Chris Cillizza urges Chris Christie to take on Sarah Palin. Sounds like a plan to me. Update!

So as we all know Palin was asked this weekend about the little spat that occurred between Chris Christie and Rand Paul.  Palin of course replied that she was "on team Rand Paul," because of course she is a incredibly immature person who is attracted to batshit crazy and apparently watches too many Twilight movies.

She also said that Christie “got a schtick going there where he’s got a YouTube videographer following him around, kind of these set-up situations sometimes so he can be seen as perhaps a little bit avant-garde and going rogue on things.”

I know right?

Of course Christie ignored her because, well let's face it she is really beneath his notice.

However Chris Cillizza believes that Christie is missing a golden opportunity. 

Here is his case:

Taking on Palin is good politics for Christie or Jeb Bush or anyone else who is planning to run as a quasi-establishment candidate for president in 2016. (No one will run a public-facing “establishment” candidacy but there are clearly people, like Christie or Bush, who would run with the blessing of many of the people who comprise the GOP establishment). 

Palin is widely viewed by much of the party — with the exception of her core followers (and she does retain a real following) — as someone who is advocating a direction for the Republican party that could lead to its electoral demise in 2016 and perhaps beyond. 

There is a sentiment — largely expressed privately, still, at the moment — that someone needs to stand up to that wing of the party and say “enough is enough.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who faces a conservative primary challenger back home in Kentucky, won’t do it. House Speaker John Boehner, who hopes to unite his conference on debt and spending matters this fall, can’t/won’t do it. 

But Christie could — and should. He is cruising to re-election in a blue state. He already has a reputation as a guy who speaks truth to Republican power. And, most importantly, he genuinely believes that the path people like Palin want to lead the party down is a giant philosophical and political mistake. 

Wait, you say. Attacking Palin means Christie will a) get into an extended back and forth with the former governor, who has shown she will never back down from a political jab and b) reinforce for conservatives that he is a moderate, and moderates never win primaries. 

To that we say, not necessarily so. 

No one who counts themselves as a loyal Palin backer at this point is going to consider pulling the lever for Christie in 2016. Just not happening. Their bases of support are in the “never the twain shall meet” category. 

It’s possible that a Christie denunciation of Palin would mean that the likes of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both of whom are considering running for president in 2016, jump to defend Palin — sensing a political opportunity. Maybe. But, our sense is that Cruz and Paul — and their political advisers — will likely steer clear from any too-close association with Palin since she has proven herself to be a sort of free radical in the political process. 

And, even if Christie does take some heat from the right for saying something along the lines of “I believe Sarah Palin is a voice for shrinking the Republican party, not growing it”, the gains he would make among the GOP voters who don’t identify with Palin and her brand of confrontational conservatism would more than make up for it.

I really think that Cillizza is on to something here. 

If Christie were to turn that acerbic wit toward Palin he could crush her like a bug under his shoe, and any attempt by her ghostwriter to respond, on Facebook of course, would only help to illustrate her lack of standing within the Republican party and help to cement Christie as the future of the party and forever label Palin as the living embodiment of how horribly it went off the rails.

Simply put, he could not lose.

Now I'm not fooled by Christie's attempts to appear moderate,. I know that deep within his black heart he is still a union busting, public school bashing, conservative, who talks out of both sides of his mouth.

However that does not mean I would not like to see him get a little Presidential election cred by going after Sarah Palin.

In fact I would LOVE that!

And I think he would do it too. All it really takes is for the right reporter, to ask him the right question, at the right time.

Chris?

Update: Here fire, here's some more fuel courtesy of the Washington Post:  

First, Christie took on irresponsible attacks on anti-terror policies. That incited Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to start popping off, inaccurately, about Christie’s money grab from D.C. (In true conservative style, Christie shot back that it is Beltway pols who take more from New Jersey residents than his taxpayers get back from the feds.) 

Then the gift with a big red ribbon arrived in the form of Sarah Palin’s pronouncement that Christie has too much schtick – if winning a blue state overwhelmingly is schtick, perhaps the whole party needs more of it — and is a “big government” Republican. Where she gets the latter from I am not sure. Christie cut taxes, went after the teachers union, reduced debt and reformed public employee entitlements. But forget the facts for a moment (Palin sure does): Palin, even among conservatives, and even among hard-line conservatives, is a bit of a joke and not a serious person. She was entirely irrelevant to the 2008 race, and she serves as sort of a reverse compass for political judgment. Whichever way she points, it’s a good idea to go in the opposite direction. When she declares she will “Stand with Rand,” she is solidifying Paul as the not-serious candidate and casting Christie in the role of the grown up.

Oooh, THAT'S going to leave a mark.

You can almost hear the screams for RAM to get off her massive ass and write something in response from here. 

By the way, I STILL think Christie should respond. But remember I care nothing for his future in the Republican party. I just want to see the brawling.