What’s most amazing to me about American politics is how, in many cases, there is absolutely no price to be paid for any misdeeds. Pat Buchanan spews racist rhetoric and even writes admiringly of Hitler, yet he has a regular gig on MSBNC, the same people who peddled the lies that killed health care reform in 1994 are peddling similar lies to kill health care reform now. And, most amazingly, even after the release of a lot of damning information about the US Attorney scandal, one of the attorneys who appears to have played ball with Rove is poised to become the governor of New Jersey:
So put it all together 1) Pressure on US Attorneys across the country to cook up bogus investigations of Democrats to help salvage the 2006 election, 2) Christie particularly vulnerable to such pressure since not only would firing be a political career-ender but he’d need help from GOP pols to mount his campaign for governor, 3) documentary evidence shows that Christie was on and off the firing list over the course of 2006, though there is no direct evidence he knew this at the time, 4), Rove and Christie having a series of conversations during this period about Christie’s desire to run for governor, 5) Christie’s office leaks perfectly timed stories about a corruption investigation of Menendez, one that independent observers found iffy at the time and eventually produced no prosecutions.
It is certainly possible that it’s all an unfortunate set of coincidences that unfairly makes Christie look bad in retrospect, knowing what we know now about Rove and Co’s effort to use federal prosecutors to game the 2006 election. But the circumstantial evidence strongly points to the conclusion that he was one of those US Attorneys who ‘did the right thing’ to help hold on to his job. And his unwillingness to discuss the issue just makes it seem all the more so.
Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but in a world where a president was impeached for getting a blowjob, shouldn’t Christie at least have to answer questions about this? I realize the answer, effectively, is “no”. But I don’t understand why. It’s very hard for me to understand which kinds of possible misdeeds result in disgrace and which kinds have no impact. And it’s pretty damn disheartening to think that David Iglesias probably has no political future (if he ever wanted one) because he actually stood up to Rove, while Christie is pretty likely to become governor of New Jersey for apparently caving into Rove. No bad deed goes unrewarded.
Gex
Oh come on now. We know exactly what the difference is. IOKIYAR explains it all.
ImJohnGalt
Plus, Glenn Beck is still a douche.
ImJohnGalt
Plus, Glenn Beck is still a douche. I know, I know, “Sun rises in the east, etc…”
[Sorry if this is a double post – I mistyped a tag first time]
General Winfield Stuck
We will be dealing with the Rove cancer on the Republic for some time to come. Someday the sumbitich is going to run out of guardian angels and wooden nickels, and the long arm of Jon Law will snatch his raggity ass off to jail where it belongs. I hope and pray.
Patrick
I think you are early with this post. One thing that is definitely wrong with American politics is that 80% of the population doesn’t even pay attention until about 6 weeks from an election. NJ-ians don’t like Corzine, the economy sucks, but they hate Bush more. If Corzine, who is an awful politician, can run effective ads he can probably pull out a victory.
Along these lines, Rush Holt (one of the better congressmen), was elected in a big upset. NJ’s congressional districts are rigged to come up 7-7 (or close to it). He was an unknown, who beat an incumbent in a year Dems mostly lost (2000). He did it by running radio ads about how his Rep opponent led the impeachment effort against Clinton.
Many of the Northeast Rep’s that were instrumental in the Clinton impeachment lost. Al D’Amato is another one. He lost to Schumer because he chaired the Judicial committee that tried Clinton.
tim
…and Mr. Iglesias would say no good deed goes unpunished.
Sentient Puddle
I was someone who lived in NM-01 during ’06, was incredibly bitter when Heather Wilson narrowly eked out a victory over Patricia Madrid, and really wanted the hammer to fall on the investigations because it otherwise looked like Pete Domenici would’ve been invincible in ’08 if he decided to run (an open question at that point…he expressed interest, though he didn’t seem to be totally with it in terms of his mental health). Watching the Republicans unravel over a controversy in my home state was like manna from heaven. I got no sympathy for anyone involved in this scandal.
That said, you know why Christie is about to become governor of New Jersey? Because he’s running against Jon fucking Corzine. I mean, Jesus Christ New Jersey…
JK
Pat Buchanan is the teflon pundit. Nothing sticks to him.
Doug, don’t lose hope for the NJ governor’s race. I saw a poll somewhere indicating that Corzine was closing the gap with Christie.
bvac
Whats his name was pushing the corruption probe hard against Menendez in ’06. Tom Kean Jr. It was obviously coordinated and no one gave a shit about it, so it made him look like an idiot. Corzine has been hammering Christie over his Bush connections already, so it would serve him well to not let this go. He might win, even if he doesn’t deserve to.
kay
The US Attorney scandal should have scared the shit out of people.
