Churchill/Christie: the visuals
Gerard Vanderleun of American Digest has offered this teaching aid in response to my piece on criticism of Christie’s girth. I thought it merited a post of its own:
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
Christie is definitely no Churchill….
Just being outspoken and having conviction is so rare in a politician today that Americans are chomping at the bit to put a King’s crown on him without closely examining his philosophy. The Moreno hear out of him, the more my radar is going off. Too cozy with Islamists and illegals for my taste, and hearing him pontificate about so much partisanship and needing to compromise while trying to seem “above it all” leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
There was another person we committed idolatry on and how
is that working out?
There is another man who is speaking with conviction straight from his guts and heart, and I’m liking WHAT as well as HOW he’s saying it.
Just the fact that you already know who I mean without saying the name says it all.
Don’t have any actuarial tables in front of me but, I can’t buy that being really, really heavy is not unhealthy. Probably won’t happen but, I’d be having nightmares about him having a heart attack just days before the election and then Obama wins.
As per the comments in the last post, Christie isn’t very conservative. Scott Brown anyone? Better than the alternative seems like a sad position to be in. However, I will vote for Anybody But Obama.
Christie is no frustrated, unachieved person. And he has swum with the sharks; indeed, perhaps, become, partially, a shark (lawyer, lobbyist, prosecutor-not so different from Lincoln, wow!)
Christie has humour. And the first thing a soul loses when it loses itself is humour. Not humour like Obama which is poorer fare than toilet water: Hey, did anyone hear the joke about me? Well, blah, blah, and blah bhah and you see, I’m an ordinary guy.
you can tell.
You can tell a person’s soul by observing them talk and react and be. Christie isn’t perfect, but then, who is? Who shall encompass all our demands? No one. So who cares whether or not Christie is fat? Does the Bible or Torah deride a fat man.
The facts that Christie is fat and at this time being fat is such a sin to the other side are facts in his favor. I hold him up as a signal of resistance and rebellion to those “Puritans” who worship man as God. I like Christie merely because he insults them.
I’m with you, Curtis!
What I find so fascinating about Christie is his emotional range. He’s blunt and confrontational, but he’s also marvelously sympathetic and clued in to people’s feelings. He’s agile, he has flow. A great politician, in the best sense of the word. God, the rest of the GOP candidates are a bunch of stiffs, compared to him!
Anyone who watched his answer to that woman at the Reagan library could feel the power of his charm. Obama is (was) charismatic, but he utterly lacks charm. Obama is also, as Curtis says, humorless, or at least humor-challenged. Christie’s humor goes very deep, and he reaches out with it.
1. That Churchill photo is often cited as capturing his bulldog tenacity.
Curiously, what struck me on this viewing was the eyes: the eyes of a determined, intelligent, but highly sensitive man; the eyes of someone who remembers a difficult childhood; the eyes of someone who experienced frustration and rejection; the eyes of someone who sought relief by painting and writing.
Maybe I notice because I am approaching the age at which Churchill became Prime Minister.
2. I am indifferent about Christie’s joining an uninspiring Republican field. However, if he’ll run for President because he thinks he can’t be reelected governor, it’s not a very good reason.
3. To repeat what I’ve said before: it is very hard to dislodge an incumbent President. Obama is vulnerable, but not as vulnerable as many in the GOP apparently think he is.
4. If only there was a five-year Palin gubernatorial record to examine. As matters stand, her very talents make her a riskier Presidential proposition than a mundane candidate is. Oh, well.
Wit, humor and charm. Blunt? Confrontational? Sure. He’s a blunt, funnt, outspoken RINO.
He’s also pro Muslim, Believes in Global Warming and thinks that we’re too bipartisan and need to compromise.
Let Cain make him Secretary of Labor so he can take on the SEIU and Teachers Unions. But Pres? Not MY cup of Tea.
gs: actually, according to photographer Karsh who took the photo, Churchill was pissed because Karsh had purposely taken away his cigar to get a reaction.
It worked.
That’s interesting to learn, Neo. However, IMHO, this 1940 photo (second on the page) to my eye is consistent with the iconic one you posted.
(Churchill is not identified by name, but as ‘Britain’s Warlord’. Was Henry Luce hedging his bets about how things would turn out?)
gs: oh, I’m not meaning to imply that the expression on Churchill’s face in the Karsh photo was not characteristic of the man at times. I just think the backstory of how Karsh got him to display it for the camera is interesting.
Understood, Neo. Thanks for sharing the anecdote.
Other than avoid dupois it is much too early to tell if Chris has anything else in common with Winston.
Stupid iPad spell checker doesn’t like avoir dupois.
I like Christie when he goes after the right targets, and enjoy cheering him on.
BUT.
He’s basically a Democrat who’s a fiscal conservative. On every other major policy point, and I mean Every other major point, he’s more to the left. And exactly because he Is such a great communicator, if he had the ‘bully pulpit,’ he could do a great deal of damage in the illegal immigration area, the war against jihad, our Second Amendment rights, and so on.
Keep him in Jersey, where he’s doing some good, way better than Corzine.
But if he ran for POTUS and won? it would be like having an articulate, bright John McCain in the White House. I invite you to imagine the consequences.
From Instapundit: Those who make fun of Christie’s weight are, “GIRTHERS.” Heh.
Churchill used to drink, too. Christie?