Quote of the Day
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie.
“Given my last position, that I was the first U.S attorney post 9/11 in New Jersey, I understand acutely the pain and sorrow and upset of the family members who lost loved ones that day at the hands of radical Muslim extremists. And their sensitivities and concerns have to be taken into account. Just because it’s nearly nine years later, those sensitivities cannot and should not be ignored. On the other hand, we cannot paint all of Islam with that brush. …We have to bring people together. And what offends me the most about all this, is that it’s being used as a political football by both parties. And what disturbs me about the president’s remarks is that he is now using it as a political football as well. I think the president of the United State should rise above that. And should not be using this as a political football, and I don’t believe that it would be responsible of me to get involved and comment on this any further because it just put me in the same political arena as all of them.
“My principles on this are two-fold. One, that we have to acknowledge, respect and give some measure of deference to the feelings of the family members who lost their loved ones there that day. But it would be wrong to so overreact to that, that we paint Islam with a brush of radical Muslim extremists that just want to kill Americans because we are Americans. But beyond that … I am not going to get into it, because I would be guilty of candidly what I think some Republicans are guilty of.”
Parseable? Sure. Not taking a definite position? Absolutely. Pretty similar in content to a lot of other statements? Yes. Later on in the quote acting as if it’s Obama that’s making a political football out of this issue? Yes. Falling prey to my pet peeve of false equivalency (as if, on this matter, “both sides” are somehow “equally” cynically playing politics)? Indeed.
But, given that Chris Christie is a rising star in the GOP, popular with precisely the grassroots that Gingrich et al are pandering to, and would be well situated, as the only Republican governor with a stake in the matter, to make ample hay of this issue, choosing to not do so, in itself, takes balls and some measure of principle. Choosing to explicitly and for no real political benefit add the point about overgeneralizing and de facto defending muslims at large, and adding to that a read-between-the-lines condemnation of the GOP’s handling of the matter? That’s amore.
I don’t like many Republicans these days. In fact, I can’t stand about 90% of them. But I may as well stay registered R, because between Johnson in ’12 and Christie in ’16, there are still a few I could really get excited about, and who I really hope start exerting a gravitational pull in the party. And frankly, because so many Republicans have been eagerly getting themselves on my “Dead To Me” list as a result of their posturing on this issue, it’s fair to note the proud few getting an official place in my Cool Book because of it.