Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Fat Man Sang

It’s all over, as they say, the fat lady is singing.
But in this case it was the fat man, New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Last night Chris Christie sang the death knell of the Republican presidential campaign in his keynote address to the assembled masses in Tampa, Florida, and sang it well.
What a fantastic blunder for the RNC, the committee that scheduled and orchestrated last night’s Republicanpalooza. What better way to throw the election than to put Chris Christie on stage right at this time and at this moment.
Mitt Romney is the nominee and Romney’s heavy-handed rules change that negates the efforts of grassroots activists has been presented and passed by most of the convention attendees. Now, one would think, would be the time to step away from singing to the choir, step away from appealing to the ultra rightwing base whose favor the RNC has curried for sickening months now. Time to step away from the crazies and extend a friendly hand toward the alienated moderates and Independents who have yet to be convinced that Mitt is It.
But to do that the RNC had to consider a moderate to be the keynote speaker. Someone who could lift the spirits of the whole assemblage and those at home.  Someone inspirational who could move people of a broad political spectrum to tell themselves that these Republicans really weren’t as crazy as the “lamestream media” has made them out to be.
But no, instead they put Chris Christie on the stage and he proceeded to spew his stream of vile hatred for what is arguably the heartland of America, workers and other “whiners.”
 
And all of the overweight and aging white men and women on the convention floor ate it up.

My guess is that Chris Christie’s speech sent all others off screaming into the night.
On a personal note, I find it incredible that a public school teacher could cast a vote for a Republican in this next election, not after hearing the utter disdain that Christie holds for people who ply that trade, or hearing the uproarious reaction in the convention to his belittling anti-teacher diatribe.

In short, Chris Christie did in his short few minutes at the podium, more damage to the Republican brand than any  major media market ad buy, and hopefully some of my teacher colleagues were watching. 
The RNC served up a disaster last night, but quite magically, these people don’t even realize it.
In their ignorance I find my bliss.

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