Corzine: “She would have been able to handle this Congress”

Corzine knew better

So, the former governor of New Jersey attended a birthday party for the Big Dawg and in one sentence managed to sum up everything that is wrong with the Democratic party right now:

“…Susan and Alan Patricof watched the slenderized and beaming couple kick it up to “You’re Still the One” as former New Jersey Senator John Corzine looked on wistfully. “I just wish,” Corzine said shaking his head, “I mean I knew — she would have been able to handle this Congress… but it was just Obama’s time.”

Stand back, Myiq, I can handle this.

Dear Jon, this statement exemplifies why you aren’t the Governor of New Jersey any more.  I voted for you for Senator and Governor.   After Christie Whitman left, I thought it was time for a Democrat to take control of the state and work on property tax reform.  You remember property taxes?  Those things that increase mortgage payments by roughly 50%?  Yeah, the voters of NJ expected you to do something about that, like adopt a more Pennsylvania like tax system.  You know, spread the responsibility, move towards a more equitable income tax solution, or hit your buds to pony up more, maybe consolidate some municipalities so they shared services, work with the teacher’s unions to make sure teachers proved themselves before they got tenure.  You know, stuff like that.  But you examined the problem only briefly, threw up your hands and declared yourself powerless and expected us to just kind of suck it up and vote for you again.

It reminds me of some of Obama’s legislative “victories”.  His supporters say he’s powerless to influence the big bad, nasty, wasty Republicans so his proposals are weak tea and do nothing to alleviate the suffering of millions of Americans.  But, Golly!, he certainly has a record of legislative accomplishments, doesn’t he?  No one since FDR has dones so much.  I guess all that Civil Rights legislation and Great Society stuff and Medicare doesn’t count.  LBJ must be rolling in his grave.  But isn’t Reagan delicious??

But I digress.  Let’s look at what your statement actually says.  We’ll break it down for the slow witted.

1.) “I knew — she would have been able to handle this Congress”.  That’s a very interesting admission, Jon.  Presumably, you had insight into Hillary’s capacity to govern because you had seen her in action.  You were in the Senate at roughly the same time.  You worked with her.  And she would have had a very powerful mentor at her side at all times who she could have asked for advice.  Initially, you were a Clinton Superdelegate.  That’s because even you could see that after eight years of George Bush’s devastating disaster of a presidency, the country was going to need a responsible, capable, experienced leader to clean up.  It would have been a thankless job too.  Because avoiding a financial crisis like the one we have now wouldn’t have the same impact as fixing it now that the economy is totally broken.  If Hillary had been elected and structured the TARP in such a way that the big banks had been taken over, that homeowners had been able to keep their houses and paid the banks on time and real, ready-to-go infrastructure projects had put people back to work, she would have just looked like a good president.  If we elect her in 2012 and she does all of these things, she will look absolutely Rooseveltesque!  Obama might not like that much but, trust me, the American people will love it.

2.) “…but it was just Obama’s time.”  No, Jon, it was OUR time.  That is, the American people’s time.  It was time for us to stop being terrified of scary Muslims.  It was our time to stop the slide of the middle class towards destitution.  It was our time to invest in infrastructure and our future.  We needed a leader who was ready and able to help us do that.  It wasn’t feminists’ time or African Americans’ time.  The prize of the presidency of the United States was not a personal accomplishment for Barack Obama.  He wasn’t ready for a commitment as big as this one.  And this is where you made your fatal mistake.

Where the hell do you get off substituting your opinion for expressed wishes of the voters of your state?  As a superdelegate, you can do whatever fool thing you want with your vote.  But you don’t have the right to take the primary results of millions of people of the state you govern and dump them in nearest waste paper receptacle because you are dazzled by a Wall Street shmoozer who thinks it is his destiny to rule the world.  You may have thought the local Democratic machine wouldn’t stand in your way if you did it anyway but the voters had the right to hold you accountable for your lack of effort and your bad judgment.  That’s why you’re not Governor anymore.

If there’s anyone to blame for Chris Christie’s win in NJ, it’s YOU, Jon.  All you had to do was act like you actually cared about the voters in your state.  Instead, you behaved with arrogance, detachment and wrong headed stupidity.  You saddled a lot of New Jersey residents with taxes they struggle to pay and you deprived them of a voice in the most crucial election of their lifetimes.  And for that, the voters held you personally responsible.

