Wow! Just saw this guy do about a half an hour on CNBC squawk box and he is easily one of the most impressive politians I have ever seen. This guy just oozes with both common sense and understanding of the evils of big government. I wish there more guys like this in office.

I am not from anywhere even near NJ and know nothing of NJ politics but this guy was shockingly impressive to me.

The only thing I've ever seen of him is when he pwns the teacher in the town hall meeting.

And he's fat, yo

I'm a fan as well. Mish has been tooting this guy's horn for a few months now and I wish there were more of these types spread across the 50 states.

Lobbyist

In 1998 Christie registered as a lobbyist for the firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci, alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for deregulation of New Jersey's electric and gas industry; the Securities Industry Association to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center for state grants, and the University of Phoenix for a New Jersey higher education license.[7]

Sounds like a man of character and principle. Go Univ. of Phoenix!

(But I could see how someone with certain views about the nature of government might like him. Hell, I probably would have liked him when I was 13.)

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Christie

I take it this is supposed to be a smear of some kind. Oh noes he was a lobbyist!

It is extremely refreshing to hear a guy say and do things that will likely not get him re-elected. He is doing them because he believes he is right. I think people are so sick of the usual politician that will flip flop around and never say anything that has not been vetted through a focused group beforehand.

Well, most of the worst people in history believed they were right. I'll take a pragmatist any day. Principled pragmatists are even better.

I saw it. He really killed it.

Best part was him talking about current federal policy adding uncertainty to markets, making it difficult for businesses. The guest host interrupted him saying that good managers should be able to negotiate uncertainty, which is true, but Christie immediately cut him off and rightly slammed him for making a disingenuous argument. The fact that there is uncertainty and that good managers should be able to handle it doesn't mean it's OK for politicians to add more artificial uncertainty into the mix.

Wow, he actually said something that made sense. I'm impressed.

Kewl, now we know it's better to elect a lobbyist than a community organizer.

It would have been interesting if they had asked him about the mosque. Has he taken any public position on that?

Oh come on.

I remember having an argument where I supported Reagan vs my grandmother when I was 12-13. She was so pissed at me, though I couldn't really understand her views at the time (I didn't understand mine either, I was just naive and felt Regan was the "American" side.) I went though a "randian" phase from like 14-15.

By the time I was 15 or so I had studied US politics, became and atheist, and come to the conclusion that life as was much about luck as anything else, that people inevitably would exploit others for their own ends, and that regulation was necessary to control the damage caused by the tendency of people to exploit others. So, ya, OP views are probably something like those I held as a kid.

Now, I think regulation can often do more damage than good, but I see that as an issue of adopting good policies under the circumstances and not, by in large, whether regulation is a good or bad thing.

fyp

Some people think of the state of nature like Rousseau and others think of it like Locke (or Hobbes). And the debate between romantics and realists continues on as it has for centuries.

COKE!

PEPSI!

COKE!

PEPSI!

LESS FILLING!

TASTES GREAT!

LESS FILLING!

TASTES GREAT!

This is a shortened version of an excellent essay on how civil legislation creates uncertainty. The longer piece is linked at the bottom.

Oh, another great point that Christie made was drawing a distinction between unions in general and public employee unions.

looks like the video of this is up

Part 1

Part 2

The "uncertainty" slam is right at the beginning of part 2. He didn't quite go all the way with it but he got the basic point in there.

Yawn...so what.
I suppose a politician that borrows money from Red China to finance welfare would be a man of character and principle? Christie is for slashing govt spending which puts him in the top 1% of all politicians. I'll take a 100 more Christies anyday...

And he wanted to reduce govt interference in energy and securities trading? Sounds like my kind of guy. Peddle your socialist views elsewhere...

So those attempting to address huge structural imbalances in our system are the romantics while those completely ignoring the huge costs our country is going to be facing are the realists.

Can someone please do a better job smearing this man than simplicitus? I have a long, bitter history of never warming up to politicians and I'd hate to stop now.

He could stand to lose a few pounds.