I hate stuff like this:
Chris Christie’s expense account tells a story of appetite and ambition, one that pits government waste versus the New Jersey governor’s waistline.
Christie spent $360,000 from his state allowance during his five years in office. More than 80 percent of that money, or $300,000, was used to buy food, alcohol and desserts, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office.
In addition to his $175,000 a year salary, the governor receives $95,000 a year in expense advances, paid quarterly by the state. In the state budget, it is listed as “an allowance of funds not otherwise appropriated and used for official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses.”
While Christie returns surplus funds to the state each year, Treasury officials say he does not submit receipts or accounting for the public monies he spends. The governor’s ledger, obtained from Christie under the Open Public Records Act, offers a rare, if partial glimpse of a controversial expense account shrouded in secrecy.
Alcohol and desserts, oh my! get it? CHRIS CHRISTIE IS FAT.
The Governor is given a 95k expense account to entertain people. He’s the governor. This is as stupid as wingnuts bitching about the cost to fly Michelle Obama on vacation. If people don’t like it, they can write a law and get rid of it. But this whole thing is nothing more than a veiled attempt to pick on his weight.
Cervantes
This is OK with the tax-payers of the Garden State?
Baud
Agree. Legitimate issue buried by crass fat-shaming.
Just Some Fuckhead
Democrats have to worry about that sort of freewheel spending, not good conservatives like Christie.
beltane
OT, but Tom Brady was just fine $1mil and suspended for 4 games.
dedc79
I’m mostly angry that they let this a-hole Cowboys fan into Giants games.
Just Some Fuckhead
Imagine if Christie wasn’t a good conservative. Something like this would look terrible.
samiam
Once again wr0ng way cole defending the fat bastard while at the same time pretending he doesn’t like him anymore.
Tree With Water
Agreed. Harry Truman caught the same-type flack from the same breed of cat when he rebuilt a dilapidated White House.
Tokyokie
Cole, I was also thinking along those lines when the lede differentiated between “food” and “desserts.” Unless he was chowing down on chocolate-covered tire rims.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@beltane: I’m a little surprised it was so many games, I was hearing two was most likely, but from what I hear the pattern in the NFL is an appeal and a reduced suspension? Especially, I assume, with such a big name.
R. Johnston
I’d agree, except Christie is notorious for running up outrageous and unjustified bills on expense accounts during his time as a U.S. Attorney. He has a history as a wasteful spendthrift of public dollars in similar situations.
Sirkowski
If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
– That won’t be a problem, said Christie.
Steve
The story is absolutely legit. The framing of this particular story, as if Christie was eating all the food himself, is ridiculous. (Considering Christie had lap-band surgery he probably doesn’t eat much at all.)
El Caganer
If that article pissed you off, I guess this one won’t lighten your mood: http://wonkette.com/585280/chris-christie-eated-all-the-snacks . And fuck Chubs Chubbie – he’d be an asshole no matter what he weighed.
Gravenstone
@Tokyokie: With or without the anthrax dip?
jl
I see Jeb! is getting some flak for saying that knowing what we know now, he would still have invaded Iraq.
I guess Jeb! is having trouble figuring out how to finesse that ‘know now’ versus ‘knew then’ distinction. which I think is the also distinction between looking like a fool to everyone (maybe even some of the 27 percenters) and paying obligatory discreet tribute to reactionary lunatic pieties.
So, Jeb! is supposed to be the smart one? Are we sure? Or has he always been the obedient child who removes all doubt about his mental status as soon as he opens his mouth and does not recite something by rote?
Gravenstone
O/T: apparently the current State Farm ad house thinks that Saturday Night Live is still a relevant thing or something. They dredged up “Hans und Franz” a couple of months ago. And now, the Coneheads just made an appearance doing a riff on the “Jake from State Farm” spot.
/facepalm
Gravenstone
@jl: Yeah, someone posted an excerpt from the Laura Ingrahm interview a few threads down. She was actively pushing back against his argument, even countering his contention that Hillary would support the invasion in light of our current understanding. /boggle
Nutella
I don’t understand. If this is true
then how do they know it was mostly spent on food and booze?
Either they know what he spent it on or they don’t. Which is it?
