Chris Christie On The Necessity Of Compromise In Politics

From a recent Gubernatorial Town Hall, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaks common sense:

And, of course, conservatives will denounce him for it.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Al says:

    Wait. Are you sure it’s not setting up media echo chambers and demonization of whoever opposes you?

  2. edmondo says:

    Don’t worry Doug, Obama is just looking for the right opportunity to screw his supporters – and after the last four years they deserve every twist, turn and tweak he gives them.

  3. Gold Star for Robot Boy says:

    @edmondo:

    Is that before or after Obama throws conservatives in FEMA concentration camps? Because TPers would have me believe he’s just looking for the right opportunity to screw them, too.

  4. Ben says:

    I liked everything he said up until he got to that ridiculous “both sides do it” false equivalence. But since that’s your bread and butter, I’m not suprised. Other than that, he sounds like a reasonable, sane, intelligent person, who I think genuinely cares about his constituents.

    But the equivalence is hogwash. Democrats have consistently proposed compromise positions, such as always including a mix of cuts and revenue, and obamacare had quite a few parts to it that were attempts to reach across the aisle. And Obama has been criticized by a lot of people on the left for giving up wayyyyy too much in negotiations with Republicans. What inch has the right ever offered to give up in any of these negotiations in the last 4 years? What compromise have they EVER proposed since Obama was elected?

  5. Tsar Nicholas says:

    Hell, politics in a democracy is all about compromise.

    Christie is no dummy.

    The ghastly irony, however, is that when it comes to power politics the Democrats view compromise the way vampires view sunlight and garlic. How much “compromise” was there, e.g., regading Obamacare? Uh, none.

    Speaking of which, here are a few prospective compromise measures which for numbingly obvious reasons have only slightly less chances of happening as the abrogation of high rates of murder, poverty, property crimes, unemployment, dropouts and teen pregnancies, in big liberal cities controlled for decades by liberal democrats:

    – Blanket amnesty for all illegal immigrants without criminal convictions or multiple felony arrests, in exchange for a 3x increase in funding for border control and ICE deportation squads, a massive physical border wall where it’s practicable along the southern border and the elimination of writs and appeals to Art. III federal courts in connection with deportation proceedings.

    – Medicare reverts to the pre-Obamacare rate of funding, but in exchange for increasing the eligibility age to 75 for those currently between 50 and 60 and for sunsetting and thus abrogating the entire system for those currently under age 50 and a 10x increase in the max. annual caps for HSA contributions.

    – Elimination of all itemized deductions on all Forms 1040, in exchange for one flat tax rate of 25%, an across-the-board 20% reduction in spending on all non-entitlement federal programs, and Texas’ aggregate tort reform package being enacted as a federal statute.

    Compromise in this day and age is in the eye of the beholder.

  6. wr says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: Compromise is enacting Paul Ryan’s masturbation fantasies into law? How do you figure? Or is this one of those times when you deliberately post something incredibly stupid and then find it hilarious when people point out that what you’re saying is stupid?

  7. An Interested Party says:

    Or is this one of those times when you deliberately post something incredibly stupid and then find it hilarious when people point out that what you’re saying is stupid?

    That happens every time he posts anything…

  8. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    Well, maybe Christie deserves denouncing. After all, the two guys sitting behind him on the left and the right look mighty suspicious to me. Criminal types if ever I saw any.

  9. al-Ameda says:

    Generally, a Northeastern Republican is not a Sunbelt or Rocky Mountain state type of Republican. Christie should just go Independent or Democratic.

  10. superdestroyer says:

    When Democrats are talking about compromises, what they are really talking about is getting the Republicans to vote for tax increases now for the promise of spending cuts in the future. Ask Bush I what happens to Republicans who make that compromise. The Republicans are blamed for the tax increases and the spending cuts never occur.

    Maybe people who remember that the Democrats promises that all of the civil rights laws in passed in the 1960’s would not lead to quotas and discrimination against whites. Ever since then Democrats have been in front of the Supreme Court arguing that separate and unequal is perfectly legal as long as only whites and Asians are discriminated against.

    The question for Christie is when was the last time that any Democrat follow through with a compromise and when was the last time that the Democrats made a compromise that benefited any group inside the Republican Party.

    When compromise means that conservatives are screwed over, then maybe people will understand why Republicans are not excited about elected Republicans start talking about compromises.

  11. Tim says:

    @Ben

    Please, please just STOP STOP STOP trying to defend one side or the other. BOTH SIDES DO IT! THEY ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL! The fact that you can’t see it and won’t admit it flags you as somebody who is PART OF THE PROBLEM of partisan politics in this country.

  12. superdestroyer says:

    @Ben:

    The Democrats never actually propose a mix of tax increases and spending cuts. What the Democrats always propose is tax increases now for the promise of spending cuts in the future. How much spending was cut in 1986-87 or in 1992 after the Republicans compromised on additional taxes?

    Obamacare is just the first step to single payer. President Obama did not want to be responsible for several 100K people losing their jobs with a single payer system and does not want to be blamed for the U.S. become a dual healthcare system with boutique healthcare for the elites and bad public care for the rest. However, since Obamacare is designed to fail badly, the long term goal of single payer and government run helathcare will eventually become true. The only question is what happens when all healthcare workers take a pay cut and many of them lose their jobs. I guess having government run healthcare will make up for adding millions to the dole.

  13. edmondo says:

    @Gold Star for Robot Boy:

    Is that before or after Obama throws conservatives in FEMA concentration camps?

    No, it’s more like this:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/obama-senate-democrats_n_2863844.html

  14. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Tim: Please, please just STOP STOP STOP

    Good advice Tim. Try following it.

  15. socraticsilence says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: The ACA was a conservative HCR proposal, it was a compromise in and of itself- your proposals on the other hand with the exception of the immigration one are conservative wet dreams with little to no ground given to the liberal position.