Schundler endorses Christie

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Former Jersey City Mayor, and past New Jersey Republican standard bearer, Brett Schundler has endorsed Chris Christie in the New Jersey Republican Primary. In their statement, both Schundler and Christie stuck to the bland platitudes that have marked this campaign. Christie realizes he has a big lead, although it is twenty points he has yet to 50% in the primary polls, and is trying to take knees and run out the clock.

I told you so!

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Told you so. These people are actual, living breathing communists. Today’s economic directive, handed down from Barny Franks’ committee, will allow Tim Geithner to set the pay level of ALL employees at any firm who has accepted government money.

All hail Chairman Obama and his Marxonomics!

This Can’t be Happening

Author: Aaron

Hysteria? Liberals on my college campus, have stated that those that are anti-Barack Obama are just hysterics. Apparently I am a hysteric, worried about the Obama administration taking control over my life and the institutions I belong to. As I campaigned for anyone but Barack Obama during the 2008 election, I would have entertained the idea of being a Barack Obama hysteric more seriously. But after two months in office, I am not a hysteric, possibly a prophet, but definitely not a hysteric.

OK, so I have no way of backing up that I am prophet. Especially in the biblical sense, however politically I am a prophet, but I am not a lone prophet when it comes to the actions of Barack Obama. Rather I am part of the vast majority of conservatives who claimed during the “Historic Election of 2008” that an Obama administration would look more like a Castro run Cuba, than a Kennedy run United States. This past week I saw the Obama administration take a large step in the direction towards a soviet style US government. After Barack Obama fired the CEO of General Motors Rick Wagoner, my hysterical claim that Barack Obama is out to destroy American ideals became a reality.

Mark my words; this is the beginning of the end for the American individual, and American industry. I never thought I would see the day where the President of the United States would fire the CEO of a private enterprise. But then again as much as I claimed that Barack Obama would take over the United States the same way Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela, I was never being serious. In my mind I laughed off the idea that the United States could become a communist state. I never actually believed that an Barack Obama would put a stranglehold on the United States, until she peacefully submitted to her master. I told you once, we all told you that this would be a Barack Obama United States, we couldn’t believe ourselves, rather we were entertaining a notion in the back of our minds. Yet, this is happening, the take over of American capitalism, democracy, freedom, the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are all hanging in the balance. Yesterday it was Obama firing the CEO of GM, tomorrow it might be Obama firing you, or your parents or whoever he disagrees with.

Be weary my fellow Americans, don’t disappoint our president, make sure you reach the bar he has set so high. If you don’t you run the risk of being obliterated by this new age “democracy”. Liberals on campus, say I’m overacting, that Barack Obama will never kill American industry. They say something like that will never happen in the United States. Well I never thought that Barack Obama would take word terrorist out of the dictionary. I never thought Barack Obama would cap executive pay for banks or organizations receiving government funding, because even I know that if you don’t allow someone to work hard, and reap the benefits that person will not work hard. I never thought I would see the government intervene on pre-TARP contracts, with bonuses built in and try to tax those bonuses 90%. I never thought I would see those dark days in American history. So when I say that I am next or you are next I am not being a hysteric, rather I am laying down the Obama game plan.

Why should Barack Obama stop? He has the American people’s support, he can’t do anything wrong in the eyes of the masses, and he ultimately gains from every asset he acquires. No wonder why Barack Obama claims he is going to get rid of the budget, every economist says that it will double or triple, but Barack Obama says that according to his “studies” it will be cut in half. Economists laugh when they hear this, but Barack Obama is serious. Now I understand how he is going to cut the deficit in half. Every time Obama needs some more cash to pay for his pet projects he is going to take away money from hard working American’s and tell them it is their duty as Americans to pay for that pet project. We already know that Joe Biden thinks it is patriotic to pay higher taxes, so what is to stop Barack Obama from scaring the rest of America into paying off his debt.

On Sunday, Timothy Geithner, Obama’s Treasury Secretary said that “When we get through this people are going to care less about what they make”. I just wanted to thank the Treasury Secretary in advance for telling me what I will be happy with once this government created recession is over.

