Bob McDonnell, yet another GOP up and come derailed by his own hubris, got a light sentence of two years:
A federal judge sentenced former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell to two years in prison Tuesday — a term far lower than what prosecutors had sought and one that means the popular politician will be free before his 63rd birthday.
U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said he was moved by the outpouring of support for McDonnell, the governor’s military service, and the facts of the case, though he could not ignore the jury’s verdict.
“A price must be paid,” Spencer said. “Unlike Pontius Pilate, I can’t wash my hands of it all. A meaningful sentence must be imposed.”
I wonder if how much time his wife will see. Speaking of elected grifters, Chris Christie is on the hot seat:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accepted a plane ride to Dallas and a seat at a Cowboys playoff football game in a luxury suite from team owner Jerry Jones, who has a business relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, officials said.
Mr. Christie’s aides said the gifts were acceptable under state policy, which allows the governor to take gifts from “relatives or personal friends that are paid for with personal funds.” Since the governor took office in 2010, Messrs. Christie and Jones have bonded over the governor’s love for the Cowboys, his favorite team since boyhood.
“Governor Christie attended the game [Sunday] night as a guest of Jerry Jones, who provided both the ticket and transportation at no expense to New Jersey taxpayers,” said Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the governor.
Dave Sirota has more:
Less than two years before Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones paid for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s tickets and travel to NFL games, government documents show Christie personally pushed the Port Authority to approve a lucrative contract for a firm part-owned by Jones. Christie nonetheless accepted the gifts from Jones, despite New Jersey ethics rules barring gifts to public officials from persons or entities that those officials “deal with, contact, or regulate in the course of official business.”
On March 19, 2013, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a press release announcing their selection of Legends Hospitality LLC to operate the observation deck on the top floor of One World Trade Center. The next day, the Port Authority board — which is appointed by Christie and Cuomo — specifically cited the governors’ announcement in voting to approve the contract for the company, which is jointly owned by the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees and Checketts Partners Investment Fund.
It’s not a stretch to see the cronyism and quid pro quo. For the record, I thought the idiocy surrounding the initial hug to be depressing, because who gives a hoot what team he roots for, and demands that he root for a hometown team simply because he is governor is the kind of nonsense that gives us the laughable nonsense like the foofaraw regarding whether or not Hillary Clinton was a lifetime Yankees supporter (and apparently she was) after she stated as much in her Senate run.
But this, on the other hand, is important and really worth spending time investigating.
Villago Delenda Est
Chris Christie a corrupt asswipe? Wow, next we’ll be hearing about some dog biting a guy.
Howard Beale IV
I just hope the Cowboys get their asses handed to them by the Packers.
Cacti
Yeah, the team a governor roots for shouldn’t matter, but who are we kidding?
Martha Coakley was beaten over the head with her ignorance about the Red Sox, and it was used to show what an out of touch librul egghead she was.
BGinCHI
Christie is just a dick. We all know someone who lives in the north or west and roots for the Cowboys or Dolphins.
99% of the time that person is/was a dick.
Calling Eagles fans names is, btw, not safe. Good luck with that, dumbass.
lamh36
Hmmm, if a bomb goes off near an NAACP office, does it make a sound? Apparently not enough of a sound to warrant any broadcast breaking news…hmmm
Carry on America…carry on…
Baud
@Cacti:
Exactly.
Hill Dweller
Christie’s ignored request for a “high 5” was only slightly less hilarious than his bouncing up and down like a buffoon. That already absurd tough guy facade fell away during those 10 seconds. Good times.
Les Nessman
They appear on television so often that their faces are as familiar to the public as presidents and movie stars. They are the Dallas Cowboys, “America’s Team”.-Wiki
Pogonip
I am totally disgusted with the plutocracy. It’s getting to where I have a generally sour outlook. We can’t leave–no country wants people with incurable disabilities coming in, they all have enough of their own. I loved America and the plutocrats took it away and left the Republic of Crapification in its place. Since I’m stuck here, what is the best way to deal with it without it ruining my day and all the days to come? I would like suggestions.
