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Thursday, January 9, 2014

The Christie Scandal Update

As expected, as soon as I turned on MSNBC this afternoon, there was the Reverend Al Sharpton talking about the "dark side of Chris Christie's character".

That was my reaction too. Suffice to say, it is Christie's turn in the MSNBC barrel. Forget the IRS scandal. Forget the NSA scandal. Forget Obamacare. Forget Benghazi. It is this one that is truly shocking.

Seriously though, after his press conference today, where does Christie stand? Make no mistake, when it comes to throwing someone under the bus, his ex-deputy chief of staff, Bridgett Kelly, got the full treatment. She has been fired, and Christie did not spare her in his press conference. (When Nixon fired John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman, he told the nation on TV that they were two of the finest public servants he had ever worked with or something to that effect.) So here is what jumps out at me. Christie has stated unequivocally that he had no involvement or knowledge about this action involving the George Washington Bridge. He is on the record. At this point, even  Sharpton acknowledged, there is no evidence he was involved or knew about it. One would think that if Ms Kelly knows something different, she will come out with it muy pronto. In other words, Christie would have to be incredibly stupid to throw her under the bus.

But if it emerges that he was involved or did know about it and lied to the press weeks ago when the issue came up, then that will be devastating to his credibility. That would make him a liar of Bill Clinton proportions.

Of course, we know what happened to Bill Clinton.

There is still the question of what kind of culture existed in the Christie camp that led these people to think they could do such a thing. Christie has a reputation as a bully, but this is New Jersey we are talking about. Politics in New Jersey is not for choir boys. It may be that Ms Kelly and whoever else was involved thought this was right in line with what was expected of them. In that regard, there will always be a question about Christie, but it doesn't make him unique.

All in all, if he had no connection to this, it will fade away (of course, to be brought back by MSNBC et al if Christie happens to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2016).  If  he told the truth, he did well with a candid press conference. God forbid, however, if something comes out that contradicts what he said today.

5 comments:

Siarlys Jenkins said...

of course, to be brought back by MSNBC et al if Christie happens to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2016

You mean the way certain other channels harped on Jeremiah Wright's old sermons in 2008...?

Miggie said...

Anyone who has been in charge of a large number of people knows you can't know every single thing any one of them does.

The important thing is that you do the right thing when it is disclosed to you, as Christie did.

Tens of thousands of Israelis came to a rally condemning that American Jew who shot up a mosque in Israel 30 or 40 years ago. The same as they did when their prime minister was assassinated.
There were thousands of articles and other expressions of outrage against Bernie Madoff over his scandal even though his being Jewish had nothing to do with his scandals.
You see nothing at all like that from the Muslims or from the Left as a matter of fact for things that are several orders of magnitude more significant.

Siarlys Jenkins said...

You were doing so well Miggie, until that petulant and unsubstantiated last line. Try again.

elwood p suggins said...

Hooray!!!!! After remarking in a separate post about the U.S. flag flying on the GW, I watched some footage a little more closely and saw a big flag hanging from the superstructure, like it used to back in the day and apparently always has since then. I presume the footage was relatively current and not file/archival. I believe it hangs on the NY/NJ border at the center of the Hudson, but could be wrong about that.

The liberal MM/establishment press are certainly in full bay, almost literally foaming at the mouth like a pack of rabid dogs. It is only a small exaggeration, if in fact one at all, to observe that they have most likely, with the possible exception of Obamacare, burned more air time, used more ink, and killed more trees for newsprint, on the Christie deal than were expended on all of the various Obama administration scandals/boondoggles combined, with no end yet in sight.

The situation is not unlike the little Melissa Harris-Perry thing. She had her fun, did her thing, apologized (seemingly earnestly, surprisingly and comparatively), and it was over in a couple of days. If a conservative white TV commentator had made fun of a black couple who adopted a white child, we would hear about it until either the cows came home or "kingdom come", whichever is later.

All of which again merely again conclusively demonstrates, as if it was necessary to do so, that when it comes to MM/establishment press, race-baiters, etc., the manner in which situations are approached/reported depends entirely on whether conservatives/Republicans or liberals/Democrats are involved. They actually name streets after this process; must be the longest street in America (with competition from Frontage Road), because I see it everywhere. That street name is "One-Way".

Siarlys Jenkins said...

elwood, what exactly does the flying of our national flag on the GW Bridge have to do with the liberal press being in full bay?

I've heard of "stream of consciousness, but this is beyond non sequitir.