Chris Christie’s main media constituency is the “Morning Joe” crowd and many of them (Ron Fournier, Mike Murphy) are sticking by him. But I don’t think this will play in Peoria:
Emergency responders were delayed in attending to four medical situations – including one in which a 91-year-old woman lay unconscious – due to traffic gridlock caused by unannounced closures of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, according to the head of the borough’s EMS department.
The woman later died, borough records show.
Howard Beale IV
Peoria won’t give a fsck-after all, it’s the New Jersey Chenolbyls, after all.
MikeBoyScout
This is just a diversion from ObamaCare which is going to kill people … some day … you just wait!
Why are you diverting us with information about Republican politicians actually killing people?
Cervantes
This is, by definition, what happens when we elect (or they appoint) sociopaths to government.
Baud
Christie: Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.
Howard Beale IV
Now one of the doods directly involved is trying to quash the subpoena.
Grab yer popcorn, folks….
Violet
Wasn’t the search for a missing four year old also delayed? the NJ and NY media are going after this story. No stone unturned. Need more popcorn.
JPL
NBC and CBS both led off with the Christi story. ABC had it second and they didn’t down play it, the story was still prominent. Fox might site it’s clout, but it doesn’t add up to the big three networks . Peoria still watches network news.
danielx
But it’s all good clean political fun, Christie-style.
Think of the email announcements in Trenton today –
“Attention all rats: please don your life jackets!”
“Anyone who talks to any reporter anywhere, any time, will be nailed to the front door of his or her residence.”
“Any further communication about any potentially malodorous political issue will be done in person and under four eyes.”
And so forth.
Bob
Because I like to hurt myself, on occasion, I’d appreciate a link to what they have to say.
Violet
This is just a big, fat, juicy story. I don’t think it’s a bridge too far to say it’s a whale of a problem for Christie.
JPL
@MikeBoyScout: That is so true. Why cover the death of a 91 year old, when we know that Obama plans to kill them all.
Bill E Pilgrim
So Christie’s appointees and aides* conspiring together = death panels?
* And probably Christie.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
This one will prolly end in impeachment, if Christie doesn’t resign first.
dmsilev
@Violet: Yes, though thankfully the kid was eventually found.
I’m having a hard time deciding what the worst part of this whole thing is. There are a lot of choices.
JPL
???? What is John Boehner drinking tonight????
GregB
I already saw a Face Book rant about how we know more about this bridge closing in one day than we know about Benghazi! after 1 year.
Benghazi! I said.
Violet
@dmsilev: Depends on your definition of worst.
Howard Beale IV
L’affiare Christie is front page on the Times.
DougJ
@Bob:
I’m just following their twitter accounts.
dmsilev
@Bob: Mike Murphy:
Note for the record: Christie ‘blasted’ some vague and indefinite person. His statement very carefully avoided mentioning any specific names.
beltane
Chris Christie manages to make Rod Blagojovich seem charming and delightful in comparison.
dmsilev
@beltane: There’s no way Christie can come close to matching Blago’s hair. That’s very important.
AnotherBruce
@Howard Beale IV: That would be David Wildstein, the guy who needs to get his ass kicked.
JPL
@DougJ: Yup.. Great what I saw was a tweet about it being stupid but illegal.
That’s the new motto for the repubs… We might be stupid but not illegal. Vote for us.
Villago Delenda Est
Tbogg nailed this one to the wall. Paul Ryan is insanely jealous of Chris Christie.
dmsilev
@Violet: Well, intent enters into it I think. Delaying EMS response times was probably an unintended consequence on the part of the assholes. School kids trapped on buses for hours, well they clearly knew ahead of time that that was going to happen and found the prospect absolutely hilarious.
Howard Beale IV
@dmsilev: Ever since Blago’s been at Club Fed, his dye job has been put on hiatus.
That is, if he actually has real hair, unlike Michael Milken….
Jay C
Actually, I think this issue (traffic delays leading to medical emergencies leading to deaths) is exactly the sort of thing that may give the “Bridgeghazi” story legs beyond the strictly local news market: politicians playing with traffic stuff is bad enough: but I think a lot of people are going to react pretty negatively to the notion of said shenanigans affecting first- responders.
OTOH, I’m not a lot of folks in the rest of the country really understanding the transit/traffic issues in excessively built-up areas like the NY/NJ metro area: even here, “traffic” is usually shrugged off as a minor annoyance: not so, as we can see.
