From Friday’s edition of the Morning Jolt:

Don’t Ask Chris Christie a Stupid Question
I’m starting to feel like Chris Christie’s ascension to the office of Governor of New Jersey is a giant cosmic experiment in what would happen if somebody like one of us became governor. Because I have roughly the same patience and genteel tone with, say, a telemarketer as he demonstrates to a reporter who asked the governor if his “confrontational” ways would achieve results. No screaming, no yelling; Christie just begins by wondering if the reporter is the ‘thinnest-skinned guy in America’ and proceeds to open 50-gallon drums of industrial-grade sarcasm, with a few acidic jabs — “maybe I could go back to the way of the last administration, and say it in a way so that no one would even understand it” — and then concluding, “I came here to govern, not to worry about reelection.”
Trust me, this sharp-edged, jabbing style is an easier sell in New Jersey than in, say, the Midwest.
The approach, and reaction, is enough to get Ace of Spades reevaluating his sense of what sells to voters: “This flies directly counter to what I was saying earlier about politicians profiting from fudging their positions in order to pander to that segment of the polity who wish to be spared the intellectual and moral burden of making decisions. Maybe Christie has decided that segment of the population isn’t going to rouse itself from its slumber anyway so might as well just speak bluntly. Will it work? Hey, I’ve got a some sort of scientific curiosity about stuff. Conventional wisdom says that it’s usually the other kind of politician — slippery, evasive, platitudinous, gray, poll-tested and blow-dried — that prospers, but who knows. I’m open to contrary evidence.”
Christie is one of a several factors that have Rush Limbaugh feeling better about the GOP’s future: “There are any number of young buck conservatives, Marco Rubio, who are doing everything they can. The Republicans in Utah are getting rid of Bob Bennett. There’s a lot of progress going on out there. But then the minute that happens we have a bunch of Republicans, “Oh, my God,” like there’s a story in The Politico today, “I guess clout doesn’t carry any weight anymore, ‘cause Bob Bennett had all kinds of clout and it didn’t matter to Republicans, the Republicans don’t care their guys —” it’s not about clout. It’s about the fact that people are fed up with statism and big government and they are fed up with Republicans who want to go along with the whole notion that government’s first, last, and always, and that government’s the solution, and that government’s where you make deals. So when this happens, it’s up to people to support these young guys because for 20 years, people have been saying, “What can I do?” And a lot of people say, “Run for office, get yourself involved in the process and change it.” Okay, then they do that and then some of our people then throw dirt on them. “Well, it’s a terrible thing to lose Bob Bennett, all that clout that he had.” No, it’s not. Look at Chris Christie and what he’s doing in New Jersey.”