Plan B Forum

Chris Christie Calls War On Drugs 'A Failure'


Chris Christie

WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has become the latest leader to condemn the now 40-year-old war on drugs.

"The war on drugs, while well-intentioned, has been a failure," Christie said Monday during a speech at The Brookings Institution. "We're warehousing addicted people everyday in state prisons in New Jersey, giving them no treatment."

Christie stressed the merits of legislation recently passed by New Jersey state lawmakers that institutes a year of mandatory treatment for first-time, nonviolent drug offenders instead of jail time. The mandatory treatment program, slated to be put in place in at least three counties during its first year, will eventually expand statewide over the next five years.

Christie, one of the few Republican lawmakers to actively speak out against the effects of America's drug war policies, sought to put a conservative moral spin on his position.

"If you're pro-life, as I am, you can't be pro-life just in the womb," he said. "Every life is precious and every one of God's creatures can be redeemed, but they won't if we ignore them."

Perhaps to blunt conservative criticism of the cost of such a program to the state, Christie argued in favor of the economics of drug treatment over incarceration.

"It costs us $49,000 a year to warehouse a prisoner in New Jersey state prisons last year," Christie said. "A full year of inpatient drug treatment costs 24,000 a year."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/0 ... 59687.html

To the best of my knowledge, this makes Christie the first politician in either party to have the balls to speak the truth about the WOD while serving in a major office.

But he doesn't stop there; Christie also came out in favor of horrors... compromise :

The New Jersey Republican, known for his combativeness, also cast blame on Washington politicians of both parties for failing to lead.

"I can walk and chew gum at the same time – I can fight with Democrats publicly and privately over issues of principle where we can't find compromise, and at the same time, hold conversations with them on issues where we can find common ground and force that," Christie said.

"This illusion that you see in this town that somehow that can't happen, it's not possible, it's just an excuse. It's an excuse of failed leadership by both parties. You have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. You have to be able to find compromise. People send us to these jobs to get things done."

Christie added that politicians need to remember that holding on to their title isn't as important as accomplishing the job they were elected to do.

"If they kick you out of office, they kick you out of office – seems to me it's not the end of the world. But for some people, maybe it is, but we should keep those people out of office," Christie said.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ballot ... illed-pols

Gee, on the same day the guy condemns the WOD and comes out in favor of political compromise? Chris, what were you thinking dude? Have you gone mad?

For starters you can kiss any chance you had to be tapped as the VP choice good bye....and now you'll probably be branded a RINO and tossed out of the conservative camp....

In fact your career is probably over; you might as well just pack it in right now. We can't have people expressing outlandish ideas like calling the WOD a failure or praising the virtues of compromise holding positions of authority in our political system...

There's no telling where that sort of thing could lead...common sense might even breakout....no,no, this must be stopped at once, before it spreads....

I've had mixed feelings about Christie, but I've really come to the conclusion that he's the kind of person this country could really use in the White House. It's a real shame he's not our nominee. If Obama wins re-election, I'll be in Christie's corner for 2016 right out of the gate.

LJ, don't get your hopes up. CC has come out strongly opposed to legalization of MJ.

"Compromise" is the result of balanced power. CC is a Republican in a predominantly Democrat state. OF COURSE he is willing to compromise. Otherwise he won't get anything he wants.

But how much compromise went into the Affordable Healthcare Act (or whatever it's called)? The Democrats held the House, the Senate and the White House. There was no balance of power and no need to compromise, and NO REPUBLICAN initiatives went into the bill did they? Which is kinda-sorta-maybe why the bill is such a flashpoint now. It was a single-party initiative, with no compromises whatsoever.

If Chris Christy were President with a Republican House and Senate, how much compromise with Democrats do you think we would see?

Just curious.

Romney used to be able to compromise.

Now he denies everything he did back then in order to keep in lock step with the morons of his national party.

On a different front: The chance of Chris Christie living another decade are not much more than even. He is morbidly obese which reduces lifespan an average of 20 years and he is 50 this year. It could be a waste of time promoting him as a future federal officeholder.

yrs,
rubato

Dave, I believe that compromise is going to be essential to getting anything accomplished at the federal level for the foreseeable future, for one very simple reason.

No matter which party controls the House, or the White House, or the Senate, barring something truly dramatic, neither party is going to achieve a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, given the political dynamics and divisions that exist in this country any time soon.

Additionally, I believe that Christie is a person who could conceivably fulfill the promise that Obama made when he was running and then promptly broke when he was elected; the promise to try to move beyond sheer partisanship and try to incorporate a broader consensus. I believe he has the internal gravitas to be able to stand up against the pressures that would be on him not to do so, that Obama apparently lacked.

As repeatedly noted on this BBS for a million years by those at all points on the political spectrum, everyone recognizes that the the War on Drugs has been a colossal failure, waste of public funds and, worst of all, has ruined the lives of countless people criminalized and incarcerated for no good reason. For Christie to state the obvious truth takes no courage -- particularly where it costs him nothing politically, since he is obviously talking out both sides of his mouth: Just last month he vowed to veto legislation decriminalizing marijuana possession, and he has been dragging his feet on medical marijuana legislation passed more than two years ago.

