Bridgegate

"They are the children of Buono voters." This will get her fired by the end of the day.
I bet this idiot of an aide is very young. To me, laughing at children as collateral damage because of the political sins of their parents has quite the whiff of fascism about it.

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

Carry on.

BENGHAZI!!!!!

Sorry, but there's a lot more "there" there with the Christie/GWB stuff, than with that other "scandal" that we've been hearing about for too long.

Oh to be clear, I don't think it's minor. I should've phrased it: "even assuming, arguendo, that this is minor and silly.." Etc etc. Because you know a lot of people are going to use the "who cares" argument. Leaving aside the impact--the implications are deeply concerning.

There should be an independent prosecutor appointed to investigate and bring charges if illegal acts were done.
Problem is who would appoint him, the Governor? I don't think that will happen.

Student_Council said:

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

That is a very weak defense.
Even if there are no direct ties, this thing reflects very poorly on Christie. It would suggest he was asleep at the switch as top aides and political appointees ran amok and wreaked havoc...also would call into question his judgement in selecting those people for positions of such responsibility.

Not just selecting them. But the ethical atmosphere in his office. Usually ethics flows from the top down.

Guarantee you, as someone said: the blackouts are the direct tie to christie.

Student_Council said:

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

That is a very weak defense.
Even if there are no direct ties, this thing reflects very poorly on Christie. It would suggest he was asleep at the switch as top aides and political appointees ran amok and wreaked havoc...also would call into question his judgement in selecting those people for positions of such responsibility.

As if staffers haven't been scheming idiots and/or sycophants before. The political landscape is littered with them. Worked out OK for Joe Garcia in FL recently, didn't it? Of course it did. While I sympathise with the hand-wringers who are just hoping beyond all hope that this becomes an issue, (and I do think Christie should suffer for it if found to be directly involved), until the facts are known it ain't much he can't wriggle out of.

I've always thought that if Buono used this video instead of the "Christie wants to be President" commerical, she'd be governor today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0wP507aFvg

ctrzaska said:

Student_Council said:

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

That is a very weak defense.
Even if there are no direct ties, this thing reflects very poorly on Christie. It would suggest he was asleep at the switch as top aides and political appointees ran amok and wreaked havoc...also would call into question his judgement in selecting those people for positions of such responsibility.

As if staffers haven't been idiots and or sycophants before. The political landscape is littered with them. Worked out OK for Joe Garcia in FL recently, didn't it? Of course it did. While I sympathise with the hand-wringers who are just hoping beyond all hope that this becomes an issue, and think Christie should suffer for it if found to be directly involved, until the facts are known it ain't much he can't wriggle out of.

Well it sure ain't presidential timber, I'll tell you that much.
"Hoping beyond all hope"?? This story is currently page 1 on WSJ, NYT, and WaPo.

Larry_Dell said:

Christie is scary and the most angry, abusive, vindictive politician since Nixon. There's no telling what he's capable of. He's also been an ineffective, and short sighted Governor...

Yes, I liked him at first. Now I find him rather petty and ineffective as he's done nothing in lowering the NJ state deficit for example. Of course being short sighted is the hallmark of any politician.

Student_Council said:

ctrzaska said:

Student_Council said:

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

That is a very weak defense.
Even if there are no direct ties, this thing reflects very poorly on Christie. It would suggest he was asleep at the switch as top aides and political appointees ran amok and wreaked havoc...also would call into question his judgement in selecting those people for positions of such responsibility.

As if staffers haven't been idiots and or sycophants before. The political landscape is littered with them. Worked out OK for Joe Garcia in FL recently, didn't it? Of course it did. While I sympathise with the hand-wringers who are just hoping beyond all hope that this becomes an issue, and think Christie should suffer for it if found to be directly involved, until the facts are known it ain't much he can't wriggle out of.

Well it sure ain't presidential timber, I'll tell you that much.
"Hoping beyond all hope"?? This story is currently page 1 on WSJ, NYT, and WaPo.

Whether or not your average dumbass voter thinks it's presidential timber is what matters. Forgive me for thinking that most just aren't that in tune with the sanctity of the office.

And it's page 1 today. My crystal ball says it would have to be a whopper to make it last there until 2016.

It will last as long as our Governor's potential GOP rivals want to make it last.

And the GOP can make the smallest "controversy" last, and last, and last, as we've seen ...

the idea that as long as there are no provable direct ties to Christie it's no big deal for him is dubiouis. given the kind of guy he is, it strains credulity that he had no idea. and the other aspect of this is that the accusations and investigation have been going on for a couple of months now. hard to believe if Christie's hands were really clean that he wouldn't have done his own investigation and cleaned house. there may be nothing provable in a court of law, but I can't believe he didn't have knowledge of this from the start. think about it, if this was any of us, and someone on our staff was accused of unethical behavior and we were not involved, would we stonewall? I wouldn't take the fall for someone who went off the reservation. I'd have it investigated, and if the charges turned out to be true, have them fired.

instead Christie laughs it off and does no investigation. those are the actions of someone who doesn't want the truth to come out.

and it's fairly serious business. what if Christie's minions decided to screw around with the NJT train schedule to Maplewood because Vic Deluca is a Democrat? would any of us affected laugh it off as a bunch of politicians just "talkin' Jersey?"

nohero said:

It will last as long as our Governor's potential GOP rivals want to make it last.

And the GOP can make the smallest "controversy" last, and last, and last, as we've seen ...

