COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Goldwater Dinner 2010 - Chris Christie


Hat Tip: Rufus



50 comments:

  1. Jeez, he's been a Governor now, for, what, almost a year?

    Ya think we could get him elected?

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  2. To paraphrase Ol' Abe: "Find out what kind of whiskey he drinks, and get some for ALL our candidates."

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  3. from what I've heard him say, on other occasions, he does not want to run against a sitting President.

    He is going to wait, until 2016, fulfilling his responsibilities to the people of New Jersey, before attempting to "step up" to the next level.

    In 2016 the Democrats will not have incumbency as an advantage, nor will they have a "good" heir apparent.

    Mrs Clinton will be ancient and Biden will fill Cheney's role, not capable of running on his own right.
    The Democrats will be fractured.

    The GOP ready to rally to a winner, one that understands that elected officials have a responsibility to the electorate to serve out their terms of service they've been elected for.

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  4. Another operator that is an ISI proxy in the Pakistani "war" with India.

    Of course the Pakistanis deny any involvement, but reality tells a different tale. Pakistan was a military dictatorship when don Dawood Ibrahim moved there. Nothing happened there, with regards the "militants" without the approval of the ISI, not there in Pakistan nor in Afghanistan, in the 1990's.



    New Delhi - Dawood Ibrahim, named by German magazine der Spiegel on Saturday in connection with an alleged plot to attack the German parliament, is India's most wanted man.

    Ibrahim, 55, is charged with masterminding a series of bomb blasts in India's financial hub Mumbai in 1993 which killed 257 people and wounded at least 700 others.

    The bombings were allegedly carried out in revenge for the destruction of a 15th-Century mosque in northern India by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

    Ibrahim, according to India's federal investigators, is now based in the Pakistani port city of Karachi from where he is believed to run a vast crime and drugs syndicate.

    Pakistan has repeatedly denied that Ibrahim resides in the country.

    According to a US Treasury Department fact sheet, Ibrahim's syndicate is involved in large-scale shipments of narcotics to western Europe and shares smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa with the al-Qaeda with which it also has a financial arrangement.

    He travelled in Afghanistan under protection of the Taliban in the 1990s, the fact sheet said.

    Ibrahim is said to financially support Islamist militant groups working against India, including the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba which India holds responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack in which 166 people were killed.

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  5. Qaeda terrorists with Dawood's help plotting attack on Germany

    Press Trust Of India
    Berlin, November 21, 2010


    A group of al-Qaeda terrorists trained in Pakistani camps and assisted by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are planning to storm Germany's Parliament in a Mumbai-style attack, a media report has said, prompting authorities to step up security of the building. Police have cordoned off the area around
    the historic Reichstag building housing Parliament here and heightened security after authorities received a tip-off that a group of militants were on their way to stage a Mumbai-style attack.

    Hundreds of extra police have been pressed into service to protect other possible targets as well such as airports, railway stations and places of mass gatherings across the country.

    The heightened security for the Reichstag comes after the news magazine 'Der Spiegel' reported that a group of six al-Qaeda terrorists, who have visited training camps in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan, are planning to storm the building housing Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, early next year

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  6. No one runs a "vast" anything in Pakistan, not without the knowledge and tacit approval of the Pakistani Generals. Especially as it relates to terrorism and the "war" with India.

    They have their fingers in every pot.

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  7. The Republicans will be looking for career politicos with a track record of success, not career opportunists that exploit their public service for personal gain.

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  8. Chris Christie is a lawyer.

    Seton Hall Law School.

    Which should have been shut down long ago. Along with 2/3 of the other law schools in the country. We'd have a better country here for it.

    A Sicilian, he was a US Attorney, having sold out to the Feds straight out, a lobbyist, and his wife was heavily into Wall Street. He needs to gain some weight, he is thinner than my life insurance agent.

    An empty suit like this is just what we don't need for President.


    See....I can play the game too. :)

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  9. Just another fat fast talking federal pol/lobbyist pulling the wool over the eyes of the rubes, while his wife rakes it in on Wall Street.

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  10. Judge orders Gawker to remove Palin book excerpts
    By: CNN Political Unit

    (CNN) – A federal judge ordered Gawker on Saturday to take down excerpts the website posted from Sarah Palin's upcoming book until at least November 30.

    The post was removed by Saturday evening.

    In his two-page decision, U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa told Gawker to cease "from continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages" from Sarah Palin's "America by Heart" until a hearing scheduled for November 30.

    Gawker did not immediately respond to e-mail and telephone messages from CNN seeking comment on the case.

    Thursday, the online gossip website had shot back via a post that read:
    "Did you catch the excerpt we posted yesterday from Sarah Palin's new book?

