The Hypocrisy of the Budget-Cutting Right; Christie on pace to be a one-termer

Governor Chris Christie was ushered into office amid the fanfare of wins in Virginia and Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's seat and cries that America was rejecting the deficit spending of the Obama Administration.

He'll cut taxes, they said.

He'll eliminate waste, they cried.

He'll balance the budget, they promised.

It's easy. Just tell the damned poor to go get a job, crack down on the illegals and stop abortions and it'll all be swell.

As has been said before though, you can't have everything. If you want a balanced budget, hard cuts are going to have to be made. While it's a lovely narrative for rich white folks to demonize those not like them as lazy layabouts sucking down all of their hard-earned taxes, the reality is different.

As Christie found out.

NJ.com via Boehlert

Public opinion of Gov. Chris Christie has taken a dive in the aftermath of his first state budget, according to a poll released today.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll found that Christie's favorability rating sank 12 points since February, when 45 percent of residents had a favorable opinion of the governor and 26 percent unfavorable. Now that stands at 33 percent favorable and 37 percent unfavorable, according to the poll.

The survey did not measure Christie's job approval ratings. Another poll, released by Fairleigh Dickinson University last week, found his job approval rating dropped 9 percentage points, to 43 percent, after he introduced his budget in March.

The governor's $29.3 billion budget proposal makes wide-ranging cuts -- including to property tax rebates and school, town and college aid -- while resisting broad-based tax increases. The Rutgers-Eagleton poll said that 43 percent of those who had heard about the budget are very or somewhat pleased with it, while 50 percent are somewhat or very displeased.
“Support for Christie is tied directly to the budget proposal,” said David Redlawsk, director of the poll. “Three weeks after the budget speech, the impact is starting to sink in. The result is a recognition that the proposed budget cuts are going to hurt and a significant decrease in favorable impressions of Christie.”

This is not as easy as celebutard Sarah Palin would have you believe. It's not just the poor and the illegals sucking down the resources.

I don't believe that Americans don't have the stomach for belt-tightening. But when they campaign on a platform of socking it to the layabouts to straighten things out, it comes as a bit of a shock to see your services cut.

Perhaps we ought to start telling the truth to the American people.