One could actually sympathize with poor Peter, just a little, since it is not easy being a Republican from the Northeast. One could, that is, if Pete were just a little less close to being a fascist. No one, but no one, is tougher than Pete on terrorists, except the ones who kill Brits. Then it’s OK. Terrorists wear turbans, damn it! That’s how you can spot them!
Speaking of portly, a second,even fatter Republican voice, that of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, was naturally raised in protest as well. Over at Slate, Dave Weigel seems to think that Christ did a brilliant job in dismantling Republican hypocrisy, something that I think Chris is pretty good at himself. It wasn’t too long ago that Chris was bitching about big government and wasteful spending, at the same time that he was passing out tax relief to big corporations that “promised” to create jobs in New Jersey, once handing out $80 million to Goya Foods in return for a promise to create 8 jobs.
Federal disaster relief can be a pretty outrageous racket—I’d say the programs probably provide twice as much as they should—but any politician who tries to be sensible about it gets hammered, and it’s a bit silly to decide that the time to reform the program is after New York gets hit. Still it’s entertaining—it’s very entertaining—to see lardbutts like King and Christie rushing to the trough and whining because Boehner isn’t forthcoming with the slop.
Update
I should have remembered that Big Chris had already alienated “real” Republicans by his fervent pre-election embrace of President Obama while Sandy was still working her wrath. I’ve always thought that Chris could never go national as a Republican, despite his obvious appetite for the limelight. Any governor who appoints a Muslim as a judge and brags about it is going to be an awfully tough sell in South Carolina and Florida, where Republican nominees are usually made. Chris may decide that it’s more fun being King of New Jersey than President of the United States.
