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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) scolded elected officials this afternoon in a speech at conservative think tank in Washington, urging them to lead.
“Leadership today in America has to be about doing the big things and being courageous,” he said.
His comments come as neither Republicans nor Democrats have put forth plans to deal with the third-rail of politics – entitlement programs.
“I look at what is happening in Washington,” Christie said, “and I’m worried…. Let me suggest to you that what game is being played down here is irresponsible and is dangerous.”
He proposed raising the retirement age to help shore up Social Security and stressed the need to reform Medicare and Medicaid, but he didn’t offer any specifics on how to do so.
"What’s the truth that nobody's talking about?" Christie said. "Here's the truth that nobody's talking about. You're gonna have to raise the retirement age for Social Security. Oh, I just said it and I'm still standing here I did not vaporize into the carpeting, and I said it. We have to reform Medicare because it costs too much and it is gonna bankrupt us. Once again lightning did not come through the windows and strike me dead and we have to fix Medicaid because it’s not only bankrupting the federal government, it's bankrupting every state government. There ya go."
In addition to expressing disappointment with both parties, Christie was specifically critical of the president. Referring to the president’s State of the Union address, he argued that what he said Obama mentioned as the “big things” -- high-speed rail, high-speed Internet, and electric cars -- are “the candy of American politics.”
“Those are not the big things,” Christie said, “because let me guarantee you something, if we don’t fix the real big things … we’re not going to be able to care about the niceties of life, the investments that Washington wants to continue to make.”
As for if the governor will challenge Obama in 2012, Christie jokingly said, “I threatened to commit suicide. I said what do I have to do short of suicide to convince people I'm not running. Apparently, I actually have to commit suicide to convince people I'm not running."
On a more serious note, Christie added, “You have to feel in your heart and in your mind that you're ready for the presidency, and there are lots of people who will run just because the opportunity presents itself. And I'm not stupid. I see the opportunity. I see it. That's not the reason to run. And I think all too often that's why people do run.”
One last consideration for Christie, he said, is his wife, “She’d just kill me.”
Leave a Comment:
Throwing his weight around again, I see... lol
Of course when you're as BIG as he is, it's always time to do 'BIG' things...
This guy is a thug & a bully - so it's no wonder he's the new 'darling' of the right!
Feisty
The Pillsbury Dough Boy thinks he's a mafioso over in Soprano land.
Snooki has better words of wisdom. I bet she thinks he's a fat lying b!tch.
Hi Bev - Not sure if you saw this from earlier:
Bev - Wishing your niece a full & speedy recovery! You & her are in my thoughts & prayers!
If there's anything I can do to help, you know how to find me!
*hugs*
Again..... liberals doing what they do best.....
The man has good ideas but since they arent "tax the rich to death and give money to those who dont actually do anything to actually earn it" we must thrash the idea giver
No GF
I didn't. My sister is not answering her cell. I don't know her husband's cell number either. I think she'll be fine.
She's from strong stock. On Valentine's night she called me to tell me loved me, was going for brain surgery, and was always inspired by me. She's a nurse too. My sister called me that night before she drove to MN. It took us all by surprise; it was so sudden; and of course it broke my break. I immediately thought Gabby.
The tumor is behind her left ear. All I know is they removed it all which is what my sister told my brother. We are still waiting for the results.
Thank you
Love you
If only the President had the Guts to do what Christie has done..........
Make it so..... ierr,.. Git er done............... errrr.. SO BE IT..........................
WTF.......... thats winning the Future for you libbies.... A book written by Newt Gingrich......
Oh no - you two old ding bats are not making fun of a fat guy, are you?
That's kinda low, ever for you two.
Keep it classy ladies.
LOL Fiesty and Bev. Your wit and humor are a model for as all. Where did you get the idea for weight and Mafia jokes? Must admit I didn't see that coming. Perhaps a two woman comedy show is on the horizon or maybe a sitcom. Let me know.
Pillsbury Dough Boy ROFL Humor at its best!
Why are his ideas bad?
And it's the hater twin out of the gate with hateful remarks. Not all that suprising.
Feisty, this morning my daughter, saw a news clip of Mr Christie, listened for a minute or so and said, he'll never be president, he sounds and looks like a mobster. You are so right. The GOP/TP would like to have a big tough guy to bully and berate anyone who doesn't agree with them on anything.
What did our big guy have to say about these low low taxes? You know- teh ones that are lowest since 1950. Did he say they were a pretty good idea, considering the current snapshot of our financial situation?
Any bets on how long before the 'Tiger Beat Queen' slithers over here for some good old fashion idol worshipping?