Don't leave out Bill and Hillary........

"it's page 1 today. My crystal ball says it would have to be a whopper to make it last there until 2016."
Of course Bridgegate won't be page 1 in 2016. But it doesn't have to be. All it need to do to finish Christie as a presidential hopeful is sink his approval ratings in 2014 and make his second term as NJ governor suck a$$. If you don't think today's news makes that scenario quite likely, you're kidding yourself.

ctrzaska said:

Whether or not your average dumbass voter thinks it's presidential timber is what matters. Forgive me for thinking that most just aren't that in tune with the sanctity of the office.

And it's page 1 today. My crystal ball says it would have to be a whopper to make it last there until 2016.

No one is predicting that this will be a front page story from now until the election. At most, it will be one nail in the coffin that holds his presidential hopes, and that is IF the coffin materializes.

Anyone remember how some masking tape left at the Watergate burglary brought down a President.
Same here with Traffic Cones?
Fascinating to watch this unfold.

Just enjoying the twitter feeds:

I look forward to hearing Bridget Anne Kelly's apology for the Fort Lee traffic snarlups and hope she'll wear her dalmation-skin coat.

#iNews9k BREAKING: Christie vows to get to bottom of leaked emails - Orders Bridget Anne Kelly brought to him frozen in carbonite.

@GovChristie: "ok, new plan- Bridget Anne Kelly, your career ends today and I blame everything on you. Thanks, bye"

Wildstein's testimony tomorrow should be interesting.

Wildstein might take the 5th tomorrow. If he shows up......

What ties this to Christie is it's completely consistent with his pattern of viscous revenge at any slight, real or perceived. There is no question this was his directive. On the other hand, he could use his utter lack of planning or involvement to safeguard NJ Transit prior to Sandy, thanks to the fact Republicans aren't allowed to believe in science and recognize climate change, as evidence he only outlines broad policy themes and lets the chips fall where they may.

Thanks to the hubris of his administration, my prior observation that roads are never closed to conduct a traffic study is now irrelevant in light of the e-mail trail. The traffic study is as make believe as the nonexistent untouchable civil servant who ordered NJT's equipment to storage in flood zones. I'll again remind the Governor to make his lies plausible before telling them.

And those wishing to dismiss this as just typical politics, I'm willing to guess it's an action without precedent. Others have noted that congestion has an actual monetary cost beyond stress. The most recent figure I found was $16.10/hour. 36,000 cars travel inbound on the GWB between 6AM-10AM. Generously saying every car had one occupant and suffered only two hours delay over the four day closure, we have a loss of $4,608,000. You can take this figure and my calculations any way you like. Bottom line is this was a very expensive and inexcusably reckless tantrum the likes of which have never been seen. Christie could start paying back the commuters he victimized by writing them late notes. And maybe some anger management classes as well.

nobody would care about this is they had stuck to getting revenge on the mayor himself. once you screw over his constituents, you've crossed a line.

ctrzaska said:

jeffhandy said:

I remember quite a few people posting that Dems were grasping at straws and that Christie would never be involved, where did those guys go?

Well, I'm still here. And still wondering where the direct ties to Christie are.

Carry on.

At the very least, creating a culture of vindictiveness in the governor's office. It's not a crime and certainly nothing the governor should quit over, but it's reflective of his personal qualities.

And when I read the "Time for some traffic problems" / "Got it" exchange, my first thought there has been a good deal of offline conversation about retribution.

ctrzaska said:

And it's page 1 today. My crystal ball says it would have to be a whopper to make it last there until 2016.

The story itself won't last that long, but it certainly helps paint a picture of Christie as too petty and vindictive to be president. In Christie's case, there's a thin line between "tells it like it is" and thin-skinned.

Whether Christie's potential opposition takes advantage of highlighting these unsavory traits is another story.

stateguy said:

Wildstein might take the 5th tomorrow. If he shows up......

"I did not have emails with that woman, Ms. Kelly ..."

ml1 said:

the idea that as long as there are no provable direct ties to Christie it's no big deal for him is dubiouis. given the kind of guy he is, it strains credulity that he had no idea. and the other aspect of this is that the accusations and investigation have been going on for a couple of months now....

Yes, and the headline on nj.com is "Emails tie top Christie aide to GWB closures". How much more direct do you want?

Gov. Chris Christie's deputy chief of staff had advance knowledge of a plan to shut down local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September, and was aware that the closures would snarl traffic on Fort Lee streets, according to documents obtained by The Star-Ledger.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," read an email message from the deputy, Bridget Anne Kelly...

Christie has one Chief of Staff, and just three Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Pretty direct.

one of my first thoughts was -- now all those endoresements Christie got from Democratic mayors makes sense. easy to believe now that at least some of the endorsements were given under duress.

ml1 said:

one of my first thoughts was -- now all those endoresements Christie got from Democratic mayors makes sense. easy to believe now that at least some of the endorsements were given under duress.

I wonder if CC used to sell fire insurance.

I clicked on one of the Google News page stories on this, the one from the Rachel Maddow show, and one reader left this comment on that page:

"I imagine right about now there are some lane closures and backups in Christie's colon."

You know, on the one hand, I'm thinking that these emails are too good to be true, and how the hell did anyone get hold of private emails from gmail and yahoo? Kind of suspicious at first glance.

OTOH, if there was nothing to the emails, you can be darn sure that there would be something more than silence coming out of the Christie camp.