The ark is sinking! All Christians to the lifeboats! » « Clear-eyed commentary on the pope

Didn’t anyone tell Christie that playing in traffic was dangerous?

As always, Jon Stewart gave the best analysis of the ongoing pettiness and spite in the Gov. Chris Christie administration:

Christie gave a press conference this morning. Firings! Humiliation! Excuses! It’s all his aides’ fault!

With any luck, his political career is over and done with now.

The ark is sinking! All Christians to the lifeboats! » « Clear-eyed commentary on the pope

Comments

  1. busterggi says

    His career is far from done – conservatives secretly love bullies, its part of their authoritarian psychology. If anything this will attract the uber righties who were paissed at him for accepting federal money after Superstorm Sandy.

  2. kevinalexander says

    It could be he didn’t know about it since the underling would have not told him of the clever idea. Minions are like that.

  4. Ogvorbis: Still failing at being human. says

    With any luck, his political career is over and done with now.

    Were he a Democrat, I would agree. Being a Republican, nah, he’s good. This’ll be framed as the liberal media unfairly attacking a good job-creating man who is fighting the evils of socialism and no matter how he screws up he may still be the choice of Fox News the GOP Establishment.

  5. Alverant says

    Well I hear Fox News is already complaining that Christie’s actions is diverting attention away from their President-bashing.

  6. Thumper: Token Breeder says

    Dear God, how can any elected official be that childish and petty and still keep his fucking job? And to arrange it all by email, without even bothering to try and conceal what they were doing? Fuck me, how thick can you get?!

    And him claiming he knew nothing about it? Bullshit. You’re telling me one of his aides just took the initiative on that one? Bull… shit.

  7. Howard Bannister says

    Word on the street is that Rush Limbaugh has already praised this action, showing it shows character.

    No, really.

  8. stevem says

    I liked Jon ending his report by quoting Springsteen’s Born to Run. Wasn’t that song proposed (years ago) to be the new State Anthem? And only missed by a small margin? </ ‘Steen-nerd>

  9. David Wilford says

    I think this does hurt Christie as the dirty laundry is aired, and you can be sure it will be.

    Paul Ryan is pretty much the GOP moderate to watch now, and it will be interesting to see how he and Gov. Scott Walker get along this election year. It may be that Walker will move right to the teahadis while Ryan positions himself as the moderate more likely to win.

  10. Randomfactor says

    Christie’s GPS: “Recalculating alternate route to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…”

  11. Nick Gotts says

    David Wilford@9,

    Paul Ryan is pretty much the GOP moderate to watch now

    Here’s wikipedia on the “moderation” of Paul Ryan:

    At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand’s birth, Ryan credited Rand as inspiring him to get involved in public service. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a “socialist-based system”.

    In 2009, Ryan said, “What’s unique about what’s happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it’s as if we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault.”

    In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand’s philosophy as an atheistic one, saying it “reduces human interactions down to mere contracts”. He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand’s views an “urban legend” and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, maintains that Ryan is not a Rand disciple, and that some of his proposals do not follow Rand’s philosophy of limited government; Brook refers to Ryan as a “fiscal moderate”.

    In August 2012, after Romney chose him as his running mate, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten “one of its ideological heroes” in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party’s belief in “individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers

    On abortion:

    In 2010, Ryan described himself as being “as pro-life as a person gets” and has been described as an “ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights”. As of 2012 according to Bloomberg, Ryan has co-sponsored 38 measures in the U.S. Congress that restrict abortion. The National Right to Life Committee has consistently given Ryan a “100 percent pro-life voting record” since he took office in 1999. NARAL Pro-Choice America has noted that Ryan has “cast 59 votes” (including procedural motions and amendments which don’t have co-sponsors) “on reproductive rights while in Congress and not one has been pro-choice”. He believes all abortions should be illegal, including those resulting from rape or incest, and only makes an exception for cases where the woman’s life is at risk.

