Garden State Patriot

This quote appeared in yesterday’s e-mail from Assembly Republicans called ‘The Pulse.’ When I first saw it I was a little taken aback. It seemed to me to be a bit of a slap at conservatives and typical of a party that continues to stake out the moderate/Dem-Lite/RINO territory. Well, I wasn’t the only one with a reaction.

Steve Lonegan also questioned its intent. Here is his e-mail response today:

Conservatives were surprised to read the following quote from “The Pulse”, the official newsletter of the Assembly Republican Caucus:

“The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower, Quoted in The New York Times, November 10, 1963

This quote was not accompanied by a link to the entire New York Times story of November 10, 1963, so we don’t know the context of President Eisenhower’s remarks.  Perhaps he was talking about the planned speech by Malcolm X, scheduled for later that evening.

What we do know is that this quote was unearthed and published at a time when tens of thousands of our fellow Americans are protesting at town meetings and “tea party” events, against attempts by a Democrat administration to enact socialist health care and the cap & tax energy scheme.

These Americans have been called “extremists”, all summer, by the liberal media and left-wing politicians like Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

For decades conservatives in New Jersey have been marginalized and treated with disdain by the Republican establishment.  This pattern continues.

In light of current events, the thought process behind including this comment is questionable, and the judgment, poor.

We expect more from people who call themselves “Republican leaders”.

Frankly, I couldn’t agree more. I’d like to hear someone in the Assembly try to explain this one away.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Richard LaRossa has a rather scathing piece today on the Christie campaign’s strategy – or lack thereof. LaRossa chides Christie’s ‘run out the clock’ approach to the campaign saying:

Even Christie supporters like Alan Steinberg, Carl Golden, and Jeff Michaels have taken the time to add their voices to the growing chorus of concern – in writing. As a strategy, maybe we should call it the gambit of the non-campaign.  It goes like this: You get a dream candidate with a built-in lead and you sit on it until Election Day.  If the lead is big enough and things go your way, you’ll have some of it left on Election Day. This strategy was famously pursued by the presidential campaign of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a campaign run by some of the same arrogant people who now run the Christie campaign.  America’s mayor was up by more than 20 points and saw his lead erode to where he was fighting for fifth place.  These people were so sure of a victory they had the New Jersey Republican State Committee change its rules in short order to adopt a winner-take-all delegate rule for the benefit of Giuliani.

But the most shocking part of LaRossa’s article comes in a discussion about the party’s opposition to adopting the RNC platform, as well as a common sense 10-point plan called ‘The Contract with New Jersey.’

Last week, three candidates and one conservative activist went to see Chairman Jay Webber about this proposed Contract with New Jersey. Also attending was a close confidante of Assemblyman Webber.  Webber expressed shock that the candidates hadn’t followed the “proper procedures”. This is the same bogus argument he is using to avoid voting on accepting the RNC Platform. 

This begs the question as to which “procedures” were in place in 2003, when Webber challenged an incumbent Republican Senator, or in 2007, when he jumped line to capture his Assembly seat.  As I have heard in the past, where you stand depends on where you sit.

Then this gem…

According to multiple sources familiar with the meeting, an exasperated Webber blurted out: “This doesn’t help Chris Christie because Chris Christie isn’t out there running as the Republican candidate.”  Wow.  Let me repeat that!   According to multiple sources familiar with the meeting, an exasperated Webber blurted out: “This doesn’t help Chris Christie because Chris Christie isn’t out there running as the Republican candidate.”  Wow, indeed!  Ok, then what is he running as? 

So, there you have it folks. Straight from the guy who is leading the NJ GOP – our nominee isn’t running as a Republican. And yet we conservatives are supposed to ‘get on board’ and blindly support whoever they tell us to.

All I can say to that is, ‘ain’t happenin.’ Unbelievable!

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!