It didn’t, but that was mostly because it was minimized, and no one seemed to get how really powerful they are, or maybe we were relying on their individual integrity.
I personally would not rely on that.
Political prosecutions are really, really bad. Just a couple could effectively shut down opposition, through a combination of actual prosecutions and the chilling effect on potential political opponents that would result from those prosecutions.
You can’t really ask people to join the fray if it means they might have their life destroyed, because even an indictment or trial that results in acquittal is life-destroying, at least for a time. A long time, too.
jenniebee
For once, without snark, it really would be irresponsible not to speculate.
And even more irresponsible not to investigate.
SenyorDave
I’m holding out hope that Holder throws caution to the wind and prosecutes every Bush-era crime that was committed. Go after Rove on the US attorneys, Cheney et. al on torture. Turn over every stone and start making sure that bad deeds do go punished. He’s the Attorney General of the United F***ing States, and he is the man (and independent of the POTUS).
PS I assume that there was far more corruption that we don’t know about. Anyone remember good old Thomas Scully, the head of Medicare who forced the chief actuary to lie about the cost of the Senior Drug program.
freelancer
@DougJ:
You should really check out this Week’s ep of This American Life. It involves Christie’s biggest terror prosecution and how it was bananas from the get-go.
thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=387
It’s a doozy.
Bill H
He was actually impeached for lying about the blowjob, not for getting it, but that doesn’t invalidate your point. There is no downside to lying to get into office, or to get measures passed, or to block measures, or to stay in office, or to escape the consequences of your actions, or etc, as long as the media id on your side, be you politician, pundit or whatever.
Political Pragmatist
Good grief, Doug! The conservative ideology damn near drove the country into what could have been a greater economic meltdown than the Great Depression, support by some who are actually war criminals, and NO ONE is being held accountable except Bernie Madoff.
No one is even pointing a finger at the empty economic ideology. Not since “voodoo economics” has anyone even bothered to question it, yet supply-side theory is still driving the agenda.
We’re so doomed.
J.D. Rhoades
Seeing that fat, sanctimonious fuck Dick Morris everywhere on my TV screen infuriates me. What infuriates me even more is that no one ever follows up his screeds against Obama and the Clintons by asking him: “Isn’t it true that you’re just bitter at Democrats and at the Clintons in particular because Clinton canned your sorry ass for calling the White House from a hooker’s bed? Isn’t it true that no one will now hire you for anything that doesn’t involve being the go-to guy for Democrat bashing? Can you explain to us why we should take a word you say seriously after that?”
Ed in NJ
Christie won’t win. I’m not disputing anything in this post, but as as NJ resident, I can see the tide turning fairly rapidly against Christie once people get to know him.
Despite our reputation, NJ is a pretty sophisticated, well-educated state. We hate all our politicians, so Corzine’s popularity won’t be much of an issue once voters get to know Christie. Right now he’s just a name. In a month or two people will start to see this doughy, lisping slow-talker who, despite his pedigree sounds unintelligent and get really scared of the thought of looking and listening to him for four years. The polls are already narrowing.
Napoleon
@freelancer:
I listened to that story a week or so ago and it really makes Christie not look great.
freelancer
@Napoleon:
Especially considering that Christie’s justification is that whether the mark was too stupid or ignorant to be capable of a terrorist act on his own is irrelevant. What matters to Christie is motive.
Why do I get the sense that Christie would shrug off any comparison between Lakhani and any one of the shrieking Right-wing teabaggers who publically fantasize about Obama’s demise? These people are incompetent, and generally not capable of pulling off any grand strategic plan, but boy do they shout with murder in their hearts.
Napoleon
@freelancer:
After listening to the show I do not feel bad for the guy that was found guilty, and he deserves to be in jail, but as soon as Christie figured out that he was a know nothing blowhard he should have shut that investigation down. It was an outragous misuse of resources that hasn’t made us any safer and now we have some clueless bozo in prision where we have to pay his room and board. I mean Jesus, he was telling them he could deliver a submarine.
freelancer
@Napoleon:
Not to mention the fact that when they’re in the Airport Motel, he’s standing next to the FBI informant, who’s hoisting the missle launcher on his shoulder and talking about the best time to shoot down planes, he goes:
“I thought he was Joking!”
Facepalm
jacy
@Napoleon:
I caught that story on NPR this weekend too, and while the guy in jail seems both like a doofus and a bad guy, Christie came off sounding way more dangerous. At then end there, Christie seemed to be saying that if you hold an opinion that some people may find offensive, you should be in jail whether you’ve committed a crime or not. You know, because incarcerating people for thought crimes is way more effective than stopping actual crimes.
And the sheer waste of money and manpower in the whole sting, prosecution, and incarceration, when it could have been better spent, oh, I don’t know, breaking up an actual terrorist operation instead of inventing one out of whole cloth to catch one goofball. The mind boggles.