And that’s going to happen to Congress this fall.

Thanks for nothing.

BTW, Happy Belated Birthday, Bill.

(And so’s your wife)

Trying to stick a “Far Left” label on Righteous Indignation

The New York Times Opinionator blog aggregator has detected a nascent revolt in the Democratic party.  The Times is only 18 months late.  The PUMAs were ahead of the curve the day the DNC RBC knifed its own voters and installed Barack Obama as the nominee over the objections of slightly more than half of the Democratic primary voters.  I’ll get back to why this moment was important.  The Opinionator follows up on this week’s off-off-year election results and reports that it appears that the Democrats are losing their far left flank.

(First, they came for the so-called “Reagan Democrats”, then they came for the women and the gays.)

Can I just say what a stupid narrative this is?  Sometimes, I read this crap in the paper and I think, do these reporters just take dictation from Rahm Emannuel or do they make this $^&* up to conform to their view of the world where things have to go into neat little boxes?

What the hell is the far-left anyway?  If you believe that equal treatment under the law should apply to all citizens regardless of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, race, creed or disability because they are all persons born with unalienable rights, that is hardly a “far left” position.  Isn’t that a uniquely American position?  Didn’t we all pledge allegiance to the flag that promised “liberty and justice for all”?  And if that is true, doesn’t that put us on the side of everything that is good about America and those that oppose those things horribly mislead?

My idea of “far-left” is based on my childhood impressions of news reports of the Weather Underground and defenders of Karl Marx.  Far lefties, to me, are people who are rigid ideologues who want to enforce some strange form of a socialist utopian nanny state on the rest of us. And I am referring to a REAL communist-socialist state, not some bizarre Republican  misinterpretation of one. Far lefties are militant pacifists.  They hang out in trees and feed their children macrobiotic organic fruititarian diets.  They are green Martha Stewart’s who think everyone has time to grow their own clothes and walk to work.   They’re people who can’t be reasoned with.  They’re oblivious to real life and are as fundamentalist in their world view as the religious right.

The closest I can find to a far-lefty these days is the Obot who still thinks that the main problem plaguing the country right now is the issue of race.  Where have these people been in the last year?  Did they miss that sincerely awe inspiring election of the first African-American for president?  Don’t they know what the unemployment rate is? Have they tried to find jobs lately?  Feed their kids?  Pay for a doctor?  Save for college?  They’re stuck with the mindset that we are not finished with their teachable moment on race as if all other oppressed demographic groups don’t have  grievances that need to be addressed.  If only we would let go of our prejudices, which for the most part do not exist on the center-left, President Obama could get on with his job and we’ll all be happier. Anyone who opposes Obama doesn’t have a legitimate reason for doing so.  They’re just racists or stupid old women.  That’s the far-left.  They are so stuck in the weeds of their own perfect world they are incapable of seeing the floor torn out from beneath their feet by the big business friends of Obama who installed him in office.

Let’s talk about those big business friends of Obama.  They were in control of the primary and general election season last year.  I think we can all see that in retrospect.  Raise your hand if that isn’t perfectly clear to you by now.  Their massive infusions of cash bought the Democratic National Committee, which unbeknownst to the average voter was up for sale.  The Democratic National Committee violated just about every principle it stood for in order to install Obama as the nominee including dumping millions of Hillary Clinton’s voters.  I’m going to keep harping on this until the Times boys get it.  The party dumped its base last year.   That is why there is trouble brewing in the party.  Some of us have left the party over what happened last year.  You just didn’t see it in the presidential election because the economy tanked.

Apparently, that “some of us” made the difference in NJ.  It isn’t that there were so many more voters voting Republican in NJ.  There weren’t.  It’s that Democrats just didn’t turn out or that the truly disgusted ones, such as myself, voted for a fiscally responsible, socially liberal Chris Daggett.  Now, some may argue that Corzine lost due to local issues.  And that is true.  But the reason he was such a failure at resolving local issues is because he is typical of the kind of Democratic politician we’ve become accustomed to voting for in the Democratic party.  He is beholden to the status quo and big money, a compromiser, an incrementalist, insufficiently bold, doesn’t look out for the middle class and all too willing to ignore the voters when their will is inconvenient to him.

