Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Who cares about Chris Christie? edition

Visual source: Newseum

Behind the numbers:

Despite the media hubbub over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), the aforementioned Fox News poll finds lukewarm reaction to a presidential bid from the New Jersey governor outside the Beltway. While 32 percent of registered voters say he should run, 39 percent say he shouldn?t (28 percent don?t know). Republicans are more hopeful than others ? four in 10 say he should run ? but 33 percent of GOP loyalists prefer that Christie sit out the race.

Dana Milbank:

?I really implore you,? said the woman, after listening to Christie speak at the Reagan Library, ?as a citizen of this country to, please, sir, to reconsider. . . Go home and really think about it, please. Do it -- do it for my daughter. Do it for our grandchildren. Do it for our sons. Please, sir, don?t -- we need you. Your country needs you to run for president.?

I feel sorry for this woman, because she will, inevitably, be disappointed ? even if Christie runs, even if Christie wins. This is because it is not Christie that she and so many other Republicans want but what Christie represents: a political superman who can, in a single-bound, transform the whole mess our political system has become.

The media's sad role in covering politics as if both parties are at fault when the GOP Senate is obstructionist and the GOP House is insane continues to be neglected in favor of the Republican flavor of the month, such a huge story because Donald Trump Sarah Palin Mitch Daniels Rick Perry Fred Thompson Chris Christie will be the next President.

WSJ:

"I knew when I got into this race that I'd have my hands full fighting President [Barack] Obama's big-government agenda. I just didn't think it would be in the Republican primary," Mr. Perry told a crowd of business leaders and Republican politicians at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Mr. Perry and other Republican candidates have been criticizing Mr. Romney on health-care policy, saying the broad overhaul he signed in Massachusetts paved the way for Mr. Obama's federal law, which is widely disliked among conservatives. On Friday, Mr. Perry broadened his critique of Mr. Romney to include environmental policy.

it is unfortunate, albeit predictable, that environmental policy is hostage to GOP primary politics.

Charlie Cook:

A plethora of articles in recent days have noted President Obama?s sudden shift in emphasis back to his party?s liberal base, following his largely unrewarded dalliance with independents. What has gone unnoticed, however, is that this move could mimic the strategy that Karl Rove pursued in President Bush?s 2004 reelection campaign. When faced with a bloc of independent voters who viewed Bush with skepticism, the campaign began focusing more on expanding its base than on throwing huge amounts of resources at independent and undecided voters.

National Journal [subscription]:

To hear GOP presidential front-runner Rick Perry and some tea party-backed lawmakers tell it, the Republican position on global warming is that it?s a problem that doesn?t even exist.

That wasn?t always the case. And if prominent Republican elder statesmen have their way, it won?t continue to be.

Just goes to show you the only sane Republican is a retired Republican.

Chronicle of Higher Education:

15 Years After an Essay on Procrastination, a Philosopher Wins an Ig Nobel

ohn R. Perry is a prolific philosopher, with at least eight scholarly books and scores of journal articles to his credit.

He is also a self-diagnosed procrastinator and a self-help author of sorts, having written an essay called "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done." First published in 1996 in The Chronicle, the article established the principle of "structured procrastination," which holds that "the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely, and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important."

Mr. Perry, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Stanford University and an active professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, won the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday for the ideas set forth in that essay.

I love that guy! I'll email him congratulations, in a few years. PS I spelled his name wrong. I'll fix it later.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/oCoveRxCJs8/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up:-Who-cares-about-Chris-Christie-edition

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