Rick Snyder

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: Being Wooed As The Savior Of The Republican Party

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, in office less than two years, is being wooed by Wall Street Republicans and conservatives on talk radio and Fox News Channel as the savior of the Republican party, and being pressured to get into the Presidential race.

There has not been such a draft movement in the GOP since Dwight D. Eisenhower was successfully brought into the Presidential race in 1952.

But is Chris Christie another Dwight D. Eisenhower? Is he the “knight in shining armor”, or is he just the flavor of the month, a desperate attempt by Republicans to find a winning candidate who can unite the Tea Party Movement and Establishment Republicans, which no one else seems to be able to do?

After all the glamor is stripped from the excitement around Christie, is he the answer for the beleaguered GOP? The answer is NO, as despite what many might think, the odds on Christie winning the White House are extremely low!

What makes people in the party so excited about Christie?

1. He is very blunt and forceful in his language, but some would say overly confrontational and crude.

2. He attacks labor unions, which make Wall Street and big business thrilled.

3. He is the original “Bully” Governor, a model for Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Rick Scott in Florida, and Paul LePage in Maine.

4. He attacks public education in favor of charter schools, which pleases many conservatives.

5. He promotes budget cuts, which ultimately means the promoting of cuts in state support of social services, a popular move with the right wing nationally.

But why is he a horrible choice for President?

1. His “in your face” personality is precisely what we do NOT need in the White House!

2. His anti education, anti teacher, anti union agenda would solidify the right wing agenda in other states and harm the nation’s future.

3. His personality would undermine American foreign policy, as he would antagonize even friendly nations with his pompous, aggressive manner.

4. While a federal prosecutor in his past, he has only been Governor of New Jersey for less than two years, giving him very little elected experience, far less than Barack Obama, who had been in elected office for twelve years in Illinois state government and the US Senate.

5. He would be a terrible choice on the basis of physical fitness and health, has obvious health issues including a recent asthmatic attack, and while it could be said that we had William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland in the past, it would not be a positive to have a person of his girth in the White House.

While many would see Christie as the ideal choice, he would be a bad model for the nation’s future in so many ways, and might even flop, as Rick Perry seemingly has, once we and the party and the nation had a better look at him!

Christie is more realistic than most when he says he is not ready for the Presidency, so let’s take him at his word and stop wooing him to enter the race!

The Republican Center Trying To Save The Republican Party With New Yorkers George Pataki And Rudy Guiliani?

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What remains of the Republican Center–what the author would call the Rockefeller-Bush wing of the party–is exasperated by the Republican Presidential contenders!

They are not happy with Mitt Romney, and wonder if Jon Huntsman can become a major factor, although Huntsman is starting to get noticed and being more aggressive in his criticism of the far Right trend of the party.

So as a result, speculation is growing that former New York Governor George Pataki and or former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani may enter the race very soon, with both not discouraging mention of their names.

Pataki is the new face on the block, as Guiliani is famous or infamous for his total collapse during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

But both of them have major problems in being accepted by the GOP primary and caucus electorate. They are simply too “liberal” on social issues, including abortion, gay rights, and union rights. In the party of Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, John Kasich, Rick Snyder, Paul LePage, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, et al, how could they possibly win the Republican nomination for President?

Ironically, were they to win, they would have a real chance of defeating President Obama, but the road to the nomination just simply seems impossible.

It is, however, a sign of the recognition by the Bush-Rockefeller wing of the party that the future of the Republicans is clouded, indeed, unless they come to their senses and go toward the center, where the general electorate is!

The Wisconsin Recall Elections: Good Sign For The Future

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In the past 100 years before yesterday, there were only 20 state recall elections, and only 13 officeholders were removed.

Yesterday, in Wisconsin, in reaction to Republican Governor Scott Walker’s anti labor, anti education, and anti public worker legislation forced through the legislature, we saw six Republican state legislators in the state Senate face a recall, and two were defeated, narrowing the Republican edge to one vote, 17-16.

While it was disappointing that the Democrats failed to win control of the state Senate by one vote, needing three seats, and only winning two, one must recognize the massive amounts of money brought in by corporate interests, including the Koch Brothers, and the fact that the six state Senate districts had been solidly Republican for years, in some cases more than a century.

So winning two seats was close to a miracle, and it shows that the labor and progressive movement in Wisconsin begun more than a century ago by Robert La Follette, Sr. is alive and well.

It is a sign that when people organize and fight, progress can be made, and the hope is that the recall movement can lead to an election to attempt to force Governor Scott Walker out of office next year, instead of completing his term at the beginning of 2015.

