment):

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):
    Democrats want the best for America. Keep telling yourself that, and make sure you promote loser Republicans so more Democrats can win.

    One, I never said that to myself or anyone else. But nice obfuscating. Two, your point has no this to do with sucking up to murderous and despotic dictators. Three, that “loser” Republican President you posted a photo of won a second term (so did Bill Clinton, for that matter).

    Unlike some people.

    The difference is that Trump was not sucking-up to Kim Jong Un. He was putting the squeeze on him and offering a way out. Trump held the cards.

    The political class has no idea how to do diplomacy or persuasion. I keep telling them all to read Dale Carnegie, but they don’t want to educate themselves. 

    Interesting to see how you give prominence to left-wing criticism of Trump with their shallow out-of-context reportage as though it means something.

    “Interesting” isn’t the word I would have picked.

    • #44
  15. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Franco (View Comment):
    McCain lost. Deliberately I suspect. Campaign manager Stuart Stevens is (now?) a Democrat! He wanted Joe Lieberman as his running mate, then he scuttled the vote to repeal the ACA. But your GOPe faction just shrug and try to forget. Or you don’t care. You certainly don’t learn.

    Much of the McCain gang revealed themselves as Democrats. Or, in the case of the Lincoln Project’s John Weaver, pedophiles.

    • #45
  16. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):

    Peter Robinson: Gov. Christie ran for president briefly in 2018.

    I think it was 2016, but you’re right about “briefly” since he was summarily rejected in the primaries.

    And will be again, should he choose to run.

    But the campaign managers and consultants and advertising people etc, bill for their time regardless.

    • #46
  17. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Franco (View Comment):

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):
    Democrats want the best for America. Keep telling yourself that, and make sure you promote loser Republicans so more Democrats can win.

    One, I never said that to myself or anyone else. But nice obfuscating. Two, your point has no this to do with sucking up to murderous and despotic dictators. Three, that “loser” Republican President you posted a photo of won a second term (so did Bill Clinton, for that matter).

    Unlike some people.

    The difference is that Trump was not sucking-up to Kim Jong Un. He was putting the squeeze on him and offering a way out. Trump held the cards.
    Interesting to see how you give prominence to left-wing criticism of Trump with their shallow out-of-context reportage as though it means something.

    He held the cards, did he? What cards were those and what exactly did Trump and the U.S. win here? P.S. If you’d like me to link to reams and reams of right wing criticisms of Trump’s romance with Kim, just say the word. But we both know that when I do that, you’ll just play the #NeverTrump card anyway. Because of Trump Rule #1: Nothing is ever his fault.

    These Democrats have done more harm to America than any two-bit dictator has. By a factor of 100.

    Not disputing that. But once more it has nothing to do with this discussion.

    Trump won twice. That’s just my opinion, but it’s better than your opinion which, apparently, is that Biden got 81 million votes! LOL

    I keep waiting for the Trump legal team to give us something –anything– that proves the election was stolen. Actually, they don’t even have to prove it. They just have to win a few court challenges. They haven’t. But they have managed to get themselves sued six ways to Sunday and in at least one case (so far), been disbarred. P.S. Has you seen or heard from Rudy Guiliani lately? Me neither. Wonder why….

    McCain lost. Deliberately I suspect. Campaign manager Stuart Stevens is (now?) a Democrat! He wanted Joe Lieberman as his running mate, then he scuttled the vote to repeal the ACA. But your GOPe faction just shrug and try to forget. Or you don’t care. You certainly don’t learn.

    Then Romney. What a joke. Do you see now how pathetic that approach is/was? I don’t think you do.
    Things have changed. The ground has changed. You guys are fighting the last war. The war you already lost.

    No where in my comments have I argued for McCain or Romney’s style of politics. That’s just more obfuscation.  Again: my point was only that you all are outraged that Christie had the unmitigated gall to embrace the then President of the United States (or worse, root for the Dallas Cowboys) but you have zero problems with Trump’s man-crushes on Kim, Xi, and Putin. Because Trump held the cards. Whatever that means.

