Christine Todd Whitman breaks party silence - B* has lowest margin ever

[dzika]

Sunday, January 2, 2005; Page A09

It's Her Party and She'll Cry If She Wants To

By Mike Allen and John F. Harris
Sunday, January 2, 2005; Page A09

Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who was President Bush's first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is violating the omerta of Bush alumni with a memoir that touts the importance of moderates to the future of the Republican Party and flays Bush and his team for ignoring the country's middle. Whitman charges on Page 3 that Bush's three-percentage-point margin in the popular vote is the lowest of any incumbent president ever to win reelection.

"The numbers show that while the president certainly did energize his political base, the red state/blue state map changed barely at all -- suggesting that he had missed an opportunity to significantly broaden his support in the most populous areas of the country," Whitman writes. "The Karl Rove strategy to focus so rigorously on the narrow conservative base won the day, but we must ask at what price to governing and at what risk to the future of the party."

Whitman was a bit of a misfit in the Bush Cabinet, coming in as a supporter of abortion rights and taking a job that is not a quick route to popularity in a GOP administration. She left in June 2003, clearly unhappy.

continued...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41511-2005Jan1.html

[roguevalley]

1. So in essence, the red staters are a finite number and he can't

get more than he's got. We have the potential to outnumber his butt in the long run.

[fearnobush]

8. We already have out numbered him... Them.

All they have to do is steal with in a 5% margin. As our urban areas expand and as our suburban areas become urban, they will become more Dem. In time, they Republicans of the future will be like the Dems of today if they want to keep their Elephant a bit more than lean.

[FreepFryer]

2. smile - despots make enemies.

this story just gave me a nice smile.

Thanks! :)

[dave123williams]

17. Don't get too happy; despots cling on to power...

Look what we had to do to Berlin, Dresden and Tokyo to make some other despots give up their power...yes; I'm comparing Bush to other depots, for the lurking freepers amongst us. If the shoe fits...

[Jack_Dawson]

3. Where was she before the election?

Oh that's right...towing the line.

:eyes:

[fearnobush]

9. Thats right. As I read her nasty quotes to POTUS from O'Neill's book

"The Price Of Loyalty." Queen Whitman was towing the line for the Chimpster her in NJ.

[Erika]

4. A woman with guts

Bush has now shown his colors as an extremist especially against women's rights and the environment. As inept in these areas as he is in all other areas of governing, more and more decent Americans will dare speak up against his radicalism.

[Melissa G]

5. Kick!

[shawcomm]

6. I'm assuming

'margin' is code word for intelligence.

[dzika]

7. ha!

[Patsy Stone]

10. Haven't most of them?

"violating the omerta of Bush alumni"

How many books already? Not all "Bush alumni," but O'Neill, Clarke, Woodward. It seems people can't wait to spill. I hope their life insurance is up-to-date, though.

Also, I hope Colin's colon urges him to write a book.

[dzika]

13. "flays Bush and his team for ignoring the country's middle"

She sounds angry.

When will the real Republicans start fighting to get their party back?

[Patsy Stone]

14. I hope for it daily.

I would be pissed.

[Daisey Mae]

11. Good for Christine Todd Whitman!!!

[anamandujano]

12. She is still reenforcing the idea that he won.

I didn't read the article but basically even someone who appears to have a bone to pick with Bush is saying how brilliant Rove is and that even though she disagrees with their methods, Bush won. Don't like it.

[rodeodance]

15. by hook or crook Bush did win!!

[Raksha]

16. Mostly by crook. n/t

[anamandujano]

20. Thank you. n/t

[bluestateguy]

18. Whatever. Whitman is a 90's relic. She's as obsolete as the "Macarena".

This is not the Republican Party of Bob Taft, Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford that Christie Whitman once felt at home in. Hell, it's not even the party of Newt Gingrich anymore...it's worse.

[andjustice4all]

19. Exactly.

Is that Abe Lincoln I hear rolling over in his grave? (again?????)

[Pacifist Patriot]

26. Good point, but it appears that's exactly what she's saying.

At least from the snippet, can't vouch for the whole book obviously.

[sled]

21. DICK MORRIS: Have Tricks, Will Travel - RE: Exit Polling & Ukraine

Read on down...the next piece is about Dick Morris. Interesting that they put these two pieces together...


(snip)

Morris's involvement in Yushchenko's campaign even bore several
signatures of the tactics that he made famous when he was working by
Clinton's side in the 1996 reelection campaign: clandestine meetings,
an emphasis on polls and even an attempt at "triangulation," which is
the consultant's fancy word for how politicians should capture the
political center.

In an interview, Morris said an acquaintance from a previous overseas
campaign put him in touch with Yushchenko's campaign manager. Morris
did not actually go to Ukraine. Because of security concerns, he said,
his meetings with campaign officials took place in an East European
capital he declined to name.

The consultant, who when working for Clinton was so poll-driven that
he took surveys about where the president should vacation, said his
main contribution to this campaign was to urge exit polling on
election day. By immediately publicizing the results, Yushchenko's
campaign would draw supporters into the streets to celebrate -- thus
presenting Ukrainian authorities with an angry mob if they tried to
tamper with the vote.