Who does that sound like?

The party has lost its way and now that enough of its voters know that the party is no longer listening to them, there have been defections.  And let’s not mistake who the defectors are.  Most of us are FDR, Clinton style Democrats, moderate to  liberal but hardly “far-left”.  We’re in Paul Krugman’s camp.  Recently, some of the feminist Obama supporters have woken up and smelled the coffee.  We welcome them and only regret that they weren’t paying attention last year when references to abortion and reproductive rights were scrubbed from Democratic candidates web sites. (Read past the quote) They ridiculed the PUMAs last year.  They’re starting to sound just like them now.  Gay voters have been wary of Obama since he rolled out  Donny McClurkin but many fell prey to the “Obama is an historic candidate but Hillary Clinton is an old bitch” propaganda.  Do they now regret their over the top rants against her? Is it possible that she was just a legitimate candidate who stood for traditional core Democratic principles and was not sent by Satan to rain on Barack Obama’s glorious golden specialness?  Is it possible that her supporters deserved to be treated like persons and their votes respected?

The party’s civil war started the day the RBC tossed our votes out, May 31, 2008.  The day they made one candidate’s voters more equal than the others, the day they violated every principle they had over voting rights, the day they selectively broke and enforced their rules and decided to not listen to their voters, and got away with it, was the day the party started down the path to disunity.  It only took some time before the Obama cheerleaders realized that they had given the party permission to completely ignore them in the future.  And now the party should not be surprised that they have a civil war on their hands.

Bring. It. On.

 

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Election Night Blogging II: Christie is NJ’s New Governor

Well, it looks like this is not a good night for the Democrats or the current occupant of the White House.  Republicans have won the governor’s mansion in VA, Gracie Mansion in NYC and it looks like they are going to pick up Drumthwackit in New Jersey as well. (It’s official,  Christie won.  No, I’m not thrilled.)

Corzine’s loss should have Obama peeing his pants right now,  Those of us who voted for Corzine in 2005 thought we were voting for a financially savvy, socially liberal Democrat who would fix New Jersey’s egregious property tax system.  Corzine came to office blessed with a Democratic Assembly.  And yet, he did virtually nothing about the property tax issue.  He shuffled some things around and made incremental changes.  Then, he walked away from the issue early in his term and has spent the last four years coasting on the fact that he’s a Democrat.

But it is the glacial incrementalism that is doing him in.  He was elected with the same expectation of hope and change that swept Obama into office.  And what we got instead was the status quo and a placeholder.  New Jerseyans are really struggling to pay these taxes and if Corzine can’t be bothered to do something, he’ll be replaced by the Republican who at least promises to not raise them.

I thought Daggett was great candidate.  He was impressive in debate, had some realistic plans for reforming government that demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge of how our state works and he had a sunny, optimistic personality.  What he didn’t have was a major party or party identification that would give him a fair ballot position.  If you want to see how bad his ballot position was and how the odds were stacked against him, check out this page of county by county ballots.   The New York Times barely mentioned him in their campaign coverage and major polls rarely included him.  It was almost as if he wasn’t there.  Yet he was the only third party candidate who qualified for public funds.  I just hope that he doesn’t get discouraged by his numbers.  I’d vote for him again in a heartbeat.  Run, Daggett, Run!

And all you Obots out there?  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!

The Supernanny Inspired Guide to Politics: Vote for Daggett

Voters’ Meeting

I have spent some time observing your country, taken a look around.  First, I’d like to say that you are the owners of a wonderful country.  It is bright, vibrant, diverse.  It has a lot of potential.

However…

You are letting your politicians walk all over you.  They ignore you when you tell them what to do.  They laugh at you when you express your displeasure.  They hang around with people who you have forbidden them to talk to.  They behave as if your vote doesn’t count.  And you let them get away with it.  When they scream and cry for money, you give it to them.  When they accuse you of being “old, stupid, reactionary, Republican, racist, terrorists”, you vote for them anyway.  And in all that time, they have made only half-hearted efforts to clean up the environment and make the tax system more fair.  They think you’re not serious about health care reform, financial regulation and giving you the best educational system in the world.  They fight- *constantly*- with each other and other countries.