Come on DBO, ever you, libbie extrodiairre understand that taxes ain't that low when you add in all those state, local, DMV, water, and everything else, right?
Good golly man, sales taxes around here just went up a whole bunch. How about yours?
Or maybe not. Bad Drive By. Why is it I get the sense yo do not live in New Jersey?
Well lookee below DBO - that didn't take long! lmao! ;o)
drive-by-observer
What did our big guy have to say about these low low taxes? You know- teh ones that are lowest since 1950. Did he say they were a pretty good idea, considering the current snapshot of our financial situation?
They're so great Gov Dough Boy thought he could snooker some businesses in Illinois to NJ despite the fact, the tax rate here will remain lower than the rates New Jersey pay.
Our Gov. Quinn told him to go poach somewhere else. I guess Gov Dough Boy stepped it off. Dunno
Did you have to say: poach? LMAO!
Well, hey Red- can you call 'em, or what?
And can you believe it? Another one posted a comment that contained three sentences, and all three ended with a question-mark. Amazing!
I've come to think of him as our own Barney Rubble! lol
I was kind of leaning to Earnest T Bass.
Beverly: coming in on this late, but thoughts and prayers to your family. I hope and trust the surgery was a success. Will be thinking of you, Love, newdayDAWNING!
Thank you newday
She has cancer. The doctors said it's been there about year. So we are trying to figure out which treatment will be most effective. A treatment center like they advertise on TV, radiation through the hospital; you know can't pull anything over on a nurse. I'm worried about her insurance.
hugs
Beverly.
I live in N.J. half of the year and almost everyone I spoke with liked our Doughboy. You may not like what he has to say but there's very little BS
There is nothing classier than making fun of someone's appearance...or more intelligent!
I don't care about his appearances, but his policies endanger the American dream. Nobody knows how to make the United States into a third world nation faster than Christie.
This scoldiing comes from a Gorvernor who once "FAT CATTED" with Wall Street, abandoned his state during a snowstorm, and KILLED funding for education and state employess?!?!?!?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?
Kevin,
The damn 'Tea Cups' were a calling!
Ahhh. Poor Feisty,
Do you see it all slipping away. the Unions falling and Failing . there time is up. they have done Enough Damage in this country. The Majortiy of the American People are Tired of UNION THUGS. we have moved on to much Calmer Seas. and Drink Tea..........
errrrr............... did i say SO BE IT yet today?
I'll see your SO BE IT, and raise you a *yawn*.
I can't say that I agree with his political philosophy, but it's hard not to like his honesty...
Their is not an honest bone in this man's body. He will lie cheat and steal if it means getting to the top. He is nothing more than a very alarming, very powerful grown up bully.
The man is the poster boy for sticking it to the middle class while enriching his already rich buddies. Why do conservatives always talk about wealth redistribution when they have been doing it for years in their favor? We are facing the worst crisis since Theodore Roosevelt's time with the robber barrons. The middle class and poor should stick it to conservatives in 2012.
Yeah, Kevin, he was on vacation during a blizzard.
So?
As to his cuts, we, the taxpayers, saw his cuts, and raised him- just a couple of weeks later, on the heels of a media blitz by the teachers union, we cut even more than the governor, by defeating 60% of the school budgets.
As Mitch Daniels has said, it is amazing how much spending you can live without. Entire programs have been defunded, and, you know what?
Most of us could not tell you what those programs were, or did.
We are pretty happy to be off the hook for building a new train station- in New York.
We are also ready to tell our public employees to grow up, because if they do not, the only inhabitants of this state will be public employees- whose entire paycheck will be dedicated to paying the pensions of retired public employees.
We are already losing two congressional seats due to declining population. Other states have better tax rates.
no joe, no bo, nj
Yeah, Kevin, he was on vacation during a blizzard.
So?
So your fat @aa governor should have put his state first instead of eating up everything in Disney World and sucking up the sun.
http://blog.nj.com/hudsoncountynow_impact/2009/07/large_bayonne-hot-dog-eating-contest-hudson-county-now.JPG
Thank you Bev for the save!!!!
How amazing it is that you beat this man down because of his weight. You the one always calling racism... Funny things about people who cry discrimination, they are usually the first to do it themselves. And just be honest, you are judging this man based on his weight, without ever considering what he said.
I'll ask you this, would you still say those things if he was black or Hispanic, or Asian?
Yeah, I thought not.
You know, I got lucky last year- I was away during every single snow storm.
Christie was lucky- so what? Do you think the governor actually runs a plow?
