General News New Jersey and Bridgegate

It's either going to down in history like Travelgate did with the Clinton administration where it was huge news in the beginning, but everyone eventually forgot about it, or it's going to torpedo his presidential campaign, and I'm not going to lie, I'm hoping for the latter. With Christie out of the picture, that paves the way for an extremist like Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, or Rand Paul to get the GOP nomination in 2016, who would lose in a 1964 type landslide.

 

I honestly don't see how Christie gets out of this situation without either fatal or near fatal damage to his national ambitions.

He's arguing, essentially, that he had no control over his senior staff, and that he was completely blindsided. Assuming that's the case, then he's setting himself up to be painted as a naive rube and an ineffective leader.

The thing is... no one believes Christie's story. It's unclear whether he personally signed off on it or not, but no one honestly believes that Christie's most senior staff - his fucking inner circle - was acting without either his direct or indirect approval.

It's possible that he might not have personally signed off on things, but it is just as damning if he created a culture within his administration where things like this could happen with his indirect approval.

There is already a drip, drip, drip coming out of New Jersey of how he's bullied, intimidated, and punished other mayors and elected officials who didn't do what he wanted. If Christie had any involvement in this - directly or indirectly - if he knew more than he was saying at the press conference (and he left himself no wiggle room) then it's going to come out. There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling.

It's telling that the Republicans aren't rallying behind him. He's out there on his own treading water. The sharks are coming for Christie.

I honestly think this scandal has just begun, but as the weeks and months move forward it's going to be like falling down the rabbit hole. This investigation is going to take us to places that we never dreamed possible, and in the end... well I think right now Christie probably feels a lot like Richard Nixon.

I can't help but wonder if "I'm not a bully" is going to become his version of "I'm not a crook."

 

This scandal will undoubtedly end Christie's chances of becoming president if it's revealed that he knew what was going on. However, if nothing really changes and it isn't proven that Christie knew, then this whole mess won't be too big of a deal. I'm guessing it's going to be the latter.

Past presidential candidates have successfully overcome scandals/mistakes, and Christie definitely can, too.

---------- Post added 10th Jan 2014 at 05:13 AM ----------

Palin isn't very smart, but even she knows she would never have a chance of becoming president. She is never going to run.

And the GOP would still have a very deep pool of candidates even if Christie didn't run. Democrats, on the other hand, have pretty much nothing beyond Hillary. Joe Biden? Good luck.

 

Who's in this pool you speak of?

 

Aside from Cruz and Paul, Walker, Kasich, Jindal, Ryan, Rubio, Bush, and a couple others could all run.

Pretty deep.

 

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast".

Honestly, like I said, there is serious danger of this going deeper. If there was a culture in his administration of abusing power to get back at political rivals, then it's unlikely that the Mayor of Fort Lee is the only one. So whether or not he ordered it could ultimately, in the end, be irrelevant.

However, Christie is in a dangerous position now because the looming question is: what did he know, and when did he know it? If there is even a hint that Christie knew what was going on before 8:50 AM the day the e-mails leaked, he's fucked. ...and let's face it, I don't know anyone who seriously believes that Christie was somehow blindsided by all of this - it doesn't add up with everything else known about his administration.

There is literally no way that the Deputy Chief of Staff went out on her own to do this without (at the very least) the indirect approval from Christie. There may have been a don't ask, don't tell relationship to protect himself (and if he's smart that's exactly what he's done), but again... it'll fall down to the type of culture he created in his office.

This is not a scandal that is going away. This is the type of scandal that grows and gets bigger and bigger. We don't even have all the information yet, and most of the devastating e-mails we saw were redacted. There will be a point when we see EVERYTHING there is to offer in those e-mails. Who was the anonymous sender that sent the text message: "I feel bad for the kids. I guess." Why was the sender of that text message made anonymous?

I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, and the really scary thing I think for Chris Christie is that he's out there all alone. Normally in situations like this, Republicans will rally - guilt be damned - to stand behind their guy. Christie is out there in the water all by himself and the sharks are circling all around him. No help is in sight.