Mary G
It worries me more that the state Republican committee repaid the $82K for the ballpark food, and that now his PAC pays for a lot of this stuff. That’s not discoverable, like this was, I think.
the Conster
Oh who fucking cares. Republicans do this shit all the time and we all moan and wail about how it’s so unfaaaaiirrrr waaaah! If it sinks the obnoxious corrupt fat fuck to the bottom of the slime pool he’s always so willing to throw others into, then good. Politics is war by another name, and we’re in a war with anyone with an (R) after their name. I’ll beg forgiveness instead of permission after the last hypocritical asshole gooper is strangled with the entrails of the last unfair meme.
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Nice Diderot ref.
John
But what John fails to realize is that fatty fat fat fatty faaaaaaaaaat blubber fat fat. Also, fat.
Yes, but now he’s a fat asshole. If he weighed less, he’d still be a fat asshole.
In conclusion, fat.
scav
@jl: I’m still warping my head about the time travel opportunities of now known knowns, now unknown knowns, known unknowns that that we now know to be unknowns knowns . . .
KG
@jl: I wonder sometimes, whether we would have eventually ended up in Iraq during the last decade even if we didn’t invade in 2003. Hussein was 69 when he was hanged in 2006, he’d be 78 today, what are the odds that he’d still be in charge in Iraq? Would his retirement or death have led to civil war (including possibly a fight between Uday and Qusay)? And given the state of the region (including our protection of the Kurds), how likely would it have been that we would have been pulled in because of concerns from our allies in the region? That’s not to say that we should have gone in when we did, how we did, or for the express reasons we did… Just a thought experiment as to whether it was inevitable.
John
Ironically, “Entrails of the Last Unfair Meme” is one of the extravagant meals Christie ate on the taxpayer dime.
KG
@John: also a name of a bad guy in the next season of Doctor Who
Mike J
I was under the impression that it was Al Gore who was fat. Are we allowed to say a Republican is? I was pretty sure the constitution says you can only make stupid personal attacks on Demon-craps.
Snarki, child of Loki
To be fair, if you’re shelling out for hookers and blow, you usually don’t get a receipt.
LT
For fuck’s sake, Cole, *Christie is the fucking austerity king.* He’s all about “Oh nos the debt and wasting of da governmunts!!!”
For fuck’s sake. It makes perfect sense to go after him on this.
VidaLoca
John,
Fair enough, but if the issue is never reported how will people be aware enough of it to decide if they like it or not?
the Conster
@efgoldman:
I only fat shame those who have no shame, which always seems to overlap with male (R)s. Whatever works.
ETA: warning: I will also not hesitate to use fat shaming for Mike Huckabee, which is the only thing I think he cares about.
Nutella
@LT:
It makes perfect sense if he is spending significantly more than previous governors did. He may be but this almost information-free description doesn’t tell us that.
Cacti
Cole has a soft spot for fat loud guys.
No one knows why.
LT
@Nutella:
so, you call an article you clearly didn’t read “information free.” Amazing superpower you’ve got there.
Information. Please read every paragraph. And then go and read the article to the end!
Tommy
@jl: I was so wrong. I thought at the time we should invade Iraq. I was so wrong! Let me say that again. I don’t like to be wrong, but I think it is important for me to admit when I am wrong. I messed up here. Totally messed up.
LT
Cole:
This is *outside* funds to “entertain people.”
the Conster
@LT:
He had no problems tanking New Jersey’s credit rating, so criticizing him for spending other people’s money is completely warranted. Plus his avoirdupois feeds (oh noes I said feed) into the meme. Live by it, die by it.
SatanicPanic
$175K + $95K isn’t that crazy a salary for someone to run a whole state. Maybe if we paid these clowns more they wouldn’t be so corrupt.
Stan of the Sawgrass
@Nutella: Yup. This kind of has the odor of piling on “because…because… hey, bridgegate: amirite, and where there’s smoke, there’s barbecue and that means crooked pols at the public trough…”
Speaking of which, somebody around here took offense pretty damn quick. Wonder who’s funding all those great meals and fetes for the fratboys around the Cole household…
LT
@SatanicPanic:
That’s so fucking stupid I hate all your relatives for it.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@R. Johnston: I’m not sure they’re mutually exclusive. Christie has a history of (arrogantly) overspending government money because he likes luxury; at Justice he routinely stayed in high end places beyond the allotted range. There was some limo instead of taxi stuff also, if memory serves.