As for allegedly being in favor of "political compromise," it comes at a handy time, considering that it's now time to start his reelection campaign. Many of us east of the Delaware and west of the Hudson have a somehwat different perspective, and I stand by my assessment of Christie from last year, after the incident in which he used a state police helicopter to attend his son's baseball game:

Beyond the blatant hypocrisy of telling us all in NJ how we have to make sacrifices and slash state spending into the bone while ostentatiously incurring completely unnecessary costs, Christie as a U.S. Attorney made it his business to go after public officials who blurred the lines between public and personal business in using public funds and assets. Christie had NO PUBLIC BUSINESS on his calendar that would have required use of a state helicopter, yet had it ferry him to and from his kid's ball game to a private political meeting at the Governor's Mansion with out-of-state campaign donors to discuss his presidential aspirations. If this is not an outright ethical violation in misuse of public property, it is at a minimum colossally insensitive and politically tone-deaf. The guy's got his kids in private schools while slashing the budget for public education and attacking public school teachers (resulting in local property tax increases); he fails to file the simple paperwork that would have gotten the state $400 million in federal education funds; he kills an essential public works project to expand and improve commuter rail access to New York that would have directly provided thousands of jobs for decades; he sacks a Supreme Court justice in a purely political move that violates decades of bipartisan tradition; and he blames everyone but himself for his failures in government. I've got reams of "substantive" criticism of Chris Christie, but the nutshell is he's an arrogant self-important mean-spirited dick.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2951&p=38364&hilit=+Christie#p38364

Not everything about Chris Christie is awful. One (out of three) of his NJ Supreme Court nominations was a good -- if conservative -- choice. But I do not think he has done a good job as governor; he has been all about bluster and hyping his image, with no actual policy direction other than getting his name in the next news cycle. This is not a purely partisan sentiment: we have had Republican governors who I thought were okay: Bill Cahill and Tom Kean in particular. But even if I were a Republican, I wouldn't be too keen on Christie as a national standard-bearer.

Chris Christie is another toad like "Newtie" .

yrs,
rubato

Any criticism of Chris Christy must be in the context of "compared to..."

He is so extraordinarily superior to those who preceded him that he should be viewed as a virtual Messiah. One more democrat governor and New Jersey would have been showing up on Ebay.

The desperation of this critics is manifest above where everything he has accomplished is called into question because of ONE FUCKING HELICOPTER RIDE.

Fucking ridiculous.

What, exactly, are Christie's "accomplishments"?

New Jersey now has the fiftth highest unemployment rate in the nation at 9.2% -- a rate that has been climbing this year while the national rate has been dropping.

As I pointed out above, Christie failed to file paperwork that would have gotten the state $400 million in federal education funds, then slashed the state's education funding, resulting in local property tax increases to make up the difference.

Christie killed te commuter rail tunnel project to NYC, which wll cause New Jersey residents to suffer workday delays, miss out on job opportunities and forgo $4 billion in personal income.

Christie vetoed same-sex marriage legslation passed by the Legislature and supported by the public.

Christie picked a fight with both the judiciary and the Legislature by sacking Justice Wallace and nominating two unqualified candidates to the Supreme Court.

Christie shut down and sold off New Jersey's public broadcasting network, practically eliminating all local news coverage.

Other than making a name for himself as the fat bully from Jersey, what is it you think Christie has "accomplished"?

Sue, what, exactly are you trying to accomplish by your posting? Virtually every point is either false, intentionally distorted, or irrelevant. Do you think anyone reading this (the three or four people who accidentally came here) is so stupid as to be unable to see through it?

Regarding unemployment, Christie has been in office for a couple of years. He has NOTHING TO DO WITH the unemployment situation in New Jersey. If he were a dictator, rather than governor, or if he had a Republican legislature, then maybe the trends could be attributed to something he did or failed to do. Your point is total bullshit.

New Jersey lost more than a billion dollars in stimulus funding in his first year in office, and under Gov. Christie, the state replaced most, but not all of it. Only in the "mind" of a Liberal could this be considered a funding cut.

He killed a proposed NEW tunnel. Status quo remains. Billions of costs averted. No resident will suffer a minute of additional delay due the the lack of something that never existed, nor will anyone lose out on any job opportunities due to something that never existed. And unless this was going to be a one-way bridge, it would also have facilitated tens of thousands of New Yorkers coming into the Garden State (assuming anyone would ever do that voluntarily) to take jobs from the natives on that side of the bridge. And by the way, for anyone in the other 48 states and the District of Columbia, it is totally irrelevant whether jobs are filled (as they will in fact be filled) by someone from one side of the river or the other. The net result is a wash.

He vetoed the same sex marriage law because he wanted it to be authorized by a vote of the public and a constitutional amendment. Also known as, "doing it the right way." If this is actually what the people of New Jersey want, then they shall have it; otherwise they won't. I realize Libs are used to getting what they want by judicial fiat, so this is a big "hassle," but ultimately the people will get what they want.

"...eliminating all local news coverage"? Are you shitting me? There are no more New Jersey television or radio stations broadcasting local news? You're joking, right?

Actually, to those Americans who are not under the influence of the mind-altering fog of Liberalism, Governor Christie has shown many Americans that it is possible to execute the office of Governor without kissing the asses of public employee unions or their spokespeople. It's not for nothing that he is a U-Tube star.

Fact: if the country got an enema, you could make a pretty good case for inserting it in Jersey.