Angela
I’m a NJ resident too, and Corzine just started running ads linking Christie to Bush. I’m a transplant here, and I live in the reddest part of the state, but it has been my experience that everyone hates Bush.
Polish the Guillotines
Nothing to add to the discussion, but a link to the inspiration for the title of this post. No future, indeed.
JSDreyer
Doug,
It’s really quite simple. We don’t have a real adversarial press that exposes such misdeeds to the extent that would act as a deterrent for such behavior. As well, our press doesn’t call lies lies; instead they are called “points of view.” Which is why Dems can say, “We need serious healthcare reform” and the Repubs can say, “They’re going to kill Grandma!!!!” and the press reports both as equally valid points of view.
Large corporations, be it Newscorp, Disney, or GE, control the message of news organs they own. There’s also a chilling effect; editors know what and what not to go to press or air with, with their jobs in the balance. Glenn Greenwald, among others, has been regularly documenting this malaise for the past 3 or 4 years
If we can get press reform (prohibit them from being owned by large corporations? Fund them all publicly?), the debates will return closer to reality. Given how the right (esp pro-business) has co-opted the press for their own gain, this is probably the biggest issue in enacting real reform for any given issue in our country.
gizmo
The great triumph of the wingnut revolution that began with Reagan back in the 1980’s is that they have managed to move the goalposts so far right that nobody knows where the center is anymore. FOX News can spew their vile hatred and disinformation 24/7, and yet they occupy bandwith on the public airwaves. We have a long way to go to turn this ship around….
bvac
I posted a comment here earlier but I guess it got eaten. Anyway, to summarize, blah blah blah blah.
Christie isn’t going to win.
bvac
Okay, looks like two of my comments got eaten. Blah blah blah.
Christie isn’t going to win.
Adrienne
I’ll raise the flag right now… Christie will NOT win the NJ Governors race. He just won’t. NJ is notorious for giving Repubs hope and then snatching it away. For some reason, Republicans *always* poll better prior to the race than they ever perform on election day. Seriously, McCain polled close to Obama last year and got demolished. It’s just one of the many charming things about Jersey, in addition to the toxic water and foul smell.
Over at the GOS, they’ve likened it to Lucy, Charlie Brown and the football.
Sleeper
I’m a New Jerseyan as well, and we have plenty of red patches down here in the burbs (Monmouth and Ocean Counties in particular), but it’s closer to the old school cranky Republicanism of thirty years ago than it is to birther-deather-‘bagger-anti-everythingism. Our last GOP Governor, Christie Todd Whitman, would basically be a Blue Dog Democrat (or a shade to the left of that) if she were to debut on the political scene today. We don’t really have any Jim DeMints here, outside of some goofball county Freeholders scattered here and there, mainly in the whiter-than-white south.
Of course, the New Jersey Democratic Party is nothing to write home about, either. I have no idea how Jon Corzine got himself elected Senator and then Governor. Oh, wait, now I remember: he made $400 million running Goldman Sachs and outspent his opponent 2-to-1. Kinda hard for a lefty like me to get excited about his candidacy, then or now.
Christie is something of a buffoon, which means I give him at least an even chance of winning in this state.
Leo
“FOX News can spew their vile hatred and disinformation 24/7, and yet they occupy bandwith on the public airwaves.”
Technically, Fox “News” isn’t on public airways–its on cable. Agree with your larger point though.
burnspbesq
I would say that four years in Trenton is appropriate punishment for Christie’s sins, but then, I’m from North Jersey. 201 fa life!
burnspbesq
No loony Republicans in Jersey? Then how do you explain Scott Garrett? That fuck represents the town where I grew up, and I hate his guts with an intensity that I normally reserve for the Yankees, the Tar Heels, and Real Madrid.
Tonal Crow
Thus does the rule of law come undone: smoke a joint, go to prison, get raped, and get AIDS; abuse the power of your office to corrupt politics and ruin someone’s life, get promoted.
It makes perfect sense, where “sense” is defined as “nonsense”.
DougJ
I’m a New Jerseyan as well, and we have plenty of red patches down here in the burbs (Monmouth and Ocean Counties in particular), but it’s closer to the old school cranky Republicanism of thirty years ago than it is to birther-deather-’bagger-anti-everythingism.
That’s pretty much what I thought.
bvac
Okay, so all of my comments finally showed up and now I look like an ass. Anyway, I might have to take back Christie not winning. It all depends on if the insane/palin/teabagger wing of the party shows up to vote. So far from what I’ve heard, the town hall meetings in NJ haven’t been mobbed by crazies shouting the things that crazies shout, but that can change. I’m looking at you, south jersey.
ZIRGAR
Nice reference to the Sex Pistols in the post title!