    Sarah did.

    She tweets with rage: 'The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?' [Sarah: If you're reading this -- and if you are, welcome! -- you may want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the law.]"

    "America by Heart" is Palin's second book, following the 2009 publication of "Going Rogue." It is due out on Tuesday.

    Following the Gawker leak, the former Alaska governor posted on her Facebook page an excerpt from the upcoming book.

    "We have to know what makes America exceptional today more than ever because it is under assault today more than ever," she wrote. "This is my America, from my heart, and by my heart. I give it now to my children and grandchildren, and to yours, so they will always know what it was like in America when people were free."

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  11. Deuce said...
    Sarah Palin says what she thinks.

    It will be interesting to see if she stands by these comments. On balance, I probably agree with her sentiments.

    Wanting to be president is not necessarily an indication of one's patriotism as It is an interest in power. The Obama's were not interested in celebrating America as much as they were interested in changing America.

    Would Palin lose support from anyone because of these comments?

    Would she reignite support for Obama?

    I think a smarter strategy would be to damn Obama with faint praise and not with a direct attack on his wife and his patriotism.

    Palin already has her base covered. Her objective should be to broaden it. Spoken comments and opinions such as these are not smart politically.

    Let's see what happens.

    Sat Nov 20, 02:28:00 AM EST

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  12. Christie's fine, I'll vote for him if he should be the nominee.

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  13. I guess my question, raised Saturday, about seeing what happens, is answered:

    1. She thinks it illegal, that if she writes something in a book and it leaks out, it is illegal.

    2. She realizes how foolish it was?

    3. Someone told her it was foolish.

    This woman has surpassed her level of incompetency in her field of choice, politics.

    Surely, Obama cannot be so lucky as to have to run against Sarah Palin. Please don't throw hi in that briar patch.

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  14. I think almost all the gambling machines out at the Casino come from New Jersey. I'm not sure where I got that information, but I kinda think it is correct.

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  15. Those sentiments about Mr Christie may be totally accurate, bob.

    He may well be just another politico with self-interest at heart. One who has a working wife.

    He is going to fulfill his responsibilities to the people of New Jersey, and finish out his term, regardless.

    He is not going to quit, when the going gets tough.

    Mrs Palin should have edited and revised her book, in light of Bristol's great success, coupled with her lack of talent on Dancing with the Stars. Mrs Palin's published comments as they relate to talent shows and the banality of it all, striking directly at her own offspring.

    But perhaps that is the message she intended to send, to disrespect her child, publicly.

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  16. Not so fast. If Christie says anything as foolish as Sarah, he will get skewered on this site.

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  17. She's practically the first politician in the country of any account to say right out loud...PROFILE.

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  18. Her antagonism to Bristol having that child out of wedlock may have struck a deeper physiological chord, within mom, than many realize.

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  19. Obama thinking:

    "Hmm, Chris or Sarah?"

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  20. Fair enough.

    Is he for nuclear power, I wonder. Really I don't know much about him, so I should shut up.

    He does look a lot like my life insurance agent, and he's a good guy.

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  21. Sun Nov 21, 07:52:00 AM EST

    Total nonsense.

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  22. My priority is to help make Obama a one term president.

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  23. I believe that Christie will become the most polarizing figure in America as his stage becomes more national.

    Let him become a threat to the power structure as is Palin and see how radioactive he becomes.

    He's boisterous and a bit of a blowhard.

    I'm not sure he's electable.

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  24. I wonder how many independent women would come over to Sarah, in spite of her abortion views? I have no idea.

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  25. I am sure Sarah would be a wild ride. I just don't want her to take us on a wild ride.

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  26. Mrs Palin, bob, has no political account.

    She is a talking head on FOX News and a reality TV show subject.

    She resigned from her political career when it no longer was a cakewalk.

    She has no political account, she is a celebrity, like Babs Streisand or Sean Penn.

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  27. The unions, private, federal, state and municipal along with the teachers will be very polarized by him.

    Is that a bad thing?

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  28. Wrong, she's loved in the hearts of many people.

    Like Ruf says, she can fill stadiums, others fill town halls.

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  29. That on election night the fact that ROX News paired Mrs Palin with Geraldine Ferraro, that is the exemplifying truth of Mrs Palin's political account.

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  30. So can Babs, bob.

    Both are celebrities, neither have a political account.

    Mrs Palin ABANDONED hers, when she quit the Governorship of Alaska, before her term was over.

    She is a quitter, not a winner.

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  31. Wasn't Obama a uniter?

    Polarization is a good thing.

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  32. Mrs Palin relegated herself to the talking heads, the political equivalent of Geraldine Ferraro.

    With the star power of Babs Streisand.

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  33. Maybe we should just have an office pool.