Belafon
Actually that information would make a good add this fall: “All Republicans know how to do is play with people’s lives in the name of power. Whether it’s killing the elderly by shutting down a bridge, preventing paramedics from reaching their destination, or shutting down government to keep people from getting health care, all they care about is their own power.”
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev:
Note to Mike Murphy, whoever the fuck you are:
That smell you’re picking up? It’s Christie’s crusts burning.
He’s toast.
Kay
@dmsilev:
I think that’s hard for him, that a staffer set it off and another was in the emails. He can say he didn’t know what the agency director was up to, that could be credible, but how could he not know what those two were up to?
The mayor was quite good on television. I think Wolf Blitzer let him go on and on because it’s just good tv.
Lex
@GregB: I think the proper response to that is, “‘Benghazi’? How about BRIDGHAZI, motherf*cker? WHAT DID THE FAT BOY KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT, HUH?”
The guy is a bully and a coward (canceling his innocuous public appearance today without explanation), and my guess is that even if he’s never charged, a whole lot more will come out of this investigation.
Now, it should be explained for the politically naive that behaving sociopathically toward your inferiors is a feature, not a bug, for at least 27% of the American electorate. But that assumes he gets the nomination. It is entirely possible that photos of him hugging Obama after Sandy and him with the DREAM Act girl who got the scholarship will doom him with the Teatard right, which is, after all, the party’s base.
So, assuming he doesn’t actually have to defend himself against criminal charges, I think his next stop is a corporate gig, a Fox gig (but I repeat myself) or a sinecure at some right-wing think tank that deals with “urban issues” it knows nothing about.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
I see what you did there.
Several times…
dmsilev
@Villago Delenda Est: Mike Murphy is a GOP campaign consultant. He was an adviser to both John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@dmsilev: That would be the same Mike Murphy who was squeezed out of the McCain operation by the people who picked Sarah Palin and tried to sell “The Surge” as our D-Day? And Fournier… Karl Rove’s pen pal, McCain’s would-be press secretary. I’m not quite ready to count Christie out, he’ll always have Politico, but I’m astounded he’s held his temper for as long as he has– since Sandy– I don’t know if he has the temperament to ride this out, especially if that 91 year old’s family, or that of the kid who was missing, start talking to reporters.
JPL
How about an ad showing the email about the school buses and feeling bad, the response was well they were Bruno voters. Next segment is an ad with Christi yelling at a teacher. Hillary is sad cuz it won’t be run.
Valdivia
Any lawyers in the crowd here–isn’t this a torts case?
Villago Delenda Est
@Howard Beale IV:
That will not end well, for the guy getting subpoenaed. Not at all.
raven
@Lex: I like the cut of your jib!
Ash Can
@AnotherBruce:
Everyone involved in the e-mail transcript needed to get their asses kicked, out the door, this afternoon (with the exception of those who, I believe, have already resigned because of this). The fact that this didn’t happen indicates that Christie was four-square behind this, regardless of how piously he bleats now.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev:
Oh, so he’s a fucktard. Got it.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Villago Delenda Est: Interestingly, the new NYT site won’t let you copy from it, it seems. What I was trying to copy and paste was this, on the front page right now:
Indeed.
Quite the understatement though, tarnish and feather him, more like, and no “threatening to” about it.
IowaOldLady
You’re hot with the title quotes today, DougJ.
raven
@Ash Can: The mayor of Ft Lee flat out said “he needs his butt kicked” on Chris Hayes (I think he was talking about the clown that resigned).
Cacti
Christie is the Rudy Giuliani of the next election cycle.
Sleaze bag northeastern politician, whose chief constituency is the east coast media.
JPL
@Bill E Pilgrim: This is what I just copied from the times.. Not sure what happened to you..
“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.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL:
Absinthe, I hope.
J.D. Rhoades
If the old woman who died was a Democrat. Christie’s going to win SC.
Seriously, some wingnut on Twitter was earnestly assuring me that while Christie is an asshole, he’s, and I quote, “a likable one.” He also said “libs” were foolish thinking this would make any impact. I think I’ve heard that graveyard song and dance before.
Cacti
Any speculation from the press about who the redacted name was, talking to Wildstein in the messages?