I know Bev is not a resident of this state, and I doubt that you are. If you were, you would know that the governor has a 52% approval rating, and 55% consider his first year a success, according to Quinnipiac. Those numbers are on the low side- Quinnipiac has a democratic bias, ( ask Nate Silver), so add a couple of points.
Even those numbers are good for a republican in a blue state.
He is doing what we expected him to do- cleaning out corruption, ( if you lived here, you'd know about the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority). Closing the budget gap without raising taxes. Taking on the unions, who are bankrupting this state.
Care to guess how many children in this state have grandparents who live a plane ride away? Quite a few. You do not like Christie? Too bad.
New Jerseyans do.
Of course New Jersey defeated education funding. It's not EVERY state that scores 100 Million dollar donation from Mark Zuckerberg. It can sure make you 'look' like a fiscal hero, though. and the timing - what can you say - it favors the political spectrum; but not so much the populace.
And if nojo is a product of New Jersey public education,...I'll just quit typing while I'm already ahead!
Hey "no joe," I guess you are enjoying making children pay for the rise of a bully like Christie. New Jersey still has some of the best public schools in the nation, but they are not as good as they were before Christie got a hold of them. Bigger class sizes, fewer teachers, less instructional time with the students and a foul mouthed governor are what you get. "Clara," that 100 million doesn't replace the BILLION he already took out of public education, and he wants another BILLION to go to private and porochial schools, even if the child is already going to those schools without government aid. What the governor really wants is to rid the state of public schools altogether and turn to "charter schools," which honestly means "education for profit," which of course gives wealthy individuals a chance to get richer with money directly from the tax payer.
THAT IS WAAAAY TOO MUCH TMI - do you think for ONE minute we give a rats ass when the last time this bitter old bat got lucky'?
We understand your old man is guilty of drunk dicky dunking!
PLEASE, in the future - keep what goes on between the sheets between you and that sucker you're married to -- PRIVATE!
NoJo,
Exactly. He was in Florida I think and New Jersey got a snow storm. (in the winter no less) The Govenor of New Jersey dosen't oversee the snow removal. It got plowed same as always. What is the big deal??
Everyone needs to stop referring to Social Security and Medicare as entitlements that are the same as other entitlements. For one everyone one of us who has been working has had money removed (no choice in the matter) with the expectation that we would be receiving a retirement. The money would be there if it were not for the Reagan adminsitration "borrowing" the money to fund black budget items (in other words money spent on things not voted on by congress). Since the government is required to pay it back with interest, the interest is now a cost. This burden should have never existed. The money was for retirees, not to be used at the whim of politicians. Cutting it now would be the same as if you were told by the bank even though you deposited your money with us and we used it for something else and now we cannot pay you your rightful return, you should just accept it.
Lets see him actually do something !..end welfare...i have taken care of 4th generation welfare recipients ?
When a law was passed ... public housing and welfare relief of 5 years in a lifetime !!!..... i was at work when the family showed up for an appointment .. on their way home from shopping at Nordstrom's... With fulll bags ...i shop at Target !
I Must Be Dreaming
Lets see him actually do something !..end welfare...i have taken care of 4th generation welfare recipients ?
You can strat with anti- socialist Welfare Queen, Michell Bachmann and the King Chuck Grassley
Bachmann's family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006. The farm had been managed by Bachmann's recently deceased father-in-law and took in roughly $20,000 in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005, with the bulk of the subsidies going to dairy and corn. Both dairy and corn are heavily subsidized — or "socialized" — businesses in America (in 2005 alone, Washington spent $4.8 billion propping up corn prices) and are subject to strict government price controls.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/michelle_bachman_welfare_queen_20091221/
When a law was passed ... public housing and welfare relief of 5 years in a lifetime !!!..... i was at work when the family showed up for an appointment .. on their way home from shopping at Nordstrom's... With fulll bags ...i shop at Target !
So.
That was their choice. I bet they weren't eating fillet mignon.
Christie is just saying in public what polite people keep to themselves, sort of like the drunk spinster aunt at Thanksgiving - everyone knows she's drunk (and crazy) but we try to make do. Everyone above the age of six knows there's a problem with Medicaid and Medicare, and that there is some sense to raising the retirement age. That's not the problem - solutions are the problem. Do you fix the problems or simply reduce the services? Do you keep a system that allows the poor and the retired to have the same/nearly the same services as the affluent? If you raise the retirement age, do you also raise the FICA cap and adopt means testing? And tied in to Medicare, you have to have real jobs with real benefits for the people you are asking to work past 65.