It is also a warning to John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Scott in Florida, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Paul LePage in Maine, as well as Chris Christie in New Jersey, that the middle and working class will fight their reactionary, fascist like attack on ordinary citizens and workers!

The Collapse Of The “Bully Governors” In Public Opinion Polls

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The “Bully” Governors, Republicans in six states, have seen a total collapse of public opinion toward their hard line, mean spirited governing method of arrogance, anti labor, anti education, anti health care, anti elderly, anti poor, anti children initiatives, and sense of entitlement to do whatever the hell they want without consideration of its effect on their states! The Quinnipiac polls show tremendous declines by all six in ratings!

Governor Chris Christie is down to 44 percent support, and yet, there are those who want him to run for President! And he had the gall to tell a constituent in a public meeting that it was none of her business why he sent his children to private schools while cutting funding for public schools in New Jersey!

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, out to destroy public workers rights and social needs of the state’s population, has a public opinion rating of 39 percent!

Ohio Governor John Kasich is down to 37 percent, while Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is down to 35 percent!

Maine Governor Paul LePage has a public opinion rating of 31 percent, and has alienated many tourists by eliminating a painting portraying the struggle of organized labor historically in the Labor Department Building in Portland. He has an attitude of being in your face constantly, and has upset more than two thirds of the state by his arrogance and lack of diplomacy and tact in dealing with the news media and citizens!

And the all time low rating goes to the disgraceful Governor Rick Scott of Florida, with 29 percent rating, undermining education and health care in the state, and convincing those college professors who can leave the state, along with other talented people, that the pastures are better elsewhere, and that their children will not be able to get a decent education in the Sunshine State after he has destroyed it! The author personally knows two colleagues with young children who have decided to go elsewhere, and get out before the state totally collapses in regards to social services!

The only good thing about all this is the following:

All six states–New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Maine and Florida–went Democratic for Barack Obama, and with the kind of misgoverning of these “Bully” Governors, and the alienation being shown in public opinion polls in all six states, the likelihood is that all six states should remain Democratic, and hopefully, reverse their mistakes on the Governorships in New Jersey in 2013 and the other five states in 2014!

The only question is how the unfortunate citizenry of these states will survive the assaults on them by the “Bully” Governors!

The Crisis Within The Republican Party For 2012!

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The Republican Party, once a proud party, is in total disarray, as all the attention is grabbed by what many call the “joke” candidates who have no chance to win, and yet are promoting a terrible image for the party, so much so, that the American people are totally unimpressed!

And yet, there is growing discontent with President Obama, due to the budget crisis, the stubbornly high unemployment, and the soaring gasoline prices, but there is no valid alternative!

At this point, there could be a landslide effect toward Obama, similar to what was the situation when Lyndon Johnson walloped Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election, and in fact, no candidate gains 20 percent support in the latest polls, similar to what Goldwater had 47 years ago!

The control of religious conservatives and Tea Party activists are entrapping all reasonable, rational thought, and holding hostage any realistic, mainstream candidates from emerging!

Face the facts! The following so called “candidates” are disasters in the making in any order: Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Haley Barbour, and any others who come out of the woodwork to claim they wish to run!

The “birther” issue and the race issue and the gay issue have destroyed all of the above from serious consideration by anyone with intelligence!

The only “serious” candidates, but lacking excitement for now, are Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and really stretching it, Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush, who have evinced no interest in running, but would have to be seen as serious and viable were they to announce for President!

Any “bully” Governor, such as Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Rick Snyder, or John Kasich, would be counterproductive, as all of them have caused great opposition and controversy!

It is time for Republican leaders to follow former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and do everything they can to derail all the loonies, and promote Romney, Pawlenty, Huntsman, Daniels or Bush as the ONLY viable candidates out of a sad group of people who betray the Republican heritage since 1854–the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and yes, even Ronald Reagan!

Maine On The Road To The 19th Century: Governor Paul LePage And Labor Laws

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The state of Maine has often be seen as a state of independent minded people who have been ahead of much of the rest of the nation in many ways.

The reputation of Maine is about to be damaged irrevocably by the insanity of Tea Party favorite and Governor Paul LePage!

He wants the state labor laws to be changed, after having removed labor murals from the state Labor Department building as objectionable!

Now he wants the state to change the child labor laws to allow 16 year old high school students to work 24 hours a week, rather than the present 20. What this means is that there will be a higher dropout rate as students will have no time to study and focus on school. He also wants high school students to be allowed to work to 11 pm, rather than the present 10 pm, on school nights, another horrible idea!

