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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / The Burkean bully

The Burkean bully

by DougJ|  January 21, 20148:29 pm| 57 Comments

This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute, Green Balloons

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Yes, the right center still has Christie’s back, as the kids say. Commenter Upper West is probably right that we’re due for some columns on the wise, serious, Burkean nature of Christie’s tough, yet Springsteenian, hardball tactics.

But the wingers are jumping off the ship:

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) on Tuesday called on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to step down from his role as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association due to the the impact the bridge scandal could have on fellow Republicans in other states.

“I think just from the perspective of setting aside this as an issue in other races, it makes sense for him to step aside in that role,” Cuccinelli, who lost the Virginia gubernatorial race in November to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), said on CNN’s “Crossfire.” “He does not serve the goals of that organization by staying as chairman.”

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Reader Interactions

57Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 21, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    How is bullying, Burkean?

  2. 2.

    Hawes

    January 21, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    So the guy who tried to replace the guy who was indicted wants the guy who might be indicted to step down so that future governors who will be indicted won’t be negatively affected.

    Got it.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    January 21, 2014 at 8:38 pm

    I dare Cuccinelli to go on Morning Joe and say that.

  4. 4.

    Jibeaux

    January 21, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    I know I’m not an unbiased observer, but Christie’s appeal has always seemed pretty…regional….to me. Anyway. Read this report on McDonnell’s indictment? He borrowed loads of $ from some guy with a supplement company, and at one point proposed putting state employees on the supplement in clinical trials. Yes. Which he said would make them the “control group.”

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 21, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    1. Burke himself was pigshit. He ignored the legitimate demands of the French people, and bitched and moaned about methods (particularly the way the French dealt with their “betters”, the unworthy scum that were the Bourbons) while ignoring why they took such extreme measures. How dare these peasants assert they are human beings just like their aristocrat “betters”!

    2. Burke then proceeded to EMBRACE the methods of the terror in maintaining an unjust status quo.

    In conclusion, fuck Burke, and fuck his followers. With red hot pokers.

  6. 6.

    jl

    January 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    ” How is bullying, Burkean? ”

    Done in a genteel fashion in quiet back rooms, unless its a nobody who is a reporter for small town paper or some teacher.

  7. 7.

    DougJ

    January 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    @Jibeaux:

    The McDonnell stuff is bad, I agree. I’m not sure if it’s particularly a Republican sort of thing, that type of corruption.

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    Oh, dear. I may have used a naughty word or two. One is related to alcohol, the other to, erm, “gaming”, I guess.

  9. 9.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 21, 2014 at 8:43 pm

    @jl: All I know about Burke is that he was upset about the French Revolution and that Andrew Sullivan and Bobo are his fans.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    January 21, 2014 at 8:44 pm

    Haley Barbour “at his best” apparently includes referring to “that lady mayor”. It seems the GOP is caught between Boss Hogg on one side and Tony Soprano on the other.

  11. 11.

    Redshift

    January 21, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    I love the fact that it’s clearly not good for the RGA for Christie to stay (Cooch is actually right for once!), and that it would be terrible for Christie if he resigns. We hardly even need to root for injuries; one or the other’s gonna get hurt. If we’re lucky, both will.

  12. 12.

    Pogonip

    January 21, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    I guess I was wrong that the wingers would love him forever. And I’m pleased to be wrong in this case.

    All the sites I read are loading very slowly tonight and getting stuck frequently. I think the Intertubes are freezing.

    I finished Harvest Home. It’s a lot creepier when you’re 54 than when you’re 11. At 11 much of it was just baffling. That same year I read A Wrinkle in time. The villain, a giant brain called IT, scared the bejesus out of me.

    And does anybody remember the tale of Miss Osborne the Mop? Or The City Under the Back Steps?

  13. 13.

    jl

    January 21, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    Zimmer has two letters, one of which seems to directly contradict both Lt. Governor, and a story about the sequence of events provided to the news media by an anonymous ‘source close to the Lt. Governor’ Interesting.

    Hoboken Mayor Says Two Letters Back Her Up On Christie Allegations
    HUNTER WALKER TPM
    ” Hoboken, N.J. Mayor Dawn Zimmer revealed two more letters on Monday night that she said bolster her claim that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration threatened to withhold hurricane relief money from her city unless she approved a real estate project. ”

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hoboken-mayor-letters-christie

    Edit: I guess we can look forward to Mornin’ Joe saying that Zimmer is not playing fair by holding back evidence that would help the NJ executive branch not (edit as in help them avoid) lie so baldly and badly.

  14. 14.

    Suffern ACE

    January 21, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    Bullying is Hobbesian.

  15. 15.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 21, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    @dmsilev: GOP fat cats are fat but not cute.

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    January 21, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Nor, for that matter, can the GOP be litter-box-trained.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 21, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Let’s hope they don’t recruit Tywinn Lannister to their team.

