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Gov. Chris Christie Announces He Will Not Run For President In 2012

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In a televised press conference Tuesday afternoon, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put what will likely be only a slight damper on speculation that he’ll enter the 2012 GOP field by announcing that he will not be running for president in 2012. Christie told reporters that “for me, the answer was never anything but ‘no.’”

He did acknowledge that the groundswell of support for his prospective bid caused him to “seriously consider” it, but added, “now is not my time.”

Christie’s decision depended heavily on his desire to finish his term as New Jersey Governor, concluding, “New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

While taking questions from reporters, Christie said he won’t rule out future employment, “be that President of the United States, or working at NBC.”

He also related a weird anecdote about a supporter from Nebraska who sent his children a Fed-Ex urging them to encourage Christie to run.

In the run-up to the presser, the political media breathlessly hyped leaked reports that Christie wouldn’t run. Y’know what? Mediaite had this scoop last week, the week before that, one month ago, hell, I think Christie’s high school newspaper reported it on the eve of his graduation. While the fervor surrounding a Christie run is understandable among Republicans, desperate for anybody who isn’t named for a piece of baseball equipment, and has a chance to beat Barack Obama.

The media’s participation in this spectacle, however, is a different story. As awesome as it would be to cover a Chris Christie presidential run (he makes for better copy than the offspring of an ED-209 and a Xerox machine), journalists aren’t supposed to let their drooling desire for political pyrotechnics interfere with their ability to understand English.

If Christie’s announcement does finally quash the media’s speculation (which it probably won’t), the next big, stupid question will be “Who will Christie endorse?”

Just because Christie had big potential as a candidate doesn’t mean his endorsement will be helpful to one of the remaining candidates. While props from a pro-gun control, climate change-believing, Muslim-appointing governor of the best state in the world might seem like a good thing, these aren’t selling points to a GOP base that worships Herman Cain. Speculating on Christie’s endorsement is nearly as big a waste of time as speculating on his presidential run was.

Besides, if Christie is smart (and has an eye toward a 2016 run), he won’t endorse anyone, at least not this early. There’s no percentage in endorsing now, and possibly getting tied to a loser, or worse, to Mitt Romney.

The one surprising bit of news from today’s press conference was that Sarah Palin’s tour bus was nowhere in the vicinity.

Here’s video of Christie’s announcement:

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  • TbagsRstupid
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lars-Svensen/100001028197161 Lars Svensen

    Now it’s down to Mittens vs. The Barracuda. Advantage:’Cuda.

  • News Of The World

    And Republican males everywhere have suddenly gone flaccid.

  • Anonymous

    :-|

    That’s a big aaaaaaass dude.

  • Anonymous

    Can we all move on now?!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    So this leaves room for the Half-Baked Alaskan. Lots of room. I’m relieved.

    Actually, it was a rather good speech.

  • Moosenuts99

    DUHHHHH

    OBAMA IS ALREADY THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

  • Anonymous

    Amazing….an article on Gov. Christie on Mediaite that doesn’t mention his weight in the headline. 

  • Exgoper

    What a shocker! He said for months he wasn’t “ready” to be president. You can’t walk that back. It would have been in countless attack ads. Furthermore, the tea party was already starting to turn against him; he wouldn’t have lasted two weeks before he started sinking like a stone.

    Now we have to go through the charade of watching Palin’s press conference in which pretends that she was “seriously” considering it, but had finally decided not to run.

  • ceeza

    He would have to be an absolute idiot to get in this race..He’s in such a good position right now up in Jersey.. He can get away with those “liberal” positions and his bravado up there.. also you just know as loud mouthed as he is there’s no way fat boy wants his closet cleaned out..   