    I'll take the block that says we go down in flames if she is nominated.

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  34. Mrs Palin is a "star", bob.

    No longer a politician. She quit.

    She may try to return to the political game, she may not.
    Time will tell, but time will not change the fact that Mrs Palin is a quitter, not a winner.

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  35. She'd be another Sharon Angle, a candidate that took a golden opportunity to beat an incompetent incumbent and wasted it.

    Not ready for the political prime time.

    Her book and the published comments relating to talent show television prove the point. She is disrespecting her prodigy and she may not even have known it.

    Or she did know it and did it on purpose. Just to "put down" her own daughter.

    Either one of those possible options tell a tale of a lack of gravitas.

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  36. The tag team McCain/Palin got trounced by Obama/Biden in round one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.

    It was a unanimous 3-0 decision.

    You have a chance to go with a new contender or a rematch with the bottom half of your losing team. Where do you go?

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  37. Even Romney would be a better candidate in the General Election, if he could get the nomination.

    But if the Tea Partiers hold sway, in the primaries, the Republicans will follow the Sharon Angle trajectory in the general election.

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  38. I'll take the block says she beats Obama.

    Palin was the only thing that put a little enthusiasm in the old warrior's campaign.

    They should have cut her loose, let her be herself.

    Instead, they silenced her, had her read some script.

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  39. She would have gone after Obama, tooth and nail.

    Instead, McNuts wanted to be polite.

    No criticism of his past associations even

    Can't even criticize Mr. Wright, or any damn thing.

    It was a pathetic campaign by McCain.

    She was the only ray of light in it.

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  40. This ain't personal, it ain't business, it's politics.

    McCain chose Palin, but Palin also chose McCain.

    It was politics to her, pure and simple. It was a pragmatic decision. It was not a decision based on pure ideology.

    Palin supported O'Donnell in Delaware because she considered Mike Castle a Rino, but Palin ran with a Rino, McCain.

    Christie backed Castle because he thought O'Donnell would get trounced.

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  41. Losing by 10 points in the general election, when a competent Republican candidate should have at least been in a squeaker, with a politico as unpopular as Mr Reid was, in Nevada.

    But no, Reid won with a mandate size majority.

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  42. Like Deuce said, the Nevada election was dirty.

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  43. The Palin candidate lost in Alaska, when the opponent was not even on the ballot.

    That is telling to the true political power of Palin, well, the lack of it.

    Losing at home, to a candidate that was not even on the score card.

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  44. So we have seen both pragmatism and ideology from Palin. The only thing consistent is both brought her into the limelight.

    Sarah was the first Palin dancing with the stars.

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  45. Dirty?

    That's what elections are, bob.

    That is the "real world", not the television fantasy land that Mrs Palin inhabits, now.

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  46. Is Christie pragmatist or an ideologue? I don't care, if he can accomplish his stated goal of fiscal conservatism.

    I don't care about what he looks like and that he would need one of those automall size flags to wrap himself in.

    Can he win and if he did would he bring home the goods on my list?

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  47. Bob, I admire your loyalty to her. I would be happy to join you if I thought she could win. I just don't think she is up to it.

    I would rather see her a colonel in the drum and bugle corps than in charge of a combat battalion.

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  48. I don't know how the weather is any where else, but it's cold enough to snow here, I'm turning my space heater on, and going back under some warm blankets. It's too cold out there even for the cat, who just scratched on the window, demanding in again.

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  49. Our very own Cliff Clavin, the Rat loves to find a target, personalize it, trash it...

    Currently he does that to Sarah Palin...

    Calls her a "quiter"

    Interesting point of view...

    Sound bites...

    Nothing deep..

    Just bullshit...

    Opinions are like assholes, everyones got one, and most stink...

    Sarah Palin should be CREDITED to what she accomplished.

    But that would require a mind that plays chess not checkers.

    Rat's own personality disorders run deep and sick. I'd suggest rather than attempting to talk to him (when his medication moderates his hateful rage) ignore his comments, understand his serial bullying persona..

    Just watch his Dr Jeckle and Hyde persona's...

    He will launch into an invective about the "story of O" and how I am rude crude and socially unacceptable...

    Yep, I am a sick puppy...

    I just can smell his opinion a mile a way, just like the stinky asshole he his..

    Everything he says has a deceptive bias...

    His opinions litter every thread like rat droppings..

    Little Rat opinions, Turds of the Rodent...

    Let's all remember who here actually claims to have been an "Ollie North" civilian contractor (hitman)...

    Now he will attack me...

    OK...

    I dont mind...

    I just want to remind everyone forever read this tread that the Rat and his opinions should not be trusted as reasonable discourse...

    attack away ole rodent ass....

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