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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Early Morning Open Thread: Sunday (Not So) Funnies

Early Morning Open Thread: Sunday (Not So) Funnies

by Anne Laurie|  January 12, 20145:19 am| 84 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Assholes, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.

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christie oh the huge man in jersey ohman

(Jack Ohman via CoComics.com)

.
Bridgeghazi has been a real gift to political cartoonists — there’s just soooo many cultural references to milk. Of course, as Martin Longman reminds us in Washington Monthly, when it comes to Chris Christie, WYSIWYG has always been the best guideline:

The dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy of 2007 has been largely forgotten, but it was a very big deal at the time… It was a total disaster for the Bush administration that was the natural result of a conspiracy to deliberately politicize the Justice Department. The U.S. Attorneys who were fired were fired for insufficient partisan zeal. In some cases, they refused to open meritless voter fraud cases. In other cases, they wouldn’t open meritless investigations on Democratic politicians. In still other cases, they were actually investigating lawbreaking by Republicans.

So, one of the takeaways from the scandal was that the U.S. Attorneys who weren’t dismissed were incredibly suspect. The attorneys who were found acceptable to the Bush administration were the ones who would launch phony investigations against innocent people and who would cover up criminal activity if is was carried out by Bush’s allies. Chris Christie was a U.S. Attorney who passed that test. He was considered sufficiently corrupt (or corruptible) to remain a U.S. Attorney in Alberto Gonzales’s (and Karl Rove’s) Justice Department…

***********
Apart from waiting for the next shoe to drop, what’s on the agenda today?
.

christie i am not a crook sheneman
(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

christie horses head luckovich
(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

christie troll under gwbridge auth
(Tony Auth via GoComics.com)

christie nj traffic map bolling
(Ruben Bolling via GoComics.com)

christie traffic study davies
(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)

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Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 12, 2014 at 5:54 am

    But of course, he’s one of those US DAs. Silly me, I had never even thought about it. My excuse is that I don’t pay much attention to the local goings on of NJ/NY so I never thought about the time line. As of this point, one is best off just assuming anyone involved with the Bush II admin is corrupt.

    Gonna go have breakfast with my JeffCo buddy and his family. Been trying to get together since Xmas so we can give their chilluns their presents. The wife made very glamorous hats and scarves for the 2 girls and a not quite so glamorous hat and scarf for Forrest who is not yet one (so he won’t really care anyway). Me? I got them books. Real books, with hard backs and pages to be turned, printed words and pretty pictures… I know, old fashioned.

  2. 2.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    January 12, 2014 at 5:56 am

    Been trying to go to bed earlier, i.e., before midnight, with some success, hence waking up very early (like an hour ago). The housecat was delighted to get an early breakfast, even did a few sprints around the apartment to celebrate. Now she’s back on the bed, all “Yeah, I did that,” starting to slide into her post-meal nap. I am reading in bed, too comfy to get up and make coffee yet. But the crosswords are calling.

  3. 3.

    Hal

    January 12, 2014 at 5:59 am

    For all the bitching and moaning conservatives do about Obama not being vetted by the media, I’m amazed at how much about Christie was ignored not just by the press, but by voters as well, enamored by Christie’s “brashness” and in your face politics. Something Obama or Clinton for that matter would be raked over the coals for if they tried the same tactics.

    Even if the bridge scandal goes away, the one thing it could lead to is a much closer scrutiny of Christie that should have happened long ago, and perhaps some of the fantasies some voters have of this blowhard will shatter. That could be the real benefit of the scandal, even if in the short run Christie survives.

  4. 4.

    Richard Fox

    January 12, 2014 at 6:07 am

    That’s a very good point, more scrutiny, more klieg lights.. I thought the guy suspect when he first came into power and cancelled / dropped funding for infrastructure. Was political and incompetent all at once. Briefly thought he had humanity in him from the hurricane, but that went away after seeing him yell at a school teacher. Once a douche always a douche..

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 12, 2014 at 6:10 am

    @Hal:

    Something Obama or Clinton for that matter would be raked over the coals for if they tried the same tactics.