    On energy and anthropogenic climate change:

    The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Sierra Club, and other environmentalists have criticized Ryan’s record on environmental issues, with Ryan earning 3 percent on the LCV 2011 National Environmental Scorecard. He opposes cap and trade and opposed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. In an 2009 editorial, Ryan has accused climatologists of using “statistical tricks to distort their findings and intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change” and he criticized the EPA’s classification of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Ryan supports a 10-year $40 billion tax break for the petroleum industry, and has proposed cutting funding for renewable energy research and subsidies.

    In general:

    According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, “Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900”

    I guess according to your criteria, Attila the Hun would be a moderate, because he only impaled people who displeased him in some way.

  12. Rich Woods says

    Christie’s GPS: “Recalculating alternate route to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…”

    “…Warning: Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge closed…Warning: Arlington Memorial Bridge closed…Warning: 14th Street Bridge closed…Warning…”

  13. zenlike says

    In the comments section under the article I read about this today, the general tone of comments was ‘he is a great leader’. No attempts were made to whitewash these actions, they were not even mentioned. Just ‘he is a great leader’ despite the reasons given why he isn’t one at all in the article directly above.

    Yeah, this will not hurt him one bit. Maybe this will even help him with the rightwing vote which he lost a bit; the teapartians will eat this up: he did this to spite a democrat, so everything is allowed.

    Also, even when he was not aware of this, this doesn’t speak well of him: he appointed his aides and should excert control over them: if he was unaware of these actions, he fucked up anyway. Plus, he is the ultimate responsible of the actions of his administrration. The buck stops at his desk.

  14. David Wilford says

    I guess according to your criteria, Attila the Hun would be a moderate

    Well, Conan, er Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a GOP moderate. Attila would probably think highly of the Tea Party.

  16. David Wilford says

    Tony, the GOPs idea of a moderate ain’t mine, although Schwarzenegger comes about as close as one can get in the Republican Party to being one.

  17. comfychair says

    Aspiring leader of ‘Party of Personal Responsibility’ says, “It’s somebody else’s fault”

    Same as it ever was…

  18. garnetstar says

    When are people going to learn not to commit their nefarious plans to email? When?

  19. David Wilford says

    If I was Christie, I’d be wondering what the NSA knows about plots to disrupt major transportation links.

  20. Chaos Engineer says

    His career is far from done – conservatives secretly love bullies, its part of their authoritarian psychology. If anything this will attract the uber righties who were pissed at him for accepting federal money after Superstorm Sandy.

    It’ll help him a little, but frankly this is amateur hour stuff. He doesn’t work nearly hard enough at bullying immigrants and Muslims and gay people (in comparison to his likely primary opponents), and it’s not likely that he’ll win over the base with just this.

    And even if he somehow manages to win the primary, this will work against him in the general election. His narrative was going to be, “We’re all sick of gridlock in Washington. President Obama wasn’t able to work with Republicans in Congress, and I think we all know that Hillary Clinton won’t be able to do any better. Now, maybe I’m a loud-mouthed vulgarian, but I’ve still got a proven record of being able to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats to get things done!”

    Oops. Not only can’t he say that, but now he has to get through the whole campaign without ever using the word “gridlock”.

  22. doublereed says

    His career is far from done – conservatives secretly love bullies, its part of their authoritarian psychology.

    I like Christie’s demeanor and attitude. I just wish he’d yell at rich people and not teachers. Frankly, I think the left needs to get some blowhards like Christie. It would be refreshing.

  23. unclefrogy says

    it may not hurt him with the tea party or his republican party supporters. It may even give him so credibility of really being a partisan hardball but it will not help him with the swing voters much. which elections depend on.
    uncle frogy

  24. kayden says

    His career may be far from done for his Tea Party/Republican supporters but his presidential aspirations are done. I can’t imagine that Democrats and Independents find closing down a bridge for several days to piss off your opponent very endearing.

    But I can’t see Paul Ryan as a Republican Presidential candidate who will attract enough supporters away from the Democratic nominee to win in 2016.

  25. says

    Christie has already been denounced by the GOP’s Tea Party/Free Republic fringe as an Obama-loving RINO, cast in the loser-mold of Mitt Romney. His advantage to date has been the willingness of the Republican Party establishment to overlook some post-disaster money-grubbing and lick their chops over Christie’s proven (in NJ) record of attracting independent and Democratic votes. The bridge scandal may not prevent him from gaining the GOP presidential nomination (although I think it will, unless we get yet another last-man-standing nominee like McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012), but it’s heavy baggage he’ll have trouble lugging the length of the tedious campaign trail. Especially since it so dramatically reduces his “good guy” attractiveness to non-Republicans. He’s a petty bully. Now we all know.

