Gov Christie...sunk by his own torpedo?

[Onkel Neal]

"I'm no bully" sounds a lot like "I'm not a crook". After being a fan of the Sopranos, I would rather not have a New Jersey politician like Christie in the White House. He's on my "no way in hell" list, along with anyone named Clinton, Bush, or Obama, or anyone from Texas.

You know a politician is having a bad day when he has to stand before a news conference and plead, “I am who I am, but I am not a bully.”

Frankly, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was unconvincing on that score Thursday as he attempted to contain a widening abuse-of-power scandal. Moreover, Christie displayed a degree of egocentrism that can only be described as stunning. His apologies would have sounded more sincere if he hadn’t portrayed himself as the real victim.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...as-victim.html

A bit of background is needed: During his successful re-election campaign last fall, Christie — shown by polls to be a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, should he decide to seek it — tried to run up the score by winning endorsements from elected officials across the state, Democrats as well as Republicans.

The mayor of Fort Lee, the town on the New Jersey end of the George Washington Bridge, declined to give Christie his support. Shortly thereafter, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, sent an email to an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that controls the bridge, that said: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

[Oberon]

In before Democrat conspiracy

Doesn't leave the GOP with a lot of good candidates for 2016 if Christie has been sunk. Rand Paul will always have his followers, and Scott Brown has been quietly working in the background, but Christie has been the bookies favourite, so we'll have to see how he plays this one.

Wouldn't it be a laugh if it was Brown vs Brown (Scott vs Jerry, respectively). No matter who wins, it's Brown for America.

[Schroeder]

Bridgegate made even news in Germany. Like in a Kindergarten. Don't you have any politicians that can be taken seriously?
(on the other hand do we have any that can be taken seriously???)

[Ducimus]

Any New Jersey politician will probably be as bad as ANY Chicago politician. That state may be a bit too authoritarian for my taste.

As an aside, while I don't agree with all libertarian philosophies (such as complete deregulation, which is like trying to put a fire out with gasoline), I think we need a Rand Paul type.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Oberon

In before Democrat conspiracy

Doesn't leave the GOP with a lot of good candidates for 2016 if Christie has been sunk. Rand Paul will always have his followers, and Scott Brown has been quietly working in the background, but Christie has been the bookies favourite, so we'll have to see how he plays this one.

Wouldn't it be a laugh if it was Brown vs Brown (Scott vs Jerry, respectively). No matter who wins, it's Brown for America.

Well we can only hope that America is sick of Democrats enough by 2016 that they vote GOP.

[August]

Originally Posted by Oberon

In before Democrat conspiracy

I think this article in the New York Post lays out the argument quite clearly:

http://nypost.com/2014/01/11/why-bri...scandal-didnt/

Most government scandals involve the manipulation of the system in obscure ways by people no one has ever heard of. That is why George Washington Bridgegate is nearly a perfect scandal — because it is comprehensible and (as they say in Hollywood) “relatable” to everyone who has ever been in a car. This is the reason this one is not going to go away so easily, even if one accepts the contention that Gov. Chris Christie had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

Government officials and political operatives working for Christie, for weird and petty reasons, chose to make traffic worse. That’s the takeaway. When they are reminded of the fact that people working on Christie’s behalf thought it was a good political game to mire tens of thousands of their fellow Americans in the nightmarish gridlock that is a daily dreaded prospect for tens of millions, they will be discomfited by that and by the politician in whose name it was done.


And yet, you know what is also something everybody would find “relatable”? Politicians who sic the tax man on others for political gain. Everybody has to deal with the IRS and fears it. Last year, we learned from the Internal Revenue Service itself that it had targeted ideological opponents of the president for special scrutiny and investigation — because they were ideological opponents.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

Well we can only hope that America is sick of Democrats enough by 2016 that they vote GOP.

The GOP would have to take an RPG to its foot to lose 2016.

Unfortunately they're very well armed...

Originally Posted by August

I think this article in the New York Post lays out the argument quite clearly:

http://nypost.com/2014/01/11/why-bri...scandal-didnt/

Just goes to show, doesn't matter if you're left or right, black or white, if you're in politics, chances are you're either corrupt or heading that way.

[August]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The GOP would have to take an RPG to its foot to lose 2016.

Unfortunately they're very well armed...



Just goes to show, doesn't matter if you're left or right, black or white, if you're in politics, chances are you're either corrupt or heading that way.

Except that it's the media who ultimately decide whether such sins are forgiven or used to hang a politician.

[Tango589]

IMHO anyone who wants to be a politician should not be allowed to be one, on the principle that they are only in it for what they can get for themselves.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The GOP would have to take an RPG to its foot to lose 2016.

Unfortunately they're very well armed...

I'd rather be armed than defenseless.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The GOP would have to take an RPG to its foot to lose 2016.

Unfortunately they're very well armed...



Just goes to show, doesn't matter if you're left or right, black or white, if you're in politics, chances are you're either corrupt or heading that way.

If it turns out that you're incorruptible, there's always some ass hat in the wings ready and willing to push you over that cliff.

Still, it's a sad state of affairs in the GOP if all they have anymore is people who wish to cause misery.

I know! Let's round up all those traitorous poiiticians and their ilk and put those FEMA camps to work.

[August]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Still, it's a sad state of affairs in the GOP if all they have anymore is people who wish to cause misery.

What,, do you mean like closing national monuments and parks even though it actually costs more to keep them closed than to keep them open just to make sure that the sequester noticeably hurt the average American?

Both parties do it but only one party seems to be held accountable for it and that's a much bigger problem

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

I would rather not have a New Jersey politician like Christie in the White House.

They'll haf'ta resurrect Taft's old bathtub for that 'fatty Arbuckle'!

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Like in a Kindergarten. Don't you have any politicians that can be taken seriously?(on the other hand do we have any that can be taken seriously???)

Nope, we just learn from der masterrace! Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery!

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by August

Except that it's the media who ultimately decide whether such sins are forgiven or used to hang a politician.

Truth, but that being said, with the partisan nature of the US media, who caters for the undecided? The Democratic media will exploit it for all it's worth, the Republican media will shrug its shoulders and highlight all the similar incidents that the Democrats have made, and the people who which one or the other will base their opinion according to their respective party lines.
So, really, the important matter is what the neutral news outlets (if there are any) are saying about it, because the others have already made up their minds about it.

[August]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Truth, but that being said, with the partisan nature of the US media, who caters for the undecided? The Democratic media will exploit it for all it's worth, the Republican media will shrug its shoulders and highlight all the similar incidents that the Democrats have made, and the people who which one or the other will base their opinion according to their respective party lines.
So, really, the important matter is what the neutral news outlets (if there are any) are saying about it, because the others have already made up their minds about it.

Even worse a truly neutral news outlet would be relentlessly attacked and destroyed by both sides.

The closest alternative that i've found and the one I tend to read the most is http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ which is just a collection of news articles from both sides.

If you read the articles in pairs, one conservative and one liberal it can at least give one an idea where the middle might be.