I wonder why the Christie Mob had it in for this winger rabbi:
Documents released Thursday show that key players in the George Washington Bridge scandal joked about causing “traffic problems” in front of the house of a New Jersey rabbi.
“He has officially pissed me off,” former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive David Wildstein texted on Aug. 19, minutes after sending a photograph of the rabbi.
“Clearly,” Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly wrote back. “We cannot cause traffic problems in front of his house, can we?”
“Flight to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed,” Wildstein responded.
“Perfect,” Kelly wrote back.
The Red Pen
Sorry to start off topic, but:
Same-Sex Marriage Now Legally Recognized in Kentucky
Baud
IT WAS A TRAFFIC STUDY!
John O
Christie may not have known about the specifics, but it is obvious that shit like this was business as usual for the subordinates.
They knew no trouble was coming from above.
jl
@Baud: Christie seems to be running a study in how much traffic in thuggery his 2016 candidacy will bear.
From reports of his appearances recently, he seems to letting his political thug flag fly.
I guess the hypocrisy angle to his real approach to wielding power looks bad, so he’s ditching that.
shelly
Really, what the fuck is the matter with these people?
NonyNony
@shelly:
They’re vindictive assholes with power?
Are you lucky enough to have never encountered the species? I’m envious.
ranchandsyrup
Joisey’s got an ass that can stop traffic.
scav
undisiplined spoiled children in charge again — shades of Regent U and the DOJ Goodling crowd.
Another Holocene Human
The article says he was a chaplain at 2004 and 2008 RNC but “mysteriously” is now their enemy. But no mystery at all–Chabad gave a lot of money to Corey Senator FYWP’s campaign. Thus he had double crossed the Christie camp and needed to be punished.
Another Holocene Human
@The Red Pen: I’m losing track of all the states with rulings this week. Da-hamn!
BGinCHI
Another classic example of the Irish and the Jews ganging up on the Jews.
Wait. Wut?
Another Holocene Human
I love how OHJB, Obama, and Holder have killed anti-LGBT discrimination and SSM as a political issue–except to a rind of confused crazies, like the Cooch, who still apparently hasn’t sent a signal from his reptile brain to his cerebral cortex that he lost the election–and then spiked the football. Thanks, Obama!
I’d vote to put them back in power in a heartbeat but it’s probably best we don’t have 3 terms, everything would probably go wrong. Best to retire at the top of the game.
ruemara
They’re vindictive and petty and in power. Not really surprised.
jl
Another item to add to annals of GOP outreach, for Bachmann and Fox News file:
Bill O’Reilly: There MUST Be A Downside To A Woman President (VIDEO)
TPM
‘ O’Reilly followed up on Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) comment that she saw no “pent-up desire” for a female president by posing the question: “There’s got to be some downside to having a woman president, right? Something that may not fit with that office?” ‘
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill_oreilly_downside_woman_president
My view, is that there have been enough downsides to some white prot male presidents recently, that there may be something about them that ‘may not fit with that office’. But then, I am not a bigot and will judge each candidate as an individual
BGinCHI
@jl: Spelled “anals” wrong.
dmsilev
@The Red Pen: Out of idle curiosity, did this judge also follow the recent pattern of baiting and taunting Scalia in their decision? Because that’s definitely a trend worth encouraging.
Amir Khalid
It seems the New Jersey Governor’s office under Chris Christie is a nest of hoodlums. Quelle surprise. Either he’s a hoodlum himself, or he’s letting a bunch of them run loose in his office. Isn’t there any public pressure to impeach him, or to demand his resignation?
Suffern ACE
@jl: Yes. It’s just natural that there hasn’t been a woman president before. It must be the office. You’d think that just through random chance, if women were meant to be in charge of things, it would have happened before due to the law of averages.
Another Holocene Human
@Amir Khalid: Well, activists follow him around wherever he goes in the state with handmade signs about the scandal, so, yeah, there’s some public pressure. Tougher to do on a weekday of course.
NonyNony
@dmsilev:
Grod I hope so. Because he deserves to be taunted for basically putting that into a dissent if he didn’t want it coming back to haunt him.
I mean he actually wrote this in his dissent:
And thought he was scoring a major rhetorical point. When in fact the majority of Americans ask that question not rhetorically but more in a “hey yeah – what IS the point of denying marriage benefits to gay people”.
He’s an idiot. He’s spent so much time in his right-wing news/talk radio cocoon that he doesn’t understand how the majority of the country thinks anymore. That isn’t a winning argument – unless you’re arguing in favor of gay marriage rights.
NonyNony
@jl:
Jeebus Christ – the man is such a neanderthal.
danielx
@shelly:
The real question: when the fuck are these people and others of their ilk going to learn that you don’t put anything in email or text messages that you wouldn’t want the cops, the FBI or a legislative/investigational committee to read and broadcast?