Spending so much at sporting events is along the same lines, and consistent with his history, especially the thin supporting documentation. Generally, when you exceed government rates, you need to justify it in writing, which I seem to recall he often didn’t do. The fat shaming is entirely unnecessary, and unbecoming.
Stan of the Sawgrass
@SatanicPanic: I’ve forgotten the author, but somebody was quoting an English member of Parliament (had to be House of Lords) who said only the well-born filthy rich should be allowed to hold public office, because they couldn’t be bribed. Chesterton (maybe) pointed out that they were ALREADY bribed.
Also, when Homer expressed surprise to Mr. Burns when he found out rich he was, Burns replied, “Yes…but I’d give it all– just to have a little more.”
Public servants should be paid a realistic, decent salary. We do underpay a lot of them because of how we hate the gummint. But power attracts the corruptible, and real oversight should be part of the salary package.
SatanicPanic
@LT: Uh, that’s not very nice. Raising salaries is a common tactic for fighting corruption.
scav
@SatanicPanic: Funny how that logic never seems to work for the people working the tills at fast food places. Ha, there, they get robbed, they have to make up the difference.
SatanicPanic
@scav: don’t look at me, I support raising their salaries too.
And to answer Stan of the Sawgrass- absolutely, oversight should be strict.
the Conster
@scav:
and teachers. Somehow only teachers and fast food workers will work harder if you pay them less.
Germy Shoemangler
@Gravenstone:
I thought the same thing when I saw the commercials. But then I started analyzing the ad men. Their target audience was young when that comedy first aired, and now it’s paunchy and middle-aged and concerned about insurance.
That’s my guess, anyway. The ad men are obsessed with demographics and what sort of honey they should use to entrap their desired audience. “Remind them of what they used to laugh at when they were stoned in dorm rooms! That’ll sell insurance!”
beltane
@Stan of the Sawgrass: It is often the case that the more money someone has, the more hungry they are for additional money. We have an awful lot of independently wealthy politicians who have shown they are quite willing to sell their firstborns, not to mention their county, for a few grand.
Civil servants, on the other hand, do need to be paid decently lest they be forced to work “on commission”.
LT
@SatanicPanic: For fuck’s sake. Do we have no sense of proportion anymore? He makes $175,000 a year. And has hundreds of thousands more in expense accounts. When raising salaries is discussed to fight corrpution – they’re not fucking talking about people making those numbers.
SatanicPanic
@LT:
Let’s talk about proportion. If he had a similar position in the private sector- directing thousands of workers, seeing to the needs of millions of people- do you think he’d be paid that little? I don’t have time for this silly moralizing some people on the left engage in. If government can’t pay people well you’re going to get people who are just running the country into the ground so they can jump to the private sector and get a real payday. Companies pay to retain good employees, why do you think the government should be different?
LT
Here’s an article about raising salaries to fight corruption. The amount earned by the people being discussed: about $400 a month.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1519564/raising-civil-servant-pay-will-help-reduce-corruption
And the fact that you advocated giving *Chris Fucking Christie* more money to make him less corrupt – fuck me.
LT
@SatanicPanic: “If he had a similar position in the private sector…”
Are you fucking serious? That is so fucking broken.
Omnes Omnibus
@LT:
Hey, Sean Duffy has problems living on his Congressional salary. FWIW his home in his district is a McMansion a few blocks away from my parents’ very nice, but non-McMansion, home.
SatanicPanic
@LT: You’re just throwing out whatever you can hoping it sticks, aren’t you?
SatanicPanic
@LT:
The private sector is broken? What?
Stella B
Of course it’s not unreasonable for a governor to spend money on entertaining, but if a Democratic governor or whatever had done the same thing the other side would have piled on. OMG, her husband makes money giving speeches!
LT
@SatanicPanic: The neverending fail of your argument: if governors were paid $1 million a year – it still wouldn’t be close to what corporate CEOs make. If they made $10 a year – it still wouldn’t be close. And you could still make your incredily fucked up argument – to argue they should be paid more.
And thats ignoring that higher pay has as much chance at stopping corruption as more guns has at stopping violence.
Hal
Somewhere, (admittedly, probably, the White House) Michelle “spent 300 trillion dollars on her vacation to Spain” Obama, is laughing.
scav
You see, apparently, if it works according to certain theories, then it must be accepted as a rationale automatically without question as policy, ignoring the actual observed behavior that it isn’t applied equitably across the board in similar circumstances, that it’s not really been observed to work in practice that well and there are easily thought of additional theories in which all that happens is there is a bit of a bidding war driving up the size of the bribes required (not a problem with deep-pocketed bribers) and well, human behavior just doesn’t often seem to work like that when confronted with “more”.
SatanicPanic
@LT:
oh really? I’m not so sure, and more importantly, I don’t think you know either. At any rate, this is just throwing out big numbers, not making a real argument. So, civil servants in China can be paid more so they won’t be corrupt, but politicians who make the same sort of decisions shouldn’t get a pay raise because you have arbitrarily chosen an amount of money you think they should make. Interesting…
Germy Shoemangler
Ed Felten is the White House’s new deputy CTO
LT
@SatanicPanic: That of course should have been $10 milllion a year.
You’re not only wrong hee, you’re so outrageously asshole-ly wrong it’s almost funny. Those civil servants CAN’T FEED THEIR FUCKING FAMILIES. They turn to corruption to fucking survive.
God, waht an asshole’s asshole.
SatanicPanic
@scav: OK what’s the $ threshold, or possibly the position in government hierarchy where paying more = less corruption stops being true. Or do you just think it never applies?
SiubhanDuinne
never mind
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: I remembered his wife and fellow MTV alumna had made news recently made news (‘news’) by pundit-ing but I couldn’t remember why. Damn google allowed me to remind myself
I suspect she would join my aunts in lamenting that the hippie pope took the place of that wonderful Pope Benedict.
SatanicPanic
@LT: the article doesn’t say anything about starving public servants. Again, you’re just throwing things out there- I’m an asshole- because it’s too hard for you to make a real argument.
beltane
@SatanicPanic: There are probably other factors involved beyond a simple pay vs. corruption equation. Elected officials in Italy, for example, are among the most handsomely paid in the world, with various lifetime perks and benefits, and yet Italy is hardly a bastion of clean government.
scav
@SatanicPanic: Would probably have something to do with the depth of the pockets of the opposition, if we were to restrict ourselves to the out-paying them tactic. That’s the biggest problem I’d see here. Then there are all the sticks that must be considered as also being a part of the problem context because there’s the interaction and tradeoffs between money and hassle and risk of X (whatever X is, imprisonment, shame, sanction, blah blah). Sorta like, oh dear, things be their usual complex selves, not amenable to simple magic solutions.
Tokyokie
@Gravenstone: The anthrax dip would make it a main course.
SatanicPanic
@beltane: Absolutely. I wasn’t prescribing it as a cure-all. New Jersey in particular would require a lot more work than that. I just think that complaining about their salaries is part and parcel of how we denigrate public service. That’s an important job and people should be paid well. Shit, we pay the POTUS less than owners of some car dealerships make per year.
raven
Damn, a cement truck fell on Andrew Young’s car and he’s ok!
Cervantes
Re the expense account, two Democratic Assemblymen, Vince Mazzeo and Troy Singleton, have proposed a law that would require full disclosure, including an annual report with receipts.
Citizen Alan
As someone else said, Michelle Obama was attacked viciously over absurd claims that she spent too much money (I seem to remember a trillion dollars seriously suggested) on a goodwill mission to India I think. And we’re quibbling over whether it’s beyond the pale to mention that a morbidly obese Republican has spent nearly six figures on expensive food paid for with taxpayer funds.
Fuck that noise. Chris Christie is the enemy. Republicans are the enemy. They seek nothing less than the destruction of everything we care about. They only way they could be any worse is if they were fucking Daleks. Stop coddling them.
LT
@SatanicPanic:
Okay, you’re right, they’re not starving. They’re living the high life of 2,000 to 4,000 yuan a month.
Here’s an excerpt from an article on that leak story: http://shanghaiist.com/2014/02/12/no_wonder_they_take_bribes_many_civ.php
Not starving! They’re practically rich as Christie!
