New Jersey traffic jam

True. He's been getting his ass handed to him lately by state conservatives over his support of the Dream Act, too.

I'd guess conservatives are generally OK with the concept of political retribution.

 

Republican, Christie voter and fan: this one will leave a mark. The bad news is, like lewinsky, that this is totally consistent with what all of us, even those who like him which makes it easy to believe and his protests of innocence hard to believe. (not that I know he's lying when he says he didn't know, but when it gets that high up, it probably means you've set a culture in motion where those close to you would think you approve.).

That's also the good news for him. Again, like lewinsky, his fans knew he had this in him and liked him anyway which might make it easier to recover.

 

Good: Christie is issuing actual apologies, and firing staff directly involved. He says he's planning to go to Fort Lee to apologize of the mayor (assuming he can negotiate the traffic, har har).

Bad: It won't end here. Despite his protestations that he knew nothing, there will be investigations determining whether that was true -- or whether he merely failed to ask questions about it in a timely manner. It's not like yesterday was the first time the idea of intentional, politically motivated closures was brought up. As Guy noted, it opens up questions whether Christie, despite what he said, set up a culture that allowed this stuff to happen.

 

He just said "I am not a bully."

It won't be the last time he says that.

 

Agree

Agreed, pretty good apology.

 

Maybe he and Goodell can do an anti-bullying program ahead of the Super Bowl.

 

If he knew, it will come out and he's finished. That now becomes the journalistic holy grail - evidence that he knew.

 

Sad thing is that a good guy like Baroni gets canned resigns over this.

 

He joked about it when it first came up, and acted like it was no big deal.

It was obvious at the time that it was done as political retribution. The only question was who ordered it. Was it his high school buddy/appointee to the PA, did it come from someone eon his staff, or did it come directly from him.

For him to now act like it's a big deal is bullshit. He should have acknowledged it from the start, and gotten to the bottom of it. It shouldn't have taken others to find out his Deputy Chief of Staff was behind it.

As for how it happens, I'm not surprised. Political idiots get full of power, and want to flex it -- especially against "enemies". And, they think they're doing what their boss would want.

When I worked for Giuliani, there were staffers who were forever trying to stick it to Pataki. (And Pataki had staffers doing the same thing.) It was juvenile, and I think the principles would have been mortified at what was being done on their behalf.

 

Christie has to stop saying "Listen" after every question.

Oh, and of course he's a bully. He's never lost an argument, you can tell, and he'll talk and curse anybody under the table.

But being a bully is not necessarily unpresidential, is it? And I'm not sure people, in this age, would be turned off by a bully.

 

Agreed. The problem is that, since he has portrayed himself a such a hands on manager (and has demonstrated in many instances that he is), even if there is no evidence that he knew anything, it will tarnish that aspect of his image which so many do like about him.

 

Oh, and when he joked about it when first asked -- he said something like "I set up the traffic cones myself" -- the reporters in the room laughed like it was the funniest thing they ever heard.