Chris Christie is in Trouble

[Berzerker]

Yay... I saw him a while back on TV responding to a woman upset about cuts in public education who asked about his kids being sent to private schools and Christie got mad, dont you talk about my kids blah blah... I knew then Christie was a bully.

But now its looking like he or his cronies had a bridge partially blocked for a few days as payback to the Mayor of Ft Lee for not endorsing Christie.

If he cant wiggle out of that he's a goner for 2016... game over, game over, man!

I figured he was the only Repub who could beat Hillary, now he's looking like just another slimy, corrupt, political hack.

Before making Gov this guy was a prosecutor

 

[Archbob]

Haven't we learned after Taft that a president should not be too fat?

 

[bhsup]

Yeah, I really thought this thread was gonna be about his weight. Disappointed.

 

[Antilogic]

NYT link.

The mystery of who closed two lanes onto the George Washington Bridge — turning the borough of Fort Lee, N.J., into a parking lot for four days in September — exploded into a full-bore political scandal for Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday, when emails and texts revealed that a top aide had ordered the closings to punish the town’s mayor after he did not endorse the governor for re-election.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, emailed David Wildstein, a high school friend of the governor who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge.

...

The emails are striking in their political maneuvering, showing Christie aides gleeful about the chaos that resulted, including emergency vehicles delayed in responding to three people with heart problems and a missing toddler, as well as commuters fuming. One of the governor’s associates refers to the mayor of Fort Lee as “this little Serbian,” and Ms. Kelly exchanges messages about the plan while she is in line to pay her respects at a wake.

Mr. Christie denied knowledge of the emails and said his staff was to blame.

...

His office did not respond to follow-up inquiries about whether this meant Ms. Kelly, or anyone else, had been fired. Mr. Wildstein, along with Bill Baroni, Mr. Christie’s top appointed staff member at the Port Authority, resigned in December after port officials testified in a legislative hearing that the men had violated protocols and had sought to hide their plans for the lane closings from Fort Lee officials, the police and even other Port Authority officials.

The documents were obtained by The New York Times and other news outlets Wednesday. They are heavily redacted by Mr. Wildstein, who turned them over under a subpoena from Democratic legislators investigating the lane closing, making it hard to determine in some cases who is speaking.

...

So here's the TL/DR version: before the NJ gubernatorial election, there was a surprise closing of multiple lanes on the George Washington Bridge, one of the busiest bridges in the United States. It was initially reported as a traffic study yet the responsible people in the Port Authority called for no such thing, and it has been suspected the closing was political retribution against the local Democratic mayor of Fort Lee because he did not endorse the Republican Chris Christie for reelection. The currently released documents show this goes pretty far up the ladder; top Christie aides and appointees including his deputy chief of staff are not only on the record saying things like the title of the thread but are also gleeful over the four days of chaos caused.

DISCUSS!!!

 

[Antilogic]

Crud, I got ninja'd when typing up my OP.

I suggest the campaign slogan: Christie 2016, because Nixon wasn't enough.

 

[bhsup]

Berserker beat you by some minutes, but your OP was far more satisfying.

EDIT: Additionally, Mr. Christie... "The Buck Stops Here" is what Presidential material people say. Not "whaa, my staff!!"

 

[Antilogic]

Yeah, realized it right after I hit the post button.

Time to throw my weight around and have these threads forcibly merged into one lane.

EDIT: Sad I'm going to lose the tags.

 

[Adjuvant]

I'm reminded of the recent apology on MSNBC wherein Melissa Harris-Perry stated, to paraphrase, that people who accept positions in the public view are subject to scrutiny, but their families, especially children are off limits. I understand his rancor, or indeed anyone's whose children are used in some manner of political combat.

That said, "blocking a thoroughfare because of a lack of political support" doesn't fit the character of a man I watched be very brave and stoic for his constituency in the face of the disaster that was Hurricane Sandy, at the cost of mild estrangement from his own party because of advocation for the political opponent, Obama. It doesn't add up. Whoever came up with this accusation had better have a great lawyer.

Any source for this nonsense?

edit: ah, I looked at the other thread. NYT. Why am I not surprised.

 

[Berzerker]

mods can merge threads or close mine

 

[Frozen In Ice]

The most interesting thing about Bridgeghazi is that it will cause the tea party and Democrats will unite against Christie. It's only a matter of time before they find some other skeletons in Christie's closet.

 

[Berzerker]

the woman wasn't going after his kids, she was pointing out he sends them to private schools while cutting funding to public schools

antilogic has a thread on it with story/link

 

[Adjuvant]

the woman wasn't going after his kids, she was pointing out he sends them to private schools while cutting funding to public schools

antilogic has a thread on it with story/link

It. doesn't. matter. Kids are off limits. Besides, I can't think of a single politician at or above a gubernatorial position that sends their children to public schools. I imagine some exist. I can't imagine why they would.

 

[Goodfella]

It. doesn't. matter. Kids are off limits. Besides, I can't think of a single politician at or above a gubernatorial position that sends their children to public schools. I imagine some exist. I can't imagine why they would.

It was a great opportunity for Christie to get all big daddy wolf on a journalist and give himself some moral high ground. So protective of his children...how adorable. They probably prepped for it.

 

[Adjuvant]

he or his cronies

After reading the actual article, it's not "he or his cronies". It's "maybe his cronies" or "maybe sordid humor".

See how this garbage gets spun? FFS

 

[BvBPL]

I thought this was going to be about the horrible traffic problems in Fort Lee his administration is responsible for.

 

[warpus]

So who's going to run for president for the Republicans now?

 

[Archbob]

So who's going to run for president for the Republicans now?

Doesn't matter, he's just going to be Hillary Fodder anyways.

 

[Adjuvant]

...or Joe Biden fodder...

 

[Antilogic]

So who's going to run for president for the Republicans now?

My bet on Walker is looking better and better.

Also, we should bump the problem thread, we haven't done a big update in a long while.

 

[Adjuvant]

John Stewart was incredible tonight on this topic. Well, I think he's usually pretty funny anyway, but on this, he was especially funny. You can catch it again in about 1hr 45 min on comedy central.