Would Chris Christie make a good president?
Maybe. He is actually willing to tell the Tea Party to sit down and shut up and actually compromise with Democrats to get things done, so that puts him ahead of just about every other member of the Republican Party in my book. Still, I'd prefer a non-Republican president. The party is full of wrong ideas because it has fallen for its own attempts to spin the issues and propagandize the public.
Why is Chris Christie unpopular among women? Do women hate him because he is fat?
Fat? Seriously? That statement shows more about what you think about women than any poll about Christie. The question itself may indicate that you think women are so uneducated and unintelligent that they base their political beliefs on looks rather than issues. (Or is that a GWB 'good 'lo boy, have a beer' trait that so many people identify with?)Frankly, I really wanted to like Christie with his handling of Sandy, and not being so stubborn he wouldn't be seen with Obama. However, he is so concerned about his career that he would rather ensure the torture of innocent swine who live their lives in cages, not able to stand up or turn around, so he doesn't piss off the people of Iowa; he's cares so little about people in pain, he's against medical marijana; he waffles on the vaccine issue; he's profoundly ignorant about the minimum age, showing he's completely disconnected from real people living in the real world; the list is too long. Believe it or not, women have brains. We go to school, we hold down jobs (only don't get paid as much as men who do the same job), we form opinions about things that affect our lives, and the lives of others; and we actually can look at men without our hormones kicking in. To reduce poll numbers like that down to "is it because he's fat" is not only insulting, it's incredibly dismissive of more than half the US population. Not only that, it is insulting to him. Clearly the man has a serious disease. It's called "addiction". But I don't see how that is affecting his job. It's not an alcohol or drug addiction which may impede his thinking in a time of crisis, and it does show he has some serious personal problems to work out, but if we got rid of every politician by those standards, there'd be no one left. Jesus, I don't even care if someone has had an affair, like the media seems to think so many people care about. As long as they can govern, their personal life is their business. So perhaps in considering your own words and views, see if they somehow are similar to how Christie relates to the world, through judgement and lack of empathy, and that may explain more why not only women dislike him, but many men, as well.
Chris Christie just endorsed Trump. Does that mean Trump will win?
There are a couple of things that it means, or at least implies.Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee -- meaning that Cruz and Rubio have only very small, and rapidly vanishing, chances to win -- and so "establishment" Republicans are lining up behind him to share in the spoils if he wins. Christie is the first major one, but there will be more.Chris Christie would rather do anything in the whole world than actually work at his job as governor of New Jersey, and so he'll be out on the campaign trail for Trump rather than stuck in Drumthwacket doing the dull business of governing for the next six months. (This is tongue in cheek, but, seriously, he was back in NJ for barely a week before jetting off to Texas to hitch his wagon to the Trump star.)Something I don't think it means, or implies, is that Christie will be a strong candidate for Trump's VP slot. Christie is a good surrogate out on the campaign trail -- he knows a lot of Republican governors, gives a stirring speech, and clearly likes living out of a suitcase for months at a time -- but he can't deliver NJ, and doesn't help balance the ticket at all, being another blowhard from the same tri-state area. Jan Brewer, who also just endorsed Trump, is a vastly better bet for his VP candidate, for those who are placing bets.(For Trump's VP, look for a woman -- he's smart enough to know that will help defang Hillary's attacks and give him slightly better optics for female voters. And look for someone from the South or West -- Nikki Haley is the other one I'd place a small bet on, particularly since she also ticks the minority box.)My guess is that Christie is angling to be Trump's Attorney General, and then maybe jump from there to Senator -- or, if he's playing a longer game, to run for President again in 2020 or 2024.
Why has the bridge scandal hurt Chris Christie's presidential chances more than Benghazi and the email scandal have hurt Hillary's?
