NJ Govenor Chris Christie – Why We Need More Chris Christies At All Levels of Government

Politico has an article with video (below) on a press conference with New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, in which the Governor expounds on the differences between himself and the press. It is, without a doubt, one of the most refreshing lectures from a Conservative to a “politically correct” press, one has heard or seen in eons. Christie lays it out in terms that leave no doubt as to who is he and how he plans to govern, and lets the press know, in no uncertain terms, that they will be faced with his particular brand of humor and straight-forward, shoot-from-the-hip style that should be bottled and exported nationwide. One can often hear the lament: “Why can’t our governor be more like Chris Christie”, and no wonder. For decades, from the President to the local dog catcher, conservatives have treated the press with kid gloves, understanding that the press was not friendly in the least, even using avoidance (See George W. Bush) when it was necessary to be confrontational. That ship has sailed, so to speak, with Chris Christie outlining the “way it is”. It can only be hoped that, when challenged for something ridiculous, any conservative, will kick it up a notch and stand up for themselves when faced with a hostile press.

As more and more average American’s turn to other sources for their news, it is not the economy, nor the Internet, nor a poor performance on the part of a news anchor, be it national or local, that is driving down subscribers and viewers, it is the transparent and obvious partisanship displayed both on screen and in print that has created a backlash.

There are more GOP and Tea Party candidates running in 2010 races (local, state and national), than at any other time in recent memory, yet one cannot find much coverage, unless on resorts to blogs, which may or may not have the whole story or be written from a specific point of view (see this blog, for example). As these candidates pick up little press (or more to the point, national negative press based on innuendo (See Boston Globe article on GOP Candidate, Jeff Perry who is running for the 10th Congressional District in MA, being vacated by Democrat Bill Delahunt. Although Perry must face a primary, the Globe decided to run a story that covers a 1990’s police incidence, (Perry was a police officer) where Perry was nearby another officer who was obviously out of line. The story is here for review. Connecting a political candidate to a “scandal” no matter how thin a stretch, is part and parcel of the type of “journalism” that is driving readers over to the dark side (i.e. blogs and alternate news sources and the GOP or Tea Party (or neither - as an independent). There may be hundreds, thousands of Chris Christie’s in the waiting, only November will tell. If this hunch is correct, then watching the local news (and/or YouTube videos of the news which, may leave out a detail or three), will become extremely entertaining.

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'