And they will continue to do this because they think you are total pushovers.  You have not enforced any discipline in your politicians.  You let them get away with everything.  If you want your country and control back, something’s got to change.  You have to be willing to step up and make some changes.  Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and put this country back in order?

Step One: Laying down the rules

The first thing we need to do is tell the politicians what we want and then deliver that message clearly and unambiguously.  If politicians aren’t delivering the results you want, it could be because you are sending them mixed messages.  You need to establish what kind of government you want and then stick with it.  You have to figure out what you value and put it into  words.  Your politicians’ noisy friends will try to distract you whilst you are thinking about this.  So, I recommend you shut the TV off whilst you are composing your set of rules based on your beliefs.  You can use our credo as an example

Second, deliver these values and rules to your politician.  Your politician now has no excuse for ignoring you.  You have told him/her what you expect and there should be no confusion about it from this point forward.

Step Two: Discipline

This step will require a committment from you because it will take some time before your politician gets it.

If your politician is not following your rules and living up to your values, you should immediately issue them a warning.  Call your politician’s or party’s office or meet them in person.  Use your authoritative voice and say, “I don’t like what you’re doing.  If you do not stop, I will put you in the Naughty Spot for your next term of office.”  If your politician does not comply, put him/her in the Naughty Spot.  For a Congressman, this is two years; for a Senator, six years; for a Governor, four years, etc.

When the politician attempts to get out of the Naughty Spot, calmly put them back on the Spot.  Do not attempt to argue with them if they make a fuss.  Simply repeat the reasons why you have taken the steps you are taking: They knew the rules.  They made an infraction.  You warned them.  They are being disciplined.  If they want off the Naughty Spot, they have agree to listen to you and to apologize to you.

In order for this to work, the Voter has to present a united front with other voters.  You have to have the courage to enforce the rule.  This is your responsibility as citizens.  You can’t run away from your responsibilities and expect that someone else is going to keep your politicians in line or that they will do it themselves.  They need your guidance and committment and they will comply much more quickly when they see you mean business and that voters are backing each other up.

This will not be easy.  It will take time and persistence.  You will feel like you’re not getting anywhere for awhile.  But stick with it.  Throwing a few of them on the Naughty Spot will focus their attention more effectively than you think.  Before you know it, they will be much more cooperative and life more harmonious with your values.

Here is your first opportunity, voters of New Jersey.  Neither Chris Christie or Jon Corzine has behaved in a manner worthy of your vote.  They both represent parties that have taken you for granted and will continue to do so for four years.  Chris Daggett is a smart, optimistic man who has potential to deliver for you, the voters of NJ.  He has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, he has a plan to reduce property taxes and he knows that if you don’t like him as governor, he can be thrown out in four years.  The other two candidates are going to walk all over you.  What are YOU going to do about it?

Well, I know what I’m going to do.  I’m throwing Chris Christie and Jon Corzine on the Naughty Spot for four years and I’m voting for Daggett.  Go forth, NJ, and do likewise.

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Daggett wins second debate for NJ Governor

Daggett's Sea of Green

I got a call the other day from the Daggett campaign, the independent candidate for governor of New Jersey, to meet for a rally before the second and last debate in the race.  The debate was yesterday at William Paterson University in Totowa NJ.  All of the usual suspects were there.  Corzine’s crew brought in a lot of union guys.  The Republicans had their anti-choice crowd.  There were a surprising number of conspiracy theorists who turned out to protest childhood vaccinations and specifically the H1N1 vaccine.  Don’t even get me started.

And then there was the Daggett campaign.  We had about as many ralliers as the other two campaigns and some nifty bright green signs and T-shirts.  Green sort of speaks to Daggett’s environmental creds. He’s been endorsed by the Sierra Club. By the way, Daggett’s campaign staff is drop dead gorgeous.  His rally coordinator is so hot you could bake cookies on him.  One of his staff, a tall beautiful blonde, was wearing a very fashionable sweater minidress that showcased the most amazingly long, perfect legs.  Just before the debate started, she strutted across the loge, like Joan Holloway on a mission, right in front of a bunch of Corzine supporters.  Their jaws dropped and every pair of eyes, mine included, followed her shapely gams right up to her callipygian butt.  Well done!  You can be smart and smokin’ hot.  Too bad you missed it, myiq.

