Looks like Chris Christie is gonna be a non-factor...

[AlexAmore]

...as I suspected.

This is a really fascinating article detailing the inner-workings of the Romney campaign when they were vetting VP candidates. The article mostly talks about Chris Christie and what Romney's aids found and thought about him (and it isn't good).


Ted Newton, managing Project Goldfish under Myers, had come into the vet liking Christie for his brashness and straight talk. Now, surveying the sum and substance of what the team was finding, Newton told his colleagues, If Christie had been in the nomination fight against us, we would have destroyed him—he wouldn’t be able to run for governor again. When you look below the surface, Newton said, it’s not pretty.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/

[specsaregood]

Good read. Thx for linking.

Also worth noting, neither of the Paul's were even considered.


In April she presented Romney with a list of two dozen names, which he whittled down to 11: Kelly Ayotte, John Cornyn, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bill Frist, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.

[AlexAmore]

Yeah, it's been the #1 story on Drudge all morning. He's always promoting anti-Christie stories. Gotta love it.

[Tyler_Durden]

And Romney was on Meet the Press this morning saying Christie would be a good 2016 choice lolol (along with Ryan or Rubio). No mention of Rand and he wouldn't include Cruz when asked directly.....

[BuddyRey]

Could someone give a Reader's Digest/TL;DR version of this?

[specsaregood]

Could someone give a Reader's Digest/TL;DR version of this?

you should read it. BUT
Although Christie is a huge supporter of the patriot act, NSA spying and end of all privacy rights for YOU, he thought that he shouldn't have to disclose the information being asked of him about all his shady past issues to the presidential team that was vetting him for job of VP.

[Brian4Liberty]

And Romney was on Meet the Press this morning saying Christie would be a good 2016 choice lolol (along with Ryan or Rubio). No mention of Rand and he wouldn't include Cruz when asked directly.....

They are doing damage control for Christie, countering these new revelations with Romney himself. Romney named Christie, Ryan, Jeb Bush, and Rubio as good GOP candidates. That same list come up a lot. Establishment consensus.

[Brian4Liberty]

Mafia style.


He [Christie] was also a fundraising dynamo, but he and his staff were overbearing and hard to work with, demanding in ways that would have been unthinkable from any other surrogate. Months earlier, Christie had banned Romney from raising money in New Jersey until Christie had given the O.K. to do so—a move Romney found galling, like something out of The Sopranos. Are you kidding me, Mitt thought. He’s going to do that? There were plenty of New Jersey donors who’d given money to Mitt in 2008; now Christie was trying to impose a gag order on talking to them? “He sounds like the biggest asshole in the world,” Stevens griped to his partner, Russ Shriefer. More recently, Trenton insisted on private jets, lavish spreads of food, space for a massive entourage. Romney ally Wayne Berman looked at the bubble around Christie and thought, He’s not the President of the United States, you know.

Chronically behind schedule, Christie made a habit of showing up late to Romney fundraising events. In May he was so tardy to a donor reception at the Grand Hyatt New York that Mitt wound up taking the stage to speak before Christie arrived. When the Jersey governor finally made his grand entrance, it was as if Mitt had been his warm-up act.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/

[cajuncocoa]

Good read. Thx for linking.

Also worth noting, neither of the Paul's were even considered.
Worth noting, but not at all surprising.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Rand or Ron were not on Mitts VP list, no surprise but confirmed.

[CaptUSA]

I think we should all refer to Christie as "Pufferfish" from now on.

[Cleaner44]

I think we should all refer to Christie as "Pufferfish" from now on.

Pufferfish is a non-factor for most Americans, unless they work for the MSM or live in NY/NJ. Christie would be the worst follow-up to Romney that the GOP could make. Rand will destroy these fools in the debates.

[69360]

He never was a factor. America is not going to elect a fat president. Combine that reality with all the dirt on Christie and he's completely unelectable.

You think IA is going to vote for a screaming obnoxious fat guy from NJ?

[specsaregood]

I think we should all refer to Christie as "Pufferfish" from now on.

Pufferfish lost my vote for governor when he came out in support of the NSA b.s. I won't be voting for the Dem. but I sure won't be voting for that gasbag.

[NIU Students for Liberty]

You think IA is going to vote for a screaming obnoxious fat guy from NJ?

This is the state that prides itself on a fair that sells fried butter. Not to mention the fact that Romney (east coast establishment) nearly won the popular vote there in 2012.

I wouldn't underestimate Christie.

[eduardo89]

Good read. Thx for linking.

Also worth noting, neither of the Paul's were even considered.

hahaha they considered Cornyn and Frist? I guess that just shows that the Romney campaign was never serious about winning.