  • Anonymous

    January 2011- Christie:” I’m not a candidate for president.”
    February 2011: Christie: “I’m happy where I am.
    April 2011: Christie: “What do I have to do to convince you I’m not running for president?”
    May 2011 :Christie: ” I am absolutely not running for president.”
    July 2011: Christie: “Must I commit suicide to convince you I’m not running for president?”
    October 2011: Christie: “On the question of my running for president, for me, the answer was never anything but ‘no.’”

    MSM: BREAKING NEWS- CHRISTIE NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

  • Rick Patel

    Up to now, a boring affair, all very bland. But when Gov. Sarah Palin returns from Korea, The Land of Morning Calm,  the storm created by her announcement to run for the Presidency will bring tumultuous, tempestuous excitement to the primary & electoral process, the like of which our great Republic has never seen. Thunder in the Heartland, and fear & panic in the Beltway!

  • Texan

    Two (2) top Obama fundraisers are now implicated in the Solyndra loan mess and there are more scandals to come!

  • Anonymous

    I am shocked!   SHOCKED I tell ya!
    This is only the  one million three hundred thousand one hundred and twenty third  time he has said that he wasn’t running for president.
    I wonder what he will say tomorrow?
    I hope Tommy asks him.
    Tommy is on top of all of these breaking stories. Anybody surprised the “Rock Word” didn’t find it’s way into this story’s headline?
    Surely there is a way of connecting it.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Which has what to do with Christie’s announcement, Jeff?

  • CrazyLikeAFoxViewer

    Now THAT’S funny!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    A picture …. a thousand words ….

  • Anonymous

    Sh!t, wait to they nail Holder for the F&F cover-up!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

    “for me, the answer was never anything but ‘no’”?…  “now is not my time”?… 

    great, more equivocating…  yes or no, governor?…  give us a straight answer for a change…  are you or are you not running for president?…  a simple yes or no answer will do, sir…    

  • Anonymous

    I guess English is not your native language.

  • Anonymous

    Oh goodie. I hated this man to begin with. No one has ever taken him seriously.
    http://elovehate.com/Topics/People/GovernmentPeople/Republicans/ChrisChristie

  • Anonymous

    wow that must mean he’s running

  • Anonymous

    Well, his words will still be poured over and debated further as to whether he said a firm No. Is there is a glimmer or a doubt that he still said ‘…He might!’

    I still don’t think he’s said it firmly or loudly enough for some enterprising pundits. 

    …Ann Coulter will be irretrievably heartbroken.

  • Anonymous

    lol….I haven’t seen you teabaggers so excited since you were going to prove Obama wasn’t a citizen.

  • Anonymous

    But your mouth still drools!

  • Anonymous

    Poor thing! It was always up to Barry to prove he was a citizen, not up to others to prove he wasn’t!

  • ganymede

    My respect for Christie has increased many fold. He’s really one of the few ‘liberal’ Republicans left and has a great future ahead of him if the Republicans ever make a comeback. The Republican Party has made the awful mistake of embracing the Koch/Murdoch backed Tea Party which will shortly be supplanted by the legitimate Tea Party which is speading rapidly from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Yes, the current Tea Party has very legitimate reasons to be upset and angry ofver the current economic situation, but most people know that it isn’t all Obama’s fault. Also, it’s obvious that the Tea Party is an artficial construct created by FOX, the Koch Bros and other bad actors. Obama is actually, a true democrat who has done everything possible to placate and work with the Republicans. He’s, now, finally giving up on trying to work with these people who only want his defeat and will wreck the economy even more in their stupid pursuit of power. Smart guy, Christie, he sees that the rightwing is imploding and wants no part of this. 2012 is not going to be a good year for the Republicans. Christie was their last big, white hope!

  • Tea4dummies

    The ‘baggers will now start to pine for their Hillbilly Queen.

  • Anonymous

    If they made hats the size of your brain you would be wearing a peanut shell.

  • Tea4dummies

    I loved all the slaps at Palin. ie. can’t leave your job halfway through , being Governor is a commitment. etc.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder what the Republicans will do?  They’re running out of players in their farm system, but I’m sure Rove is busy trying to find someone else that they can groom.  