My friends time is running out, it has not run out, but if we continue to fan the flames of this Obama administration we will only be able to blame ourselves. Do everything within your means to make sure the democrats running the country, don’t run it into the ground. Tell your friends who are Obama and democrat supporters about this country that Obama is trying to achieve before his short four years are up. Make sure public opinion changes, it is not good enough for only conservatives and republicans to oppose Barack Obama and his soviet agenda. We need those in the middle, and even those on the left to help our cause as well. We need them to see the light of the right, only we can bring them back from the evil empire. So let’s make it happen.

So much for America

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Did you ever think you would live to see the day where a CEO was fired at the direction of the White House? Or how about today’s speech where Obama declared GM the winner and the Chrysler the loser? Government picking the winners and losers, that sounds more like a centrally planed Soviet economy than free market capitalism.

Oh well, we told you time and time again what this community organizer was all about. Better book those flights to China.

I want no part of Tim Geithner’s new world

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Tim Geither on Meet The Press:

When we get through this people are going to care less about what they make, more about what they do, what they achieve with what they make, and that will help make this country stronger.

Link

lulz. Our Treasury Secretary thinks pancea is a world where people don’t work for money but for happiness.

Corey Booker gives Corzine the stink eye

Author: Rory B. Bellows

You want a sign Jon Corzine is finished as Governor? Newark Mayor Cory Booker has no time to be Corzine’s Lt. Governor. Why would Booker want to sully his reputation by being the number two on a ticket that is a sure loser? He can stay as Mayor of Newark and keep his reputation intact for a possible 2013 run against the incumbent Republican. Or maybe he wants to wait for 2017 when there is an open seat race. Either way, running with Corzine on a ticket that is a dead loser only has downside. Ask Governor Palin what taking on the thankless job of running mate for the inept John McCain did for her image.

The Weekly Standard Endorses Christie?

Author: Aaron

The following article was written by Jennifer Rubin and seems as if it is an endorsement for Chris Christie.  You be the judge.

“New Jersey has been especially hard hit by the downturn in the financial sector and massive layoffs on Wall Street. The state has a $7 billion budget deficit. New Jersey regularly ranks at the bottom for business-friendliness. Politicians on both sides of the aisle bemoan the fact that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell “comes across the river” to poach business for his lower tax state on a weekly basis.
Other issues that have angered suburban voters include Corzine’s plan to end the state property rebate system (after promising to cut property taxes), his unpopular affordable housing law, which foists low cost units on rural and suburban townships, and the system of school funding–which suburban residents think has shortchanged their schools. A recently released state school report showed that more than 40 percent of middle school children (70 percent in some urban districts) are failing proficiency exams. And then there were ideas like leasing out the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, which one local official says “was so dead on arrival it should never have left his desk.” And in a belated effort to shed his Wall Street image, Corzine has even proposed suing Lehman Brothers and its accountant for “misrepresentations” that resulted in the state purchasing $182 million in Lehman securities in 2008 and incurring more than $100 million in losses.

Corzine does not yet evoke the same level of anger that swept Democrat Jim Florio out of power in 1993, but as one Republican official put it, “He was the Wall

Street executive who was going to make government work. But people don’t think Corzine can move the ball from point A to point B.”
Republicans outside the state are ready to pounce. Nick Ayers, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, says: “There is no amount of resources or voter registration Corzine can hide behind to protect himself from his record. The governor’s reelection is predicated on his job performance. It is a referendum.”

A county Republican official agrees: “Corzine will be trying to blame everything on the national and world economy. But that’s really wrong. For the last eight years the Democrats–and they control the assembly and the senate too–spent like drunken sailors. They don’t know what it means to rein in spending.” He notes that their fiscal management had been so bad that they were using bonds to pay for ordinary operating expenses.

New Jersey Republicans, however, have learned that an ineffective Democratic incumbent is no guarantee of a Republican victory. They think they finally have a viable challenger: one who can both navigate the Republican primary and match up well in the general election.

