Why is Trump-hater Alan Steinberg backing Republican Nick DeGregorio?

By Rubashov

Be careful Republicans!

After pissing on every Republican in America for the last five years, Whitman Republican (or more precisely, former Republican) Alan Steinberg is now trying to anoint candidates for next year’s Republican congressional primaries. Steinberg has called Republicans every foul word he could muster – from “fascists” to “racists” – and followed up those insults by publicly excusing the worst excesses of the Democrat Party.

Steinberg’s sudden interest in directing support within the NJGOP to candidates for Congress in next year’s GOP congressional primaries is worrisome. Especially so when you remember that Steinberg’s mentor – former GOP Governor Christie Whitman – has already released a statement endorsing two Democrat incumbents (Josh Gottheimer in CD05 and Andy Kim in CD03) for re-election.

Writing in yesterday’s edition of InsiderNJ, Steinberg spent more than 1,000 words in a panegyric to a little-known, first-time candidate for Congress by the name of Nick DeGregorio. The photograph of DeGregorio that Steinberg chose to grace his sales pitch resembles that of a youngish monk from the 15th century.

Of course, Steinberg could not begin promoting his Republican offering without first offering up some praise before his Democrat masters – predicting the election of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and an upturn in President Joe Biden’s polling numbers. This is something Democrat pollster (and Gottheimer pal) Mark Penn seems skeptical about, as this short interview makes clear…

Across America, Democrat poll numbers are crashing (especially over COVID). Why not New Jersey?

We were especially amused at these lines by Alan Steinberg: “Biden’s actions regarding Afghanistan will be a definite political popularity asset for him. Botched withdrawal or not, Biden will be recognized as the president who got us out of that quagmire, saving America thousands of lives, billions of dollars, and reversing the extraordinarily foolish Afghanistan policies of both his Republican and Democratic predecessors.”

Yes, this from a member of the administration that sold us the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lie and expanded our military involvement throughout the Middle East. A NeoCon, Steinberg boisterously supported the expansion of the Security State – with its spying on American citizens and its use of the Espionage Act against whistleblowers. Too bad it took you two decades, trillions spent, and a million or so dead to change your mind.

Alan Steinberg proceeds to try to sell us on his protégé, Nick DeGregorio, calling DeGregorio a “growing formidable challenge” to Josh Gottheimer in CD05. Okay, but the latest information out of the Federal Elections Commission shows DeGregorio with zero dollars on-hand and Gottheimer with more than $11 million. Steinberg goes on to anoint DeGregorio “the current frontrunner for the 2022 Republican Congressional nomination in the Fifth District.” Based on?

Well, like Bob Hugin (who apparently DeGregorio models himself after), DeGregorio was an officer in the Marine Corps. If memory serves, Steinberg said that would be the clincher for Guy Gregg too. He also touts DeGregorio’s “academic credentials” and his Wall Street experience.

Hey, all of that is good, but what’s going on in DeGregorio’s brain is what matters. What is the young man thinking about? What are his policies (we certainly hope he doesn’t share in Alan Steinberg’s enthusiasms)? What does he really believe when he stops pretending, when he puts away the script and stops being a candidate? Is he the kind of man who can be on the level with those he wishes to impose himself on? In short, is he honest? Time will tell.

Alan Steinberg was well-cared for by the NJGOP. The party got him jobs in the administrations of Governor Whitman and President George W. Bush. Fat paying jobs. And he rewarded them by flipping out when conservatives took charge, calling them names like “racists” and “fascists” – eventually quitting the GOP.

Steinberg closed his promotional piece for DeGregorio with this bit of ridiculousness:

“I also have seen more enthusiasm for Nick De Gregorio among both rank-and-file Republicans and leaders than virtually any other Republican Congressional challenger over the past four decades. He is indeed a phenomenon.”

After all his years of hating Republicans and calling conservatives every filthy name he could come up with, we doubt if any self-respecting “rank-and-file Republican” would take the time to piss on him. Alan Steinberg is as welcome in conservative circles as a skunk on a wedding night.

Nick DeGregorio picked one hell of a spokesman for a Republican primary. Good luck.

Political Greatness
By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Nor happiness, nor majesty, nor fame,
Nor peace, nor strength, nor skill in arms or arts,
Shepherd those herds whom tyranny makes tame;
Verse echoes not one beating of their hearts,
History is but the shadow of their shame;
Art veils her glass, or from the pageant starts,
As to oblivion their blind millions fleet,
Staining that heaven with obscene imagery
Of their own likeness. What are numbers knit
By force or custom? Man, who man would be,
Must rule the empire of himself; in it
Must be supreme, establishing his throne
On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy
Of hopes and fears, being himself alone.