[flpoljunkie]

30. Interesting, indeed--particularly Morris urging election day exit polling!

Apparently in the United States, our own exit polling must be maniuplated to achieve the "proper" outcome--Dubya being coronated again!

[roenyc]

22. Whitman is feeling guilty and trying

to make amends for saying the air over the WTC was just peachy. go ahead and breath deep everyone! your lungs are safe! bitch! she is just as bad as the devil she served.

she left or was fired because she couldn't take it anymore. but never came forward with the info. the fire fighters had to get sick before an investigation was done. so whatever she says now is just a bit late.

and how does one put the Governor of NJ in charge of the EPA. ha ha ha. sorry still a bit sensitive about the 9/11 cover up thing. and she is one part of it.

[catgirl]

23. What did she do for the environment?

NOTHING.

[Tony_Illinois]

24. There's a lot of reasons for that. She or nobody else under GWB will

do anything for the environment--except to roll back the regulatory protections that were in place when GWB took office. Over 300 rollbacks of environmental laws took place within the first three years of this administration. The goal of GWB is to remove the restrictions on corporate profits that are represented by environmental and wildlife regulations. Here is a sample--far from complete--list of the administration's record:

1. The Superfund went bankrupt in 2003 after GWB refused to renew an environmental tax on the chemical and oil companies.
   
2. GWB has introduced policies that allow greater use of many dangerous pesticides, greenhouse gasses, and deadly chemicals.
   
3. The program that adds animals to the threatened and endangered lists has been defunded.
   
4. GWB has made it easier to fill wetlands and streams.
   
5. Wetlands, coastal areas, rivers, and public lands have all been affected by the removal of in-place protections by GWB.
   
6. This administration employs Orwellian language to disguise the intent of its programs by giving them phony names. The "Healthy Forests" initiative which allows logging and clearing in old-growth forests. The "Clear Skies" program which is basically a rolling back of the Clean Air Act.

I too was angry with Christine Whitman for not doing more, but I now understand that she was not allowed to do more. I would have preferred she resign as soon as she got the message, but at least she is speaking out now.

Happy New Year :party:

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. What could she do for the environment?

NOTHING. That's probably part of why she left. Her job was meaningless and she was a rubber stamp.

[HockeyMom]

29. Ground Zero Air

I shudder to imagine what that air must have been like at Ground Zero and the general area. Three days after 9/11 the winds shifted and it came out here to Long Island - 50 miles away. We had people calling police precints, radio stations, asking what the hell was that horrible stench. We were told it was from Ground Zero. It burned your eyes and throat and made you cough after only a very very short time. We were told NOT to take the schoool kids outside for recess.

Remember, this was 3 days later and 50 miles away. I can only imagine what it was like around Downtown Manhattan.

And by the way, there are a number of lawsuits starting over all this with people getting sick from breathing that air.

[flyarm]

33. and christine lied to those working ground zero about the air

and Chrisinte lied to nyer's about the air , and she lied to the first responders about the air ..she is nothing but a damn liar!!

how many young and old people lungs have been destroyed by that blitches lies??
i can't stomach her..and i am a born jersey gal...and a just retired american airlines 33 yr flight crew..ny based...2001 ny AA flight attend of the year ...

i will tell you Christine is a lair a bold faced liar...

all the dogs that worked ground zero are now all dead...what does that tell you about "Christine"...she is filth..she sold her soul for this admin..but she sold the lungs and hearts of all those who cared and worked so hard , because they were good americans , and good souls...
i hope Christine rots in hell!!
fly

[sorechasm]

27. Karl, where was Christine's a medal of freedom

To keep her quiet?

I hear * will now have to start ordering these medals wholesale to keep all the CIA defectors from writing kiss-and-tell books.

[bklyncowgirl]

28. I'd take Christie's new found criticism with a grain of salt.

There's going to be an open Senate seat in Jersey when Corzine runs for governor. Dissing Shrub can only help Whitman in Jersey where we like our Republicans to be moderate country club types.

[Straight Shooter]

31. "Whitman was a bit of a misfit in the * cabinet ..."

Translated, that means she wasn't a bobblehead.

Actually, the * administration is a misfit in American society. Eat that, WaPo.

[jazzjunkysue]

32. I may start liking her, again.

She screwed new jersey, but maybe she's growing a heart. Like the grinch.

[flyarm]

34. please don't!

think of corroded lungs and hearts of the people who worked in ground zero that she destroyed their lives by her lies to cover for bush...
please..she is working for redemption she does not deserve!!
she is a liar and a pig!

[flyarm]

35. now let me tell you what i really think!! lol...n/t

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

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[VTGold]

37. They fail to mention Whitman was a RANGER level donator to Bush in 2004...

...this donation came in after she resigned. s'up with that?

[bunny planet]

38. Yeah, too bad for Christie, she left NJ's finances a mess when she left

to take her 'yesman' gig at Environmental Protection. I'm glad she's speaking out now though. Moderate Republicans have got to wake up. They are just as much an endangered species as Democrats if they don't fight back.