JPL
@raven: ABC atlanta has a raw video of a man being pulled out of another car. Both are lucky. I had CBS at the time and they were doing a segment on GA roads and the number of deaths then had breaking news showing the truck. I’m glad that both are okay.
Phil Perspective
@LT: Since then, the governor has refrained from using his expense account at MetLife and other sports venues.
Especially now that everyone in Jersey knows he and Jerry Jones are BFF’s. :Pisses off the Giants fans in north Jersey and pisses off the Eagles fans in south Jersey.
Gravenstone
@raven: Yet never a 16 tonne anvil available to fall from the clouds atop the Republican politician of our choice.
SatanicPanic
@LT: Fascinating. I love how you assume that I was referencing Chinese civil servants with my arguments and then leap to lecturing me about how much I don’t know about Chinese civil servants. that’s nice.
@scav: I don’t think it would be the only thing required. People will forego higher salaries for public service if benefits are better, but they can’t be too out of whack with what the market is paying, and I think that’s largely true across the board. We can differ on what that spread could be.
raven
@JPL: And we had a concrete truck in our driveway today!
LT
@SatanicPanic: You said this:
“The article” was my article, about Chinese civil servants, was it not?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: Did anyone see the truck in your driveway during the time of Andrew Young’s misadventure? If not, you may have some questions to answer. And you may need to reconsider some of your life choices.
I’m glad he’s okay.
catclub
@the Conster: Unionized Bus drivers, too.
LT
@SatanicPanic: @SatanicPanic:
This sentence – gah:
You have a very broken idea of “public service.”
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): We’re 65 miles from where his mishap occurred but it is just blocks from where I worked at Tech!
Tommy
@raven: Funny. Like to have some porued in some stuff in my driveway.
scav
@SatanicPanic: I’m just on the side of it not being an easy or inevitable fix to the basic problem, especially as people tend to be greedy and the personality set that gets one into higher office, especially elected, probably scores a bit higher on the “I’m entitled and worth it” greedy scale, not to mention the risk-taking factor. I rather think the basic technique might be more useful further down in the bureaucracy (maybe).
GregB
I think the talking point should be that Chris Christie spent a quarter of a million taxpayer dollars on YooHoo and Spam.
raven
@Tommy: These guys poured the footings running the concrete in wheelbarrows. It was downhill so it wasn’t too bad I guess. It is not easy for me to sit in the house while these dudes work on my house.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Sweet Christ, Hayes just played the clip of Li’l Marco vowing to get all Neeson up on ISIS’ ass
eady firmly established Beltway CW that Rubio is smart. I prefer the American Conservative mag writer (IIRC) who said he was as dumb as a brick in a dryer
since the topic is The Stupid, I declare this on-topic
the Conster
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The topic is whether it’s OK to hurt liberal fee fees by criticizing right wing assholes who eat luxury items with other people’s money, by referring to their excessive avoirdupois.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@the Conster: criticizing right wing assholes who eat luxury items with other people’s money
I think it has to be shellfish, specifically for reasons that escape me, crab legs.
raven
Topics, topics, we don need no steenkin topics!
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, you have to admit that it’s a big improvement over George “not that concerned about bin Laden” Bush.
the Conster
@efgoldman:
Appealing to the proctor while the world burns is why we can’t have nice things.
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Is it fine then in your view to refer to a male politician in feminized terms because it may be an effective way of taking that politician down?
Iowa Old Lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s hard to be smart when you can’t take facts into account. I look forward to these guys embarrassing themselves in debates.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
is it lindsey graham?
J R in WV
We had a concrete truck get stuck in the driveway road on one pour. He was new at it, and skittish about the drop off on the right side of the road, so he kept to the left side. Even though he was told not to get to close to the hill, as that side of the road was wet and swampy!!
So there was another concrete truck behind him, and he was able to get around the stuck ass, and empty his load, and come back to help try to pull the ass out of the ditch. There was also a dump truck full of rock they sent, with a huge chain, to pull hard with lots of momentum!
The two trucks together were barely able to pull the ass out of the swampy ditch!! Then he dropped his load into the pump, to finish the pour. 6 pours total between 1991 and 5 or 6 years ago, the only real problem was that guy getting stuck exactly where we told him not to drive. Hundreds of cubic yards all told.
Oh, there was one load of concrete that showed up way too hot, setting up in the truck. I always suspected that truck was turned away from another job because the slump was all wrong. If the mud is too stiff, it won’t pour right, will set up before you have it worked flat or into the rooters. It was struck flat, but then couldn’t be worked into a real floor.
Fortunately I intended to lay slate and tile on that part of the basement floor, so it wasn’t a real problem. But I did feel taken advantage of. If I had done a slump test and refused the load, do you think they would have sent another truck load right away? What was I supposed to do with the crew of people I had hired to work the concrete?
At least we didn’t dump a load on a lady in her driveway and kill her! Or crush Andrew Young’s car!!
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: That would be one example.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
we’re not enemies are we? I heard that recently.
raven
@J R in WV: This is why I am using a contractor that I trust. Here’s an uphill look, there are 10 loads of block.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Huh?
Germy Shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus: Charles Pierce gave him the “Huckleberry Butchmeup” nickname.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
nothin. sorry.
gf120581
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Great, another GOP presidential wannabe who’s an overgrown 12-year old boy who takes his cues from pop culture on how to conduct real-world foreign policy. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given the GOP’s longstanding lust for “24” and the “Taken” movies essentially are “24” if Neeson had been cast as Jack Bauer (hell, in both franchises, they have to look out for blonde daughters named Kim who are kidnapper-magnets).
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
would love music, though. that thing you do.
Steeplejack
@Little Boots, @Omnes Omnibus:
It was all over TMZ. “Can We Still Be Friends?”
Sorry, a little early to start with the music, I know, but I may be tapping out early tonight.
Omnes Omnibus
@Germy Shoemangler: I would say that that fact is irrelevant to the question I had asked.
Little Boots
@Steeplejack:
just glad you are still around.
Germy Shoemangler
@gf120581: I love the tough guy talk from Rubio. Same as W.
“We” will hunt you down and “we” will kill you… etc etc “Bring it on!”
Like a chihuahua in a shopping cart.
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
Is your question how to fight the radical nutjob lies and memes by figuring out the politically correct way to win against radical right wing racist white male politicians and their media enablers? Can’t be done. I’m so fucking tired of liberals bringing sporks to a gun fight. Chris Christie is a fat fucktard. The only thing he’s tried not to be is fat, because not only hasn’t he tried not be a fucktard, he’s doubled down on it, as all the right wing fucktards do as a matter of course. So, his weakness is his body image. I say, go for his Achilles Heel if it works. I guess that makes me a bad liberal. I can live with that if that’s what it takes to vanquish the enemy. Purity is for losers.
Germy Shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus: I would personally say it is unacceptable unless said politician has been an outspoken opponent of marriage rights.
Little Boots
@the Conster:
complicated.
Little Boots
@the Conster:
the answer is bernie. the answer always was bernie.
Redshift
@the Conster: Criticizing right wing assholes who have done numerous awful things by calling them fat instead of talking about the awful things they’ve done is exactly like right-wingers calling Democrats gay – it only works among people who assume that inherently makes someone a bad person.
If you think calling Christie a fat fuck is what is going to “take him down” then let me offer a hearty fuck you.
Little Boots
omnes, I’m right. I’m always right. just dammit … I’m right.
the Conster
@Redshift:
duly noted.. by missing my point entirely. carry on.
Germy Shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus:
I object!
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: No, my question was the question I asked. You are clearly fine with fat shaming. I just wondered if you were also okay with some of the other directions that line of thinking could take.
Christie is a corrupt bully. Why not call him that?
Little Boots
omnes should post music. that is the thing.
Germy Shoemangler
@Little Boots:
You’re right, I’m left, she’s gone.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: Christie is a corrupt bully. That was easy.
RSR
I noted the ~$80k spent over two season at Giants and Jets football games.
Ok, 8 regular season games each, plus 2 pre-season. Let’s say 20 seats in the gov’s suite (it may be more; doubt it’s less). 10 games x 2 teams x 2 seasons x 20 seats. It’s essentially $100 per seat per game. At NYC stadium concession prices.
Finally, the article I read said the state GOP eventually reimbursed the state for the expenses.
There’s no there there. At least with the football stuff.
And I’m no Christie fan, but this is another case of large numbers making headlines with no perspective.
Germy Shoemangler
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): In clips I’ve seen where he’s loudly berating a teacher, his wife is always standing there leering at the victim. Something unwholesome about it.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Thank you. And you said nothing about his weight, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or anything like that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Germy Shoemangler: Is that the “Somethin’s goin’ down tonight, sweetheart” moment? Still baffles me that didn’t generate more blowback. No matter how cynical, or just plain tired, you can’t keep up.
ETA: Oy, jeb Bush: “i’ve never been part of Washington”. I wonder if maybe there isn’t a smart one. Maybe Neilsie or Doro.
Redshift
@the Conster:
Ah, the classic bullshit answer of someone who doesn’t have a response but refuses to admit it. A true Internet classic. Carry one.
Little Boots
I say we do this. maybe omnes won’t be angry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh44QPT1mPE
Redshift
@the Conster:
Yeah, that’s completely different from advocating we do exactly the same kind of shit Republicans do and suggesting it might bring Christie down…
Little Boots
john cole is so pure.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: I am not angry. I am just interested in where the Conster draws the line acceptable attacks. Most of the them don’t directly affect me – I am a straight, white, college educated, nominally Protestant white guy who could be a little thinner but will be there in a month or two as the cycling picks up.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus:
None of which is even tangentially relevant to the complaint at issue: that he is a corrupt bully. To mention any of those merely diminishes the complainer, and distracts from the substance of the complaint. As you’ve noticed, not everyone agrees with our approach to this.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
nobody thinks you are angry. sometimes people think you would be a little less arrogant.
Arclite
@Gravenstone:
They’re just trying to be cool like GEICO.
Germy Shoemangler
@Arclite: Nobody is cooler than that GEICO free-range hen.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: But arrogance and condescension are part of my charm.
Omnes Omnibus
@Germy Shoemangler: It’s weird; my dad loves that ad.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
goddammit,
you son of a bitch.
there is that.
jayboat
Since this thread is about $$$ I would like to interject that a Picasso sold today for $179 mil.
That is all.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
goddamit, you are such a goober, and I totally love you.
Germy Shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s what Christie says!
I’ve heard enough RWNJ co-workers, neighbors etc. joke about Hillary’s fat ankles, Gore’s paunch, Ted Kennedy’s red nose. I don’t want to be like them, but sometimes I find myself calling Christie a fat fuck or making fun of Trump’s hair.
Little Boots
and no omnes leaving. dammit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Germy Shoemangler:
I am not claiming to be perfect. I do it too on occasion. But, if I do, I think I should be called out on on it. Let’s take one of the Conster’s comments from above:
Now take out the word fat:
How is this less effective as invective?
Germy Shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus: No less effective.
Here’s something I noticed after bridgegate on another blog. There’s a frequent commenter who constantly used Italian ethnic stereotypes on Christie. “Sopranos, mobster, gangster, godfather, mafia don” etc. I politely asked him his thoughts on Wildstein; if he had any ethnic stereotypes to share and he shut right up. He hadn’t even realized what he was doing.
the Conster
@Redshift:
Let me clearly state my response so even you can understand: we’re in a war with the radical right wing who don’t care about facts – they not only don’t care about facts, they’re determined to deny facts, because facts undermine the reality they’ve created for themselves. We’re in a war to establish a fact based reality. We liberals are trying to fight their demons with reason, and we’re at a disadvantage because their strength is fear and hate, and it is not rational. So, we need to fight them with whatever works, and purity be damned. If we don’t, they win. Calling Christie a fat fuck is not something I’m going to ever regret if we win the war, because in reality he actually is a fat fuck.
Cheeseguy
It has little to do with the fact that Christy’s a fat fuck, we’re talking about a QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS.!!!
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Any chance of a direct yes or no answer to the question I asked?
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster:
Right?
Cervantes
@the Conster:
In your eyes, is “purity” the opposite of “anything goes”?
If so, what’s in between?
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
Torturing someone is just like calling Chris Christie a fat fuck who’s actually a fat fuck? Really? Oh fer fuck sake that’s fucking ridiculous.
wasabi gasp
That’s a lotta dough though, bro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=petqFm94osQ
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Then tell me where the line is. You seemed to suggesting there wasn’t one.
Ian
@KG:
Our protection of the Kurds is a new thing. We didn’t really care when thousands of their civilians died of the chemical weapons we provided. More of the enemy of my enemy thing.
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
You made up some imaginary line I suggested, so feel free to attribute some imaginary crossing of it to some imaginary me.
Little Boots
bout time somebody else had to put up with omnes.
Little Boots
I mean I love him, but not everyone else has to..
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: No, I asked a simple question based on your prior comments. You have never actually answered that question. But you have used the language of total war. I can tell you from my personal professional education that total war still has rules for the professionals. Where do you draw the line? It is not a complicated question.
Doug Wieboldt
This dude is a total leech on the body politic…
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
Chris Christie is fat, it’s one of the things, but a big thing, that makes him unattractive. It’s part of his persona, and he uses his bulk to bully people. He throws his weight around, literally, to intimidate. It’s his shtick. To use that fact in conjunction with a meme that he feeds himself at the public trough like the pig he is, literally and figuratively, makes him look like the fat fuck that he is, and I have no problem with encouraging the”he’s a fat fuck” meme, because if that’s what works to sink him, I’m OK with that. So the line I’m willling to cross as a liberal is to let horrible mean bully Chris Christie be neutralized by some fat jokes because it’s one of the few weapons in our arsenal, liberal hurt fee fees be damned. Just like torture!
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Yes, we know that you have no issue with fat shaming. Now, are you willing to answer the question I posed?
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
I already answered you. I will continue to fat shame Chris christie, and as I already said, Mike Huckabee. Happily. Every day, all day, and twice on Sunday, because they both are fat arrogant fucks who do nothing but deserve to be shamed. So, now you can fuck off too.
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: So fat jokes are fine, but you won’t take a position on anything else? Honestly, I just lost a lot of respect for you.
the Conster
@Omnes Omnibus:
OH NOES
LOL.
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster: Do you even remember the question I was asking: Is it fine then in your view to refer to a male politician in feminized terms because it may be an effective way of taking that politician down?
All you have done is say your fat shaming is cool. Answer my question. Or don’t, but I think that a lack of answer has meaning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: @the Conster: I have been asking the question for about five hours. I would think that I could get a direct answer in that time frame. Silly me.
Gene108
@Omnes Omnibus:
Dude, almost every liberal in the blogosphere talks down to Sen. Lindsey Graham with both feminized and homosexual references.
I would therefore say most liberals are A Okay with using feminized terms as a put down for male politicians.
Morzer
I’ll give Christie a pass on his receipt-less emguzzling of public monies when the GOP stops composing ever crueler and more deranged lists of foods the poor are not allowed to buy with food stamps. I am sick of being told by sanctimonious internet scolds that we have to be nice to the corrupt scum of the earth. They’ve made it clear they won’t even pretend to be courteous,honest or reasonable and it’s past time that we stopped treating them like delicate flowers.
Citizen Alan
@Morzer:
Good I wish there were a “Like” button on this site.
AxelFoley
@Cacti:
First Rush, then Christie…a coincidence?. If he comes to Huckabee’s rescue, I’ll sense a pattern.
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
It does.
Not always easy to figure out that meaning, but in this case it’s pretty obvious.
brantl
The sonofabitch does everything possible to slut-shame poor people that he can, and screw the working man in Jersey, why the hell shouldn’t people point out that he is maintaining a morbidly obese body on the people’s dime? The sonofabitch took a helicopter and a limo to partially wach his kid’s baseball game, and didn’t even stay for the whole thing.. What a douche-canoe.
Cervantes
@Cacti:
I’d say “Be nice,” but that wouldn’t make sense in this thread!
Cervantes
@Gene108:
Whoever does it, it’s pitiful.
brantl
@SatanicPanic: What makes Christy any kind of “Good Employee”? A by-the-pound measurement is the only way he comes off looking good.
D58826
totally OT but good for a laugh. The barely literate callers who are concerned about my PC being infected have now branched out to telling me that there is a mistake on my income tax. I should call a certain number and they will make it all better. (sighj). But it’s good for a laugh I guess.