… For enjoying the fine NJ tradition of never forgetting a slight:
METUCHEN, N.J. — The former campaign workers who partied at the home of Barbara Buono this month were “just jubilant.” The people she bumps into on the street “are just happier to greet me.” And amid the deluge of supportive texts she receives, there are often pictures of Gov. Chris Christie sitting on the George Washington Bridge. She chuckles but doesn’t reply.
The Fort Lee traffic jam scandal has unleashed a wintry mix of subpoenas, tortured apologies and fresh allegations against Mr. Christie, a Republican, and potentially put a deep freeze on his presidential chances. But the same revelations have had a warming effect on Ms. Buono, the Democratic nominee who badly lost to Mr. Christie in the November election and bitterly complained about the betrayal of Democrats who barely lifted a finger to help her. Ms. Buono has gone from media piñata, Democratic pariah and Keystone Candidate to the Cassandra of the Christie scandal, whose October warnings about “the unexplained closure of two lanes starting in Fort Lee” went unheeded by most fellow Democrats.
Now, as Democrats unload daily on Mr. Christie and hound him as he travels around the country, Ms. Buono nonchalantly greets well-wishers in snow boots, cords and leather bomber jacket at a local cafe. Bewildered by the belated timing of the Democratic attacks, which she attributes to “buyer’s remorse,” she wonders if the party might not have more wisely spent money on challenging the governor during the actual race…
She said she watched Mr. Christie’s 108-minute-long news conference on January 9 with her daughter but had a hard time sticking with it. “He is a fraud, a charlatan,” she said. (Mr. Christie’s office declined to respond.) And she confesses bewilderment about the national Democratic strategy of demanding Mr. Christie step down. “He should stay, right, there!” she said, smacking the table for emphasis. “Stand next to all these candidates who are running for governor in 2014. Of course they won’t stand next to him anymore. It is a little comical.”…
Revenge is a dish best eaten… as a friggin’ banquet!
No, I don’t want Buono ‘running down other Democrats’ for the media and the GOP admakers. (If you read the whole NYT article, the reporter was clearly trolling for much more bitterness than he actually got.) But she was right about Christie being a venal bully who got a free pass from both sides of the political aisle (and an infinity of free ‘reportorial’ advertising). And in my opinion she’s right that we Democrats have to stop being lazy and risk-averse, and start contesting every seat — not necessarily throwing a ton of resources into ‘hopeless’ races, but putting up a fight even when the odds aren’t in our favor.