The debate was sponsored and obviously controlled by the local Fox affiliaate.  I managed to snag a ticket for the debate literally minutes before it began. (Thank you, hot cookie guy!)  I don’t know the criteria that was used to give out advanced tickets but it was clearly rigged in Chris Christie’s favor.  Like I said, there weren’t an overwhelming number of Republicans outside but, judging by the cheering and applause, Republicans inside Shea PAC outnumbered the other campaigns by about 2:1.  Bostonboomer, who liveblogged the debate last night, reported that the Fox commentators talked over Daggett’s responses and occasionally Corzine. allowing Christie to pontificate in his big beefy goodness without interruption.  As we were outside during the rally, one Republican operative approached our group and said, “How does it feel to be marginalized?”  He seemed disturbed.  We were cheerily unperturbed.  We know there are a lot of New Jerseyans who are registered ‘unaffiliated’. All they need is a good reason to vote for the third guy.  (Note to Daggett’s campaign: I know your poll position is crappy.  So, why not take a cue from Joe Lieberman’s senate campaign in 2006 and create and ad with a snappy mnemonic so that voters can find you?)

Now, onto the debate.  I was transfixed.  I’ve never been to a live debate before.  And while this wasn’t as high stakes as a presidential debate, I have to give a lot of credit to the organizers and the candidates for sticking to the rules.  There were no gotcha questions.  The Lightening Round was a chance for the candidates to reveal their personalities and turned out to be pretty funny.

In short, this should be a model for all debates going forward.  I learned a lot about all three candidates and their approach to fixing what ails New Jersey.  But it was Daggett who stole the show.  Seriously, guys, I could vote for this man for president.  He’s got that Hillary Clinton policy wonk thing down cold.  He was well prepared for most questions and for the ones where he didn’t have an immediate answer, I got the sense that his mental gears were clicking.

Daggett could have a lot of appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.  He is liberal on social issues, prudent and conservative on fiscal issues.  He emphasizes tax cuts for homeowners and corporations.  I’m a little worried by how he intends to pay for it but his idea of expanding the sales tax to items that the upper middle and upper class purchase is a step in the right direction.  In fact, he could go even further and impose a small sales tax on most consumer goods (2-4%?  It would still be lower than surrounding states).   In New Jersey, we don’t have a sales tax on food or most consumer items.  There is a restaurant tax but if you go to the grocery store, no tax on most products.  New York, by contrast, has up to a 9% tax on just about everything (See Ann’s comment for more precise details).  So, you can see why New Jersey is an attractive place to shop.  On the other hand, our property taxes are through the roof.  For example, I pay more than $500 on my little townhouse – per month.  Yep, after the ridiculous federal, social security and state income taxes are paid from my generous paycheck, reducing me to just average Jane Bagodonuts, I pay more than $500 per month on a house with no property.  Personally, I don’t mind shifting some to that tax to consumable goods.  Let the people who buy the luxury cars and high end consumables pick up the tab.  Daggett also proposes a tax on gas to pay for transportation infrastructure and mass transit.  I think this is a good idea, especially if it encourages more use of mass transit in a state as congested as New Jersey.

Where I had some issues with Daggett was his approach to health care.  His opposition to the public option is not necessarily a dealbreaker for me.  I think policy wonks are able to see permutations to solving these kinds of problems because they understand the mechanisms of government.  So, if we ended up with a German type of health care, ie private insurance but highly regulated, that would be Ok with me as long as everyone is covered, insurance companies and health care providers are held accountable with mandates  for basic policies  and public funds are used to provide subsidies for those individuals who can’t afford it.  I don’t think that’s what we’re getting with Obamacare where the mandates seem to be falling more heavily on the individual and choice of insurance company is limited.  While single payer would eliminate a lot of our administrative headaches and it works for other countries, it’s not the only answer.  There’s no reason to suppose it couldn’t work here but we can’t rule out other models that check the health care industry just as well.

