Below is the entire conversation, but the part that I am pointing to is here. The case for Chris Christie or Haley Barbour running as fat men.
My own sometimes-defenses of the obese aside, I do think that there is value in being a role model, and so in that sense Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich provide a better role model of sorts (err, as it pertains to weight, in the case of the latter). But I do consider it sad commentary that Christie’s weight did become an issue in the campaign. Whether deserved or not, the reputation of fat men is that they are lazy or undisciplined. Both Christie and Barbour have entire biographies that disprove this as it applies to them (regardless of whether one agrees with their policy positions or not).
On a sidenote, it’s odd that all four candidates mentioned are Republicans. Are there any really fat – or formerly fat – Democrats out there? Montana has a governor a little on the hefty side, and Maryland has Barbara Mikulski, but nobody else really comes to mind and nobody is talking about them for president. Al Gore? Bill Richardson? Neither were huge when they were public figures, by my recollection (though Gore got pretty heavy for a while after he lost). But most that come to mind are Republicans. Denny Hastert. A local congressman back home. Coincidence, or something to do with the female vote in the primaries?
There was actually a candidate for congress back in Delosa whose web-site had clearly photo-shopped his head. Actually, it was a pretty good photoshop job that just didn’t survive scrutiny. Up to that point he was actually considered a serious candidate. He wasn’t even that overweight.
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Christie was able to overcome his handicap here because the public really hated the incumbent.
He was well known here for putting away a lot of locally famous politicians as US Attorney. What hasn’t really come out yet is that his wife is the main bread winner in the family, since she is a bond trader, and she bought her husband the job. Before that, he spent one unsuccessful term as county freeholder.
I don’t know how well his reputation will stand up to the strict scrutiny of a national campaign. He isn’t as popular here as he used to be.
There was actually a candidate for congress back in Delosa whose web-site had clearly photo-shopped his head.
Do you mean he photoshopped his own head onto a thinner body? If so, I could never vote for someone that vain…
I don’t know how well his reputation will stand up to the strict scrutiny of a national campaign. He isn’t as popular here as he used to be.
I think his persona would get old pretty quickly. He’s a fascinating figure from a distance, which is one of the reasons I write about him, and I might want him as my governor under a specific set of conditions (some of which seem to apply to New Jersey at present, but none of which apply to Arapaho), but as president? I don’t think he’s really temperamentally suited for it.
Do you mean he photoshopped his own head onto a thinner body? If so, I could never vote for someone that vain…
Sorry I was unclear, but yeah, that’s what he did. The whole thing signaled the end of his previously-promising career. Not just that, but there were already questions about his self-aggrandizing. This just cemented a pretty negative reputation.
Just to add, the person Christie reminds me most of is Rudy Giuliani. Both made their bones are prosecutors, and didn’t work their way up the electoral food chain; they started at high profile positions after their successful terms as prosecutors. They also both overcame physical handicaps in order to get elected. (RG is bald and speaks in a lisp). We all saw what happened to RG in the 2008 election.
Lesson: a one-trick pony is interesting at first, but the public quickly loses interest.