Elections & Campaigning

I just am a believer...that there are some things that happen for a reason…We may not be able to really discern it now…[but] given the perspective of time, I think we’re going to be able to look back at this, and what seemed really bad at the time may turn out to be really good.

That sound you’re hearing is the air going out of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s 2016 Republican Presidential aspirations, thanks to the scandal known as ‘bridgegate.

I feel passionately about issues, and I don’t hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now that has always made some people, you know, uneasy. Some people like that style, some people don’t…But I am not a bully.

The Republicans tend to choose the candidate who came in second place in the last election, and Democrats tend to move on. Ask President Ed Muskie how it worked out to be the front-runner. Ask President Howard Dean how it worked out.

I think Republicans will not win again in my lifetime … unless they become a new GOP, a new Republican Party. And it has to be a transformation. Not a little tweaking at the edges.

The one lesson Republicans probably will not learn from Ken Cuccinelli’s troubled campaign for Virginia governor is the most important: Politically, the ‘truce strategy’ on abortion fails. If it is not abandoned, it will drag down the GOP.

Constant conflict is actually often good politics, because the more you can inflame your supporters the more likely they are to show up at Election Day. And if they’re more inflamed than the other side, even if the other side has more people agreeing with it, you’ll win, because your crowd will show up.

This is why I think the shutdown was so magnificent, run beautifully. I’m so proud of these Republicans….Obamacare is very unpopular. If you want to overturn it, America, vote for more Republicans. We need to take the Senate.

Three of the last four [elections], ’06, ’08, and ’12, were disastrous for Republicans. And they were years in which we just we stayed quiet, we went along the get-along, we didn’t stand on principle. The only year that was a good year for Republicans was 2010, when we painted in bold colors, not in pale pastels. We stood for principle. I think winning this fight right now is the most important thing we can do to see significant victories in 2014.

You know what? I think the American people are a little pissed, and I think they’re pissed at both parties - I think they’re really pissed at both parties - and it will be reflected during election time…

The thing political figures fear most is a terror event that will ruin their careers. The biggest thing they fear is that a bomb goes off and it can be traced to something they did or didn’t do, an action they did or didn’t support. They all fear being accused of not doing enough to keep the citizenry safe.

I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high--to permit the customary passions of political debate.