    White men are just being “honest and forthright” when they act that way. If a woman does it? “She is such a b!tch.” Dog forbid a black man act that way. “Uppity ni**er… Somebody get a rope!”

  6. 6.

    Aji

    January 12, 2014 at 6:11 am

    Are people only now getting around to recalling that Christie was one of W’s USAs? [And by “people,” I mean our sellout corporate “media.”]

    Christ. I’ve never forgotten it. That little fact – and his role in/ability to ride out the USA scandal – has informed my every perception of him, then and since. And, of course, anyone who followed that story at the time already knew Christie’s propensities, which, of course, fit perfectly within the ultimate in bullying “administrations.”

    Yeah, and I’ve been up for over an hour (since 3 AM my time), cleaning up after a sick dog. Which no doubt means that I won’t get back to sleep. Which means that it’s gonna be a helluva day, and not in a good way.

  7. 7.

    Keith G

    January 12, 2014 at 6:22 am

    @Hal:
    @Richard Fox: And of course, just a year and a half ago, the Romney folks took a look at Christy and said “No thanks” as they backed away.

    Too bad their internal memos can’t be leaked.

  8. 8.

    balconesfault

    January 12, 2014 at 6:44 am

    I do remember the Bush DOJ having a ratio of indictments of Democrats versus indictments of Republicans somewhere on par with Peyton Manning’s TD to INT ratio.

    Time for someone to run the numbers on Christie during that period?

  9. 9.

    amk

    January 12, 2014 at 6:55 am

    Almost all of the repub pols come per-ordered with the filth factor. And the 3rd rate 4th estate will mostly kiss their asses.

  10. 10.

    e.a. foster

    January 12, 2014 at 7:04 am

    he was looking o.k. and then they showed him yelling at a teacher. it was uncalled for and unprofessional. the ‘traffic jam’, no surprise. even if he didn’t personally order it, he created a culture where those who worked with him thought it was o.k. to do such a thing. not nice. A person who creates such a culture and becomes the president, not a pretty thought. Gee if he got mad at Canada or Mexico there could be border line ups for years, not to mention overseas flights from countries he and/or his staff didn’t like being left circling airports until they ran out of fuel. He truly needs to be looked at very closely. perhaps some one in Romney’s group might send a brown envelop to some media.

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 7:14 am

    Couldn’t have happened to a bigger bully, blowhard, and all around jerk.

    And it’s no surprise to me how people came to view Christie in a wamer light; the media worked very hard to paint him that way.

  12. 12.

    Tom

    January 12, 2014 at 7:24 am

    Another thing that seems to have been forgotten: Obama kept most of the US Attorneys that had passed Karl Rove’s sniff test. This article at Democracy Underground or at Hullabaloo will refresh memories.

  13. 13.

    sm*t cl*de

    January 12, 2014 at 7:26 am

    soooo many cultural references to milk

    I see NOTHING referring to milk!

  14. 14.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 7:27 am

    I’m still trying to figure out why a traffic jam punishes anyone besides the people stuck in it.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 7:35 am

    @Comrade Jake: Really? It’s okay with you that a GOVERNOR uses petty pique to sabotage a major transportation hub, during which a woman died because her ambulance couldn’t get to the hospital?

    I call that a big deal. It’s not even the inconvenience; though there’s no excuse for that.

    It’s using the apparatus he was elected to care for as a tool for spite.

    Christie near the nukes? I don’t think so!

  16. 16.

    StonyPillow

    January 12, 2014 at 7:47 am

    @WereBear: Christie near the NSA? I don’t think so!

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    January 12, 2014 at 7:49 am

    @Aji:

    Are people only now getting around to recalling that Christie was one of W’s USAs? [And by “people,” I mean our sellout corporate “media.”]

    Unfortunately no, not yet. Martin Longman is just a dirty stinking blogger like the rest of us (he’s the guy behind BooMan Tribune).

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 12, 2014 at 7:54 am

    @WereBear: I think you are misreading CJ. I think he means “What were they trying to accomplish?”

  19. 19.

