Some righties, Ace among them, are shrugging this off, which I kind of understand. For one thing, conservative rock star though he be, Christie’s still a Republican leading a deep-blue state. We may want to believe he’s Reagan reincarnated but there’s probably a little of Rudy Giuliani in that political DNA. For another thing, he’s wisely chosen not to be too specific about this issue so the quotes end up being ambiguous. What kind of path to citizenship, precisely, does he have in mind? No idea, which is just how he likes it, I’m sure. And of course, he gets the “true conservative” benefit of the doubt that grassroots righties always extend to GOP icons until they say or do something irretrievably RINO-ish. Palin used to be the paradigm example: If she said something sketchy, like, er, about supporting a path to citizenship for illegals, excuses would immediately be offered that she was misquoted or the media was out to get her or (more credibly) that she was only saying that under duress from the McCain campaign, etc. Ever since she endorsed Maverick in Arizona and Fiorina in California, my sense is that people are a bit (but only a bit) stingier towards her in that regard. Christie is still in the full flush of his “the next Reagan?!” buzz, though, he gets the full complement, which means this shouldn’t make too many waves. I think.
So guess where little Chrissy Po ran to for cover?
( click here for video from Hannity's Fox"News" program )
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) on immigration reform: "The federal government has to get in. They have to secure our borders and they have to set up common sense rules to give people a pathway to citizenship."
Gov. Christie said the state of New Jersey itself can do "very little" to fix this problem, however.
On people who enter legally: "[They] have to be given a pathway to become citizens."
On those who enter US illegally: "My view is that they need to get on the back of the line."
Christie says they should return to the country of their origin "if practical."
"I don't think that you're going to be able to say every person who is in this country illegally is going to go back to their country of origin. That's not going to happen. But, I don't think, Sean, that people who are here illegally should be able to cut [in] the line in front of people who are doing the process the right way," Christie said.
Considering that Christie is already being floated as a possible Presidential candidate in 2012, I’m not surprised that Fox”News” is providing a platform for him to spin his comments. Christie's statements dovetail quite nicely with what conservatives claimed was a call for blanket amnesty from Obama, and that didn’t set well with conservatives. This is spin in its purest form.
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