PeakVT
We’ve come to the fork in the road, and someone should stick it in Christie and use it toast him over the dying embers of his presidential ambitions.
Or something along those lines. Bqhatevwr.
Villago Delenda Est
@J.D. Rhoades:
Wingnuts LURVES them some assholes. This may indeed rehabilitate Chrstie in the eyes of the 27%, but the problem is, he won’t get past Rmoney’s 47% in the general election.
Bill E Pilgrim
@JPL: Interesting. They sent an email about a new design that I see has moved menus from the side to the top and so on, and now, though I can copy from the front page, when I go here for example I can’t copy any text.
NB I just tried and I can copy in FF and IE. Can’t in Chrome. I guess I should tell them this, but no doubt ppl are.
Valdivia
Well according to Kleinman at SameFacts there are grounds for reckless endangerment charges once the EMS delays were involved. I am pretty sure he teaches at a Law School so he should know.
http://www.samefacts.com/2014/01/corruption-in-washington/christie-lied-an-old-lady-died/
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
“Depraved indifference to human life”.
Bring it on.
jl
I think at least this scandal has enough legs for a movie by now. I’m typing already, and get that sucker submitted fast.
“A Massive Man, A Massive Bridge. A Massive…” what goes best? Fall? Stall? Gall?
Christie soul searching monologues…
“I coudda been a contender! I said I wannad some pay back, is all. I just wannad some payback for that little creep mayor who wouddan play ball is all…. ”
Who’ll play Christie?
Punchy
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: You mean impeachment for Obama, right? He caused all this by being so friendly with Bucket ‘O Fatty.
Patrick
@GregB:
What about all the embassy personnel that got killed under Bush? When are the hypocritical self-proclaimed patriots going to start caring about those poor folks?
jl
@Punchy: Christie caught the megalomania when he hugged the anti-President.
Cacti
Since the Christie-jam happened on an interstate bridge, and involved the US Interstate Highway System, this looks like an appropriate matter for the US DOJ to investigate.
Bill E Pilgrim
@jl: A Bridge Too Fat
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
Alas, another role Chris Farley is unavailable to take.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
The same thing he drinks every night, Pinkie.
Liquid
It makes me sad that there’s no “balloob-juice.com”
j
@JPL:
I was in Peoria just a few months ago. That small city has the biggest income gap I have ever seen in a town that size. The Caterpillar HQ bosses drive their Mercedes’ and BMW’s through town and share the lanes with 20 to 30 year old rust heaps. The “real Americans” are pretty much starving in shitty houses while the “swells” all live on Grand View Terrace (Teddy Roosevelt called it the most beautiful street in America, and it hasn’t gotten any shabbier since then).
The 3 big “industries” are Caterpillar HQ and factories, some giant hospital complexes and Bradley University. All the management are living large; all the worker bees are barely living.
Grand View Drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW0kV1Hm_IY
When I drove through that part of town I said “Holy SHIT! Who knew there was this much money in the middle of the cornfields?”
The rest of the town? Not so much. You can Youtube “drive through Peoria” to get an idea.
As for watching the TV news? Not so much. The 1% don’t care about some GOP lout shitting on a town of perceived Democrast, just as long as they aren’t inconvenienced, and the rest of the Peoria populace pretty much can’t afford cable so they watch Vanna White or whatever else is on UHF that night.
Baud
OT: Newsmax
Looking forward to the documentary on “Jesus and the Dinosaurs.”
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
exactly because that’s what it was. How could they not have foreseen it? I guess when you just want to be a jerk those things kind of take a back seat.
raven
@j: You don’t think there’s money in those fields?
Mike in NC
So it looks like we have consensus on what Dancing Dave Gregory will be talking about on his Sunday show. Sorry, Bob Gates.
Pogonip
@JPL: Anything he can get his hands on.
scav
@Bill E Pilgrim: I was wondering about what will happen when The Blubber Meets The Road.
Howard Beale IV
@Villago Delenda Est: Maybe, maybe not.
As the Ferengi would say:
“The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.”
The longer this plays pout the worse it gets for Christie. And since his past is full of questionable behavior when he was a US DOJ attorney, it can only get worse.