LePage also wants the state minimum wage law to be changed to allow workers under the age of 20 to be paid a minimum wage of $5.25 instead of the prevailing wage of $7.50!

This would be slave labor wages in the 21st century, as no one can even live on the minimum wage as it is, and it would be exploiting young people and making it harder for older people out of work to gain even a minimum wage job!

Paul LePage is another despicable governor who represents backwardness and craziness, much like Rick Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Snyder of Michigan, John Kasich of Ohio, and Chris Christie of New Jersey!

If Maine had any sense, it should take action to remove this disgraceful excuse for a governor through recall or impeachment, as he will destroy the state with his loony, retrogressive agenda!

Police Officers, Fire Fighters, And The “Divorce” From The Republican Party

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The Republican Party is involved in a nasty “divorce” proceeding from two groups that have been for a long time proud to be Republicans–police officers and firefighters, with the unions for both occupations regularly endorsing GOP candidates for President, Governor, Senator and other political offices. This “marriage” has been a good deal for the Republican Party, but no longer, thanks to GOP Governors across the country!

Other than the military, what other occupations are more respected as there to protect all of us in America than the police officers and firefighters, who like soldiers at war, sacrifice themselves daily and face dangers most of us have never experienced!

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who recently ridiculed a police officer for having the gall to stop him and give him a ticket for reckless driving, has now signed legislation taking away collective bargaining from these loyal unions. A referendum to repeal this legislation is proceeding, and police and fire unions across the nation are actively working to overcome the despicable actions of the Ohio Republican Party, and also to work work against all the other GOP governors who are mistreating those who are there for us every day, loyal to their communities!

Even Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was smart enough to leave police and fire unions out of his legislation to to take away collective bargaining rights from teachers, nurses, and other public servants, because of his awareness of their endorsement of his candidacy last year. But many police and fire fighters marched and demonstrated at the state capitol in Madison to show their support for those public workers under attack, and made clear their opposition to such actions by the Republicans in the Wisconsin state legislature.

Chris Christie in New Jersey, Paul LePage in Maine, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and now Rick Scott in Florida have also declared war on police and fire fighters, and so this will become a major factor in the Presidential Election of 2012 and in Congressional races and state races next year.

As Rachel Maddow of MSNBC said tonight, this issue could insure that Barack Obama is elected to a second term as President, and that the Democrats could make major gains in the states and in Congress, as a result of the stupid, inane actions by Republican politicians, who will now pay a heavy price politically!

But remember, also, that the Republican Party has ALWAYS been anti labor since the era after Theodore Roosevelt one hundred years ago, and sponsored the anti labor union law, the Taft Hartley Act of 1947, which led to a half century of GOP minority status in Congress until 1994!

The Republican Party is a leopard that has never, and never will, change its spots! Once a enemy of working people, ALWAYS an enemy of working people!

When will working people finally understand and stop voting Republican?

Florida Governor Rick Scott: Obscene And Corrupt To The Core!

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Florida Governor Rick Scott cares not at all what anyone thinks of him, and will not stop his attempt to destroy any sense of decency in state government!

Rick Scott is obscene to the core, as he is now promoting the destruction of education and health care in the name of privatization!

He cares not a whit about disabled people, about poor people, about state workers, about children, about honest and accountable government!

Media inquiries about the details of his blind trust while he is Governor have gone unanswered, as he feels he has no need to explain ANYTHING about his financial affairs, despite his involvement in Medicare scams in the 1990s, paying a record fine and avoiding prison time, as a result!

Not only is he obnoxious, obscene, and arrogant, but his past record of corruption in business is now starting to show up by his executive order mandating that all state employees be required to have drug tests on a random basis every three months, and also his demand that welfare recipients be so tested quarterly, and that they pay the cost out of their welfare payments!

This whole idea of mandatory drug testing is an invasion of privacy, and an extremely expensive proposition, and since he has already demanded that welfare recipients pay for their testing, it may be he will expect state employees to do the same, although at the moment that is unclear.

But the corruption shows up with the news from the Palm Beach Post that Scott’s wife has control over his blind trust, and that she has a link to a drug testing firm, with the indication that it is that company which would do the drug testing!

So Scott, through his wife, could benefit from kickbacks and profits from the drug testing!

Is that NOT a conflict of interest, and pure corruption? But does Scott care to react to or defend such revelations? This man seems invulnerable to any critics and just goes about his business of doing whatever the hell he wants, and tells his critics to go somewhere!

Is Florida’s Governor becoming a fascist dictator, who skirts the law and is immune to criticism? Is our state legislature going to lie down and act dead, simply because he, like their majority, is a Republican?

