The Fat Acceptance Movement may have a new hero. Tubby Republican nominee Chris Christie is now pushing back against imperially thin Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s campaign theme making fun of Christie’s heft. Christie criticizes Corzine for his recent, implausible, assertions that Corzine never raised the weight issue: “If you’re going to do it, at least man up and say I’m fat...Afterwards he wusses out and says ‘no, no, no. I didn’t mean that I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Man up. If you say I’m fat, I’m fat. Let’s go. Let’s talk about it.” Asked if a governor needs to set a good example, Christie retorts, “I am setting an example...We have to spur our economy. Dunkin Donuts, International House of Pancakes, those people need to work too.”
Smart move by Christie, since his sense of humor about himself softens his prosecutorial image (which independent candidate Chris Daggett has exploited in TV commercials) as an angry guy whose solution to everything is putting somebody in prison. For the still-undecided voters (a group which tends to be ill-informed about politics), Christie’s quips show him as a guy who knows who he is, and who does not take himself overly seriously, who admits his own weaknesses, and who has a sense of humor.
RPT says:
Leaving aside the snarky NJ mob comments (since Corzine comes from the much more powerful Goldman Sachs gang), there are good reasons to oppose Corzine. However, Christie would be much worse, as evidenced by his personalized politicization of the USA office there, dealings with Michele Brown, John Ashcroft, and petty personal corruption.
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October 29, 2009, 3:18 pmCrust says:
Corzine is “imperially thin”? He’s not fat, but I wouldn’t say he’s particularly skinny. And what does it mean to be “imperially” thin anyway?
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October 29, 2009, 3:25 pmLaura(southernxyl) says:
Probably meant to be imperially slim
WHENEVER Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
Richard Cory
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October 29, 2009, 3:44 pmBoonton says:
“If you say I’m fat, I’m fat. Let’s go. Let’s talk about it”
How about talking about what the commercial actually raised, not his weight but his throwing it around. Specifically using his influence and power as a prosecutor to avoid getting traffic tickets and avoid getting his car towed when he was driving it unregistered?
This whole ‘I’m a victim of anti-fat bias’ is simply a dodge of that more substantial issue. Likewise, maybe I’d have more sympathy for Christie if:
1. He wasn’t running ads attacking Corzine for not paying any state income tax last year (Corzine is not taking a salary as gov., no income no income tax).
2. He wasn’t running ads attacking the independent for proposing to ‘raise taxes’ without acknowledging that the independent’s plan is expand the sales tax in exchange for lowering property taxes.
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October 29, 2009, 3:45 pmApperception says:
The commercial about his TRAFFIC TICKETS?! He should reply to THAT?!
NJ deserves what it gets, and has got.
Is Corzine the guy to talk about traffic tickets?
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October 29, 2009, 3:57 pmNickM says:
The NJ Democratic Party chair specifically referred to, at a recent campaign event, what life would be like if the next governor weighed 350 lb.
Nah. That’s not making fat an issue.
Nick
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October 29, 2009, 4:17 pmBoonton says:
Well a bit more than traffic tickets, he was driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle. Keep in mind, in NJ simply not having your insurance card or registration is a $500 fine each! Not being insured or registered is around $1000 and a tow to the police impound yard.
The tickets were marked “NO DEAL,” which is traditionally used by police when they feel a driver behaved badly, and that the judge should not go easy in the case. Christie eventually paid a $250 fine, and the registration ticket was dismissed after he produced proper documentation — though again, Christie’s campaign has conceded that the car’s registration was expired at the time.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/more-details-on-christies-2005-traffic-incident.php
The second incident where he didn’t even get a ticket was for driving the wrong way down a one way street. The relevance here is that he actually hit a motorcyclist sending him to the hospital. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/more-details-emerge-from-christie-2002-car-accident.php
Is it as bad as, say, a DWI? No but it does smack of the arrogance of power which isn’t exactly a good thing to see *before* the guy wins the election.
My peeve with Christie was the way he treated a man in Morris county who used a pen light in the back yard with his son. The light was noticed by an airplane which ended up with Christie treating the guy as a terrorist and making a name for himself by ruining the guys life.
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October 29, 2009, 4:18 pmRuth Popper says:
“If you’re going to do it, at least *man up*...Afterwards he *wusses out*...”
So the way to combat fat prejudice is with misogyny?
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October 29, 2009, 4:23 pmCornellian says:
How about a commercial showing the state of NJ as Princess Leia and Christie as Jabba the Hut? Political campaigns are no time for subtlety.
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October 29, 2009, 4:24 pmrichard says:
Problem is that both candidates are just terrible. If I were a NJ citizen, I would be tempted to sit this election out.
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October 29, 2009, 4:28 pmPuth Ropper says:
There, there, Ruth. Did that bad man hurt your feelings?