Mike in NC
@Villago Delenda Est: Mike Murphy is a hack Republican consultant/apologist with a column in TIME magazine, per the last visit to my dentist’s office.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@GregB:
If we could elect a Republican congress, we could get to the bottom of the whole Benghazi mess.
jl
@Mike in NC:
” Sorry, Bob Gates. ”
I saw some more extracts from the Gates book. Not sure it would be good TV. What I read this morning, Gates started sounding like a bitter drunk in a bar going on and on about how he shoulda mouthed off to his stupid boss and those jackasses in Congress, and let them have a piece of his mind, gawdammit.
Belafon
@jl:
Channing Tatum. He was willing to gain enough weight to play Homer Simpson.
GregB
@jl:
Another Republican tucks it to Obama after he trusted him.
The GOP’s motto needs to that line from Animal House:
Today’s GOP, you fucked-up. You trusted us.
Davis X. Machina
@j: The redoubtable Ed, of Gin and Tacos blog fame, is teaching at Bradley, and has had occasion to comment on just this point.
Brian R.
@GregB:
Sure, much like I could describe the new guy at my office after one week much better than I could describe the Easter Bunny after thirty years of living. One of them is real, the other is not.
raven
@Davis X. Machina: Damn, he moved from here to Peoria!!!
JPL
@jl: Actual what I heard was well the Pres was right but I’m disappointed anyway. The right wing will be disappointed.
@j: That was an interesting youtube. thanks
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@jl: I think it was Tweety who said the “Gates camp”– who’s that, him his lawyer and his wife?– is astounded at the sensationalism and publicity his book is getting. He wrote a book calling Obama… something, he’s all over the map on that, Biden an idiot and Hillary Clinton scheming opportunist and he’s shocked, shocked! that people are talking about it. Nothing bugs me more than when these people try to play the last virgin in the whorehouse.
Lex
@raven: Why, thank you!
gogol's wife
@Brian R.:
Well put.
I am so enjoying the downfall of Christie. I never thought he’d be a presidential contender, though.
Culture of Truth
“the mayor of Fort Lee will spend the next two years darkly plotting ways to poison Christie’s good name”
somehow he’s the bad guy. GOP spin meisters like Mike Murphy are devious fucks, I’ll give him that.
Bill E Pilgrim
The mayor here really is excellent. Pissed off not only at the reckless childish retribution that already happened, but also the depressing fact that this will ensure that the jokes about the state being run by low-life thugs go on now for decades. He’s also genuinely concerned about even worse retribution and how reckless it could be, once the story fades from the front page.
You know what, I bet Christie doesn’t weather this, I mean even to stay in office. Hadn’t thought that yet, but now I do.
gogol's wife
@Culture of Truth:
Yeah, good point. What good name?
Roger Moore
@Baud:
The old History Channel is double plus ungood. Everything on their History Channel will be vetted by the Ministry of Truth.
raven
@Davis X. Machina: Shit, I wrote a great comment not knowing the post was from October!
Davis X. Machina
@raven: Junior faculty… doubt he had much choice.
raven
@Davis X. Machina: Yea, it’s tough out there. I know he would have stayed if he could have,
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
I’ll ask again since I know there are New Jerseyans here: Leaving aside this story and Sandy, does Chris Christie actually have any political achievements? even using his own standards, as I think is fair when discussing any politician? I loathe Scott Walker, but he has done mostly, I believe, what he set out to do.
The Dangerman
It must be ratfucking season; along with Christie getting fucked (and deservedly so), Joe Biden gets pilloried in Gates’ new book, while HIllary, reportedly, comes off a whole lot better. I can’t think of another instance where the CinC gets raked over the coals by a former Cabinet Secretary in a book while that President is still in office and the war in question is still being fought. I think Bush didn’t fare well in Woodward’s book over Iraq, but that one wasn’t over the name of a Cabinet Secretary as the author.
Mike in NC
@jl: Steve Schirripa, AKA ‘Bobby Bacala’ from Sopranos would be a good fit. In fact, his next movie is called “Jersey Boys”.
jl
@JPL:
” Actual what I heard was well the Pres was right but I’m disappointed anyway. The right wing will be disappointed. ”
I read some excerpts where Gates wrote out some outraged outbursts he had stored up in his head when he thought about resigning or got fed up with Congressional hearings. They sounded sad and lame, and, from what I saw, Gates hasn’t found requisite ‘closure’ needed to put the frustration and outrage that was rattling around inside his head into perspective.
I’ll give a link if I can remember where I saw them.