PurpleGirl
In memory of Steve Gilliard: FTFY
Tyro
It is ok to pretend you like the hometown team if you are running for political office. It’s not ok to be a giddy fanboi of a notorious out-of-state team when you are governor.
Can you imagine a governor of Kentucky yucking it up with George Steinbrenner at Yankees Stadium?
Elie
I think that the one video of Christie jumping around in the owners press box having the hug fest like he is in some Roman sex orgy just deep sixed his Presidential aspirations fo-evah. Tee hee — he looked like tweedle-dum getting mashed up. What a disgusting sight! Obama’s staff must have had a few yuks looking at that and Hillary’s staff must have been absolutely giddy.
Violet
Christie looked like a total idiot in that red sweater and bouncing all over the place like a four-year-old on Christmas morning. I hope someone looks into this situation. He’s as corrupt as any developing country dictator.
srv
Chris Christie is a man’s man and he gets the work done. No bowing to the nattering nabobs of negativity over a little grease. There are towers, stadiums and bridges to be built… I’m reminded of Neil Tyson’s statement that we stopped dreaming.
Christie has not stopped dreaming.
You people should dwell on that.
Little Boots
He’ll be forgiven for sports. It’s a whole thing.
Violet
@Elie: Well, he’ll win over Dallas voters with that display. Not so sure about the rest of the country.
Elie
I must say that there is an argument for letting your less than prime time enemies, destroy themselves.. Christie can’t get out of his own way
Tyro
@srv: actually, in NJ and NY there are tunnels to be dug, but Christie stymied that plan.
Little Boots
@Elie:
I don’t know that he could beat hillary. but he may be the only one who could. he has a likability, for anyone who doesn’t care about unions or teachers. which is sadly a lot of people.
Elie
@Violet:
I don’t think so, Vi… really… it looked ugly and stoopid. Winning Texas will not balance the population density of the entire east coast which he just obliterated.
Violet
@Elie: Well, I didn’t say he’d win Texas. Just Dallas. Or, more specifically, Dallas Cowboys fans. But Texas always goes Republican, so if he’s the elephant he’ll get Texas.
Elie
@Little Boots:
I would argue that he does NOT have likeability with his own peeps. Otherwise, why go to Dallas and get your fat ass videod jumpin around like a 14 year old. Do you think that looked likeable to the many east coast state constituencies in Philly, NY, NJ, DC ? Naw — those are also teams that HATE the Dallas CB on top of also being very populous. Outside of Texas, no one gives a shit about the Cowboys out west — certainly not in CA, CA and OR.
He should have spent more time studying the distribution of voters in each of the states… but then that would require more work than narcissistic grease balls like him can manage. Hooray! Sorry – this guy is just not very bright.
Violet
@Little Boots: Christie is a bully and that doesn’t play well in Iowa or in a lot of other parts of the country. He yells at teachers and other regular people. I know Republicans like their politicians to beat up on those less fortunate but they generally don’t want them to yell at average people in public. Being mean is acceptable. Acting mean isn’t as much.
srv
I can’t get enough of this picture. So filled with passion and delight.
I half expect them to elope and fly away to Galt’s Gulch.
Roger Moore
@Tyro:
That would be much more acceptable than what Christie did; it’s not as if Kentucky has its own team. Even if you assume that Kentuckians are naturally Reds fans, the Yankees aren’t their traditional rivals. In contrast there are two teams that do play in New Jersey and another that plays nearby, and two of those three teams are traditional rivals of the Cowboys. Siding with the Cowboys is proof that he’s a front-running asshole.
FWIW, the most famous interaction of a (former) Kentucky governor with New York baseball was Happy Chandler’s decision to back the Dodgers’ move to desegregate MLB. It apparently went over well enough that he was returned to office after retiring as Commissioner.
Roger Moore
@srv:
But not tunnels, apparently; Christie turned down federal money to build one.