[69360]

This is the state that prides itself on a fair that sells fried butter. Not to mention the fact that Romney (east coast establishment) nearly won the popular vote there in 2012.

I wouldn't underestimate Christie.

I'm referring to the primary. Zip, zero, nada zilch chance for Christie in that.

[kpitcher]

I still can't believe the establishment thinks a 3rd Bush would even be wise to attempt. Do they put that name out there for people to get behind someone else as "At least it's not a bush..."

[69360]

I still can't believe the establishment thinks a 3rd Bush would even be wise to attempt. Do they put that name out there for people to get behind someone else as "At least it's not a bush..."

W and sr have higher approval ratings now than Obama.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

America is not going to elect a fat president.

William Taft won.

Or maybe pre-19th Amendment America didn't care about looks when selecting a President. Who cares if someone is fat, has facial hair and/or is bald?

[69360]

William Taft won.

Or maybe pre-19th Amendment America didn't care about looks when selecting a President. Who cares if someone is fat, has facial hair and/or is bald?

The facebookertwitteremileycyruskardashiankeeperuppers do.

[eduardo89]

William Taft won.

Or maybe pre-19th Amendment America didn't care about looks when selecting a President. Who cares if someone is fat, has facial hair and/or is bald?

Repeal the 19th Amendment. (Actually every amendment past 13 should be repealed, except the 22nd but it should be extended to Congress)

[HOLLYWOOD]

I can't stand that pig Chris Christie...

Last week the establishment propaganda was on hurricane Sandy anniversary clip, MSNBC was showing Christie's patronizing of Sandy victims... now, what was unusual was, just before he was going to embrace a NJ Sandy victim, showing empathy, Christie looks to his adviser next to the camera man covering the encounter. MSNBC paid pundits continue gabbing about federal aid, etc... what they didn't notice or discovered, was the queued-staged garbage of the Christie entourage for TV propaganda, well choreographed by the government staffers and Christie for the cameras.

I put it in slow motion to show some friends & family exactly what Christie did, watch his eyesight, then the queue waiting to make the move, then looks over, acknowledges the go-ahead action "So-Called" compassion by "governor con artist".

Chris Christie, government... are such despicable fuckin scumbags, worse than I ever thought.

[jbauer]

He never was a factor. America is not going to elect a fat president. Combine that reality with all the dirt on Christie and he's completely unelectable.

You think IA is going to vote for a screaming obnoxious fat guy from NJ?

In fairness they did vote for a skinny creepy looking guy from MA who invented obamacare.

[specsaregood]

./

[HOLLYWOOD]

Christie will be installed during the GOP primaries to bleed votes from any true conservative/tea party candidates. That's always the plan... media will pump the ringers and have the idiot masses vote for the phonies, as well as media sabotaging any candidate that challenges the criminal establishment.

Anything to keep the truth from exposing the big Fascist lies of Washington DC.

[jmdrake]

Could someone give a Reader's Digest/TL;DR version of this?

He's connected to Bernie Madoff. Enough said.

The vetters were stunned by the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record. There was a 2010 Department of Justice inspector general’s investigation of Christie’s spending patterns in his job prior to the governorship, which criticized him for being “the U.S. attorney who most often exceeded the government [travel expense] rate without adequate justification” and for offering “insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification” for stays at swank hotels like the Four Seasons. There was the fact that Christie worked as a lobbyist on behalf of the Securities Industry Association at a time when Bernie Madoff was a senior SIA official—and sought an exemption from New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act. There was Christie’s decision to steer hefty government contracts to donors and political allies like former Attorney General John Ashcroft, which sparked a congressional hearing. There was a defamation lawsuit brought against Christie arising out of his successful 1994 run to oust an incumbent in a local Garden State race. Then there was Todd Christie, the Governor’s brother, who in 2008 agreed to a settlement of civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission in which he acknowledged making “hundreds of trades in which customers had been systematically overcharged.” (Todd also oversaw a family foundation whose activities and purpose raised eyebrows among the vetters.) And all that was on top of a litany of glaring matters that sparked concern on Myers’ team: Christie’s other lobbying clients, his investments overseas, the YouTube clips that helped make him a star but might call into doubt his presidential temperament, and the status of his health.

Read more: Double Down Excerpt: Mitt Romney Feared Chris Christie's Baggage | TIME.com http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/#ixzz2jhQsI2sn

[AnarchoCapitalist]

In fairness they did vote for a skinny creepy looking guy from MA who invented obamacare.

No they actually voted for a skinny creepy guy from PA who hates gays.