Tweet
Commentary: Believe it or not, Christie is Trump's best choice for veep
CBS News
by Will Rahn
7/7/2016
Excerpt:
.......................................
A big test of this election is whether Trump can focus the spotlight on Clinton and make this election more of a referendum on her than it is on him. That would be an enormous undertaking for Trump in the best circumstances. Putting Newt on the ticket will not help. Gingrich has said that he has about 10 ideas a day, and at least two of them are typically "very weird." The Trump ticket does not need more very weird. When, come October, Trump says something controversial, he will not need a vice president who tries to pivot the conversation to terraforming Jupiter.
So that's the case against Newt before we get into his immense personal baggage, his rocky Speakership, and his failed crusades against the Clintons. Enough has been written about all that - google "Marianne Gingrich" if you'd like a refresher - so let's get back to Christie, the other guy who really wants the job.
We've forgotten, after Bridgegate and the go-nowhere presidential run, about how compelling Christie can be as a speaker, and how astute he often is politically. And perhaps most importantly, he was a highly-regarded federal prosecutor, a skill set that comes through when he targets one opponent in particular, as he did with Marco Rubio in New Hampshire.
It's been suggested that Trump has no need for an attack dog on the trail, a task usually allocated to the VP contender, because he's constantly in attack mode himself. But he hasn't been very good at tearing down Hillary Clinton, in part because he's so unfocused that he always seems to draw attention away from her whenever she gets bad news. Christie could help redress that weakness, zeroing in Hillary's emails and various ethical lapses while letting Trump do his Trump thing.
Christie, if relieved from defending Trump all the time, could go back-and-forth between Ohio and Pennsylvania making the case that what Clinton did with her email servers was criminally reckless, and that she only beat the rap due to connections. Without the burden of making a positive case for himself - he's just the spare, after all - he could spend all his time building the case against Hillary, a job he is uniquely equipped to do given his legal experience. Trump will be Trump, and there's no fixing that. But Christie the prosecutor on the ticket could at least focus more attention on Hillary's failings, and help make this race more about her deficiencies, and less about Trump's.
.................................
View the complete article, including videos, at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chris-ch...oice-for-veep/
CBS News
by Will Rahn
7/7/2016
Excerpt:
.......................................
A big test of this election is whether Trump can focus the spotlight on Clinton and make this election more of a referendum on her than it is on him. That would be an enormous undertaking for Trump in the best circumstances. Putting Newt on the ticket will not help. Gingrich has said that he has about 10 ideas a day, and at least two of them are typically "very weird." The Trump ticket does not need more very weird. When, come October, Trump says something controversial, he will not need a vice president who tries to pivot the conversation to terraforming Jupiter.
So that's the case against Newt before we get into his immense personal baggage, his rocky Speakership, and his failed crusades against the Clintons. Enough has been written about all that - google "Marianne Gingrich" if you'd like a refresher - so let's get back to Christie, the other guy who really wants the job.
We've forgotten, after Bridgegate and the go-nowhere presidential run, about how compelling Christie can be as a speaker, and how astute he often is politically. And perhaps most importantly, he was a highly-regarded federal prosecutor, a skill set that comes through when he targets one opponent in particular, as he did with Marco Rubio in New Hampshire.
It's been suggested that Trump has no need for an attack dog on the trail, a task usually allocated to the VP contender, because he's constantly in attack mode himself. But he hasn't been very good at tearing down Hillary Clinton, in part because he's so unfocused that he always seems to draw attention away from her whenever she gets bad news. Christie could help redress that weakness, zeroing in Hillary's emails and various ethical lapses while letting Trump do his Trump thing.
Christie, if relieved from defending Trump all the time, could go back-and-forth between Ohio and Pennsylvania making the case that what Clinton did with her email servers was criminally reckless, and that she only beat the rap due to connections. Without the burden of making a positive case for himself - he's just the spare, after all - he could spend all his time building the case against Hillary, a job he is uniquely equipped to do given his legal experience. Trump will be Trump, and there's no fixing that. But Christie the prosecutor on the ticket could at least focus more attention on Hillary's failings, and help make this race more about her deficiencies, and less about Trump's.
.................................
View the complete article, including videos, at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chris-ch...oice-for-veep/