Because the 'scandals' in question have no comparison. Benghazi is a scandal only if you're a conservative who really needs a scandal. Don't believe me? Then find me a non-partisan or Democratic expert who really thinks this is a major scandal? Benghazi is a political battle, not a genuine scandal. The email scandal has more weight to it, but far less interest. She deleted emails? Okay, is that something I should get enraged about? Is that something that shouldn't have happened? Is it common practice? Is it illegal? Does it point to something more sinister? The legal and ethical points of document retention policy just don't rile up the average person that much. What she did may have been wrong, but the damage is so theoretical it kind of falls flat for most people. The bridge scandal, on the other hand is obvious and visceral. Deliberately creating traffic jams in one of the busiest areas in the world? And doing it for political revenge? That's both viscerally troubling (anyone who's ever been stuck in traffic can get mad about that) and unbelievably petty and bullying. The reasons for it are almost worse than what was actually done. You're angry that someone didn't endorse you in an election that you won anyway, so you make people in his area sit in traffic? That suggests a level of both malice and insecurity that are terrifying in a leader. Even if we assume that Christie had nothing to do with it, he's built a team and culture in his administration where this would both happen and be freely joked about. That speaks pretty badly as to the kind of leader he is. Unlike Benghazi, there's evidence of actual wrongdoing. Unlike the emails, there's something here that most people actually care about. It's hardly surpising that the public would take notice.
Who looks better in a bikini? Sarah Palin or Chris Christie? The choice is clear for the GOP in 2016.?
Christie. No doubt about it. He stops traffic.
Who is the most likeable Republican candidate?
I'm seeing a lot of answers from people who apparently lack the reading comprehension skills to understand the question. Jeb Bush is widely acknowledged, by journalists who have covered him for years, by people who have spent a lot of time with him, and even by his political opponents, to be one of the nicest people in politics. (Note to some other people answering: See how I answered the question, and did not inject commentary about his political positions, as was specifically requested in the question details? That's how it is done.)I met Chris Christie in 2008, and found him to be very personable, and actually quite gregarious. It's not like we quickly formed a deep friendship (I can guarantee, 99.9999%, that he would not remember me) but he would be the sort of guy you'd be happy to see show up at your table at the sports bar, to watch the game.
Will the Republicans nominate a moderate like Jon Huntsman for President in 2016?
NO - no moderates like Jon Huntsman need apply! By 2016, the US will likely have been in the grips of one of the most difficult periods in its 240 year history. President Obama squeaked by in 2012 because his administration managed to keep the economic bubble from descending into another recession. Keep in mind that the so-called "Great Recession" that accrued to the Bush administration was declared officially over in June, 2009 by the Economic Cycle Research Institute Economic Cycle Research Institute | Public Home | ECRI. The succeeding 3+ years were part of a normal virtuous cycle (read: booms follow busts) turbocharged by $6 trillion in deficit spending and expansion of the Federal Reserve Bank balance sheet by another $2+ trillion. This pervasive "meh" attitude of the American populace translated into voter apathy as there were 14 million fewer voters in 2012 than in 2008. How else does one rationalize such a poor voter turnout despite the voter rolls expanding by 10 million between 2008 and 2012? Sadly, the next four years will not be so kind to Americans.The animal spirits of the US economy have been sidelined by Keynesians that used government monetary policy to smooth poor financial decision making and risk taking. During the period of 2006 -2012, profits were privatized and losses were socialized. For capitalism to function, you must be allowed to fail if you expect to reap rewards for success. Monetary policy simply moved the bubble around under Chairmen Greenspan and Bernanke. If we look at the dot-com bubble bursting at the end of the Clinton administration, we see the bubble move to the real estate market to keep the "wealth effect" going as American's losses in the equity markets are offset by real estate gains (read: cash poor - house rich). By 2016, all this fiscal malpractice combined with unfavorable demographic shifts (read: graying population and low birth rates) will have reached a predictable, but painful end as the Keynesians will be out of ammo and inflating the country out of debt will have taken a terrible toll. Americans will look to conservative principles to right the ship by reviving capitalism in the next presidential election cycle. Marco Rubio (politician) is the embodiment of these principles as shown in this speech at the Reagan Library: