Endtimes for the Outlaw Jersey Whale (ht: TBOGG):
Mr. Christie, the governor of New Jersey, consulted with advisers, adjusted his jet-black suit and gamely walked onto a stage before 300 guests eating yogurt parfait and almond croissants. He recited statistics about Social Security and Medicare costs and projected the air of a man thoroughly unbothered by the swirling legal drama back in New Jersey, which he left unmentioned.
But behind the scenes, his aides, his allies and even his wife were mobilizing, working the phones and blasting out memos to supporters, trying to hold on to whatever chance Mr. Christie had to make a run at the presidency, according to interviews.
Over the next few hours, Mary Pat Christie called donors, trying to offer reassurance that everything was still on track and encouraging them to read her husband’s speech on overhauling the federal entitlement system.
Mr. Christie himself, joined by top aides, reached out to longtime financial supporters, like the billionaires Kenneth Langone and Stanley Druckenmiller, to talk through what he saw as the limited scope of the indictment.
And Mr. Christie’s political action committee emailed talking points for loyal backers to deliver to the news media, framing the guilty plea of David Wildstein, a former Christie ally, and the indictment of the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and his appointee, Bill Baroni, as a moment of vindication.
“Key messages,” the talking points read. “Today’s announcement reinforces what the governor has said since Day 1.” Mr. Christie, they said, “had no knowledge or involvement in the planning, motivation, authorization or execution of the decision to realign lanes on the George Washington Bridge.”
In call after call, they squeezed whatever optimism they could from an ugly day, calling the legal charges the “best possible outcome in a bad situation.”
But amid the bustle, there was an absorption of a new reality for the governor and those closest to him: that his bid for the White House seems increasingly far-fetched. A political team long characterized by its self-assuredness now sounds strikingly subdued, sobered and, realistic about his odds.
In two dozen interviews over the past 24 hours, many of the most trusted allies and advisers to Mr. Christie acknowledged that winning the Republican nomination required a domino-like series of stumbles from his rivals and an unlikely breakthrough for him.
They used gentle descriptions like “in a different place” to describe how Mr. Christie had fallen from the high of his re-election in 2013: unpopular at home, limping near the bottom in national Republican polls and lacking the money and momentum of his competitors.
I was always worried about Christie, because he could pass himself off as not crazy, unlike the rest of the GOP. Fortunately, his hubris and petty bully boy act wasn’t just something he did for show, it was his defining characteristic. In 2017, Chris Christie will be known as that asshole crooked former Governor of New Jersey, not Mr. President, and that is a good thing.
Corner Stone
I can’t believe you stomped on Betty’s tribute thread to raven.
Doc Sportello
Is this the first time for Outlaw Jersey Whale? Or am I stupid?
Either way, friggin’ brilliant.
Tree With Water
If only GW had jammed up a damn bridge in Austin while he was governor.
gogol's wife
I never thought he had a chance in hell. Nyah, nyah.
Villago Delenda Est
That smell you’ve been picking up for the last year or so, Outlaw Joisey Whale?
Your crusts, which are now singed to the blackest of black, fully carbonized.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@Doc Sportello: I believe Tbogg first coined that, a few years ago.
Baud
But think of all the infrastructure he could have affected as president. A missed opportunity.
Tree With Water
@Not Adding Much to the Community: And you can bet that some 3rd grade wit hung that one on Christie when he was but a wee lad. Which might explain a lot about what makes that guy tick.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Whatta nimcowpoop.
SWMBO
@Doc Sportello: http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/08/28/the-outlaw-jersey-whale/
BBA
You’ll have to be more specific than that.
samiam
Wr0ng way Cole is kind of like Rand Paul…his opinion shifts just as easily as the wind and as clueless as can be. Clearly a result of those razor sharp instincts of his.
https://balloon-juice.com/2012/10/30/on-christie/
“…I really do like Chris Christie”
“…I do like the guy.”
“I was just impressed with how straightforward he is”
“I liked his warning the other night”
“every time the national spotlight is on this guy, I think that this is a Republican can be worked with”
JustRuss
@Tree With Water: Christie was a jock in high school, played baseball. The heft came later. I expect he was familiar with bullying as a wee lad, but I doubt he was on the receiving end.
WereBear
I’m from the NE, spent years in NYC Metro, and was never impressed. But then, I don’t find bullying at all attractive.
Redshift
Perhaps the most delicious thing is that, as a former federal prosecutor, Christie knows exactly how the process of flipping smaller fish to get to the big ones works, so there’s no question he knows how big a lie it is to claim that these indictments “exonerate” him. He’s playing on the how that the people he’s talking to are dumb enough to believe it, and since it’s major donors rather than the GOP base, they probably aren’t.
Corner Stone
@JustRuss:
He played catcher 25 years ago. Not the most athletic position on the field.
Villago Delenda Est
@Not Adding Much to the Community: Yes, it’s a TBogg original.
I changed it to Joisey for reasons.
ThresherK
@Corner Stone: But it is “the thinking man’s position”. Do you see that in him? I’m not sure.
Corner Stone
@samiam: That’s pretty ugly.
Splitting Image
I’m guessing that Carly Fiorina will pick up most of Christie’s supporters. What Christie did to the George Washington bridge, she did to an entire multi-national.
Corner Stone
@ThresherK:
Not in HS baseball it isn’t.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
Okay, that caused me to laugh, literally, out loud.
John Cole +0
@samiam: And that was 2012, you git. You know, before all the bullshit came to light. If you’re mad at me because I judge people on what I have seen from them and rather than just condemning everyone from the start, well, sorry. At that point, he was working with the administration, and had done several notable things that showed he could be worked with. As I learned more, I became much less “positive” about the man. I don’t think that’s anything to be ashamed about.
And even then, I stated I hated all his positions and would never have voted for him. Stop listening to the funny voices in your head.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
well, as Newt showed 2008, all Christ needs is a billionair to belive in him and he will be in it tell the bitter end.
Hal
@samiam: we know dude. You post the same thing over and over and over.
Tree With Water
@JustRuss: That makes even more sense.
Danack
Christie is going to continue to pretend to run right up until he is arrested, or the GOP nominating convention.
The moment he stops running everyone who has evidence they could give about his crimes is the moment when everyone will stop fearing being retaliated against by a President Christie.
And this bridge stuff isn’t going to be the stuff that brings Christie to court – it’s going to be the misuse of federal funds, and general bribery tied to Samson that does that.
Brachiator
Outlaw Jersey Whale!
Oh, well done. Made me blubber with laughter.
J.D. Rhoades
But see, the wingnuts LOVE bullying assholes. Thus their boot-licking adoration of Putin, Netanyahu, Baltimore cops…
Amir Khalid
@John Cole +0:
As I remember, Christie played nice with Obama in 2012 mostly because Obama had the right bait to dangle before him: a chance to meet Bruce Springsteen. It’s a particularly tasty bit of Schadenfreude that the friendship between Christie and Bruce ended this way.
Jay C
@John Cole +0:
John, we know it’s your blog and all, but a small word of advice from the Peanut Gallery here….
D.N.F.T.T.
Gene108
@gogol’s wife
I live in New Jersey. I witnessed people, who would never vote for a Southern Republican, who were impressed with Christie.
Christie had a Teflon quality that kept all the bad things he did, like cut education funding, refuse to accept federal funds to build another tunnel between NJ and NYC, etc. from hurting his popularity.
He was what Republicans wanted. A right-winger, who could dress-up tax cuts for the rich and still get people to like him.
Glad he is not in the running anymore.
Also, too the MSM was more than willing to cover for him, which is a dangerous starting point for a would-be Presidential candidate.
askew
I never saw a chance for Christie. He would have gotten killed in the Upper Midwest. We don’t like aggressive/defensive politicians. And I think he would have driven women away in droves.
I’ve always thought that it would be Walker as the nominee. He can appeal to rural, midwestern, white voters. He is scum but he’s doing something right to keep winning in Wisconsin. A Scott Walker vs. Hillary Clinton match-up is our most worrying. Hillary had problems appealing to upper midwest voters in the primary and I think she’ll have a problem in IA, MN and WI again and she needs all 3 to win IMO.