The President did a master stroke yesterday - Defended his budget while indirectly exposing that the GOP has no alternative budget.
If one criticizes something, at least that person should offer an alternative. Otherwise that talk is just smoke.
We need someone like Christie here in California.
I agree entirely.
What do you think about Jerry Brown?
You need someone in California, but you don't want Christie. I hear your public schools were first in the nation until politicians started screwing with them, and now your public schools are 49th in the nation.
Yep,
California and Illinois need someone like Christie to straighten out their spending.
Sure you bet, but the Dirty Democrats will find an illegal alien to cut the feet from under him. Apparently, the Dirty Commie Dems have an inexhaustible supply of illegal aliens to do their bidding. Seems like only Repubs. employ illegal aliens in Americ. The Dems are like the pure driven snow.
I was born in NJ and As I see it it is the State with the greatest population density, The most crime percapita and the highest tax rate. Go figure. Most of the mainstays of the political machine in North Jersey have at one time or another been indicted in federal court. South Jersey, (with the exception of Atlantic County) have been somewhat better but still one hell of a mess. That is the reason I live in Idaho! and we are not skinheads and white power sponsors here.
A Different Headline and slant...
Christie To GOP: "It's Put Up Or Shut Up Time"
By Scott Conroy
New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie rolled into Washington on Wednesday and delivered a blunt warning to members of his own party who were elected to Congress in November largely to reinstate fiscal discipline.
"It's put up or shut up time," Christie said during his address at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "If people who I campaigned for [in 2010] don't stand up and do the right thing, the next time they'll see me in their district is with my arm around their primary opponent."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/02/16/christie_to_gop_its_put_up_or_shut_up_time_108919.html
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Editors,
Words evoke emotions and the word "scold" does not elicit a positive response from anyone. Of course, I know that's what you were going for, just saying...
Of course you wont find a Federal level politician making any positions on "entitlement reform." It is a difficult problem and one that will surely cost the first persons to propose meaningful reform some damage. Face it, the GOP led Congress and the Democratic led Senate have no intention of stepping out first. Obama has already side stepped the issue once at the state of the union and now a second time in his 2012 budget proposal.
Give the Governor a break for stepping out and framing the problem. How about a Senator, Congressional leader or the President doing their part and actually proposing solutions. I for one would like to see Harry Reid actually do something useful after his re-election. With a six year term, Nevada voters will surely have moved on to current events by the time his re-election campaign comes around in 2016.
Christie has succeeded in vilifying unions, so he is a hero to the right in the Reagan tradition. When American workers wake up and realize they have been going backwards for over thirty years(while unions have been defeated), he won't appear so great a hero. Do you hear him mention that Wall Street destroyed over 8 million jobs in America? No, he would have you believe that unions did it. Republicans just succeeded in extending tax cuts for the wealthy, destroying any chance of moving wealth even a tiny bit back in the direction of the working class citizen.
Christi has no right to scold or talk about leadership to the President when he associates himself with Rep. John Boehner - Typical Republican and Tea party cutting of PBS and NPR funding while at the same time funding for Rep. John Boehner home district - The Republicans continue to take care of their own at the expense of the general public - The Republicans under 13.5 Billion from a program that has reduced crime 40 percent and would layoff 45 percent of one communities police force. The TEA and Republican party want gut the EPA and remove federal regulations from the EPA rendering it nothing. Rep. Boehner wants to cut 450 million and allow 3.7 million people get, suffer and die of HIV and or AIDS. But at the same time - Boehner is doing everything he can for his high-dollar cronies in his district. Boehner and House Republicans appear to have included an earmark-in-all-but-name for the new Speaker’s district in the newly released House Appropriations Continuing Resolution (CR). The CR includes massive cuts to important programs like Head Start and LIHEAP, but one thing it doesn’t cut is $450 million stashed away for the construction of a Joint Strike Fighter engine the Pentagon does not even want. This pulled from national headlines, proof positive there are lives at stake with the Republican Right and the TEA sippers. General Electric and Rolls Royce will benefit tremendously in Boehners district. It now appears that Boehner is funneling money to his own district in an earmark-in-all-but-name may be part of the reason for that. This from the leader trying cut 100 billion from the deficit, but not from his district.
Rudy .. you cant be take seriously when you spew non-sense.
Rep. Boehner wants to cut 450 million and allow 3.7 million people get, suffer and die of HIV and or AIDS.
So you claim that the speaker wants 3.7 million people to die of aids.