    MattF

    January 12, 2014 at 7:55 am

    @WereBear: Right, just consider what a Christie foreign policy would look like. Is it too early for a shot of some don-wanna-think-about-that beverage?

  20. 20.

    Botsplainer

    January 12, 2014 at 8:10 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    I’m still trying to figure out why a traffic jam punishes anyone besides the people stuck in it.

    The 300,000 who cross it daily (plus those caught in cross grid traffic around the bridge approaches, probably another 200,000-400,000) lose work and leisure hours and miss events. When that occurs in the city that is the finance hub of the country, it’s a big deal.

  21. 21.

    Cervantes

    January 12, 2014 at 8:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Enjoy the breakfast reunion. It sounds grand.

  22. 22.

    Bobby Thomson

    January 12, 2014 at 8:20 am

    @Comrade Jake: Apparently Port Authority police were telling people who complained it was the Mayor’s idea.

    Otherwise, no, it would never occur to me to blame anyone but the Port Authority or bad luck as I sat in traffic. Certainly not some mayor or a state representative.

  23. 23.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 8:23 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh.

    Well… no theory I’ve heard offered anything but SPITE. It’s intimidation to let Christie get what he wants.

    Are there any Republicans left who are grownups? Any?

  24. 24.

    Cervantes

    January 12, 2014 at 8:23 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    I’m still trying to figure out why a traffic jam punishes anyone besides the people stuck in it.

    It’s stupid and callous, but it might have gone something like this: imagine, gleefully, the reaction of irate drivers, incensed parents, etc., when they are told that the mayor (or whoever) is responsible for the mess; and then imagine, gleefully, the mayor’s (or whoever’s) office having to field complaints from thousands of irate drivers, incensed parents, etc.

    Personally I find it difficult to believe that someone who considers himself a civil servant could behave in this way. Sociopaths, on the other hand …

  25. 25.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 8:25 am

    @WereBear: reading comprehension.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 8:26 am

    @Botsplainer: reading comprehension.

  27. 27.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 8:30 am

    @Bobby Thomson: I’ve heard that and it just seems far too complicated. “We’ll jam up the traffic, and then when people ask what’s going on, we’ll instruct the police to tell them it was the Mayor’s idea! That will screw him!”

    I guess it’s possible, but it seems a little far fetched.

  28. 28.

    JPL

    January 12, 2014 at 8:35 am

    @Keith G: If the Romney folks prefer Ryan, they will be leaked.

    Christie was able to strong arm the democrats in the state to back his policies. It will be interesting to see whether or not this changes. Cory Booker has been pretty quiet.

  29. 29.

    geg6

    January 12, 2014 at 8:50 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    Well, the whole thing seems far fetched, so this makes as much sense as any of it. It’s so mind-numbingly stupid in every way.

  30. 30.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 12, 2014 at 8:54 am

    I was just watching some of his news conference over this – that straight talker persona of Christi’s easily flips into smack talking reality show dumbass and it’s to much fun to watch. That’s why this scandal will stick and others will be drug up.

  31. 31.

    debbie

    January 12, 2014 at 8:55 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    Blame usually falls first on the mayor. It may subsequently go elsewhere, but it first hits the mayor. And we all know that most people won’t bother to move beyond that first impression.

  32. 32.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    January 12, 2014 at 9:06 am

    @Comrade Jake: FWIW

    Sokolich wrote a letter to Baroni (the Christie appointee at the Port Authority) complaining about the closures and noting that Port Authority police were saying [that it was the mayor’s fault].

    I don’t think your natural reaction is going to be to blame the Mayor. But if the local Port Authority officials are saying the crazy idea came from the mayor, well, then you’d be pretty pissed.

    Finding out that the mayor actually wrote a letter complaining that officers were telling people stuck in traffic to blame the mayor at least makes that part more plausible, rather than being just someone’s theory. Whether it worked on people or not is a different question of course.

  33. 33.

    TS

    January 12, 2014 at 9:08 am

    @JPL:

    Cory Booker has been pretty quiet.