Roxy
@GregB:
Maybe, just maybe the next Democratic president will have a democratic secretary of defense instead of a republican.
raven
@jl: I posted them this morning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: Walker has been doing what he set out to do, sure. OTOH, it’s not what he promised to do – which was focus on jobs.
j
@Howard Beale IV:
Looks like Josh Marshall and or Rachel Maddow could be sharing a Polk Prize!
Comrade Mary
The Daily News comes to bury Christie, not praise him:
JPL
@jl: CBS this morning said that for the most part, he was complimentary of Obama but had real disagreements and distain with Biden and Congress. Fox won’t report on the Congress part and the complimentary part about Obama.
mainmata
@JPL: I agree, especially amongst the olds who watch network TV news and who vote Retugs (at least in some regions; many are Dems too). So this damages Christie short-term but more importantly gets fed into the campaign damage machines that both parties employ. It’s likely to have no effect in the GOP primary but a damaging impact in a general election, if he makes it that far (unlikely).
beltane
Wow, the not-Murdoch New York tabloids are going after Christie hard: http://www.nydailynews.com/christie-waterloo-article-1.1570246 Once the NYC media decides to go after someone like this, they tend to not let go. Maybe Christie can co-host a late night cable show with Anthony Weiner.
BruceFromOhio
Pff. Probably a Buono voter.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
Interesting twist from Steve Kornacki, next week a new NJ state assembly convenes, and the new Speaker is a Christie-endorsing Dem who may or may not have continued investigating this, pretty hard for him to let it go now.
Oh dear lord, Lawrence O’Donnell is doing accents.
Gravenstone
@Omnes Omnibus: Walker is very focused on jobs, his own future ones.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist:
That was amazing.
max
@Cacti: Sleaze bag northeastern politician, whose chief constituency is the east coast media.
Just so. But then I see a wingnut on twitter upset because the R’s aren’t defending ‘the one guy who can beat Hillary’ which tells me that that’s his real appeal. Not that they like the SOB but that they’ve got it in their heads he could win.
Meantime, Ms. S.E. Cupp runneth over:
Yes, because Governors who resign in disgrace are oh so very electable.
max
[‘When the usual lot starts floating desperate political plays as reasonable courses of action, the candidate in question is hosed.’]
PurpleGirl
@Bill E Pilgrim: That’s tar and feather him — you need the tar to glue the feathers to the body. Tarnish won’t do it.
beltane
@max: President Spitzer would beg to disagree with you.
Omnes Omnibus
@PurpleGirl:
Varnish might.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@PurpleGirl: and the tar burns the skin, pretty graphic description in McCullogh’s John Adams bio, IIRC
Citizen_X
@dmsilev:
Ah, a proven record of success!
JPL
@max: Sarah Palin quit to save the state from lawsuits. She might not run for office again but the money keeps flowing in.
Bill E Pilgrim
@PurpleGirl: I know it’s tar. It was a joke. Playing with what the NYT had said.
Shortstop
I’m having a good time.
max
@beltane: President Spitzer would beg to disagree with you.
Let’s not forget Nixon’s third term, either.
@JPL: Sarah Palin quit to save the state from lawsuits. She might not run for office again but the money keeps flowing in.
Yes! Exactly! That’s the thing – Bill O’Reilly is popular but he has little chance of being nominated and no chance of being elected. Same with Christie.
Palin, on the other hand, would flame out in the general, but she still has a faint chance of being nominated (she was once a VP candidate after all).
max
[‘Her, they like like that. Christie is LJBF territory.’]
hells littlest angel
No jail can hold Chris Christie.
Anne Laurie
@jl:
Rob Ford. Sure, he’s not a professional actor, but he knows what crony government looks like from the inside!
PurpleGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Tru dat.
PurpleGirl
@Bill E Pilgrim: Sorry, I’ve got a broken joke meter.
Bill E Pilgrim
@PurpleGirl: I don’t know, I thought your meter was pretty good there. Iambic pentium tetrahydroxide, I think.
dopeyo
@jl asks who’ll play Christie in the movie?: JOHN GOODMAN. He can reprise his character from ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou?’ (Rubs hands in glee….)
Omnes Omnibus
@Bill E Pilgrim: Mine is only a 486.
Splitting Image
If Chris Christie is so easily misled by his staffers, doesn’t that mean there is a very high chance that if he were President he would nominate someone like David Souter for the Supreme Court?