Elie
@Violet:
I’m sorry. He looked like a fool. There is no way that video is ever going to work for him no matter what. He just has to live with it. No potential Presidential candidate can do that video no matter with whatever team.
Little Boots
elie and violet (elie, have you been around forever? am I mixing you up with somebody? anyway..) we are more of a bullying country than I think you realize. he has an appeal. my relatives, who admittedly are kind of dicks but fairly numerous, love him and love that whole screw it attitude. I think he’s a problem, possibly. not sure he’d get that far, but a little worried.
Heliopause
“A price must be paid,” Spencer said. “Unlike Pontius Pilate, I can’t wash my hands of it all. A meaningful sentence must be imposed.”
If I were a producer of Law and Order and somebody sent me a script with this dialogue I would indignantly say, “get this hackneyed shit off my desk” and circular file it forthwith. Your federal courts at work, ladies and gentlemen.
jl
‘ Mr. Christie’s aides said the gifts were acceptable under state policy, which allows the governor to take gifts from “relatives or personal friends that are paid for with personal funds.” ‘
So, in New Jersey, personal gifts that can easily be used to grease corruption are OK if it’s between old buddies?
That’s nice. What could possibly go wrong?
I guess they must have it writing, at least. Probably NJ deserves points for honesty.
Little Boots
@Heliopause:
st. john tried.
JPL
It’s easy to cheer for your favorite team when you are watching them at their home stadium. I wonder if Christie will show the same exuberance in Wisconsin.
Elie
@Little Boots:
I have been lurking and commenting on BJ for a long time… maybe 2007? Maybe longer? A long time…
Yes, he appeals to a certain group of folks but thankfully, thus far, not the majority after his various clown shows over the last few years. Christie does not have the kind of personality that withstands closer scrutiny.. He has one shtick and that is the tough, in your face asshole. That is a notoriously bad approach to most of the situations one faces as a national candidate — much less working with other nations. He really is not that bright. He can be shrewd and always has a nose for the short term gain scenario — but he is way too narcissistic to play out a strategy that accounts for a series of complex scenarios and dependencies. In my opinion, he would be an easy easy target for a shrewd and prepared opponent. He sets himself up because of that big ego of his but that same ego can’t really assess his risk very well so BOOM — he always ends up in the shit can. He would make for dramatic self destruction footage which I predict he is headed for because, like a moth, he can’t stay away from the flame of fame and ambition. Unfortunately, he does not have the skills to make that happen beyond where he is. In my view, he was lucky to get where he is.
raven
Rachel is killin it with Biden grabassin with incoming congresscritters.
Violet
@Elie: Not quite sure what you think I’m saying. I agree he looks like a fool. I’m saying that Cowboys fans will appreciate his fandom. The video won’t hurt him in their eyes. And any Republican candidate for President will win Texas. Outside of that, I think the video will hurt him.
Violet
@Elie: Completely agree with your assessment of Christie. He’s a mess and will self destruct at some point.
Little Boots
@Elie:
I hope so. as I say, I don’t think he’s anything like a shoo-in, but he has a certain appeal. hope it doesn’t last.
Ripley
New Mexico is, unaccountably, Steeler country. Cole should be delighted.
jl
@Elie: I agree.
‘ He has one shtick and that is the tough, in your face asshole. ‘
He is also a very thin skinned and vain ‘tough in your face asshole’ with no sense of humor unless at some one else’s expense. I don’t see how Christie can do national politics without multiple public personality meltdowns.
Edit: Christie makes Dub look like a combo FDR, Reagan and Bill Clinton rolled into one, at least in terms of political schtick. Christie has one act, and he cannot maintain if anything goes wrong.
Violet
@Little Boots: He has a certain appeal but it will not work in other parts of the country. He’s entertaining in small doses but the first time he yells at a nice teacher from a small town or smaller city in Iowa–who really was just asking an honest question and who people in that area actually know–it won’t go well for him.