In fact, there have even been gleeful attacks from the right equally rooting for his destruction. I actually laughed at Rand Paul's extremely snarky response to the scandal it went something along the lines of: 'It seems I'm not the only one who always wondered who was to blame when I got stuck in traffic. I guess now we know, don't we?'

I mean, let's be honest here, do you actually believe that Christie is being completely truthful, and that he just found out at 8:50 AM when he heard about it in the papers? I mean, really? There is absolutely no way that he couldn't have known, and the best case scenario for him is that he purposefully created a situation of willful ignorance. "Don't tell me anything about that, I can't know in case I have to testify under oath. Just keep it to yourself."

It was clear that it was a lawyer move to make certain he didn't talk to his Deputy Chief of Staff after the e-mail were revealed. He didn't even speak to her to fire her, according to what he said. This means he gave the order and had someone else do it. ...but think about it, if you were really innocent and wanted to get to the bottom of things to PROVE your innocence, wouldn't you want to call her into your office and force her to give you a confession to everything she knew? That way you could find EVERYONE involved and actively clear your name?

Apparently not if you're Chris Christie. He purposefully avoided speaking with her to cover his own ass. I am quite certain and confident that other people in his office knew what was going on, I mean... really, let's face it, do you really believe she was some rogue actor secretly getting retribution on Christie's enemies behind his back?

She's just the first sacrificial lamb. It will be interesting to see how many more sacrifices there will be before the end.

I agree that Palin is never going to run for President. She hates being in politics, and would much rather be a troll standing on the side lines hurling shit at everyone else. I mean, let's face it, she didn't even complete her term as governor of Alaska.

The only person on the Republican side that I think has a serious chance of potentially winning a Presidential election right now is Jeb Bush. He's really the only person who can try and hold together the old Republican coalition which is fracturing. After that, there are a bunch of second tier candidates who I can't imagine winning a majority of electoral votes: Rand Paul, Bobby Jindal, and Marco Rubio. Both Rubio and Paul are too close to Washington, and it's going to be hard for a sitting Senator to win the election.

On the Democratic side, most people are holding back because there is the assumption that Hillary will run. Andrew Cuomo, Martin O'Malley, and Joe Biden are of course all sitting on the side lines. If Hillary doesn't run there will be an effort to draft others as well, two who immediately come to mind will be Elizabeth Warren and Corey Booker. However, I'd discourage both of them from running as we actually need them in the Senate, and the fact that they're sitting Senators will hurt them in a Presidential Race anyway.

I also wouldn't be shocked if Wesley Clark is drafted again as well, and my money would actually be on him if Hillary didn't run. Primarily for two reasons, first as a good friend of the Clinton's he'd benefit from their political machine, and second he's largely untouched and untainted by politics. This is helpful because the public hates Washington. He also has a good temperament and personality, someone who doesn't appear radical, who appears mentally stable, and can come off as competent.

It's sad, isn't it? But that's where my bar is for any Presidential candidate: can't appear crazy, can't appear a radical, has a moderate temperament, and displays signs of mental stability and competence while at the same time having as much distance as possible from Washington D.C.

 

I just want to say that it's really that the aid's(the one who sent the original email) name is Bridget. That is all.

 

Christie's blustery personality may play well in places like NJ and New York, but I think on the national stage, he's going to come across as a hothead. Being from the midwest, I just don't see him being well received there, and he's way too up-tight for the west coast.

This episode dramatically amplifies the negative aspects of his personality, and I'm sure when he hits the trail, and people actually see what a loud-mouthed, pushy bully he is, they;ll be turned off. He's no 'Republican Savior', and there's a lot of time to find scandals similar to this one...and believe me, people will now be searching with a very fine tooth comb.

 

Whatever happens he's toast.

Seriously, this is just so perfect to discredit him with pretty much every single voter that I almost believe this was sabotage by his staff, secretly bought out by some vast conspiracy... Almost. Sometimes people are just this arrogant and petty, governors included.

 

I'm actually willing to bet the majority of America's public doesn't know much of anything about this story. Likely heard it briefly but didn't grasp its true gravity or dwell on it enough to retain it. Probably got a chuckle out of it while dressing for work.


Purely opinion on my part, of course, but I think most voters don't pay much attention outside of a couple major debates.