Schlemazel
@Tree With Water:
My first thought was “what if the big Dick had won the governor’s race in California?” This was the sort of dick move Nixon would have adored and tried several times. The world would be a different, better, place if those two had exposed themseleve more before their campaigns. Although Nixon was not an unknown.
Cervantes
Not that I’m waiting for you to prove anything to me, but if you’re going to say this sort of thing:
@John Cole +0:
Not really. There were many reasons even back then not to praise (never mind support) yet another crooked Republican thug.
You did say that, no question.
samiam
@John Cole +0: Yes it was 2012. My point is that you are clearly a very bad judge of character. It was quite clear to me and I think most liberals that Kristie Kreme was exactly the sort of person we now know him to be.
You still think Griftwald is a heck of a guy and I can assure you that you are VERY wrong on that one as well. You also at one point said that Rand Paul has some good ideas because of that one time he said drones are bad. It’s just the same old broken record with you.
btw…I wouldn’t dish it out if I didn’t think you could take it.
Zinsky
The fat fuck is a bully, a liar and the exemplar of worthlessness. We need ZERO politicians like him, going into the future.
Freemark
@samiam: Yep, that is why Cole made such a bad Republican. He learns from his mistakes and changes his stances based on new, factual information. That is such a terrible trait in a person.
WereBear
The important thing, and I seem to remember this is what John Cole pointed out at the time, is that Christie had this Cloak of Seeming Plausibility that let him spin nasty behavior into “toughness” that lots of people couldn’t see through.
It’s a rare quality, and we are indeed fortunate that it came in such a nasty, mean, ultimately-self-destructive package.
Davis X. Machina
@John Cole +0: Christie, or someone like him, is the way forward for the GOP, at the presidential level.
Not a God-botherer.
Not a neo-Confederate.
Not someone else’s son.
The Southern Captivity of the GOP” may have been written in 1998, but it’s still true.
It took the Supreme Court, and a war, to deliver the White House to a Republican, and then narrowly…
They’re stuck in the FInkelstein box. Christie or someone like is the way out. (They thought it was going to be Romney, but a non-horrible candidate is sort of a sine qua non.
Roger Moore
@Splitting Image:
And still won’t be able to see first place without a telescope.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
It seems to me that none of the billionaire sugar daddies rates Chris Christie’s chances. He’s never had one of those guys backing him, has he?
askew
@Splitting Image:
Lol. I’m a constantly amazed the ego Fiorina must have to think she can run for president with her resume. She isn’t even qualified to run a McDonalds location let alone an entire country.
Roger Moore
@Davis X. Machina:
How are they going to get the Republican base to nominate a non-horrible candidate? That’s the key question.
Davis X. Machina
@Roger Moore: Horrible qua candidate, not horrible qua human being…
David Koch
This is OBama’s fault
Ruckus
@askew:
If you owned a McD’s would you let her clean the bathrooms, let alone be a shift manager?
My answer would be no. She’d probably fuck that up as well.
Amir Khalid
@David Koch:
They got along well enough, despite their obvious differences …
cbear
GOP Primary– Amazon River
Tea Party Voters– Piranha
Chris Christie– Dead Cow
–shamelessly stolen from somewhere
Roger Moore
@Davis X. Machina:
I’m not sure it matters that much. In order to win the Republican nomination, they’re going to have to adopt horrible positions that are broadly unpopular. That puts them at a substantial disadvantage from the very beginning. Basically, the candidates have to tack so far to the right in the primary that they can’t get back to the center for the general election. The only hope- and one that’s ever less plausible with Citizens United making every billionaire dream of having his own vanity candidate- is to have a dominant candidate who can scare everyone else out of the race before it gets started.
askew
@Ruckus:
I’d vote no too. I’m not thrilled with our choices in Dem candidates so far, but at least Sanders and Hillary aren’t total jokes like Fiorina.
Davis X. Machina
@Roger Moore: It’s also possible that bazillionaire candidate-purchasers s will so constrain primary fields that there won’t be any base-playing assholes in the field, not unless some bazillionaire has bought one, and that you’ll get a shallow charmer in the field because some bazillionaire has bought one.