Elie is right that he’s all about short term thinking but he won’t be able to withstand a shrewder, more prepared candidate. He can’t bluff his way through it.
raven
@Ripley: Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
Elie
@Violet:
No worries –gotcha…
Little Boots
@Violet:
I’m going to hope you guys are right. which you may well be.
Elie
@jl:
THIS
Citizen_X
Ladies and gentlemen, here we have evil in its purest form.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I found Christie particularly obnoxious from the first time I saw him, a sneering, sarcastic, arrogant call for cuts in the social safety net that left David Gregory giddy and giggling, but I thought he looked really bad in that video. Giggling and giddy, actually.
@Elie: I’m inclined to agree, but I thought that meltdown would have happened by now. Then again, by my lights, his “somethin’s goin’ down tonight, sweetheart..” should have been the end of him. A truly pathetic and embarrassing moment for a grown man pretending to be a bit player on the Sopranos.
burnspbesq
Of all the things to be pissed at Chris Christie about, being a Cowboys fan is so far down the list it shouldn’t even register.
If he were a Tarhole fan, that would be a whole different thing.
burnspbesq
@Citizen_X:
Not even close. No involvement by Real Madrid or the University of Notorious Cheaters.
Elie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Its coming. The longer the delay, the bigger the final explosion.
Hubris cannot be denied forever. Luck should not be interpreted as ability and capability. Just luck and random laws of the universe.
When it finally happens, everyone will say “we thought this was gonna happen”. Yes.
You don’t want to be too close when it does though
Tree With Water
Christie is New Jersey’s headache alone. He’s a jock sniffing owner humper, and he will never be president.
Belafon
@Ripley: This was the map I saw: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24697058/facebook-releases-nfl-fan-map-of-us-jets-have-no-fans.
phoebes-in-santa fe
@PurpleGirl: I miss Steve. He was so brilliant about history and politics. And I wish he had lived long enough to see Obama elected.
Little Boots
@PurpleGirl:
the best
raven
And in really important shit in Athens:
http://www.flagpole.com/news/in-the-loop/athens-clarke-county-wants-you-to-wave-flags-to-cross-prince-avenue
KG
@Roger Moore: I think Christie could have even got away with it if he spent part of his childhood in Texas. But he’s born and raised in New Jersey and stayed in the northeast for school.
jl
@Elie: Also, what constitutes a politically damaging meltdown depends on the audience. As Violet said above, BS he emits that he can survive in the urban Northeast may really hurt him in other parts of the country.
Christie has a really thin needle to thread -be crazy stupid and mean enough to appeal to GOP base primary voters, but not so much the stench wrecks his chances in the general. The hard right dislikes him as much or more than anyone more than slightly left of center.
I know you probably agree, but i just cannot resist Christie punching. I will bet many email beers to commenters that if he gets far enough in the GOP primary, there will some public meltdowns. How they would damage him in the general will be difficult to say, since the audience will be GOPer primary voters, and they are mostly not normal people.
raven
Who gives a fuck what team any goddamnbody is for?
Little Boots
@raven:
Sparta never put up with this shit
jl
@raven: What the ****** $#%!!??? Do you live near there?
That is some creative traffic engineering. I hope other kinds of engineers do not copy that approach, otherwise it will be caves,bark roots and berries, carving our own counting sticks and fires on stone hearths, if we luck out, for all of us.
Anabasis
Chris Chrisie is kind of a disgusting human.
jl
@efgoldman:
” Will the horses know what the orange flags mean, or will they just get scared and bolt? ”
People fool around with newfangled inventions like these ‘horses’ you talk about in Athens?
Elie
@jl:
As a commenter said on another blog, he is going to have a real impact on the space in the clown car — whether getting in it or out….
Little Boots
@Elie:
now that is funny
i still think … oh never mind, that is funny
gelfling545
So in that Pontius Pilate analogy, does that ran he sees McDonnell as Jesus Christ? I think I may be ill.
jl
@gelfling545: It means that our modern day Pontius thinks he can shove both hands into a finger bowl and rub them around until all this shit comes off, but that ain’t washing. No sirree, it ain’t ’cause he said so and are you calling him a liar or what?
bk
@burnspbesq:
How clever of you. That is as much of a riot as “Dimocrats” or “Repuglicans”.