If you’re going to conspire to commit nastiness, do it under four eyes only and don’t put it in fucking writing.
There. What is there that is so hard for people to grasp about this concept?
Certified Mutant Enemy
@NonyNony:
Stop insulting neanderthals!
jl
@NonyNony: No credit at all for Bachmann? She was in on the play, she pitched it. Are you a sexist?
pharniel
@Suffern ACE: That’s pretty much almost an exact quote from a Popehat commenter the other day.
jl
What song is the post title from?
DougJ
@jl:
Crosstown Traffic, Jimi
IowaOldLady
I’m staggered that the Christie people thought they could stage a 4-day massive traffic jam, exchange emails, lie in public testimony, and not get caught. Is this kind of abuse common practice in governing bodies?
jl
@DougJ: Thanks. I never listen to the lyrics, so I never get these references.
jl
@IowaOldLady: It may be the confluence of Christie trying to maintain enough distance to keep deniability plausible, and out of control and arrogant hatchetpeople who are liable to commit gross incompetence without close supervision.
If I were a VSP pundit, my main worry from this scandal would be Christies management skills.
Anyway, that is my tentative operating hypothesis.
maya
Well, Bill, there is always the possibility that a female President could turn the SOTU speech into an unbridled PMS rant, you know. Of course, the ‘Football’ would have to be renamed the ‘Powder Puff’ and if she has a bad hair day while anywhere near it could result in a catastrophic nuclear war. Actually, that would be a plus wouldn’t it, Bill?
Bill Arnold
@IowaOldLady:
In small towns, yes. Friends-and-enemies politics. It doesn’t scale… mainly for the reason that you indicate; more people involved (and more communication in writing due to scale) means that the odds of getting caught are a lot closer to %100.
Thoughtcrime
@jl:
Full verse:
I’m not the only soul who’s accused of hit and run
Tire tracks all across your back
I can see you had your fun
But darlin’ can’t you see my signals turn from green to red
And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead
mai naem mobile
What a load of crap. You don’t fire a person who might have done something illegal without talking to them first. It’s a liability issue. Christie is a lying POS. And you don’t order a staff member fired who is your deputy COS. You fire them yourself. These people are unbelievable in what they want us to believe.
bemused
@maya:
I don’t really recall any female in my life that had unbridled PMS rants. oth, I can think of many, many experiences witnessing guys having freakouts over the most minor things. At my last job we females used to make jokes about it being their testosterone version of PMS.
boatboy_srq
And Christie’s express train to the WH in 2017 is effectively derailed in the process.
Chris T.
@bemused: Yes, I always used to say that the difference between women and men in this particular respect was that men were always on their, er, “hormonal jag”. :-)
maya
@bemused: Actually, I’ve experienced both males and females going off on rants. My personal opinion is that it may have more to do with drugs than anything else – at least in my neighborhood it looks that way. However, my comments were directed at what might be O’Reilly’s unstated concerns. You didn’t get that.
NotMax
Do tend to think that, at the time it occurred, Christie did not know and/or was intentionally kept in the dark about the plan being implemented.
However, as all evidence points to it not being something freshly thought up or done off-the-cuff the one question which no one has put to him (so far as I know) is:
Did you have knowledge that the plan had been approved for inclusion in the playbook of possible actions prior to it being put into use or in any way participate in discussion (verbally or otherwise) of using such a tactic at any time prior to it being implemented?
bemused
@maya:
I did get that but should have added that guys that blow up at a drop of hat such as O’Reilly do like to insinuate that women are hysterical or out of control. Yeah, wouldn’t surprised me if he was trying to go there without actually saying it.
schrodinger's cat
@maya: Since Hillary’s child bearing years are behind her, isn’t this a non-issue for the next Presidential cycle, even if it were true.
EconWatcher
@jl:
Chris Rock had a brilliant routine back in 2008 when Hillary and Obama were battling for what appeared to be an easy shot to the presidency:
“Man, that Georg Bush, he really f’ed up. He f’ed up so bad, he made it hard for a white man to run for president. Voters are saying, we’ll take the woman, we’ll take the back guy. Whatever. Just not another one of thos white guys.”
kc
I’m sure Bob Somerby can come up with an innocent explanation for this.
b1narys3rf
Jeebus effing cripes.
You would that in NEW FUCKING JERSEY of all places people in power would know NOT to fux wit da J00z!
As it was said in the years of declining Democratic power: “I can’t believe we’re losing to these guys.”
WaterGirl
@EconWatcher: I don’t suppose you have a link for that? I love Chris Rock.
maya
@schrodinger’s cat: Yeah, but surely by now you must be aware that conservative white guys suck at “lady parts” biology.
Cervantes
@WaterGirl: “Kill the Messenger,” HBO comedy special, 2008.
Cervantes
@kc:
Guess who said the following:
You’ll never guess.