Daggett also didn’t have an answer for how to fund state colleges and universities.  Well, he’s got a couple of weeks to come up with an answer.  To be fair, Corzine and Christie weren’t any better on this question.  Corzine points to state financial aid grants as a sort of bandaid on the problem. Christie got all sentimental about sending his four children to local schools but added nothing to the conversation.  Daggett at least acknowledged that there was a problem with the underlying structure of state aid to colleges and universities that needed to be addressed.  He just needs to find a funding mechanism.  Might I suggest one?  Ok, this is going to sound crazy and bring out the MADD crew but most New Jersey restaurants do not have liquor licenses.  Yep, if you want to go out to a nice, new restaurant for a special dinner, you’d better call ahead because you might have to brown bag it, and drink everything you bring with you.  There aren’t that many licenses available and most of them are bought up by big chain restaurants and, I suspect, the mafia.  If you go to New York or Pennsylvania, this is never an issue.  You can get a nice glass of chard just about anywhere.  So, sell more liquor licenses, license grocery stores to sell wine and beer and watch the revenue flow in.  This leftover from Prohibition is only benefitting organized crime.

The dynamics of the debate were also pretty interesting to watch.  After Daggett’s responses to questions, Corzine frequently agreed with him in response but never once referred to him by name.  Corzine continued to frame the debate as between two party representatives, him and Chris Christie.  I think that might have worked in any other year when there wasn’t such a strong, articulate, engaging third party candidate.  I’m not sure it will work this year.  In Daggett’s closing statement, he makes a point of reminding the audience that in spite of what Corzine and Christie’s wishful thinking, there *is* a choice this year.  There is a third party candidate who offers something new, different and positive.

Go, Daggett, GO!

PS:  This race is phenomenally expensive and Daggett has chosen to run on public funds.  Corzine has spent $20 million on ads attacking Chris Christie’s waistline.  Daggett is trying to run a positive campaign on limited funds.  Just sayin’.

Note: The second debate will be televised tomorrow.  I’ll try to do another live blog because I think it is important to think outside the box, especially when there is a viable third party candidate like Daggett.  These people need more attention and support to give voters more choices and keep the other parties on their toes.

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Manic Monday News Links

Good Morning Conflucians! Here is my frantically rushed summary of the latest news. I may add a few more odds and ends.

Politics and Politicians

Paterson Says He Will Run Despite White House Pressure

At a parade in Harlem, the governor refused to discuss his conversations with President Obama’s political team, which has made clear to Mr. Paterson in recent days that it has lost confidence in him and does not believe he can be elected next fall.

Asked how he would run as a Democrat without White House support, Mr. Paterson said, “I am running for governor right now. I have no idea — I am a candidate for governor.”

“I have had a number of different conversations with a number of different people,” he added. “They are confidential.”

Still, even as Mr. Paterson publicly vowed to continue, two prominent Democrats who had spoken to him over the weekend described him as mulling his options and open to the possibility of withdrawing from the race. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversations were intended to be confidential.

RNC chief thinks it’s “curious” that Obama would ask a black governor to step aside.

“I found that to be stunning, that the White House would send word to one of only two black governors in the country not to run for reelection,” Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), said on CBS’s Face The Nation.

Steele was commenting on a report in The New York Times that said an intermediary of President Barack Obama sent word to Paterson that he should not run, considering his low approval ratings. Asked by host Bob Schieffer if race played a role in the White House’s decision to ask Paterson to back off from campaigning, Steele said he didn’t think so.

“It raises a curious point for me. I think Gov. Paterson’s numbers are about the same as Gov. Corzine’s. The president is with Gov. Corzine,” Steele said. The RNC chairman was referring to Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democratic New Jersey governor who is facing a tough reelection bid this year.

Obama’s Sunday Media blitz

He made appearances on five different TV networks yesterday, and I missed every single one of them.

NJ has a place to go! Chris Daggett airs his first campaign ad

If you’ve been following this blog for the past couple of months, you should know that Democrat Jon Corzine, the incumbent, is trailing Republican Chris Christie for Governor of New Jersey.  Christie’s lead over Corzine has dwindled in the past week.  He now has about 6 points over Corzine.  But the curious thing is the actual poll numbers.  Christie is at about 47%, Corzine is at 41%.  So, what accounts for the missing 12%?  Undecideds account for some of that missing 12%.  And then, there are some newly unaffiliated voters, such as myself, who are taking a hard look at THIS guy:

Independent candidate, Chris Daggett got his PhD in education but he’s been working for and with both Republicans, like former governor Thomas Kean, and with Democratic administrations in NJ on environmental issues for many years.  He recently received an endorsement from the Sierra Club and his stance on social issues puts him in the moderate to liberal camp.   He has some daring ideas on education and has about as good a chance as either of the other two candidates in reforming the property tax issue. He may be a relative unknown now but Daggett has a slot at the candidate’s debate in early October and from what I understand, he can think and speak in coherent sentences.