So let's hear your ideas about how to balance the budget. Don't tell me, let me guess, you think you can make up the 1.7 trillion shortfall in just the next years buget with by repealing the recently enacted Obama tax cuts. Remember, the one that will only raise $70 Billion per year on those making more than $250k per year.
Just another republican punk shooting his mouth off...he backs down real fast if he gets challenged ..by another man ....he is real good at talking his shXX to women ...say it to a man and see how fast you get a reaction ! He thinks people are intimidated by his huge gut !
This guys a jerk. Just talking loud and saying nothing.
What do the democrats have to offer?Does anyone talk about cutting back on the earned income(entitlement)credit?No,because they really want to blow smoke up your butts and they have absolutley NO balls!They will,however,try to raise the retirement age of those that work to support those that will never add anything to the economy,namely those that vote democrat.Just give me,give me,give me,you people scream about rich people having money,but you only think about how you can steal(tax) from them so you can spend it yourselves.Truly,the best way to help the nation is get off your sorry asses and get to work,and quit griping about rich people,which bought their way with congress and own a seat in both houses,and it may be a democrat's seat.How would you know the difference?You can't fix corruption with words.Take it out to the streets!
You see SrSmith,
If you are rich, you must also be evil. This is the liberal mindset. You can only redeem yourself,and obtain salvation, if you give most of your evil wealth to the poor. (DEFINED lazy-ass democrats who want to sponge off the working class).
Christie and others who are yammering about a lack of leadership in Washington are actually just whining because Washington isn't leading the country where he wants to go.
The GOP argument on tackling Social Security NOW because it will be out of money by 2050, is bogus and disengenuos. I say this because the GOP are well aware that we are running out of oil production by the year 2030, yet they do not want to tackle that problem NOW! Which could bring the U.S. to a standstill.
“The Peak of the Oil Age” published in Energy Policy by Prof. Kjell Aleklett, Global Energy Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden, concluded: “... future growth in (worldwide) gross domestic product (GDP) must be dependent upon fuels other than OIL if GDP is to continue as expected.
This, in turn, defines the beginning of the end of the “Oil Age,” and society will have to seek other driving forces for future GDP growth. In all our projections, future oil production by 2030 will have decreased from present levels. The world appears most likely to have passed the peak of global oil production and to have entered the descent phase. If this is the case, then the world has reached the “Peak of the Oil Age.” That is precisely why we need High Speed Rail and Electric Cars! Let's get a brain!
Also see: February 8, 2011 The Guardian.co.uk."
There is a great need for public awareness on the fact that we are running out of oil and that now we should be investing and researching into creating alternative energies and fuel. It is in our National Interest & Safety that we do so! We can not afford to let certain Political Parties and persuasions hold progress back.
The GOP want to slash Entititlements and attack the middleclass and working poor. “Well, it looks like this situation is finally getting some recognition at least from the millions who have been demoted from the comforting life style of middle classiness and the additional millions who daily hear the threat of their own impending devaluation. The descent into the lower class reality is not anything that these people have ever expected or been prepared for. It is an absolute mind blower. It consists of realities that have been totally out of the vision of comfort into which they were more than likely born and with which they had been accustomed: unemployment, after the 99weeks of unemployment, zero income, eliminating their own, let alone their kids, cell phone coverage. If they still have a house, turning off the heat in every room except the one they are in. Food shopping if they have the cash, at Costco, otherwise looking for food banks at which they will not be recognized. No new shoes. Clothes from the good-will for everyone. Forget Christmas!
It’s like falling off a cliff that has no discernable bottom. The story keeps getting more and more horrendous. Soon there is no medical insurance. You get to watch the children get and stay sick just as you get and stay sick.
This is wake up time. Time to get resurrected. Time do something about this intolerable and totally unfair and un-American situation. This is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Time to be both free and brave. That is if you want Liberty and Justice for all. This is a Soul call. This is the Big Knock on the Door that we needed to wake up.
We can and will straighten this mess out. This is not what the United States of America is about. This is not what we, when we were the Forefathers, gave our lives for. This is not the Nation dedicated to the fact that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….”
So, what are we going to do? Not just sit here and take it! ”
Tom, http://thoughtlineblog.blogspot.com/
“And, courageously they attempt to ‘break that which has silenced daring’—a silence which is akin to darkness and in which no daring voice could previously be heard. So often the din of customary sounds and words drown out the voices of daring. This must not persist. And here is the point: the essence of daring is unusual. That which is customary does not understand it and cannot express it. We cannot express daring by forever doing what we are accustomed to doing. The true daring one has to be ready for radical departures.”
Michael D. Robbins, www/moryafederation.net