    By the way, do you know the context for that of photo of Christie and Obama hugging you are so offended by? It was taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Christie wanted and needed FEMA funds released as soon as possible to help the wrecked citizens of his state and guess Obama had the power to do that.  It is an unfortunate image, but we know Obama cares about gestures like that and good politicians do what they need to in order to help the citizens they represent.

    Finally, you seem very confident that you know how things are going to go politically over the next two years and how voters are going to respond even though a billion things can and will happen between now and then. Maybe you’re right and Trump is the next Grover Cleveland. Could be. But you’re guessing as much as anyone else.

     

    • #47
  18. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):
    By the way, do you know the context for that of photo of Christie and Obama hugging you are so offended by? It was taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Christie wanted and needed FEMA funds released as soon as possible to help the wrecked citizens of his state and guess Obama had the power to do that.  It is an unfortunate image, but we know Obama cares about gestures like that and good politicians do what they need to in order to help the citizens they represent.

    If I recall, Christie broke ranks with Republicans, delivered Obama a political lifeline, as it set him apart from those other nasty Republicans for aid that was already coming anyway.

    Try the converse argument on for size — Christie bravely hugged Ear Leader for billions of dollars in emergency aid?  Neither side will own that.

    • #48
  19. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    BDB (View Comment):
    Try the converse argument on for size — Christie bravely hugged Ear Leader for billions of dollars in emergency aid?  Neither side will own that.

    This is exactly the argument I was making, bolstered by the fact that Christie was a Republican governor of a blue state where the President was very popular.  I don’t particularly like it, but I understand the pragmatism. 

    I do like the nickname “Ear Leader,” though. Don’t think I’ve heard that one before. 

    • #49
  20. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):
    I do like the nickname “Ear Leader,” though. Don’t think I’ve heard that one before. 

    Come over to the dank side!  We have all the yuugest jokes.  

    • #50
  21. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    Franco (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    BS alert. PR asks him about COVID, sets the table with quotes from Biden and Fauci. Christie pivots to anti-Trump, then says “we have 65% vax rate without mandates.” I am not interested in the sort of quibble that makes the current oppressive, suffocating vax regime somehow not “mandates”.

    Pressing on just out of respect for PR. I certainly hope this gets better.

    He was especially smarmy there. He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    But he’s all for businesses demanding it. I wonder if it’s constitutional for a business to demand such things. Not in my world.

    Pregnant? Get an abortion or your fired. After all it’s a private business…

    He also stated that the vaccine was fully tested with zero negative reports.

    Another statement he made about China putting political prisoners in jail and “we don’t do that here”. Oh, we don’t???? Good to know.

    Anyone who advocates vaccinating children is a dangerous idiot. One thing we’ve known from early on last year is that children without comorbidities are not at risk from COVID. We now know that young men are developing heart problems from vaccines and many countries have stopped using Moderna on people 30 and under. If he thinks there are no problems with the vaccine, he needs to read more broadly. https://sharylattkisson.com/2021/11/exclusive-summary-covid-19-vaccine-concerns/

    • #51
  22. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    So, against my better judgement, I went ahead and wrote this up:  Donald Trump Wins First Debate with Chris Christie, Moderated by Peter Robonson.

    • #52
  23. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    BS alert. PR asks him about COVID, sets the table with quotes from Biden and Fauci. Christie pivots to anti-Trump, then says “we have 65% vax rate without mandates.” I am not interested in the sort of quibble that makes the current oppressive, suffocating vax regime somehow not “mandates”.

    Pressing on just out of respect for PR. I certainly hope this gets better.

    He was especially smarmy there. He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    But he’s all for businesses demanding it. I wonder if it’s constitutional for a business to demand such things. Not in my world.

    Pregnant? Get an abortion or your fired. After all it’s a private business…

    He also stated that the vaccine was fully tested with zero negative reports.

