New Republic: "Chris Christie's Entire Career Reeks - It's not just the bridge"

[Miles Archer]

Chris Christie's Entire Career Reeks - It's not just the bridge

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116601/chris-christies-rise-and-fall



Has there ever been a political reversal of fortune as rapid and as absolute as the one just experienced by Chris Christie? At warp speed, the governor of New Jersey has gone from the most popular politician in the country to the most embattled; from the Republicans’ brightest hope for 2016 to a man with an FBI target on his back. One minute, he was releasing jokey vanity videos starring Alec Baldwin and assorted celebrity pals; the next, he was being ridiculed by his lifelong idol, Bruce Springsteen. Mere weeks ago, Christie was a straight-talking, corruption-busting everyman. Now, he is a liar, a bully, a buffoon.

What is remarkable about this meltdown is that it isn’t the result of some deep secret that has been exposed to the world, revealing a previously unimagined side to the candidate. Many of the scandals and mini-scandals and scandals-within-scandals that the national media is salivating over have been in full view for years. Even the now-infamous Bridgegate was percolating for months before it exploded into the first major story of the next presidential race.

Case in point: Last year, just before Thanksgiving, I traveled to Trenton to see Bill Baroni, Christie’s top staff appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, get grilled by state legislators about the closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September. It was clear that something fishy was going on. Baroni gave a command performance, defending the closures as part of a traffic study, but more than that, as a matter of justice. Discussing whether Fort Lee deserved three dedicated lanes during rush hour, Baroni demanded, “Is this fair?” His voice actually cracked with emotion. “And if it is not fair, how do you not study it?” But there were only a handful of reporters in the room to witness his melodramatics, and it was six weeks before the national media caught on to the story. Outside New Jersey, at least, it seemed inconceivable that Christie, good-government evangelist, scourge of Soprano State shenanigans, could preside over a piece of payback so outrageous and so petty.

Now, of course, we know that there was no traffic study and that the lanes were deliberately shut to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, who had declined to endorse Christie for reelection. (“Is it wrong that I’m smiling,” crowed a Christie aide in a text message, even as congestion got so dire that ambulance workers were forced to respond to an emergency on foot.) We also know that this act of retribution wasn’t an isolated incident: The mayor of Hoboken, to name just one example, has claimed that Christie’s office pressured her to approve a big development project represented by a Christie crony—or risk losing recovery aid for damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. And yet 'Moderte Centrist Democrats' insisted he was great, there was no way to beat him

and no reason to be seen trying. 'Buono is a bad candidate' they said 'and Christie is rightfully popular on a bipartisan basis!!!!' Some on DU even claimed after he won that only those on the far left and far right were not thrilled, that was the word thrilled, that he had won. They said there was no honest way to criticize Christie after his wonderful performance around Sandy.
So next time some 'Centrist' tells you that his 'deep pockets' pals know where to spend and start 'splaining that some Republican is pretty good and very honest and unbeatable, remember who is talking and remember how strong they stood with Christie. Democrats endorsed this crook, others tacitly endorsed him by refusing to endorse the candidate of their own damn Party.

[Jefferson23]

2. He lost the youth vote, only demographic Christie did not win over. They knew. n/t

[AgingAmerican]

3. Democrats foolishly mistook his bullying for strength

They now have egg on their faces.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Impossible. If it were true, our corporate-DEM leaders.....

... Obama, Inc.; Hillary, Inc.; Booker, Inc; Cuomo, Inc., et al, Inc; .... would surely have warned us of this and made removing him from office via the electoral process a TOP priority last year.

No?

[warrior1]

5. looks like America dodged a bullet

whew

[HereSince1628]

6. not if Americans land in front of an oncoming train/truck/bus etc.

This ain't over 'til it's over.

The activist billionaires are still pushing extreme tea-party/libertarian candidates.

Unfortunately, that strengthens the hand of those who want to push corporatist/elitist/Wall Street dems onto a base that would without doubt vote for anything to the left of a red-herring candidate like Scott Walker.

We've seen how damaging DCdems in rightward drift can be...moving SS and medicare off the third rail and onto the dissecting table.