  • Anonymous

    Rove?

    LOL

    Get out of 2004, child- this is 2011!

  • RW

    What is the point of this website?  Is Tommy pretending to bring a news flash on this website? 

    A rock could beat President Obama.

  • Anonymous

    It’s a shame really,as Brando once said,He coulda been a contender.Now it’s pretty likely we;ll be stuck with four more years…….of this.

    That said it sure does shore up a possibility of a Republican victory in 2016 after another Obama administration that will probably suck as much as this one.It also says nothing about what may happen to congress which might turn all Republican.

    Which of course plays into why Obama has moved more to the center.He had to for any hope of re-election and he’ll have to do his best Bill Clinton impression next year.

  • TbagsRstupid

    here we go again, slowly

    h u m o r  i s  l o s t  o n  y o u

  • Exgoper

    I agree with you entirely. This is a party that has gone off the rails intellectually and it’s only going to be pulled back on track if more Christies come forward and expand the party’s base. I don’t agree with him on everything — I think his withholding Federal funds intended for a rail project that HE canceled was supremely unethical — but I respect his willingness to deviate from current Republican orthodoxy and do what he sees as correct, regardless of the political price.

    There was never any way he was going to win the nomination. We all know that the teabillies would never back someone who favored immigration reform and gay rights and even spoke positively about the so-called Ground Zero Mosque. He’s wise to sit this one out and wait till the conditions are more favorable (ie, the tea party fever has broken), although I’m not optimistic that that will come about anytime soon.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

    my native tongue is texican…  sarcasm, i see, is not your native language…

  • Anonymous

    That’s where the Republicans get their money is from Rove’s secret C4 donors.

  • TbagsRstupid

    who wouldn’t want to “slap” Palin

  • Anonymous

    Stupidity is your native language!

  • Anonymous

    Stupidity is your native language!

  • Anonymous

    Prove it- go ahead and prove it troll-” the flatulence is with you!”

  • Indigo710

    WRONG !!!! The Taxed Enough Already party is  is self  sustaining by the people who  are a part of it.
     It goes back to Rick Santelli,…………….on the floor of the Chicago Exchange, 2009.
     0bama is  a totalitarian.  A statist.  

  • Indigo710

     The only thing good about Christie is that he’s better than Corzine.  Christie is a RINO.

  • Indigo710

    Christie thinks that there’s global warming and that it’s man made. He is for Cap and Trade.  In NJ it’s called RGGI. He would not sign on with the other states opposing 0bama care.

  • Indigo710

    0bama has moved to the center? In what universe?

  • Anonymous

    What’s more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson — who’s been covering the scandal from the beginning — says in an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show today that the White House and Justice Department have taken to screaming at her for reporting on the story. You can listen to the full interview below, but here are the key excerpts from Attkisson:In between the yelling that I received from Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman–who would not put anything in writing, I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said, she wouldn’t put anything in writing–so we talked on the phone and she said things such as the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked. But he phrased it, he said very explicitly, ‘I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.’And:

    Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?
    Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.”LMAO

  • http://twitter.com/lizmckenzie55 Liz McKenzie

    Even he knows he would die of a frigging heart attack during a campaign for the nominee let alone the big gig.  Good choice Mr. Christie – even you know your physical limitations which are pretty effing limited.  Give Jenny Craig a call, please – if not for you, for your kids!

  • http://twitter.com/lizmckenzie55 Liz McKenzie

    Even he knows he would die of a frigging heart attack during a campaign for the nominee let alone the big gig.  Good choice Mr. Christie – even you know your physical limitations which are pretty effing limited.  Give Jenny Craig a call, please – if not for you, for your kids!

  • Anonymous

    Pass that on to Michelle Obama- her car has stretch marks!

