Gov. Christie and the Amtrak Quiet Car

mumstheword

Oct 25, 2015 at 11:50am

Toooooooo funny!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/25/politics/chris-christie-amtrak-quiet-car/index.html?sr=fb102515ChristieAmtrak335pVODtopPhoto

Washington (CNN) Chris Christie was asked to leave Amtrak's quiet car Sunday morning after passengers complained to a conductor about the New Jersey governor yelling at his security detail and into his cell phone, according to a rider.

Christie, a Republican presidential candidate, was on the 9:55 a.m. train back to New Jersey from Washington, D.C., after an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation."

He walked onto the train with a McDonald's strawberry smoothie, already chewing out someone who was with him, possibly a security officer, about a mix-up in seating arrangements, according to Alexander Mann, a passenger on the same train who detailed the Christie incident to CNN in an email and in photos.
Mann wrote that just before the train departed, Christie boarded behind "two men who appeared to be Secret Service agents" -- though that's unlikely, since Christie doesn't yet have Secret Service detail; his staff said he traveled Sunday with one New Jersey state trooper -- and was "yelling at them about some sort of mixup with the seating arrangements and how they had let it happen."

Christie took a seat and began making cell phone calls, despite the "quiet car" markings instructing passengers to refrain from loud conversations or phone use in that portion of the train.

Mann wrote: "The details of the conversation were unclear but it was definitely some sort of work phone call. This went on for 5-10 minutes until the conductor, prompted by passenger complaints, asked him to stop using his cell phone or leave the car. He again started yelling at his security detail and huffed off to another train car. He kept repeating 'frickin' ridiculous' and 'Seriously?! Seriously?!'"

Christie spokeswoman Sam Smith said it was a mistake: The governor hadn't meant to board the quiet car.
"On a very full train this morning, the Governor accidentally took a seat in Amtrak's notorious quiet car," she said in an emailed statement. "After breaking the cardinal rule of the quiet car, the Governor promptly left once he realized the serious nature of his mistake and enjoyed the rest of his time on the train from the cafe car. Sincere apologies to all the patrons of the quiet car that were offended."

Gawker first reported Christie's exit from the car.

ml1

Oct 25, 2015 at 11:56am

Nice sarcastic "apology" from the spokesperson.

cubby

Oct 25, 2015 at 12:52pm

He boarded the cafe car where could then resume being abusive to whoever he was abusing while he was in the quiet car.

ParticleMan

Oct 25, 2015 at 1:41pm Edited

ml1 said:
Nice sarcastic "apology" from the spokesperson.

Yeah, that was my takeaway too. What a dick.

Thought it's funny if you hear it in a Homer Simpson voice in your head.

PetuniaBird

Oct 25, 2015 at 1:49pm

Too bad it wasn't on an NJ train. NJT could have made a poster of Chris yelling on his cell for their new Rude Zone campaign.

project37

Oct 25, 2015 at 4:02pm Edited

He's an ass and I really hope he goes to jail.

jeffl

Oct 25, 2015 at 4:18pm

Just what we need, a president with an anger management problem.

project37

Oct 25, 2015 at 4:34pm

Congrats to him on demonstrating on how truly clueless and out of touch he is when it comes to train commuters, the conditions we put up with, and the unspeakable damage he's created for the foreseeable future.

tom

Oct 25, 2015 at 5:13pm

And his staff still has the attitude of "screw the citizenry."

Tom_R

Oct 25, 2015 at 5:38pm Edited

ParticleMan said:
Yeah, that was my takeaway too. What a dick.
Thought it's funny if you hear it in a Homer Simpson voice in your head.

Why did you find the apology to be sarcastic?

TomR

Tom_R

Oct 25, 2015 at 5:41pm

project37 said:
He's an ass and I really hope he goes to jail.

If that becomes a jailable offense; a lot of people aint gonna like the tax hit to build the jails needed.

TomR

dave23

Oct 25, 2015 at 5:47pm

Tom_R said:

ParticleMan said:
Yeah, that was my takeaway too. What a dick.
Thought it's funny if you hear it in a Homer Simpson voice in your head.
Why did you find the apology to be sarcastic?
TomR

"Notorious," "cardinal rule," "serious nature." All sarcasm, no respect.

ParticleMan

Oct 25, 2015 at 6:01pm

Tom_R said:

project37 said:
He's an ass and I really hope he goes to jail.
If that becomes a jailable offense; a lot of people aint gonna like the tax hit to build the jails needed.
TomR

I'm pretty sure the jail time would not be for the outburst on the train. I believe project37 was talking about the investigations into his other political antics.

ParticleMan

Oct 25, 2015 at 6:01pm

dave23 said:

Tom_R said:

ParticleMan said:
Yeah, that was my takeaway too. What a dick.
Thought it's funny if you hear it in a Homer Simpson voice in your head.
Why did you find the apology to be sarcastic?
TomR
"Notorious," "cardinal rule," "serious nature." All sarcasm, no respect.

Yes.

hazel

Oct 26, 2015 at 3:20pm

ParticleMan said:

dave23 said:

Tom_R said:

ParticleMan said:
Yeah, that was my takeaway too. What a dick.
Thought it's funny if you hear it in a Homer Simpson voice in your head.
Why did you find the apology to be sarcastic?
TomR
"Notorious," "cardinal rule," "serious nature." All sarcasm, no respect.
Yes.

Dripping with sarcasm was my first reaction. Because the people around him DO follow his lead.

dk50b

Oct 26, 2015 at 4:07pm Edited

It's also known as a non-apology apology, the norm in political circles.

Nauturally I must take other's comments and pontificate further. Even without being the most corrupt, incompetent guv in our history, his complete inability to control his temper and thirst for revenge should have disqualified him from a second term, never mind leading the free world. The media's ignoring of these highly evident traits prior to Bridgdegate allowed him to walk into his undeserved second term, and is evidence of their widespread deriliction of duty as truth is ignored to fit spoon fed narratives about both sides of the aisle.

ctrzaska

Oct 26, 2015 at 4:19pm

I think some of the snark had to do with the fact that most of this story, started I think on Gawker, has been debunked already, by no less than one of his more ardent critics.

ml1

Oct 26, 2015 at 4:39pm

ctrzaska said:
I think some of the snark had to do with the fact that most of this story, started I think on Gawker, has been debunked already, by no less than one of his more ardent critics.

but why even go there? why not just say the governor found himself inadvertently in the quiet car, was asked to speak on the phone elsewhere, and left. End of story.

that's one of the persistently annoying things about the governor and his staff. there's no class in that operation at any level.

but it's not a big deal. it's most appalling that the governor's dismal record of failure isn't a point of discussion on the campaign trail. but I suppose it will be if he ever gains traction in the polls. his GOP opponents will have a veritable wealth of damning information from which to choose.

ctrzaska

Oct 26, 2015 at 4:47pm

Why? Because Christie. In this case, I have no issue with the response. Why? It's a dumbass, irrelevant "story" that folks were eager to hop on, and they gave it the eyeroll and some dish back. Works for me. That they'd have to tiptoe around it because folks were so eager to jump on it says more about those using it for a pile-on and for linguistic dissection than anything else IMO. It actually cracked me up.