  27. David Marjanović says

    Oops. Not only can’t he say that, but now he has to get through the whole campaign without ever using the word “gridlock”.

    *giggle*

  28. natashatasha says

    “Sorry, but this video is unavailable from your location”.
    Is there a transcript we can read?

  29. says

    2 kevinalexander

    It could be he didn’t know about it since the underling would have not told him of the clever idea. Minions are like that.

    13 Zenlike

    Also, even when he was not aware of this, this doesn’t speak well of him: he appointed his aides and should excert control over them: if he was unaware of these actions, he fucked up anyway. Plus, he is the ultimate responsible of the actions of his administrration. The buck stops at his desk.

    Thank you, Zenlike, you pointed out my favorite aspect of this mess. Only one point to add: it’s the job of a President to delegate. You can not run the U.S. single-handedly. Aware or not, he sucks at delegating. Also, a head executive sets the tone and behavior for the rest of his/her staff. The mis-use of the power of government for partisan and/or personal retribution has to be at the top of everybody’s “do not do this” list.

  30. says

    Paul Ryan is pretty much the GOP moderate to watch now

    WTF? The zombie-eyed granny starver, the iron-pumping, marathon-running, Ayn Rand acolyte is a freaking moderate? How delusional are you?

  32. says

    WTF? The zombie-eyed granny starver, the iron-pumping, marathon-running, Ayn Rand acolyte is a freaking moderate? How delusional are you?

    To paraphrase Douglas Adams, this is a new use of the word “moderate” with which I am up to not unfamiliar.

  33. comfychair says

    Rey@31…

    Moderate Republicans are called “Democrats” “Marxists” these days.

    These are people (yes, I know, not all of them, but I live in Mississippi and it’s not uncommon) who will actually say, out loud, things like ‘REAL freedom means the freedom to own slaves!’. You can’t use rational, logical analysis to predict how they’re gonna react to anything. Mostly, their position on any subject is to take whatever they think the libruls would do, and then do the opposite.

  36. ChasCPeterson says

    I just wish he’d yell at rich people and not teachers. Frankly, I think the left needs to get some blowhards like Christie.

    Democrats are not permitted to yell. Ask Howard Dean.

  37. doublereed says

    Ryan is a tea party darling. He’s practically one of the heroes of the movement. McCain would be considered moderate way before Ryan. Scott Walker or Marco Rubio would both be considered more moderate than Andrew Ryan.

  38. David Wilford says

    doublereed, Scott Walker is definitely to the right of Ryan politically. All those demonstrations in Madison back in 2011 weren’t because they were upset with Walker’s moderation in all things.

    FYI, moderate in GOP circles is still far to the right. McCain and Romney were all the most moderate nominees in the GOP though in 2008 and 2012. Maybe Ryan or Rubio will be the one that’s settled for in 2016 after the teahadi candidates have had their fun.

  39. says

    Yeah, I’m not holding any hopes that this is going to hurt him as much as some people expect. As said earlier, Republicans secretly love bullies. Probably doesn’t help that there was that thing with the truckers trying to disrupt traffic as civil disobedience, so I can certainly imagine wingnut voters responding positively. Hopefully, though, this’ll get some swing voters to wake up and vote not-Republican.

  40. doublereed says

    doublereed, Scott Walker is definitely to the right of Ryan politically

    Yea, I guess Scott Walker actually does horrible things, as opposed to Ryan who seems to be more of a con-man.

    Scott Walker just hasn’t become a hero of tea partiers the way Ryan has. People hold Ryan’s “budget” as the semblance of fiscal responsibility.

  41. says

    Ryan is a tea party darling. He’s practically one of the heroes of the movement. McCain would be considered moderate way before Ryan. Scott Walker or Marco Rubio would both be considered more moderate than Andrew Ryan.

    ‘Would you kindly, vote for me?”