The property tax issue is what is dragging down Jon Corzine.  This ad depicts Corzine’s attitude perfectly.  He is detached and uninterested in the crushing tax burden that most homeowners face, including yours truly.  In his first term as governor, he did diddly squat to reform the state’s funding mechanism.  Christie is a Bush Republican.  ‘Nuff said.  Neither one of them is a prize.

Jane Hamsher and her readers should take note.  What we have here is a “teachable moment”.  Remember Lamont, Jane?  I do.  I answered your call and canvassed for him in CT on the weekend before the primary.  We changed the narrative in 2006. This is an opportunity to scare the bejeesus out of the Democratic party.  You know, the one that told us we had no place else to go?  This election is a referendum on Obama, so saith Bloomberg.   And THIS year, I do have someplace else to go.

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NJ Governor’s race is a referendum on Obama

"Taffeta, darling. It wrinkles so easily."

I’ve been a little quiet lately, mostly because just about all I needed to say about Obama and what a disaster he was going to be to the party was said last year.  It’s nice to see that the rest of the blogosphere is finally coming to the same place that the PUMAs were in back in 2008.  (See here and here)  We’re all old, postmenopausal, uneducated, working class racists now, even Kos.  Welcome to the club, buddy!  We’ll put your white sheet and estrogen replacement therapy starter pack in the mail.

But the scorched earth Obama primary campaign of 2008 continues to have collateral damage in other not so obvious ways.  Take the governor’s race in NJ, for example.  Jon Corzine is still trailing Chris Christie, in some polls by 10% or more.  Bloomberg now says that this off-year election race is a referendum on the Obama presidency:

The elections offer a test of whether the electricity Obama generated with voters during his campaign will power other Democrats.

Obama has been campaigning for both Governor Jon Corzine, 62, of New Jersey and Creigh Deeds, 51, a state senator running for governor in Virginia. The president’s push for health-care legislation and unprecedented federal spending on the worst financial crisis in 70 years has created headaches for his fellow Democrats, who both trail their opponents in the polls.

“The political bounce on everything that’s happened this summer has made people much more cautious, much more conservative and fearful of change,” said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Support for Obama and his policies has eroded over the summer. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of his handling of health care has jumped to 50 percent from 29 percent in April, an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted Aug. 13 to 17 found.

There’s a reason why support for Obama and his policies have eroded over the summer.  He didn’t start out of the gate with the hope and change he promised, didn’t protect taxpayers from the bankers and didn’t present a strong health care policy that takes the profit out of insuring people’s health.  He didn’t do those things because he’s never really been much of a Democrat, much less a liberal one.  He has no core Democratic principles, something Jane Hamsher, Chris Bowers and Markos Moulitsas didn’t think was so important last year.  Well, that was before they became racists.

The problem is that a little more than half of the Democratic base didn’t vote for Obama in the primaries last year.  They voted for the other guy.  After 8 years of Bush, patiently waiting for 8 F&*%ing years, they wanted the most Democratic president they could get.  But the party shoved Obama down our throats instead in a frenzy of money lust and as a teachable moment on race.  (as if teachable moments on gender were not very important, but I digress.)

This is the situation we have in NJ as well, where we voted for Clinton by more than 10 points but saw Corzine give every one od our delegates to Obama at the convention.  You know, if I were Corzine, I’d be regretting that decision right about now because he’s been trailing Christie by about 10% all election season.  Primary voters usually are party loyalists.  Messing with them was a really baaaad idea. It doesn’t help that, like Obama, Corzine really isn’t much of a Democrat.  In spite of the fact that the state Assembly is in Democratic hands, he has done nothing about restructuring the tax system here in NJ, which funds EVERYTHING on the backs of homeowners.  You redstaters out there who think you have it bad with taxes should see the tax bill I have on my modest little townhouse.  Corzine didn’t take that issue seriously, just like Obama isn’t taking health care seriously or the financial crisis seriously or Afghanistan seriously.