  18. 18.

    danielx

    January 21, 2014 at 8:50 pm

    Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) on Tuesday called on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to step down from his role as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association due to the the impact the bridge scandal could have on fellow Republicans in other states.

    Really? “Sodomy” Cuccinelli? The Cooch, who just got his ass handed to him by a mediocre candidate in a purple (at best) state, calls for a fellow Republican to step down from anything because of how it might affect Republicans in other states?

    Dear me, how sadly sooty and grimy is your backside, said the pot to the kettle…

  19. 19.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 21, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    Speaking of upper class English twits, my review of episode 3 of Downton Abbey.

    Cautionary note : It has spoilers

  20. 20.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    January 21, 2014 at 8:52 pm

    @Hawes: Thanks! I was trying to graph that out, without success.

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    January 21, 2014 at 8:52 pm

    The longer they cling to Christie the better, for America!

    Please proceed, governor (stepping well aside).

  22. 22.

    Jibeaux

    January 21, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    @DougJ: state employee guinea pigs is pretty original corruption, at least I hope. But money and favors, nah, that’s garden variety. Our former democratic state elected officials had that stuff happening all the time.

  23. 23.

    Zam

    January 21, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    @Jibeaux: I don’t know about him having only a regional appeal. Most people seem to enjoy a story about telling people off who they think are inferior to them.

  24. 24.

    Ash Can

    January 21, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    But the wingers are jumping off the ship

    I didn’t think the wingers were ever on board to begin with. I thought anyone who might remotely identify as a winger bailed the moment Christie complimented Obama for being forthcoming with the Sandy aid.

  25. 25.

    GregB

    January 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    Meanwhile in VA the Democrat appears to be winning handily(caveat, I don’t know the make up of the outsanding precincts). Special election.

    That will give Democrats control of the Senate.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    January 21, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    @GregB:

    Yay. I was worried because of the weather.

  27. 27.

    The Dangerman

    January 21, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    Sideshow Ken sticks a knife in the back of Christie The Clown; this all sounds so familiar.

  28. 28.

    Zam

    January 21, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    @Ash Can: I think the 2012 republican primary proved wingers were willing to jump from around a bit on the issue of support, so long as the last thing the person did was to insult liberals.

  29. 29.

    GregB

    January 21, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    Meanwhile in NH the GOP 2016 clowncar just disembarked Donald Trump to entertain the wingnut faithful at a Politics and Eggs breakfast.

  30. 30.

    Belafon

    January 21, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    So Bob McDonnell is arguing that if you convict him on the charges against him, you would have to convict Obama as well (twitter link from Judd Legum).

  31. 31.

    beltane

    January 21, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    I understand how the Real Conservatives feel. Imagine if the Democratic party establishment had tried to foist Rod Blagojovic on us as the Dem nominee.

  32. 32.

    Anne Laurie

    January 21, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    @danielx:

    Really? “Sodomy” Cuccinelli? The Cooch, who just got his ass handed to him by a mediocre candidate in a purple (at best) state, calls for a fellow Republican to step down from anything because of how it might affect Republicans in other states?

    Misogyny is a time-honored Republican value. Bribery, on the other hand, scares off the marks ‘small businessmen’… who are afraid of being outbid.

  33. 33.

    Belafon

    January 21, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    @Baud: This, I think, bodes well for Democrats this November.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    January 21, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    @Belafon:

    Maybe we’re turning the corner on turnout in off-year elections.

    Dare we dream?

  35. 35.

    eemom

    January 21, 2014 at 9:09 pm

    Cooch is opining about what the republican governors association should do. That’s hilarious.

  36. 36.

    beltane

    January 21, 2014 at 9:09 pm

    @Anne Laurie: They’ll see Christie as the Jersey thug who will show up at their auto parts store making them an offer they can’t refuse. It’s not like they haven’t seen all the movies.

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    January 21, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Nor, for that matter, can the GOP be litter-box-trained.

    Sure they can. You just have to line their litter box with poor people; they love shitting all over the poor.

  38. 38.

    jl

    January 21, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    @Belafon: So, according the McDonnell’s camp, any politician who gives a speech at a private company site, and the name of the company is made public and the news covers it, is guilty of influence peddling and bribery? That dragnet would scoop up many more politicians than Obama.

    And I guess if a sports figure endorses a candidate, and the sports figure has product endorsements, same goes?

    And if a politician drops into a burger joint for a photo op, or buys some lemonade from some kids’ lemonade stand, and the kids make a little coin from the fame next day? All the politicians would be in jail, which might be a good thing, but still… an unreasonable standard, you think?

  39. 39.

    Jibeaux

    January 21, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    @Zam: that’s my husband’s POV. I say he’s a bully and a whale, he says Republicans love and are bully whales. He’s not wrong, but sheesh, Christie is just so Jersey. Not quite Governor The Situation, but headed in that direction.

  40. 40.

    kc

    January 21, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    @Pogonip:

    I finished Harvest Home. It’s a lot creepier when you’re 54 than when you’re 11.