When are we going to see the end of this nightmare against the people’s interests, and the end of the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the extremely wealthy?

When are Floridians going to rise up and say, NO MORE to this arrogant, abusive man who thinks he is above the law? WHEN, OH WHEN?

And when are we going to see a similar outrage to throw out Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Chris Christie in New Jersey, and the newest outrage, Paul LePage in Maine?

When will the American people take away power from the BULLY GOVERNORS, and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

Tremendous Swing In Public Support Against Rick Scott, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Rick Snyder!

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Here we are only two and a half months into the terms of Republican Governors Rick Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, and Rick Snyder of Michigan.

All have declared war on labor unions, public workers, education and health care, and have conducted themselves in a dictatorial manner, not giving a damn about public opinion!

But now there is evidence that, if the elections were held now in these states, after people realize what these demagogues represent, all four would LOSE!

The good news, but belatedly, is that Rick Scott in Florida, who just barely won the race for Governor over Alex Sink by one percentage point, 50,000 votes, the smallest margin in Florida history, after spending $73 million of his own fortune to buy the job, now has had a EIGHTEEN point swing in public support, so that Sink would now win by SEVENTEEN points!

This poll result is a clarion call for a RECALL vote bill to pass, and if the Governor vetoes it, he should be IMPEACHED by his own party, as it is obvious that the people of Florida are totally disgusted with the “hoodlum and thug” attitudes of this Medicare scam felon “bully”, who should be removed from office by one constitutional method or another, as he is going to take Florida down with him into another scandal or disaster similar to his illegal activities as a medical industry executive a decade ago! This man belongs in prison, not in the Governorship of the 4th largest state!

And similar action needs to be taken against Scott Walker, John Kasich, and Rick Snyder!

Disappointments With Barack Obama: Guns, Labor, And Bradley Manning

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President Obama is overwhelmed with one problem after another, and with no break in stress and tension, as the world and the nation seem to be going from one problem to another.

Already, we have seen four major issues arise in 2011, which are bound to be among the top ten news stories of the year: the guns issue, after the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona in January; the uprisings in the Middle East, particularly Egypt and now Libya, leading to American involvement with NATO, the UN, and the Arab League, and Obama’s decision to intervene militarily against Moammar Gaddafi; the Wisconsin battle over organized labor, which has spread to other states as well; and the disastrous Japanese earthquake, ensuing tsunami, and the nuclear power plants emergency that followed those natural events.

So the ability of Barack Obama to do and say everything that one might feel he should, is, of course, unrealistic, but still there are three key issues that need to be addressed at some point soon by our President.

The first is to take strong leadership on the issue of the need for some greater regulation of guns, as since the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, and the killing of six others and wounding of thirteen, we have seen the murder by gun of close to 3,000 people. If this is not a national crisis, and with the additional murders of young black youths that we see in Chicago and elsewhere, then what is? It is hard to fight the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association, but the President MUST not sit on the sidelines as gun violence escalates, and the growing danger of political assassination of himself, or some other office holder grows by leaps and bounds as the economy continues to create a crisis atmosphere in regards to jobs and housing.

Secondly, Obama had said during his Presidential campaign in 2008 that he would march with labor if there was ever a threat against the rights of workers, but he has hardly spoken up, and certainly has not gone to Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, or Florida to speak up on the issue and to confront the “Bully” GOP Governors, including most infamously, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Rick Snyder, Mitch Daniels, or Rick Scott, who are destroying the rights of public employees, making them the scapegoat, as these governors favor the rich and the powerful, and set out to destroy collective bargaining. Obama will have to campaign on labor support in 2012, but he has been slow to react publicly with adequate words and actions!

Finally, there is the issue of Private Bradley Manning, who is accused of releasing and disseminating Wikileaks information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who is being held in inhumane conditions in the military brig at Quantico Naval Base in Virginia, stripped naked, not allowed to sleep normally, kept in solitary confinement, being mentally destroyed, all on the basis of accusations, but not yet coming to trial.

President Obama made a reference to Manning when asked at a news conference, that he had been assured that what was being done with Manning was totally appropriate, but that is clearly the furthest from the truth. It is clear that his mistreatment is an outrage that the President needs to stop immediately, and it is a tremendous disappointment that he seems up to this point to be totally insensitive to what is happening to Manning.

Urgent action on all three matters is needed, and hopefully, the first will be to relieve Manning of his inhumane treatment NOW!

Mr. President, we believe in you, but you need to take immediate action on all three of the above matters!