  • Anonymous

    You’re an RNC troll  http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/09/american-crossroads-shadow-rnc.html

  • Anonymous

    Can you blame him?
    He has a young family and we all know that the leftist media will work him over good, literally looking under rocks to try to smear and destroy him, as they’ve done to every Obama opponent so far.

  • Anonymous

    But Tommy, what on Earth does this have to do with the N*ggerhead scandal?  We haven’t had an update or a headline with that phrase for nearly 5 hours!

  • Indigo710

    Fast and Furious is a scandal, Solyndra is a scandal,…………..this rock is NOT..

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

    why don’t you see if stonepark1 and stonepark2 can help you with some witty retorts?…

  • Anonymous

    What a shocker! He said for months he wasn’t “ready” to be president. You can’t walk that back.

    Wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BnLozS-TnM

  • Dog, Bob Dog

    Nope, still not sticking except to your limited cranial membranes.

  • Tex45

    Ann Coulter will have to trade in her Christie dildo now.

  • Lizton

    So it’s down to ‘Meathead’ Perry, ‘Race Card’ Cain, and ‘Magic Underwear’ Romney?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SIYF5565LXG7BBKTKGSSFWU7TA The Rock

    As I thought Chris Christie wasn’t going to run. I think Chris wants to finish what he started in NJ I think Christie will run in 2016 or 2020 just my opinion.

  • Anonymous

    wow  the fat police is EVERYWHERE!  that’s a relief.

  • Anonymous

    Really?? I was so sure he’d run, after he kept saying “No I won’t” over and over.

  • Anonymous

    But I thought you Christie fans like yelling and bullying?

    Teabaggers call it “Keeping it real!” lol

  • Silgary

    I’m not so surprised Tommy didn’t go into Christie’s evaluation of the president’s lack of leadership qualities or the fact we need to make him a one term president.
    Much more important how much he weighs or what rock he becomes aquainted with.

  • Bob

    This just in: Gov. Christie Creme is still not running.

  • Bob

    This just in: Gov. Christie Creme is still not running.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, she will be the new flavor of the weak.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, she will be the new flavor of the weak.

  • Fudge441

    Who cares what this lard ass does.

  • Exgoper

    RINO = sensible Republican.

  • Billy Sunday

    I love watching scared republicans run from an ass woopin!!!  COWARDS!!!  They like to talk but when it comes down to fight they RUN!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    A nation turned it’s weary eyes to you Chris and you said no.  I’m sad, but I’ll get over it. 
     
    Any one of the candidates is better than the Marxist (well, maybe not Huntsman), even Mitt.

  • cdnhawk

    When I was was watching Christie speak I was thinking of the comparasion between him and the half baked English language mangling Alaskan….I actually like the guy. Seem like a straight shooter who makes sense. He stayed to make a difference. She left to make money and pump her ego.

  • Anonymous

    I’m sure this isn’t the first time Christie dropped out of a race.

  • Dog, Bob Dog

    America was just saved from the Jersey Snore.

  • Anonymous

    HA, HA, HA, HA,HA, Christie running for anything other than Christie-cream dougnuts is funny.  I mean with his girth, could he withstand the pressures of being POTUS?  Then again, he’d be a reTHUGlican one and that means that he would have a CONgress that he could work with.  Can’tor and The Ohio Orangeman would be willing participants in his ajenda and Nancy wouldn’t have the guts to do to him what the right did to Obama

  • Anonymous

    Had he decided to run, I think he’d would have had the same effect Obama had in 2008 to some extent, people who ideologically disagree with him voting for him because of likability

  • cdnhawk

    Stoney is the king of the comebacks. Dumb as the rock he lives under.

  • Anonymous

    Hardly. He has an American passport. You can’t get an American passport without being an American citizen. Teabagger-manufactured issue, for the sole reason that “get a life” can’t be enforced in a court of law.

  • Anonymous

    Christie is more of a realist than some Republicans. Washington is a small town at the end of the day. Christie knows that Washington is one town that isn’t big enough for the two of him.

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