Candidates might not be allowed to self-destruct — too much capital sunk into their development.
Jamey
“You’re WHALE-come!”
Tree With Water
@Roger Moore: That pretty accurately describes why the California republican state party is all but a spent force, especially in winning state offices. Only right wing nuts pass muster with them anymore..
Tree With Water
@Redshift: When Christie is alone in the bathroom, he stares at the mirror and mutters over and over again like Gene Wilder in The Producers, “..no way out, no way out, no way out..”.
ms_canadada
@johncole…we need moar doggggiiiieeeessss!
(pretty please, with sugar on top)
Bill Arnold
@John Cole +0:
I was worried about Christie too, a little. He had some sort of incomprehensible political Teflon, and (embarrassingly,) I was unable to separate him emotionally from a very similar character and body type who built my house and other houses in the development.
Now the builder is gone, and the town has put up taxes-not-paid notices on the properties he still owned, and the press continues to dig into Christie, such that there appear to be full-on Bridgatologists in the press. Evidence – the NY Times printed a full page scandal diagram a few weeks ago. This was before the recent tightening of the screws; prosecutors are not letting the press have all the fun.
Josie
@Roger Moore: I honestly don’t understand how having a billionaire backer can win the Republican nomination for someone who does not have the backing of the primary voters. If the voters like a certain candidate, all the advertising the billionaire can dream up for another candidate won’t get votes. In the final analysis, won’t the Republican base win out over the billionaires?
Roger Moore
@Josie:
I think the key is that most of the candidates hold about the same positions on the important issues. That leaves the candidates competing on other stuff, like who has committed minor transgressions of orthodoxy, who is most electable, who is personally appealing, etc. That kind of beauty contest stuff can certainly be influenced by heavy advertising, which is also an attempt to prove who has the money to blast the airwaves during the general election.
Josie
@Roger Moore: That makes sense. Thanks.
TS
@Amir Khalid:
And this is why he cannot win the GOP Primary – traffic problems are not the issue with those he needs to support him.
SteveinSC
More cleaning up by the GOP’s shit sweepers, the AP:
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The charges handed down against three former allies of Gov. Chris Christie in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal provide mixed news for the Republican governor…
Mixed News? They somehow missed the news Friday from Wildstein’s TV appearance where his lawyer reiterated that they have proof that Christi knew about the lane closures and were prepared to give it.
Fournier and AP, Bodyguard of Lies
mai naem mobile
Christie worried me till.the Bridge scandal.because of.the teflon.bully stuff. Scott Walker still worries.me. John Kasich really worries me.because hes got that ‘aw, shucks, nice guy Reagan personna and hes good.on.teevee because of his Fox show.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@John Cole +0:
Wait…you learn and adapt? Crazy, man.
RaflW
@askew:
If Amy Klobuchar can win MN, Hillary can win MN. In an “R” wave year we just told farm-hardware scion Stuart Mills (who, to me, played a rather Walker-style campaign) “NO” in a very vulnerable US House district.
This state hasn’t gone R for President since 19 hundred and 72.
So don’t be lumping us in with Walker. Not. Gonna. Happen.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@samiam:
Well, he does allow you to shit all over this site.
Procopius
@Redshift: Yeah, as a former federal prosecutor he learned the ins and outs of making a fortune from holding powerful office. That’s why people want to become U.S. Attorneys. It’s not smart to get too rich while you’re still in office, but the rewards can be scheduled to come later.
Procopius
@WereBear:
I don’t think it’s as rare as you seem to think. I once read a remark, “Every successful businessman I’ve known had one trait in common. When they picked up the phone they could get the person on the other end to do something for them.” We look at these people and cannot imagine how they could become rich and powerful. The answer has to be they are all basically used car salesmen. Good ones. Talented ones. Over the top ones. I’ve met a couple of pretty good bullshitters in my time, but obviously people like Chris Christie, and Carly Fiorina, and David Brooks, and Robert Samuelson, and Ted Cruz generate some kind of magnetic field that makes people around them into willing slaves. It’s really something that should be studied.