    He’s been too busy supporting the republicans with legislation to ensure there is no peace with Iran. He also complained little, if at all when Christie spent millions on an unnecessary special election.

    Being quiet because you are learning about the senate is fine – but I doubt that is why Cory is being quiet. He still seems to be playing hero and telling nursery stories. His twitter is full of photos of himself.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 9:09 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Which leads to that mayor maybe losing his next election.

    Nice little political career you got there. Shame if something would happen to it.

    Though Rachel Maddow says it’s about a court fight.

    But either way, it’s using your power as a club for personal aggrandizement.

  35. 35.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    January 12, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @WereBear: Exactly. Several things stand out: Christie not even being interested (or claiming not to be interested) in finding out why they were doing the ratfucking to begin with, which those emails made clear is what they were doing. “Why would they do this? Oh I don’t know, who cares”. Right.

    The other is that this guy, famous for belligerent, thuggish behavior toward his constituents (they routinely proudly videoed him doing it, FFS) is the one whose administration just coincidentally engages in thuggish behavior— no connection, apparently. Right.

    I’m surprised he’s still governor, let alone thinking of running for anything else.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    January 12, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @WereBear:

    Kornacki is just now espousing a new theory about what the lane closings were all about. And it makes some sense. It’s all about some gigantic development that is slated to go in Ft. Lee that has huge economic and political ramifications and one that the Ft. Lee mayor considered the crowning jewel of his tenure. And the access lanes were one of the selling points of the development. And Christie is on record several times since the lane closures, talking about how Ft. Lee shouldn’t even have all those direct access lanes and that he was going to be looking into shutting them down permanently because Ft. Lee doesn’t really need all those access lanes, what with their small population. Of course, that work day population was about to be increased by thousands and the land values of the development and the jobs it would create were never mentioned. And that Sokolich considered it his baby makes the idea that it was about punishing the mayor a bit more plausible.

  37. 37.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @debbie: It’s funny because that’s just not my first instinct when I run into something like this locally. I generally assume it’s due to someone a bit below Mayor.

  38. 38.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 9:19 am

    @geg6: that’s the first explanation I’ve read that actually adds up.

  39. 39.

    geg6

    January 12, 2014 at 9:22 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    Agreed. It’s the only thing that makes sense so far.

  40. 40.

    Comrade Jake

    January 12, 2014 at 9:27 am

    @geg6: it’s also something that makes it pretty hard to believe Christie didn’t know about the shenanigans his underlings were up to.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    January 12, 2014 at 9:33 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    Here in central Ohio, our mayor gets the blame whenever streets aren’t plowed quickly enough after every dusting of snow. Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    January 12, 2014 at 9:36 am

    Early on the excuse was why do they have these lanes and I appreciate Kornacki trying to connect the dots. This is the part that I don’t understand, why didn’t the developer donate a large sum to Christie. That’s all he cares about is the money.

  43. 43.

    geg6

    January 12, 2014 at 9:44 am

    @JPL:

    I’m sure the developers did donate to him. This wasn’t about the developers; it was about Sokolich. I think these Christie people, including him, aren’t as smart as everyone seems to think. They’ve done vindictive shit to political enemies for years now and they simply didn’t think it through because they never had to before.

  44. 44.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    January 12, 2014 at 9:45 am

    @debbie: Yeah I think people are overthinking this a bit. The Nixon-style ratfucking tradition doesn’t have to involve each little act being designed to bring down the opponent entirely. Guiliani’s response to this was very illuminating I think, he said it’s just a “political prank” and basically meh, what’s the big deal. High-ups in the Governor’s administration screwing with political opponents in various underhanded ways is just part of a whole, which Rudi sees as just “hardball” politics. Discredit the mayor a little, punish the town for electing him, all seem more than plausible as goals. The fact that Guiliani or anyone in Christie’s office would think something with such real consequences was acceptable as a “prank” is of course where the real scandal lies.

  45. 45.

    J R in WV

    January 12, 2014 at 9:46 am

    @WereBear:

    My Dad was a responsible adult Republican…oh, wait, he died in 2004, on election day…

  46. 46.