Chris Christie doesn’t look like a Republican savior. He hasn’t held statewide office and has only one term as Morris County freeholder–the equivalent of a member of the local board of supervisors–and he lost his reelection bid. He looks less like a politician than a high school wrestling coach. Unlike previous “self-funded” Republican candidates, he also has no reservoir of personal wealth to help get the message out.

Yet, Christie’s seven years as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney have given him a statewide appeal. Appointed by George W. Bush, he put together an impressive track record of crime-busting and corruption-fighting with guilty pleas or convictions of more than 130 appointed or elected officials (including former Newark mayor Sharpe James)–which evinces comparisons to Rudy Giuliani. He had a high-profile prosecution of almost a dozen Republicans and a couple Democrats in Monmouth County, not to mention Jim Treffinger–the leading 2002 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate before he was indicted. This has, largely, insulated Christie from complaints of playing politics with his office.

While Christie recently announced that he is pro-life (explaining that the birth of his children made a difference in his thinking) and supports banning partial-birth abortions and requiring parental notification and a 24-hour waiting period, social issues are not his focus. Instead he is going after Corzine’s fiscal record and running as a reformer–on the budget, corruption, urban blight, and education.

Christie, 46, grew up in Newark, which, he explains, now has “only 50 percent of the population that was there when I was born.” His years as an attorney have honed his verbal skills and talent for making a fact-based case. He runs through his arguments (why Corzine is vulnerable, what campaign money can buy you–and can’t–and what’s wrong with the state’s economy), enumerating each and repeating his reasons in a tight summary at the end. He rarely fumbles his lines and, unlike other inexperienced politicians, there is nary a “you know” or “uh” in his answers.

Christie exudes a sense of humor and buoyancy, mixing in stories about his Bruce Springsteen fandom with feisty jabs at his opponent. It’s a sharp contrast with Corzine, who rarely glad-hands and has been criticized as cold and remote. Christie hasn’t lost the excitement of a political newcomer–expressing a gee-whiz amazement that volunteers would pack his campaign office on Valentine’s Day to make calls on his behalf.

His argument for his candidacy is simple. “The governor has been a serious disappointment to people in the state,” he contends. “Three years ago he said he was the financial wizard of Wall Street. Now we’re in worse shape than we were three years ago–and not just because of the national economy.” At the top of his indictment is the state’s “unsustainable” spending. “We are creating an atmosphere where state spending is the tail wagging the dog.” To support that ever-burgeoning government, Christie argues, the Democrats have had to maintain an exorbitant level of taxation (9 percent state income tax) plus corporate taxes and other business fees and licensing requirements, which discourage employers from locating in the state. He vows, “I will recruit more business.”

Christie is aware that if he is to win he will have to appeal in urban and suburban areas with a problem-solving message. He ticks off his plans for urban redevelopment–”Improve public safety, grow jobs, improve education.” He recently rolled out a fiscal plan to cut spending, contain lucrative state labor obligations, create an elected state auditor position, and make use of the line-item and “conditional” vetoes.

Christie’s biggest challenge may be money. Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report observes that in New Jersey, “If you are carpet bombing the New York and Philadelphia TV markets, you can overwhelm your opponents.” New Jersey has a public financing system for both primaries and general elections that provides two dollars for every one a candidate raises. But Corzine spent more than $60 million of his own funds in his first race and has tens of millions more at his disposal. Christie maintains a brave face. “It is a reality Jon Corzine will outspend me,” but “We’ll have money to get our message out. The governor has a record he has to run on and defend. .  .  . He’ll need every nickel he has to defend his record.”

And Corzine’s resources have a downside. As a northern New Jersey Republican official notes, “People are wise to the fact he comes out of the financial world. The financial world has pretty much destroyed our economic system, the world system.” He says that the “wheeling and dealing” at Goldman Sachs that once provided Corzine with the air of financial prowess may prove a liability.

It is not hard to anticipate how the race will pan out. Larry J. Sabato explains, “The 2009 contest will be mainly a referendum on Corzine, one way or the other. Corzine will try to nationalize it and link Christie to an unpopular national GOP.” In the end, it will come down to whether voters think Corzine deserves a second term or if Christie offers voters a better alternative and credible plan for repairing the state’s dismal political and economic reputation.

