I've been reading how Chris Christie is now God's gift to moderates. Guess what? I don't believe in God.
There's been a lot of talk since Christie decided not to fight the decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court to not stop weddings while he appealed OMGay Marriage in the land that brought us Jersey Shore. Mark Segal of the Philly Enquirer said he did "the honorable thing." Julian Zelizer of CNN said he was "ahead of the GOP curve." And dis guy said...HE EVOLVED.
Christie hasn't evolved. The truth is, he never cared. His attempt to stop gay marriage wasn't because he was a hardcore Catholic; it was because he was pandering to the knuckle draggers in his party. Our President was in the same position, but I truly do believe he had changed his outlook, and he definitely walks the walk now.
What I'm trying to say is that Christie backed down from his fight against gay marriage because he couldn't win, not because he now is a proponent of gay marriage. Sen. Corey Booker officiated a gay marriage at the stroke of midnight of the day it was legal — albeit awkwardly — but it's not like Christie is hanging around guys kissing now. He reversed course because he didn't want to hold onto the anchor of failure, and because he knows the ambiguousness of his action softens his demeanor to moderate Democrats (more on this later). But Christie is going to have a tough time running as a moderate.
Look, I'm no Paul Begala fan, from the time when Jon Stewart kicked his ass on Crossfire to when he said that Dean's 50 state strategy was "nose picking." But Begala said something funny about Christie the other day at a panel of pundits talking about 2016 hopefuls:
“He’s going to have to pretend he doesn’t believe in evolution or gravity or photosynthesis or electromagnetism. He’s going to have to say that ‘The Flintstones’ [is] a documentary. He has no idea how crazy the base of his party is.”
Funny, but Christie does know how crazy the base of his party is. He's pandered for their vote, vetoing a gay marriage bill during a time when we are progressing towards a tipping point. Sure, he'll have to say some crazy shit during the Republican primary in 2016 to survive, but like Romney, he'll shake that Etch-A-Sketch out and go back to his moderate demeanor. But moderation doesn't win in the GOP.
Whether a Republican candidate is a moderate or not doesn't matter. Nobody governs in a vacuum. And any blue dog (or otherwise) Democrat that thinks they can vote for him and he will be a great President doesn't understand the GOP. Some moderate Dems thought the same in North Carolina, when Pat McCrory was elected governor. Look how that one turned out.
The GOP doesn't evolve. If you're not conservative enough, they'll override your veto, they'll stab you in the back, they'll chain you to the anchor against your will. Or you go down with them willingly, watching the hair on your palms grow, your brow get heavy, and the inability to use words over one syllable. You don't just dance with the devil. You either carry the pitchfork or get poked with it.
*Update: A point I clearly missed is that if Chris Christie, as some in the media have claimed, has evolved on gay marriage, let's see how he feels about it on the national stage, and not just accepting he lost the battle in his home state.