We sure could use Gov. Christie in Ireland
Posted on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 10:28 AM
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I've read a bit about Governor Christie before, but until today I had never heard him speak on the issues facing New Jersey. I caught a CNBC segment of him talking jobs and money at lunch hour and all I can say is, "Governor, will you adopt us?"Last week I argued that the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen shouldn't be hounded out of the job because he was a little groggy during a morning interview. That doesn't mean, however, that he should remain in the job.
The truth is he has to go as does his party.
In many ways Cowen is almost my ideal politician. I don't want to like my political leaders. In fact, I think some gruffness and some meanness combined with arrogance can be excellent character traits in a leader, particularly at a time like this when tough decisions have to be made and stakeholders in the status quo have to be told where to go.
If you read the newspapers you'll see many references to Cowen being angry or whatever, but mostly what I hear is waffle and conciliation. He needs to be tougher, but even that wouldn't matter because he is UP TO HIS NECK in responsibility for what brought us to our knees in the first place. He was the Minister for Finance when the country was run into the ground.
So, it's time for a new leader and a new government. Unfortunately, everyone in Ireland is already very familiar with what the alternative will look like and it ain't all that appealing. The leader of the opposition is not all that likable, but nor does he project the toughness necessary to shake up the nation, take the burden on his shoulders and lead us to safety.
No, we need Chris Christie {photo} and, apparently, he is three quarters Irish so that's not an issue. For years there was an argument in politics here as to whether Ireland was (or should be) 'closer to Berlin or Boston.' Right now I say the heck with Berlin and Boston, we need to move much closer to Trenton.
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DennisQ | Sep 24, 2010, 03:14 AM EDT
Chris Christie is a late hit kind of guy. If you're already down, he figures it's safe for him to pile on. Do the Irish need to import people like that?
It's certainly true that we've got lots of them to send to the overseas markets. A typical politician, Chris Christie didn't consider frugality a virtue when he was United States Attorney awarding no-bid contracts to his Republican cronies. He discovered frugality as a way to exploit working class resentments against civil servants.
Ireland can have Sheriff Joe Arpaio as well. Arpaio would have run for Governor of Arizona except he'd have to give up his job as Sheriff, where he's able to stifle investigations into abuses and misconduct.
It's certainly true that we've got lots of them to send to the overseas markets. A typical politician, Chris Christie didn't consider frugality a virtue when he was United States Attorney awarding no-bid contracts to his Republican cronies. He discovered frugality as a way to exploit working class resentments against civil servants.
Ireland can have Sheriff Joe Arpaio as well. Arpaio would have run for Governor of Arizona except he'd have to give up his job as Sheriff, where he's able to stifle investigations into abuses and misconduct.
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Monsoonman | Sep 23, 2010, 10:26 AM EDT
Yeah Dennis, politically unpopular to you means we are being "unfair" by being on the look out for extremists who set off car bombs and turn passenger planes into weapons of mass destruction. If prosecutors want to smoke them out of their hiding places by enticing them, so be it. They are already being manipulated by their leaders into thinking they will get 72 virgins if they kill us....turn around is fair play. Christie for US President and Sheriff Joe Arpaio as his Attorney General, then we'll get meaningful immigration reform.
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DennisQ | Sep 22, 2010, 04:12 PM EDT
I should have said the Dreyfus Affair instead of Sacco and Vanzetti to make the point that prosecutors often target politically unpopular groups for criminal prosecution. Albert Dreyfus was a French Jew who was accused of collaborating with the Germans. He wasn't guilty but the French military convicted him anyhow.
The Fort Dix Six is one of a number of similar cases in which government informants goad Muslims into committing substantive crimes. There's a case in Newburgh, New York in which a government provocateur joined a mosque looking for patsies to set up. The provocateur had plenty of cash, and promised thousands of dollars to the patsies for joining the conspiracy.
Convictions based on set-ups don't advance American freedom, they detract from it. The Fort Dix Six were ordinary working class guys who liked to fantasize about being badasses. Prosecutor Chris Christie exploited fear of Muslims to make a name for himself, just as he later exploited resentments against the New Jersey teachers' union, blaming them for the state's budget problems.
Chris Christie is a bully, not a hero. Scapegoating the teachers is a cheap stunt, as if civil servants were the reason the economy went sour. New Jersey has been proud of its first-class school system which Gov. Christie is going to ruin with his mean-spirited attack on teachers.
The Fort Dix Six is one of a number of similar cases in which government informants goad Muslims into committing substantive crimes. There's a case in Newburgh, New York in which a government provocateur joined a mosque looking for patsies to set up. The provocateur had plenty of cash, and promised thousands of dollars to the patsies for joining the conspiracy.
Convictions based on set-ups don't advance American freedom, they detract from it. The Fort Dix Six were ordinary working class guys who liked to fantasize about being badasses. Prosecutor Chris Christie exploited fear of Muslims to make a name for himself, just as he later exploited resentments against the New Jersey teachers' union, blaming them for the state's budget problems.
Chris Christie is a bully, not a hero. Scapegoating the teachers is a cheap stunt, as if civil servants were the reason the economy went sour. New Jersey has been proud of its first-class school system which Gov. Christie is going to ruin with his mean-spirited attack on teachers.
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TheYank | Sep 22, 2010, 06:06 AM EDT
SouthBendNative,
If you believe Christie - and I do - he won't be running in 2012. He gave two reasons in that CNBC interview (after the end of what they provided online): (1) you have to want it more than anything on Earth and he doesn't and (b) you have to be ready and he doesn't think he's ready.
If you believe Christie - and I do - he won't be running in 2012. He gave two reasons in that CNBC interview (after the end of what they provided online): (1) you have to want it more than anything on Earth and he doesn't and (b) you have to be ready and he doesn't think he's ready.