PurpleGirl
@phoebes-in-santa fe:
@Little Boots:
Yes, Steve was the best. I do wonder what Steve might have said about stuff that has happened since he passed. And every so often when the Yankees are mentioned I feel someone has to say it. So before reading the comments, I said it.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I voted for Obama in a primary and two general elections and he’s a Bears fan. It hurt.
Tree With Water
@efgoldman: I recall Susan MacDougal (she the prey of malicious prosecutors in the Whitewater non-crime) made the point that prison is prison, federal or otherwise, and there is really no such thing as easy time. Like anyone who equates the thought of being locked in a cage with living in a state of near death, I understood her point. Two years of being caged and monitored 24/7 is no walk in the park, even in the “best” prisons.
eric nny
@efgoldman: BS. He’ll be taken care of by the good ole GOP boys in exchange for some favorable legislation he pushed through to their benefit. May the GOP Grifter circle be unbroken…….
Little Boots
@Tree With Water:
seriously wonder how many could stand it. just being in a cage, any cage.
Mike E
@bk: You have no idea…Burns is a Dookie, so all bets are off.
Little Boots
@Little Boots:
seriously, in those police shows, I think about that.
I don’t think I would last very long.
I would have to denounce omnes within minutes.
Mike E
Haha, take that, Outlaw Joisey Whale!
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots:
There is very little you could say that would be worse than the truth.
J R in WV
Spouse’s hairdresser had a close friend who was married to a member of the USAF on a base down south. Former WV Gov. Arch Moore was convicted (pled guilty) to several corruption charges, and was sentenced to jail. He was sent to a prison next to an Air Force base, and inmates worked on the grounds at the base.
Friend was walking her infant in a stroller, and noticed a guy in an orange jumpsuit trimming bushes and raking around a building. Looked familiar, so she went to the end of the block and turned to walk back by that same place. Then it struck her. That was Governor Moore, doing his time! That news hit her hometown (Charleston, WV) in a micro-second!
That’s what this Virginia ex-Governor has to look forward to – being an ex-con is no bed of roses – or if it is, there’s plenty of thorns!
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
hah! I can use that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: In general or when denouncing me?
Tree With Water
@Mike E: If I was Obama, I would have the FBI look into a gambling angle regarding that call. It really stank. It approached “no mas” territory in my mind, and I wrote the fight game off forever after that fix.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tree With Water: Fuck the Lions. Karma can be a bitch. No call on the Rodgers stomping. No call on the shielding.
Full metal Wingnut
@BGinCHI: Hey I may live in New York but I root for the Dolphins because I’m from Miami. First football game I ever saw was a fish game.
My “local” team is the Bills because they’re the only NFL team that actually plays in the state. The Jets and the Giants are Jersey teams. Boo.
SRW1
@raven:
Hopefully, there will also be torches after dusk.
Tree With Water
@Omnes Omnibus: Merton Hanks had it right with his ruling on Suh- a one game suspension. But Hanks was overruled, just like the pass interference call that was overruled. It was yet another disgraceful decision by the NFL in a year filled with them, I hope Suh’s career ends sooner rather than later.
But that pass interference non-call, in particular, ranks among the greatest horse-shit calls I’ve ever seen made, maybe the worst, and I’ve watched many decades of NFL games religiously. It’s simply hard for me to believe it was on the level.
AxelFoley
@burnspbesq: Ah, forgot you’re a Dookie.
SWMBO
@PurpleGirl: FTFY I miss Gilly. God only knows how proud he would have been to see Obama elected. And then re-elected. And I know that John Crawford, Eric Garner and Michael Brown would have been the subject of many insightful, well researched posts that probably would have made it into the mainstream media. I miss him. Read his Wikipedia page and they have buried him in an undisclosed location to prevent jackholes from vandalizing his grave.