Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty January 16, 2014 Good morning! Over on the NRO home page today, a look at who's likely to replace Jim Moran in Virginia's Eighth Congressional District . . . How Pop Culture Is Attempting to Rapidly Redefine Chris Christie
This week Bruce Springsteen appeared on Jimmy Fallon's show to sing a song mocking "Chris Christie's New Jersey Traffic Jam." John Podhoretz notes Chris Christie is now being redefined in the public's eye through culture, not politics: On Tuesday night, Jimmy Fallon teamed with Bruce Springsteen on an immensely clever "Born to Run" takeoff that will probably have 50 million YouTube hits by the time the 2016 election rolls around. "They shut down the tollbooths of glory 'cause we didn't endorse Chris Christie," Fallon sang, while Springsteen complained he needed to go to the bathroom but couldn't because he was caught up in "Governor Chris Christie's Fort Lee, New Jersey, Traffic Jam." Yes, Springsteen is a leftist, and yes, this is a classic mainstream-media hit on a Republican. But to use a term beloved to Internet marketers, the idea behind the video is "sticky." It will persist . . . Christie and Sarah Palin have very little in common, to put it mildly, but the moment in 2008 that Palin became the gleeful object of belittling late-night satire, she went from being a raw political talent Democrats deeply feared to a comic wellspring from which they drank deeply. The boss notes that Christie shouldn't be that surprised by the betrayal: Memo to Chris Christie: They hate you. If you don't know who "they" are, you haven't been watching the news or reading the papers. Usually, it takes winning the GOP presidential nomination for a Republican media darling to experience such an onslaught of gleefully negative press coverage. John McCain was the straight-talking maverick right up until the moment he effectively clinched the nomination in 2008 — immediately triggering a thinly sourced New York Times report insinuating an affair with a lobbyist. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has gotten his disillusioning out of the way early, if he needed it. An occupational hazard of a certain kind of Republican is wanting to be loved by the wrong people. If the past week hasn't cured Christie of that tendency, nothing will. Had Jon Huntsman ever amounted to any threat to Obama, he would have gotten the same treatment, too. A figure earns the title as "the media's favorite Republican" by 1) validating liberal Democrat arguments and 2) not presenting any real threat to their agenda. John Fund: Yes, liberal bias does play a role in explaining why — as Newsbusters.org reports — the major networks have had 44 times more coverage of Chris Christie's "Bridgegate" scandal than they have had on anything related to the IRS political-targeting scandal that began last May. Jonathan Alter, speaking on MSNBC, has dismissed the comparison by saying that "there are not ongoing revelations [in the IRS story]. If there were ongoing revelations in the IRS matter, that would still be a story." He made his claim only four days after news broke that the Justice Department had chosen a significant Obama donor to head its investigation of the IRS, creating the obvious perception of a conflict of interest. But it's also true that a large part of the difference in coverage is owing simply to the laziness of journalists, for whom anything connected to a future presidential election trumps delving deeply into more complicated topics. Point of order! The use of the IRS as a partisan cudgel sure as heck could be tied to a future presidential election! Coming Soon to Capitol Hill: 'Stop Toying With Us!' Bankrupting America is launching a new campaign, "Stop Toying," that highlights Washington's track record of broken promises to restore fiscal responsibility in the federal budget and urges Americans to look past the empty rhetoric. The campaign kicks off with a full ad takeover at Union Station and Capitol South metro stations in Washington, D.C., as well as online advertising. The metro advertisements will run from January 16 through February 28. 
Geraghty for Congress 2014: Inaction In Action (Somewhere in Virginia's Eighth Congressional District, Jim takes the stage to cheers from crowd of residents.) My fellow Virginians . . . I have heard your call, ringing loud and clear from the wood-paneled offices of the trade associations in Arlington, to the gleaming glass tower of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to the elegantly landscaped cul-de-sacs of Yuppie Acres, to the teeming miles upon miles of Starbuckses in our communities . . . We of the Eighth Congressional District now face the question of how we will go on, without a representative who keeps being accused of violent behavior around women, who pursues a vigilante campaign against eight-year-old carjackers, who blames the Iraq War on Jews, and so many other unforgettable moments in a political career that is rivaled only by Mayor Quimby of Springfield. Clearly, will soon see a vacancy in an office that needs to be cleaned out with sugarless Gummi Bears. I have been asked what I am willing to do to earn the great responsibility and honor of representing you in the House of Representatives. My answer is simple and direct: Absolutely nothing. (Nervous laughter from crowd.) My fellow Virginians, if you elect me to Congress, I promise that I will not lift a finger for the special interests, the corporate interests, the lobbyists, Big Oil, Big Business, Big Papi, the Big Ten, the Notorious B.I.G., or The Big Bang Theory. I won't answer to them or any other one of our public discourse's designated villains of the week. (Cheering) I can make this promise with confidence because I'm pretty sure I won't do much of anything for you, either. (Cheering stops) This is an area where my principled commitment to limited government and my deep disinterest in dealing with your problems will align perfectly. Do you want a deduction or tax credit written into the tax code to benefit your business? Well, tough, because you're not getting it. Your business is supposed to thrive because it provides quality goods and services, not because it gets some special help from the IRS. (Murmurs of discontent.) Do you want an earmark written into an appropriations bill? Argo-you-know-what. (Someone drops a glass.) Are you hoping I'll persuade my colleagues to pass a law that will help your industry? I'll pencil that in my schedule for the first of Never. If you've got a great project that you want some federal agency to invest in… go find some venture capitalists, because it's not the taxpayer's duty to give you money and hope it all works out. If you think Medicare isn't spending enough on 'vacuum erection systems' … go call somebody who cares. When you do, I hope you don't use an Obamaphone. My fellow Virginians, it's time to take the service out of public service. That big dome on the Hill over there has one job, to protect people's rights. It is not supposed to be like Oprah giving away free cars to the audience. A lot of us have gotten way too comfortable with the idea that government's job is to help us by giving us stuff and doing stuff for us. Have you ever considered that maybe the reason Congress is so awful is you, dear voters? I mean, you elected these clowns. But even beyond that, most of the time when members of Congress interact with the public, they're being asked for favors. The mail they get, the phone calls they get, most of the people who show up at their town halls – everybody's asking them for something. Get more funding for this! Help us get money to do that! Make sure this agency spends more on this local project! Look, your Congressman is not Santa Claus! (Okay, former representative Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii kind of looks like him.) Through your behavior and expectations, you've conditioned our elected leaders to think of themselves as walking ATMs. Ask not what your country can do for you… because I'm sick and tired of your whining. Do it yourself. (The crowd is silent and not happy.) What do you say, Virginia? Are you ready for a Congressman who has nothing to offer you but . . . well, basically nothing to offer you? Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO! Guy in crowd: Hey, doesn't Mary Katharine Ham live in this district, too? Another guy in crowd: Let's nominate her! The crowd moves on.
Our campaign poster will use this self-portrait from senior year of high school. ADDENDUM: Nathan Wurtzel: "'The League of Conservation Voters...is poised to flood [FL-13] with direct mail.' Geez, all those trees..."
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