    JGabriel

    January 12, 2014 at 9:48 am

    A summary of GOP’s past four decades: from 1973 to 2013, it went from I am not a crook to I am not a bully.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    January 12, 2014 at 9:50 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Yeah, this isn’t 11-dimensional chess. It’s “I’m being a dick because I can.”

  48. 48.

    chrome agnomen

    January 12, 2014 at 9:52 am

    @JGabriel:

    or, ‘well, maybe i am a crook, but not a bully’. (compassionate conservatism)

  49. 49.

    debbie

    January 12, 2014 at 9:53 am

    I was listening to a BBC program earlier this morning about Clinton’s impeachment, and I realized that Clinton lies and he gets impeached, while Christie lies and Republicans consider it to be a boyish prank. Until they realize this disparity in their own perceptions, they’ll never be anything other than jokes.

  50. 50.

    JGabriel

    January 12, 2014 at 10:03 am

    debbie:

    I was listening to a BBC program earlier this morning about Clinton’s impeachment, and I realized that Clinton lies and he gets impeached, while Christie lies and Republicans consider it to be a boyish prank.

    Elliot Spitzer sleeps with a hooker, and he resigns. David Vitter sleeps with a hooker, and the Republican Senate caucus applauds.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    January 12, 2014 at 10:26 am

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/11/chris-christie-scandal_n_4582353.html

  52. 52.

    mai naem

    January 12, 2014 at 10:36 am

    @TS: My gut feelings about Cory Booker are not good. He’s just got a whiff of Joe Lieberman about him. But, I think it’s possible Cory Booker is the reason Rachel Maddow has been on this story for a while being that they’re good friends. Also, Bob Menendez has been quiet too and Menendez was one of Christie’s targets as USAG. I just hope the Dems play this well and don’t overplay a very good hand and make it look like a witch hunt. The NY USAG, the NJ USAG(a protege of F.Lautenberg), the FBI, the Senate Commerce Committee, the NJ Dem Legislature, the NY Port Authority people. All dems.

  53. 53.

    Matt

    January 12, 2014 at 10:39 am

    @Hal:

    Even if the bridge scandal goes away, the one thing it could lead to is a much closer scrutiny of Christie that should have happened long ago, and perhaps some of the fantasies some voters have of this blowhard will shatter.

    Doubt it. If anything, documenting more cases of Christie punching down and being an asshole will likely ENDEAR him to large segments of the electorate – the same sort of folks who can cash their Social Security check while simultaneously whining about “the 47%”, who FUCKING CHEER at the prospect of people dying without health insurance, etc.

    We shouldn’t forget that a non-negligble fraction of this country would be totally OK with a fascist dictator, just as long as he talked to the right imaginary friends and hated the right people. Christie is JUST the kind of nasty bully they’d love.

  54. 54.

    TS

    January 12, 2014 at 10:43 am

    @mai naem:

    I wouldn’t call it a witch hunt – but there needs to be a hunt. Having read most of the emails it is near impossible that Christie didn’t know about this and who was involved – if not before the lane change – very soon afterwards.

    Cory seems to be looking after Cory, rather than the voters of NJ – he seems to ignore questions that are not on issues that he wants to talk about – but as he hasn’t been in the Senate very long, I will wait and watch. I do not like that he is almost immediately at odds with the administration’s foreign policy.

  55. 55.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 10:48 am

    @TS: I wouldn’t call it a witch hunt – but there needs to be a hunt.

    That’s another feature of wingnut thought: it’s always a witch hunt.

    One of them can be caught with a live boy and a dead girl, and they will scream it’s a liberal conspiracy. It’s what they do.

    And we’re in a situation where Republicans recruit grifters and crooks, so of course it looks like they are being targeted.

    When it’s simply that they are committing more crimes!