But before Christie gets to Corzine he has to win the June primary, where he will face Steve Lonegan, the mayor of Bogota (population: 10,000), Morris County assemblyman Rick Merkt, and Franklin Township mayor Brian Levine. With three months to go before the June primary Christie is the clear frontrunner (leading his closest challenger by more than 20 points in recent polls) and the favorite of most national Republicans and a broad array of in-state politicians ranging from conservative representative Chris Smith to moderate ex-governor Tom Kean. Rudy Giuliani endorsed him–in front of Corzine’s Hoboken home, in an act of political one-upmanship. Other national Republicans soon may follow suit. The Republican Governors Association remains “respectful” of the primary, says Ayers, but it offered Christie a platform at their gala Washington, D.C., dinner in February.

Winning the primary in New Jersey is to a large degree an exercise in retail politics. A candidate needs to line up the leadership and local activists of New Jersey’s 21 county party organizations between now and April. Eighteen of these “award the line”–a preferential ballot placement atop the approved slate of candidates that is key to winning the primary vote. The “line” can be obtained in either an open party convention or simply at the whim of the county party chairman.

The first batch of these county endorsements, including Camden, Cape May, Union, Burlington, Passaic, and Monmouth counties, has gone to Christie, in large part because county chairmen and party regulars view him as the most viable candidate in November. His image as a no-nonsense prosecutor also resonates with local political leaders, says state chairman Wilson.

Bergen County chairman Robert Yudin and his county organization are also endorsing Christie. He explains his preference, “This is New Jersey. This is a Blue state. We need someone of Chris Christie’s caliber and broad appeal to win in New Jersey. This isn’t Texas.” He argues that no Republican can win the state without Bergen and that Christie is best suited because his record on corruption stands to be highlighted when a group of politicians he indicted comes up for trial this year.

Joe Oxley, who heads the Monmouth Republicans, thinks Christie’s combination of a “very, very successful record on public corruption” and solid retail political skills–”He has the ability to captivate a room”–gives the Republicans their best shot to knock out Corzine.

Of Christie’s opponents, Lonegan is the best known and funded. In conversation, he lives up to his reputation as conservative firebrand, dubbing Corzine “the most left-wing socialist governor” in the state’s history. Nor does he have much patience with New Jersey Republicans, branding the primary as a contest “between Trenton insiders and conservatives.” Lonegan is attempting to run to the right of Christie, putting social issues front and center and turning up the rhetoric to appeal to the conservative base. His plans include a flat tax and a striking approach to urban reform. “The long term plan for the cities is to dismantle them,” he says. He contends that people really want to live in “towns and villages.” Rather than spending money on the cities, he thinks New Jersey should be “driving economic growth and jobs and giving people the opportunity to move out.” So far it hasn’t been a winning formula, in part because Christie has declared his pro-life views but also because he is proposing a conservative agenda on the issue that matters most to voters, the economy.

The results this November in both the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races will be pored over by the pundits and political insiders. Christie contends his victory would “send a message across the country” that a “reform-minded” Republican can win in blue states. And for those straining to see the beginnings of a conservative revival wins in New Jersey and Virginia would rekindle memories of 1993 when victories by Christie Todd Whitman and George Allen preceded the Republicans’ stunning recapture of Congress the following year. While that may be beyond even the most optimistic Republican dreams, knocking out a Democratic governor in New Jersey would be proof that the Republican party still has a pulse. And if Christie is the victor, a previously unknown prosecutor will be a knight in shining armor for a party badly in need of rescue.”

I always knew BHO was an anti-liberty tyrant

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Just saw him on his “historic” online town hall say that legalizing marijuana was not a strategy to grow the economy. Is there any industry this guy doesn’t hate?

Something said on CNBC today

Author: Rory B. Bellows

Mucho thanks to Club for Growth’s Andrew Roth for picking up on this and putting it out on twitter and facebook:

“You can tax your way into prosperity if you spend the money intelligently”

anyone know who said this?