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October 29, 2009, 4:33 pmChrisTS says:
Is this our troll returning?
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October 29, 2009, 4:42 pmChrisTS says:
I suppose calling Corzine ‘imperially thin’ is parallel to calling Christie ‘tubby.’
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October 29, 2009, 4:43 pmEMG says:
And how much for attempting to pump your own gas?
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October 29, 2009, 4:47 pmwooga says:
Maybe the original was “impishly thin” (i.e., the opposite of jolly fat) — and with a little typo and auto-correct, it became “imperially.”
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October 29, 2009, 4:48 pmApu Nahasapasapeemipetilon says:
the second coming of William Howard Taft, perhaps?
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October 29, 2009, 4:51 pmDave N says:
Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2.
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October 29, 2009, 5:02 pmArthurKirkland says:
Neither Christie nor Corzine strikes me as an outstanding candidate; the overarching issue, for me, is that Christie entirely missed the point of every Bruce Springsteen song he listened to for decades. Anyone that daft about something he cared about intensely is off the list, particularly when Bruce is involved.
An arrogant banker or an arrogant, power-abusing (the traffic incidents are bad, but let us not forget the Ashcroft millions) prosecutor? I’d vote for Bruce.
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October 29, 2009, 5:04 pmCJColucci says:
Whenever I get depressed about the clown show in New York, there’s always New Jersey to cheer me up.
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October 29, 2009, 5:13 pmChrisTS says:
Looks good from PA., too.
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October 29, 2009, 5:17 pmGordo says:
The most interesting thing about this race is not Christie’s heft, but the candidacy of Chris Daggett.
While most Republicans have taken a liking to the “Conservative” candidate in NY’s 23rd congressional district, such independence is not admired among Republicans in New Jersey.
Daggett is clearly the best candidate in the race.
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October 29, 2009, 5:29 pmbyomtov says:
Maybe the original was “impishly thin” (i.e., the opposite of jolly fat) — and with a little typo and auto-correct, it became “imperially.”
I think Laura nailed this at 3:44.
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October 29, 2009, 5:33 pmChrisTS says:
Laura:
Are you an Arlington fan?
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October 29, 2009, 5:40 pmBoonton says:
Problem is that both candidates are just terrible. If I were a NJ citizen, I would be tempted to sit this election out.
Well there is a 3rd party candidate who is getting not trivial levels of attention.
And how much for attempting to pump your own gas?
Certainly you jest, only a trained professional would dare to pump dangerous gas.
Daggett is clearly the best candidate in the race.
I agree with you there.
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October 29, 2009, 6:17 pmLaura(southernxyl) says:
Chris, not specifically. That’s just one of those poems that one knows somehow. I quoted it on my blog in December of last year when one of Madoff’s associate/victims committed suicide, along with a blurb from The Age of Innocence about the family of a man whose bank failed.
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October 29, 2009, 7:32 pmLeo Marvin says:
And the troll said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy troll.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my troll was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
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October 29, 2009, 8:09 pmASlyJD says:
Now the elder troll was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, thy brother troll is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy trollish son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother troll was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
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October 29, 2009, 8:18 pmDr. Weevil says:
Where was the prodigal troll when his father thought he was dead? Living under a bridge, of course.
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October 29, 2009, 8:51 pmjosh bornstein says:
My suggestion for Christie’s new pro-fat campaign ads (hat-tip to the gay movement).
“We’re there. We’re pear [shaped]. Get used to it.”
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October 29, 2009, 11:27 pmegd says:
Shouldn’t that be:
“We’re there, we’re pear, we don’t want anymore bears”?
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October 30, 2009, 9:39 amBrian G. says:
Hmmm.. the guy who is taxing New Jersey into the toilet or the fat guy. Man, I can’t vote for the fat guy.
Seriously, this is just another example why I evacuated from that state 8 years ago. If Corzine is re-elected, the people of New Jersey deserve what they get.
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October 30, 2009, 11:59 amTheBadness says:
Shouldn’t that be:
“We’re there, we’re pear, we don’t want anymore bears”?
But then all the hirsute pears would feel excluded, and not even Homer S. would want that.
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October 30, 2009, 5:39 pmChrisTS says:
Leo & Sly:
I was thinking more along the lines of this.
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October 31, 2009, 3:16 pmanon says:
“...why I evacuated from that state 8 years ago.”
You’re not alone, at least with respect to the current trend. New Jersey joins with it’s neighbors for having the largest negative net migration percentages.
here–>http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/news/2008/12/population-exodus-from-distressed-states-accelerate/
NJ also joins with its neighbors for having the lowest as births rates as well. Very distressed areas.
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November 2, 2009, 4:55 amanon says:
The above link should be the following:
http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/news/2008/12/population-exodus-from-distressed-states-accelerate/
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November 2, 2009, 12:01 pm