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The Spectacle Blog
As long as he remains governor, I am inclined to give Chris Christie a pass on his immigration weakness. You can only pick so many fights; taking on both the public-sector unions and the Trenton big spenders is more than enough to keep any Northeastern pro-life governor’s hands full. Those also happen to be the right fights in his state right now, much like Ronald Reagan was correct to focus on stagflation and the Cold War.
But Christie is bowing to conventional wisdom he would be better off ignoring. Even in blue states far from the border, voters want something serious done about illegal immigration. Consider that Boston Globe poll I linked to earlier this week which shows deep concern about illegal immigration in Massachusetts, of all places. And good luck balancing the budget or taking on the unions when all of those low-income illegal immigrants are suddenly eligible for the full range of means-tested government programs or to vote for Democratic candidates.
Then again, Chris Christie has so far revealed himself to be the opposite of most Republicans who toss red meat during the campaign only to revert Nixonian form in office. Christie sounded cautious and centrist as a candidate only to be a fighter as governor. Immigration hawks would be left hoping he’d do the same as a presidential candidate.
Oldefarte| 6.30.10 @ 1:53PM
I'm unsure of what Cristie's position on immigration. It's a federal responsibility and he's a state official. Since he's showing tremendous political guts/courage in reducing his state's budget deficit, that's the only thing I care about concerning him. If/when he ever runs for national/federal office, then I'll become concerned with his position on immigration. Brewer/Arizona should not be having to fight this immigration. The federal government should simply DO ITS JOB and enforce to federal laws now on the books. If the government or their administrators disagree with said laws, they they should seek a legal/constitutional solution/revision of same. Until then, to not enforce these federal immigration laws, those administrators responsible for same should result in their arrests, impeachment,etc for not performing their fiduciary duties to the citizens of this country!!!!
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 2:00PM
Christie/Oldefarte 2012.
ncatty| 6.30.10 @ 3:02PM
What "immigration weakness"? I clicked on your link expecting some red carpet program for illegals published by Christie and instead ended up back at Philip Klein's post. Based on the comments there, people are concerned about "a clear path to citizenship." Why? What is the alternative to a clear path? Amnesty for all? Stop all immigration? The path is not clear now because illegals are hoping, with some justification, that we will do some sort of amnesty as we have done before. That should be addressed once and for all, along with border security, which Christie also endorses. For heaven's sake let us turn our figurative guns on the Dem "comprehensive immigration reform" crowd and not attack a guy courageous enough to take on the NJ Dem machine.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 3:30PM
Man oh man are you my kinda guy. Or gal, whichever the case may be.
"We" will be the death of "us!" To some, you will have to resurrect Ronald Reagan form the dead and have him run.. but wait! Even to some, he wasn't good enough.
ncatty| 6.30.10 @ 3:58PM
Yes, so Amspec, Mr. Klein, Mr. Antle and some of the posters here should not start tarring Christie as "weak" without some evidence. There is simply nothing "weak" in Christie's statement .
W. James Antle III | 6.30.10 @ 4:54PM
A "path to legalization" for illegal immigrants plus promises of border enforcement *is* "comprehensive immigration reform." Nobody openly advocates amnesty -- they do so using euphemisms like "path to legalization."
Unless he was misquoted by the Politico or his "path to legalization for immigrants" is a bungled reference to streamlining the legal immigration backlog, he is taking a version of the McCain-Bush-Graham Republican/Obama-Reid-Pelosi Democrat position on illegal immigration.
But I also specifically said that even if he turns out to be wrong on immigration, he deserves conservative support for what he is doing in New Jersey.
Margie| 6.30.10 @ 5:05PM
"But I also specifically said that even if he turns out to be wrong on immigration, he deserves conservative support for what he is doing in New Jersey."
Yes, you did and I give you credit for that. Not that credit from me means diddly to you but I give it anyhow!
Red Phillips | 6.30.10 @ 5:52PM
"What is the alternative to a clear path?"
No amnesty and attrition. His position is most certainly weak because not only does he endorse amnesty, but he is also squeamish about Arizona style state action. He is wrong on both counts.
NJConservative| 6.30.10 @ 3:27PM
Umm, he is one of Trenton's big spenders. Spending in Trenton is going up 6% under this Governor.
http://www.taxpayerminute.com......budget.pdf
LiveFreeOrDie| 6.30.10 @ 4:26PM
"...deep concern about illegal immigration in Massachusetts, of all places."
It's about time. I wish every NE state could be relocated for a time to the Mexico/U.S. border. Let them experience so-called "immigration" first-hand like the 'Flood Gate States' of the southwest.
tonypal| 6.30.10 @ 5:47PM
As a long suffering conservative in NJ, I have been absolutely stunned by Christie's performance so far. Maybe it's my natural skepticism regarding politicians combined with a cynicism built up as a 44 year old lifelong resident, but I just assumed Christie would be another in a long line of Rinos, a species that inhabits the Garden State in vast numbers.
Boy was I wrong and gladly so. Christie has been everything a conservative dreams of, a guy who actually fights for his beliefs. He backs down to no one, which will ultimately win him a large and solid base of support going forward. Just as important, he enrages the right people. The teacher's unions hate the guy, but who cares. Since when do teacher's unions support republicans anyway.
As was stated earlier, immigration is a federal issue. Governors in certain states have been forced to take up the battle, as we've seen in Arizona. But this only becomes an issue if Christie seeks higher office. Given what we've seen so far, a consistent conservative on all the issues, I think it's safe to assume that if Christie has larger ambitions, he will clarify his stance on immigration in such a manner that will please conservatives. He appears to be a true believer, so its hard to imagine how he goes off the deep end on an issue so vitally important to conservatives and the country as a whole.
NJConservative| 6.30.10 @ 11:40PM
Umm, he is a RINO.
http://www.gopusanj.com/wordpress/
Red Phillips | 6.30.10 @ 5:47PM
"And good luck balancing the budget or taking on the unions when all of those low-income illegal immigrants are suddenly eligible for the full range of means-tested government programs or to vote for Democratic candidates."
And good luck getting elected in the first place. This is the key issue. Republicans who don't see how current immigration trends are an existential threat for Republicans are either naive, willfully blind or don’t care.
Yosemeti Sam| 6.30.10 @ 11:47PM
" ... earlier this week which shows deep concern about illegal immigration in Massachusetts, of all places...."
LOL.
Poetic - Justice!