  56. 56.

    mai naem

    January 12, 2014 at 10:49 am

    @TS: I don’t think it’s a witch hunt. I just don’t want the media narrative to turn it into a “poor wittle Chris Christie, he’s got all these Democrat lawyers after him and just for a traffic jam, look at the money they are wasting going after wittle Chris Christie, wah, wah”

  57. 57.

    elftx

    January 12, 2014 at 10:51 am

    Anyone else notice that most of the pix in the MSM of Bridget make her look like a real bitch? Not that she isn’t, but next to pix of others involved, her mug is always in a scowl. The one you see of Wildstein is with that pout when he refused to answer questions.

    Also too, this morning our esteemed (cough) MTP host posted an excerpt from an email from Foye ( the one stating he was going to get to the bottom of the mess), but the general public will think it was from Baroni as it also showed the header with an email from him. It was faux news worthy journo.

  58. 58.

    Violet

    January 12, 2014 at 11:10 am

    Thanks for posting these comics. They gave me a much needed laugh first thing in the morning. I particularly liked the traffic map one, but they’re all hilarious.

  59. 59.

    Chris

    January 12, 2014 at 11:19 am

    @Aji:

    Are people only now getting around to recalling that Christie was one of W’s USAs? [And by “people,” I mean our sellout corporate “media.”]

    I think the teabagger rebranding strategy of relentlessly beating in the message that this is a new, “real” (and grassroots) Republican Party untainted by the RINOs of old has to a large extent been successful. (That and the repeated “OMG when are you gonna get over George Bush? He’s in the past!”)

  60. 60.

    Violet

    January 12, 2014 at 11:24 am

    @elftx: Yes, I’ve noticed that about Bridget. The first pics of her were nice and since then they’ve been awful–all grim and scowling. At least Wildstein’s pics are from his hearing this week, so there’s some reason for showing them.

  61. 61.

    Chris

    January 12, 2014 at 11:27 am

    @Cervantes:

    Personally I find it difficult to believe that someone who considers himself a civil servant could behave in this way. Sociopaths, on the other hand …

    The GOP declared war on civil servants at least thirty three years ago; none of them in that position nowadays thinks of themselves that way. More likely they consider themselves moles or La Resistance sabotaging the eebil Big Gubmint machine from the inside, with every order from the Koch brothers their equivalent of a London radio communique.

  62. 62.

    Chris

    January 12, 2014 at 11:30 am

    @debbie:

    I was listening to a BBC program earlier this morning about Clinton’s impeachment, and I realized that Clinton lies and he gets impeached, while Christie lies and Republicans consider it to be a boyish prank.

    A conservative is someone who’s more offended when a president lies about his sex life than when a president lies a country into a war.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    January 12, 2014 at 11:38 am

    @Comrade Jake: That’s exactly what I said to Robin Atlas, a friend during my first year in college, when she tried to tell me about this thing called WaterGate before the election in november of 1972.

    Robin, if you’re out there, I’m really sorry I didn’t listen to you.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    January 12, 2014 at 11:42 am

    @TS:
    Not that I agree with Cory but I don’t expect congresspeople to be in lockstep with the executive. That isn’t their job.
    OTOH when the executive foreign policy is working and getting good results, that being no war and an offending country becoming a better part of the whole, it is offensive that the executive is being opposed for what looks like, to me, political gain or gross stupidity. We’ve seen what a rigid, conservative, empire building, warmongering executive looks like and it seems like most of us didn’t/don’t like that. We’ve seen what thoughtless, heartless, greedy, conservative executive looks like and it seems that not quite as many of us don’t like that. It will probably take a bit of a culture change to swing those numbers.

  65. 65.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 11:43 am

    @Violet: Yes, I’ve noticed that about Bridget. The first pics of her were nice and since then they’ve been awful–all grim and scowling.

    Well, it’s not surprising that recent ones are grim. She just lost a job paying six figures, she has four kids, and she’s separated from her husband.

    This one comment is showing more mercy than she’s ever shown to the people she’s happily rat-FUed, but I sure don’t blame her for looking grim.

  66. 66.

    elftx

    January 12, 2014 at 11:51 am

    @WereBear: My point is it seems to me there is a reason why we are only seeing pix like that of her. Right now, she is the ultimate “fall guy”…it does not hurt the narrative she is female. It reinforces it. I see a lot of sexism in it.