    Oh, my God, I remember finding that paperback on a shelf and reading it when I was a kid – probably WAY too young to be reading that kind of thing. It was pretty creepy, even then. I should re-read it, now that I’m . . . 29.

  41. 41.

    rikyrah

    January 21, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    First 23 minutes of Maddow-all on Gov. Transvaginal.

  42. 42.

    Chris

    January 21, 2014 at 9:25 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    bitched and moaned about methods (particularly the way the French dealt with their “betters”, the unworthy scum that were the Bourbons) while ignoring why they took such extreme measures.

    Les Miserables covered this over a hundred years ago.

    Poor, poor, poor aristocracy. Persecuted with the same arbitrariness with which they’d ruled for the previous thousand years and change, never wondering what it must be like to be on the other side. Well, the good news is that at least they’ll be better about it after the Restoration… oh, they weren’t? Never mind.

  43. 43.

    Belafon

    January 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    @Baud: I’m gonna dream, but I am an optimist.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    January 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    @Pogonip:

    The Paul Gallico novel you were thinking of the other day is The Man Who Was Magic.

  45. 45.

    Belafon

    January 21, 2014 at 9:29 pm

    @jl: He’s trying for those people who think “If I was governor, I would probably take bribes as well.”

  46. 46.

    Steeplejack

    January 21, 2014 at 9:43 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Hell, he hasn’t even sicced the NJ department of revenue or the state police on his enemies.

    Maybe not the state police, but yesterday Krugman linked to a story by a New Jersey arts consultant who inadvertently got on the wrong side of Lieutenant Governor Kim Gaudagno and was harassed with a criminal investigation and grand jury threats. He ended up spending $7,000 on legal fees for a nothingburger case. Dan Aubrey, “Defending the Arts Amid a Culture of Fear.”

  47. 47.

    LanceThruster

    January 21, 2014 at 9:45 pm

    What needs to be remembered (according to Rush) is that Zimmer wears no make-up but the Lt. Gov knows how to tart herself up.

  48. 48.

    LanceThruster

    January 21, 2014 at 9:45 pm

    What needs to be remembered (according to Rush) is that Zimmer wears no make-up but the Lt. Gov knows how to tart herself up.

  49. 49.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    January 21, 2014 at 10:29 pm

    If only he had followed the Palin model of grift he would have saved himself and his family a lot of trouble. Not to mention the fact that he will NEVER get one of the kids on Dancing With The Stars now.

  50. 50.

    Anya

    January 21, 2014 at 10:33 pm

    @Belafon: I am so disappointed, there’s no mention of Benghazi or Fast & Furious.

  51. 51.

    mai naem

    January 21, 2014 at 10:52 pm

    Zimmer’s wikipedia page has some pretty good info on her. I don’t think she’s stupid. She apparently worked for a few years in Crisis Management for Sumitomo. Obama also appointed her to some Climate Change/Rebuilding/Mitigation commission. She also won an award related to that. Ofcourse, the right wingers will turn that into “but she doesn’t wear make up” and “Obama->Zimmer->Clinton ’16 conspiracy!!!” Also too, her husband was a lawyer. Not sure what kind of lawyer he was, but I’m sure perjury is understood by all lawyers and I’m guessing her husband does not want her going to jail, leaving him to raise their young kids.

  52. 52.

    muricafukyea

    January 21, 2014 at 11:03 pm

    Want to justify your binge drinking? Vow to take a shot every time accidental Troll Ball Juice Doug says “Burkean”

  53. 53.

    Cacti

    January 21, 2014 at 11:11 pm

    Christie is a creation of the east coast media. Stands to reason that they’d be the last ones to jump ship.

  54. 54.

    Mike in NC

    January 21, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    I could list off the top of my head about 20 Republican governors/ex-governors who need to be placed in orange jumpsuits.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 21, 2014 at 11:28 pm

    @Chris:

    You know, it’s not that they took a fall.

    It’s that they learned nothing from it, at all.

  56. 56.

    e.a. foster

    January 22, 2014 at 12:21 am

    “he may not serve the goals of the organization” but he sure represents them. too bad he was outed, but what goes around, comes around. Christie represents Republicans very well. Perhaps they should watch his comment to the protesting teacher, last year. Christie is no better than the Republicans in Alabama and we all know how they are. Christie just did an ole’ boy routine better than those in Alabama did and he didn’t have that southern accent.

  57. 57.

    Danack

    January 22, 2014 at 9:10 am

    Christie refused to help Cuccinelli in Virginia, so that Christie could focus on punishing political enemies forming a strong bi-partisan electoral base, to cruise to an easy victory.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/06/chris-christie-reportedly-declined-to-stump-for-defeated-ken-cuccinelli/

    A couple of well timed appearances with Christie early in the campaign, possibly could have made the difference between Cuccinelli being voted out and re-elected. It’s not too surprising that he’s one of the first to call for Christie to step down from that post.

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