If you’re going to act like a Republican anyway, as well as being permanently associated with Goldman Sachs, does it matter if we vote for you?  There are choices, by the way.  We don’t have to vote for Chris Christie.  I know Corzine would like everyone to believe that Christie is his only competition.  Corzine even tried to move the debate from the beginning of October to the end  so no one would know there was a third candidate.   Corzine can’t afford to lose any more ground to any other candidate.

The Star-Ledger says Daggett speaks in coherent sentences!

But Independent Chris Daggett, who’s going to be at that debate,  just got an endorsement from the Sierra Club so I’m taking a second look at him.  Plus, he’s got some ideas about education and lifetime tenure of new teachers that I find interesting, especially since this has the potential of improving the preparation of teachers in NJ schools in the area of Math and Science. Daggett could pick up a lot of support in the growing Asian community if he emphasized a math and science component of his education plan.  And those of you who have had enough of Bush’s and now Obama’s rambling speeches and non-sequitors will appreciate this comment from our local Star-Ledger:

Daggett stands to be the most articulate of the three as well. Christie piles on the platitudes like a pie-man piles on the pizza toppings. Corzine tends to get lost in the funhouse of his own thoughts. Daggett speaks in coherent sentences….So this race promises to be a real roller-coaster ride. Fasten your seat belt.

That’s a good sign.  It means that Daggett’s at least engaged his mind before he’s opened his mouth.  He’s pretty reasonable on social issues as well.

As for Corzine, what goes around, comes around.   Maybe he can get a job in his old pal, Barack Obama’s administration, for what ever is left of his term.

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Corzine *still* trails Christie by double digits in latest NJ Governor’s race polls

The guy just can’t catch a break.  First, he’s pathetic as a Democratic governor but would probably make a very good Republican one.  Then, he happens to be a former CEO of Goldman-Sachs at a time when that company is quickly becoming the Barad-Dur of Mordor.  And he has to go up against the “moderate Republican” in the fall instead of the foaming-at-the-mouth, uber conservative Republican he was hoping for.  But the thing that must be frosting his crockies right now is that he is trailing that moderate Republican, former US Attorney Chris Christie, by 10 points (on average).

(For those of you who want your fix of schadenfreude this morning, here is another page of polls where Corzine trails– in every one.)

I can’t imagine why 10% of his base would be defecting to a Republican this year…

Could it be the 10% of New Jerseyans who put Hillary over the top in the NJ primary last year who resent Corzine’s arrogant, unilateral decision to give every one of our primary delegates to Obama?  Just a guess.

But it’s about to get worse for Corzine {{smirk!}}.  Because the Independent Party candidate, Chris Daggett, just qualified for public financing.  Daggett is expected to make the race tough for both major party candidates but even tougher for Corzine.  I can’t imagine why.

I was going to vote topless this year at the polls in NJ but that’s because I didn’t think there were any viable third party candidates.

Chris Daggett

Granted, I don’t know much about Daggett yet (here’s a blogtalkradio interview with him) but, heck!, he can’t be any worse than a Republican or the Republican who pretends he’s a Democrat.  He’s spent time in the government working in the area of environmental regulation and he’s a big proponent of mass transit, definitely a plus in my books.  So, I’ve decided to throw a few bucks Daggett’s way and see what happens.  Every $1 contributed to Daggett will be matched by $2 in public funds.  Maybe if we pass this around, we can make Corzine sweat or we might even elect an Independent as governor here in the Garden State.  Daggett in Drumthwacket!  It has a nice ring.

Now, Corzine isn’t worried, or so his campaign manager says.  Maggie Moran sent me a video haka yesterday about Obama’s upcoming trip to NJ on Corzine’s behalf.

Obama owes Corzine.  Big time.  (see first youtube video above)  Apparently, SOOOO many people asked for tickets to the Obama rally that they have had to reject a whole bunch of us.  The campaign will be contacting “lucky” rally ticket recipients by phone.  And the rally itself has been moved to a more secure location in Holmdel.  Ahuh.  Well, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the angry email responses the campaign has gotten from its base saying things like “Where’s my vote, JON?!?!” And I’m sure there will be no loyalty oath required to get a ticket.  Actually, I’m surprised I’m still on the email list.  But who knows?  Maybe Corzine will get the crowd he’s hoping for.  Or maybe he’ll get the one he deserves.  Stay tuned…