  67. 67.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 11:52 am

    @elftx: Yes, that occurred to me, too. But I don’t see sexism exclusively; they will twist anyone.

    Though you’re right, they do love showing women at their worst.

  68. 68.

    Chris

    January 12, 2014 at 11:57 am

    @Comrade Jake:

    it just seems far too complicated. “We’ll jam up the traffic, and then when people ask what’s going on, we’ll instruct the police to tell them it was the Mayor’s idea! That will screw him!”
    …
    I guess it’s possible, but it seems a little far fetched.

    Weren’t the emails showing Christie’s stooges laughing at the fact that all the people stuck in traffic had voted for the Democrat anyway so that’s what they get? My impression is that the target was the regular voters as much as any politician (in the finest tradition of machine politics – “didn’t vote for us? Then we have no obligation to you! In fact, we’ll make life even worse!”)

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    @Chris: I agree. It doesn’t make sense to normal people.

    Makes perfect sense to the vindictive, immature, assholes who are your modern Republican party.

  70. 70.

    gogol's wife

    January 12, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    @debbie:

    I love the first comment under that story:

    Leave Chris Christie alone, he can’t help it if the people he personally chose practiced payback by causing misery, halting the easy flow of interstate traffic and commerce, reckless endangerment of lives and the suffering of millions.

    He’s far too intellectually incurious to bother noticing that his office was erupting with complaints in real time as the world’s busiest bridge suffered a 4 day unprecedented gridlock.

    It’s not his fault that his staff is so mean spirited and was prepared to cause pandemonium, after all they were all long time friends and advisors and why should we expect him to be aware of how duplicitous they are seeing he is only surrounded by them for hours every day and they communicate and answer to him.

    The buck stops with them; they’re the ones that sought to extract retribution for some nebulous reason that so didn’t affect Chris in his bid for reelection.

    The media was very critical of him after the election so they bear some responsibility too; he could have read about how incompetent and naïve he was in trusting his best friends and might even have stumbled onto an article that covered the unfolding chaos around Fort Lee.

    He was prepping for his election by burying his head in a sand box that he had moved to his office for 4 days, so how could he have noticed all of the implicated running around furiously, scheming and fending off nonstop complaints.

    Chris is innocent I tell you, it’s not his fault, he’s a Republican and it’s never their fault until they run out of people to throw under the bus and in Christie’s case even more dramatically under the Christie.

    Chris was in a coma I tell you, he spent 4 days under his desk looking for a pencil, his shoes were untied and it took 4 days to tie a perfect knot, someone stood in the way, both of his ears were blocked because he got his fingers stuck in them, he was watching a 4 day Hogan’s Heroes marathon with the volume cranked up and laughing loudly as Sgt. Schultz kept saying I hear nothing I see nothing, he thought he dreamt it but one thing for sure is, it’s not his fault and he’s so sad and sorry that his handpicked bestest buddies and advisors forgot to delete the emails and texts.

    So give him a break because he’s only to blame for being massively incompetent in his choice of friends as staff.

    Chris has a very plausible set of reasons for not knowing what was going on feet from his desk and that is it’s everybody else’s fault. It’s not as if he was the governor or something and somehow responsible for what went on in his personal office right before his eyes.

    And he apologized for being clueless 4 months later so all is forgiven.

  71. 71.

    gogol's wife

    January 12, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    @debbie:

    No, that happens in the East too, maybe even more so (I’ve lived both places).

  72. 72.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 12, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    @Chris:

    think the teabagger rebranding strategy of relentlessly beating in the message that this is a new, “real” (and grassroots) Republican Party untainted by the RINOs of old has to a large extent been successful. (That and the repeated “OMG when are you gonna get over George Bush? He’s in the past!”)

    To a certain extent they believe it to. Christi is already on thin ice with them over enabling Obama to pull his miracle victory that all poles predicted by standing next to Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Attacking real Americans (as in suburban commuters and not urban minorities) is going to feed into Christi from that old, bad Republican party that wasn’t conservative enough.