Unemployment Numbers More Proof Corzine’s Policies Driving Jobs Away

• NJ Jobless Rate Higher Than U.S. for First Time Since ‘06
• February ’09 Rate is 8.2%, Up from January ‘09’s 7.3%
• Feb ’09 rate nearly TWICE Feb ’08 rate (4.7%)
• 19,700 Newly Unemployed in February
• More than 30,000 Unemployed Since January 1, 2009

Trenton, NJ – Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement today:

“Jon Corzine promised to bring his Wall Street smarts to Trenton and put it to use creating jobs. Unemployment spiked up 12% in February and now stands at the highest rate in 16 years and at a rate higher than the national average. New Jersey ’s middle class is watching their taxes soar and their jobs disappear and it’s time for Jon Corzine to start accepting his share of the blame. Employers are leaving because of high taxes, over-regulation and outright neglect. Jon Corzine has done nothing but raise taxes, impose more mandates, and make it harder to run a business in New Jersey and the chickens are coming home to roost. You can’t provide good jobs, with good wages for middle class New Jerseyans while attacking those who create those jobs.”

Ding Dong, Card Check is dead!

Author: Rory B. Bellows

PA Senator Arlen Specter dealt card check, the method by which unions would eliminate the secret ballot to determine unionization, a death blow with his announcement that he would not support the measure. Without Specter, the Dems and their union masters will not be able to break a filibuster.

America’s top ten poorest cities

Author: Rory B. Bellows

What do they all have in common? All ten have either never elected a Republican or have not elected one in at least 20 years. Another big shocker, our very own Newark is on that list.

1) Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
2) Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn’t elected one since 1954;
3) Cincinnati, OH (3rd)… …………………..since 1984;
4) Cleveland, OH (4th)… …………………..since 1989;
5) Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican Mayor;
6) St. Louis, MO (6th)…. ……………………since 1949;
7) El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican Mayor;
Milwaukee, WI (8th)… ……………………since 1908;
9) Philadelphia, PA (9th)…………………….since 1952;
10) Newark, NJ (10th)… ……………………..since 1907.

More proof the Marxocrats and their policies are designed to make us all poor and miserable.

93 American Heroes

Author: Rory B. Bellows

—- NAYS 93 —

Akin
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett
Bean
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Boehner
Bonner
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Campbell
Carter
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Deal (GA)
Dreier
Fallin
Flake
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Garrett (NJ)
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Granger
Graves
Hall (TX)
Harper
Hastings (WA)
Hensarling
Hunter
Inglis
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson, Sam
Jordan (OH)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kissell
Kline (MN)
Lamborn
LaTourette
Latta
Linder
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Marchant
McCarthy (CA)
McCotter
McHenry
McKeon
McMahon
Miller (FL)
Minnick
Mitchell
Murphy, Tim
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Paul
Paulsen
Pence
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Posey
Price (GA)
Scalise
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Snyder
Sullivan
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Westmoreland
Wilson (SC)

Re: Final Four Picks

Author: Aaron

Rory, I’ll give it to you that it is the best time of year, especially for sport fans.  But I have to disagree with all of your Final Four Picks.  I’m going with Missouri, Louisville, Villanova and UNC.

See here at Living Jersey, we do disagree with one other.

As for sleepers, I think Western Kentucky will make a run for the sweet 16, and Texas will beat Duke in the second round. Also, Maryland is very streaky, and if they pick up steam can beat Memphis, I always look at Conference USA as a mid-major anyway.

Also Rory, how is ‘Cuse going to be able to keep up the pace with only seven players set to play.  I just don’t see them holding up.

Final 4 picks

Author: Rory B. Bellows

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! 48 basketball games over the next 4 days and we’ll be watching all of them. Since we are going to be away the next few days, here are the official living jersey final 4 picks:

Louisville, Memphis, Villanova and Syracuse.

My sleeper pick, a team seeded 5 or lower, is West Virgina. I think they make a nice run to the second weekend of the tournament.

For the record, Chairman Obama picked Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville and Memphis.