    Another statement he made about China putting political prisoners in jail and “we don’t do that here”. Oh, we don’t???? Good to know.

    Anyone who advocates vaccinating children is a dangerous idiot. One thing we’ve known from early on last year is that children without comorbidities are not at risk from COVID. We now know that young men are developing heart problems from vaccines and many countries have stopped using Moderna on people 30 and under. If he thinks there are no problems with the vaccine he needs to read more broadly. https://sharylattkisson.com/2021/11/exclusive-summary-covid-19-vaccine-concerns/

    Hear!  Hear!

    Children have a negligible risk from the varrus, and are not seen as significant vectors.  At the same time, Children are of course less tested than adults for the admittedly not risk-free shot.

    Vaccinating children is just another way the current generations feed upon the next. It’s immoral.

    • #53
  24. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):
    He held the cards, did he? What cards were those and what exactly did Trump and the U.S. win here? P.S. If you’d like me to link to reams and reams of right wing criticisms of Trump’s romance with Kim, just say the word. But we both know that when I do that, you’ll just play the #NeverTrump card anyway. Because of Trump Rule #1: Nothing is ever his fault.

    The cards of being President of a country like the USA, versus North Korea.

    Please define “ right wing”, my recollection is they were all neo-cons whose only desire was to have ‘their’ President wag his finger and try to shame a juvenile delinquent in front of the class and expect compliance, in other words the same failed strategy Obama and Bush tried. 

    When you call it a “ romance” you’re not serious. 

    You don’t understand how to deal with bad guys and dictators. You don’t insult them personally, unless you just want to fight and accomplish nothing. Which is pretty much what the entire Bush bro-con cabal did with other peoples offspring for the last 20 years.

    Rule number one is actually understanding that Trump had innumerable lies and completely unfair criticisms, enemies in the press that supersedes all trivial criticism and second-guessing by people who wanted him to fail anyway because he was acting against their main interests if importing cheap labor, offshoring manufacturing, and wanting to have a less ambitious military presence in the world.

    For people who never defended Trump about the absurd Russia hoax, the misquoting and false-framing media, the impeachment sham, and much more, to be sniping that his foreign policy moves didn’t fit their brilliant Kennedy School of Government position papers is rich. 
    Of course we are not going to pile-on when all these other egregious assaults go undefended.

    For anyone to claim this is cultism is insulting, but revelatory.

     

    • #54
  25. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    Christie pivots to anti-Trump, then says “we have 65% vax rate without mandates.”

    He was especially smarmy there. He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    Anyone who advocates vaccinating children is a dangerous idiot. One thing we’ve known from early on last year is that children without comorbidities are not at risk from COVID. We now know that young men are developing heart problems from vaccines and many countries have stopped using Moderna on people 30 and under. If he thinks there are no problems with the vaccine, he needs to read more broadly. https://sharylattkisson.com/2021/11/exclusive-summary-covid-19-vaccine-concerns/

    (emphasis added, because it deserves emphasis as well as repeating)

    We have known since March 2020:

    • Median age of (overcounted) CoViD-19 deaths is ~80;
    • 95% of CoViD-19 deaths include multiple co-morbidities;
    • Average number of co-morbidities is ~2.6.

    CoViD-19 was never a threat to the general population.  It is only a threat to those who are BOTH very old AND very sick.

    • #55
  26. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Franco (View Comment):
    He said we need only 70% and now when we start vaxxing children we’ll hit 70% easy. Only 13 million more to go, he said.

    The government’s position for 3 1/2 months has been that the vaccine doesn’t stop transmission. It obviously doesn’t stop transmission.  

    The only thing it does from a top-down public policy standpoint is keep the medical system from being overwhelmed. That’s it. That is already happening. There is no reason to vaccinate anymore people. The people with  co-morbidities have already made their choices.

    Also, masks obviously don’t do a damn thing from a top down policy viewpoint.

    Whatever their motivation, it doesn’t make any sense to do what they are doing, but I have to live under this crap.

    • #56
  27. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    • #57
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