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TheYank | Sep 22, 2010, 06:04 AM EDT
Hey maloney,
Don't confuse me with O'Dowd. He's a Yankee fan.
Don't confuse me with O'Dowd. He's a Yankee fan.
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TheYank | Sep 22, 2010, 06:03 AM EDT
DennisQ,
By the way, simple-mindedness as you call it, may not be all that bad. Why? Because our problems are pretty straight-forward: we owe a lot of money, we're spending too much, we need to cut back and this is going to hurt.
Anything else is simply obfuscation.
By the way, simple-mindedness as you call it, may not be all that bad. Why? Because our problems are pretty straight-forward: we owe a lot of money, we're spending too much, we need to cut back and this is going to hurt.
Anything else is simply obfuscation.
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TheYank | Sep 22, 2010, 05:30 AM EDT
DennisQ,
I'll have a look at the Fort Dix case, but Sacco and Vanzetti were almost certainly both guilty. Sacco was definitely guilty. Vanzetti's role in the double murder is a little less clear.
They were undesirables - part of a bombing group of anarchists - and they were murderers. That they were Italian born was irrelevant. One of the two men shot down in Braintree was also an Italian immigrant. The real victims have only recently been remembered, while S & V have had three quarters of a century of mostly (undeserved) good press.
I'll have a look at the Fort Dix case, but Sacco and Vanzetti were almost certainly both guilty. Sacco was definitely guilty. Vanzetti's role in the double murder is a little less clear.
They were undesirables - part of a bombing group of anarchists - and they were murderers. That they were Italian born was irrelevant. One of the two men shot down in Braintree was also an Italian immigrant. The real victims have only recently been remembered, while S & V have had three quarters of a century of mostly (undeserved) good press.
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DennisQ | Sep 22, 2010, 03:01 AM EDT
As United States Attorney, Chris Christie adopted the simple-minded judicial philosophy of the Bush administration. "There are good people and there are bad people," said Christie. "Bad people do bad things. Bad people must be punished."
Christie's simple-mindedness is often interpreted as single-mindedness, which would be a virtue in a prosecutor. However, Christie exploited the passions of the day to obtain convictions in cases where the evidence was tainted by official heavy-handedness. The "Fort Dix Six" were a group of Muslims who used to practice shooting on weekends. When they took a video of themselves shouting Allah Akbar to a local Fotomat for conversion to DVD format, the clerk reported them to the FBI. The FBI then infiltrated the group with an informant who goaded them into committing actual crimes and even agreed to supply them with the weapons to do so. It's a clear case of entrapment inasmuch as there's no evidence that these men intended to become jihadists.
The case resembles the Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which a criminal prosecution was used against undesirable foreigners. Like that earlier prosecutor, the politically ambitious Chris Christie used the Fort Dix Six case to further his career. Since becoming Governor, Christie has used his prosecutorial skills to scapegoat currently unpopular groups like the New Jersey teachers' union, which he blames for the state's dismal economic situation.
Even if it were possible for Gov. Christie to replace Brian Cowen as Taoiseach, I suspect the Irish would ship him back within a month. Ireland has no shortage of politicians willing to point the finger of blame on whomever happens to be unpopular at the moment. Chris Christie would be a face in the crowd.
Christie's simple-mindedness is often interpreted as single-mindedness, which would be a virtue in a prosecutor. However, Christie exploited the passions of the day to obtain convictions in cases where the evidence was tainted by official heavy-handedness. The "Fort Dix Six" were a group of Muslims who used to practice shooting on weekends. When they took a video of themselves shouting Allah Akbar to a local Fotomat for conversion to DVD format, the clerk reported them to the FBI. The FBI then infiltrated the group with an informant who goaded them into committing actual crimes and even agreed to supply them with the weapons to do so. It's a clear case of entrapment inasmuch as there's no evidence that these men intended to become jihadists.
The case resembles the Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which a criminal prosecution was used against undesirable foreigners. Like that earlier prosecutor, the politically ambitious Chris Christie used the Fort Dix Six case to further his career. Since becoming Governor, Christie has used his prosecutorial skills to scapegoat currently unpopular groups like the New Jersey teachers' union, which he blames for the state's dismal economic situation.
Even if it were possible for Gov. Christie to replace Brian Cowen as Taoiseach, I suspect the Irish would ship him back within a month. Ireland has no shortage of politicians willing to point the finger of blame on whomever happens to be unpopular at the moment. Chris Christie would be a face in the crowd.
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maloney | Sep 21, 2010, 10:10 PM EDT
O'dowd...I can't believe I'm saying this but great atricle. Only problem is for the ilk of the lib posters on IC they wouldn't know a good man if he sat on thier heads
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SouthBendNative | Sep 21, 2010, 06:11 PM EDT
Thank You Mr. Yank. I am flabbergasted that a not leftist opinion piece was written on this site. Governor Christie is tremendous. I hope he challenges our sitting President in 2012.
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TheYank | Sep 21, 2010, 04:48 PM EDT
dmfoley628,
Too true, but we'll let you keep on commenting. ;-)
Too true, but we'll let you keep on commenting. ;-)
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TheYank | Sep 21, 2010, 03:56 PM EDT
Niall,
Undoubtedly true. However, Rasputin's dealings with the dark arts prove he was and would be a Yankee fan.
Undoubtedly true. However, Rasputin's dealings with the dark arts prove he was and would be a Yankee fan.
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dmfoley628 | Sep 21, 2010, 03:24 PM EDT
I think most people need to learn more before they spout off.
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Niall O'Dowd | Sep 21, 2010, 12:56 PM EDT
If Rasputin was a Mets fan John Fay would forgive him --he's pathetic
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