  73. 73.

    Violet

    January 12, 2014 at 12:12 pm

    @WereBear: No, there are no current pictures of Bridget since the scandal broke. No one has seen or heard from her. The pictures of Bridget Anne Kelly being used are all old pictures–her accompanying Christie to various appearances, etc.

    Initially they chose old pictures where she was smiling and looking nice. Now they’re choosing old pictures where she’s looking grim or scowling. The look on her face has nothing to do with what’s happening to her now. No one has seen her.

  74. 74.

    WereBear

    January 12, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    @Violet: Ah. Thanks for filling me in.

    Ya’ll do realize I only get my news from Balloon Juice? Just FYI :)

  75. 75.

    elftx

    January 12, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    link to twitter pix from msnbc https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/422354855039352832/photo/1

    notice how CC is woefully looking at BK with that “how could you betray me” ..and I am almost surprised to see a pix of Baroni at all

  76. 76.

    catclub

    January 12, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Christie must be surprisingly hard to draw a caricature of. The Hindenberg comic looks nothing like him, except for the large chin wattle. Also, the troll one looks nothing like him.

  77. 77.

    Violet

    January 12, 2014 at 12:37 pm

    @WereBear: No worries. It’s definitely something the media is doing. They’ve done it with Christie too. Initially the pictures of him were friendly-er. Now they’re him looking downcast or scowling or angry.

    People are very curious about Bridget Anne Kelly. Wouldn’t surprise me if some media is camped out in front of her house.

  78. 78.

    Shortstop

    January 12, 2014 at 12:39 pm

    Sokolich has been saying for days that Christie didn’t like the successful redevelopment efforts in Fort Lee, which apparently have been taking place mostly without Christie’s largesse. Town with mayor accomplishing big stuff who didn’t endorse egotistical control-freak governor + represented by state senator who crossed Christie on judicial appointments = obvious target for retribution in the form of hitting the literal pipeline to more redevelopment.

  79. 79.

    feebog

    January 12, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    I’m puzzled by Christie’s attitude toward Kelly. He went out of his way to lambaste her in his press conference when it really wasn’t necessary. He could have just as easily said something like “I sat down with Kelly and told her that while I valued her service over the years this was really bad judgment and I gave her an opportunity to resign.”

    I have said all along that there is an email out there incriminating Christie, the only question is whether it will be uncovered. But his treatment of Kelly may really backfire on him. If i’m investigating this, she looks really vulnerable and definitely the weak link in the chain. OTH, Wildstein’s attorney as much as said that he would spill his guts if he could get immunity, so it could be a race to see who makes a deal first.

  80. 80.

    Betsy

    January 12, 2014 at 1:14 pm

    @Cervantes: Romney was a sociopath. Christie is, too.

  81. 81.

    elftx

    January 12, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    @feebog: CC went out of his way to distance himself from all involved. Claimed did not know Wildstein, only referred to Baroni as “Senator”, etc.

    But I concur a bit with Kelly, it’s like by that one text the rest of them can point it all falls on her shoulders. When in fact that text proves there was a plan already in place.

    I just find the msm painting a narrative of her with the pix now being plastered over the airwaves.

    OTOH the little I have read of her does not portray the most pious individual, but what else would CC and team have chosen to run the office as it does “take one to know one”.

  82. 82.

    Smiling Mortician

    January 12, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    @elftx: Steve Kornacki knows her — or at least, he knew her several years back. His opening segment yesterday was really informative not only about Kelly but about all the key players.

  83. 83.

    Irishguy

    January 12, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    @WaterGirl: Oh, amen! That was the working excuse for Watergate — it was so damned stupid it made no sense.

    And it appears to be the working excuse now.

  84. 84.

    Chris

    January 12, 2014 at 2:27 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Attacking real Americans (as in suburban commuters and not urban minorities) is going to feed into Christi from that old, bad Republican party that wasn’t conservative enough.

    I hope so.

    I continue to think he’s absolutely their best candidate for 2016 if he can make it to the general election, so if they knock him down before that, so much the better.

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