I’m just asking questions.
Stacy
In one press conference Christie says “I’m not obsessed with this, it’s just not that big of a deal.” He seemed like he was trying to say. “Hey whadda mean this is a big deal? I do this sorta stuff all the time and worse!” I think he has a strong chance of not surviving this as gov. Especially if he pisses off the deputy chief of staff who asked for it to happen.
Central Planning
@Howard Beale IV: One of the other articles on that site is titled “Two chinchilla jackets worth $100,000 stolen from Riverside Square Mall” and all I could think was: wow, I can’t imagine spending $50k on a chinchilla accessory.
Keith P
So, if memory serves, according to the GOP, when deaths are involved, it’s worse than Watergate.
Violet
@jl:
How about Jeff Garlin?
Suffern ACE
@dopeyo: I’ll go with John Pinette. He’s got the northeastern type accent. And I’d kind of like him to break out the “I say Nay Nay” in scenes where he had to give a press conference.
j
@Davis X. Machina:
Thanks for that link. I occasionally read that blog, especially when Crooks & Liars had a working Blogroll, but they have decided that that isn’t what all the people who are complaining about its absence really want, or something like that. Really, I think it was an oversight on their part, and they aren’t about to admit it any time soon, so C&L is no longer my “go to page” for blogroll links.
As far as Peoria goes, I was there in the 70s, 80, and just last summer. I can’t believe what happened to that town. I kept thinking “gee, I wish I had the plywood and gray paint concession for their downtown”.
CAT locked out their workers and then the entire union went on strike, so CAT fired them all and hired scabs at $8.00 to $10.00 per hour. The strike lasted FOR YEARS and CAT was making more money than they ever had before.
They promised the scabs that they would have full life-time employment. Until the unions settled on a cut in pay and benefits, then the scabs were out on their asses the next day and the regular workers took a cut in pay and benefits, just so CAT could goose their NYSE Quarterly numbers.
And using tax money, CAT built a new CAT Auditorium, and a CAT Museum tourist trap, and a CAT Plaza, and that’s about it. They emptied out the city, bought up most of the downtown, razed it all and made a donut hole of CAT WORLD all around their corporate HQ buildings, surrounded by abject poverty. Leave CAT World and go 3 blocks in any direction and it’s nothing but homeless shelters and food banks and missions in former upscale apartment buildings. Until CAT buys them too.
East Peoria is a BIG Nazi and White Supremacists hot bed too. I wonder how THAT happened?
trollhattan
@Baud:
“Tides go out, dinosaurs come in, you can’t explain that.”
Suffern ACE
@Baud: Christ. Just take over the existing history channel. 1/2 the shows are prophesy stuff that only fundamentalist christians are concerned with. The rest seems to be about alien influences on history.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE:
I remember when it used to be called The Hitler Channel. It’s descended even lower than that.
j
@JPL: That was just an over view. Google Grand View Drive and there are LOTS of other videos. Some of these management types spend over $250,00.00 per year on arborists, lawn boys (yes, that IS what they call them) and pool cleaners. They have to keep up with the Jonses across the street. I was there on July 4th, and some of them had their lawn “boys” working on their flower beds to get them “just so” for the fireworks after party later that evening. They figured that the Mexicans have their own Independence Day, so 7-4 is just another day to them.
THE FREAKING FIRE DEPARTMENT!! closed off a private cul-de-sac just so some scion of the local wealthy class could ride in the snorkle, and have his 8 year old friends climb the ladder on a hook & ladder truck. THEN the fire department hoisted a hose all the way up to the top of the ladder and sprayed an arc so that it made a rainbow!!! OOOH!
Take THAT, you low rent imposters next door! And your Mexican gardeners, too! I spit on you, PAH, PAH, PAH.
The whole thing had a Gatsby-esque vibe to it. I was sickened.
Anyone of those assholes could pay 10 of their employees for a year what they waste on showing off their grounds and private putting greens, but then they wouldn’t be able to show off. And that is the whole point, isn’t it?
BruinKid
@Valdivia: Kleiman teaches at the best university in the world, UCLA. ;-)
Stuart_B
“So, if memory serves, according to the GOP, when deaths are involved, it’s worse than Watergate.”
Isn’t it actually when a powerful or vulnerable Democrat might be seen as diing something bad it’s worse than Watergate?