Yeah. Wow. That’s interesting.
Local story about some staff members has no legs in 2016. If Christy decides to run, he will be a formidable candidate.
They do not require daily staffing, I should say. The WWII memorial is open whether there is anyone to staff it or not. Closing it was an act of malice.
Anyway, I’m going to just concede now given new developments that christie has a real problem. His resorting to the “I didn’t know what my own administration was doing” defense is tiresome after the last five years of such behavior from our chief executive.
Is there not going to be a criminal investigation? I would think that abusing the executive’s power to punish opposition politicians would have serious legal consequences.
CNN.com has a long story: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/08/politics/christie-bridge/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
How’s that FBI investigation of the IRS going? This kind of thing is not exactly uncommon. It does damage Christie, and it should, but let’s not act shocked that politicians do this sort of thing.
A fat man for President? The individual that sits at the highest ranking position in the US, should be healthy as opposed to a fatty. A fatty and a schmuck. Bad combo.
Also, a police search for a missing four year old girl was hampered by police being redirected to traffic duties.
A defense attorney on another message board posted the above. The key thing is that the document dump is a smoking gun for Wildstein and Kelly, and for the US Attorney to ignore it in their case amounts to malpractice. They’re going to jail for this. Wildstein has now gone to court to quash the subpoena for him to testify tomorrow, and you can bet Kelley is talking to her lawyer. The whole equation on the scandal, and how insulated Christie can be from it, changes when members of his inner circle and his cronies are facing jail time. Christie’s denials only provide a fig leaf as long as documents don’t appear showing otherwise, and Kelly and Wildstein don’t flip on him.
At root, the problem for Christie with this scandal is that it’s easy to understand and it’s totally indefensible. The attack ads write themselves, everyone knows exactly what happened, and no one will go on TV to try to spin it as not that bad a thing. It’s a real scandal, it’s got legs, and it plays into every (formerly positive) stereotype about the Soprano State and those who run it (i.e., “yeah, he’s a bully, but he’s our bully”). It also gives everyone an excuse to start talking about all the other Christie stories, and for reporters to dig back into them.
It would be nice for a politician to finally have his career ruined over this kind of thing. Next step will be to ruin politicians who do the more routine political retaliation, like denying earmarks to those who supported their opponent.
When you look at not just their bills but their behavior and their backers (BP, Altira, the Koch Bros.), they kind of do come across as shadowy evildoers in the halls of legislatures getting nefarious bills passed… that won’t be popular at all. In a word: bogeymen. From ALEC calls for “Guerrilla Warfare” on EPA:
That last bit reminds me of how the GOP hopes to run their debates- limit access. I guess they want to limit who participates in elections as well, to increase the odds their chosen candidates get elected.
While some of the language in my cites can be seen as innuendo, it is hard to see how supporting ALEC is compatible with patriotism. That’s why I won’t be voting for Christie, or any other GOP candidate. There is still time for a 3rd party to arise by 2016- I may not vote for the Democrat either.
The New Jersey legislature is led by Democrats. They’re planning on investigating the bridge closure. This is not going to go away. The Democratic legislature will be sure to keep this major news for as long as they can.
I think that 2016 is going to be John McCain’s year.
The shit is now hitting the fan.
Is it wrong that I’m smiling? 
This is false. You are incorrect.
This is a joke, right?
Jesus titty fucking Christ. The IRS scandal is not that these groups were delayed in getting their tax-exempt status, it’s that they ever got tax-exempt status. The statue reads that these groups must be EXCLUSIVELY engaged in public welfare, back in the Eisenhower years the IRS took it upon itself to change that to PRIMARILY engaged in public welfare. Anyway, liberal groups were also scrutinized, but didn’t fucking whine about it.
No, this is just the break the McCain campaign has been waiting for.
And I’m loving the desperate equivalence-making going on in right-wing circles: “Obama didn’t know about some IRS middle-manager in Ohio making legitimate enquiries about potential political activities of groups applying for non-profit status, and that is EXACTLY LIKE Christie not knowing that several of his most senior staffers, some of whom were personal friends, had all but closed the busiest bridge in the entire world for the purposes of petty political retribution.” Yes, there is absolutely no difference between those two cases.
This is a good point. Right now, Christie probably isn’t feeling too great about being a Republican governor in a blue state.
Yes. And my fondest wish as well.
Your point is taken, other than the Ohio thing. The targeting was directed out of the DC office, specifically the counsel’s office. But you’re right, nowhere near the President.
Also, don’t call it legitimate, because no one but apologists are making that argument. The administration admitted wrongdoing and fired people, and the IRS is still under criminal investigation. The Justice Department only just appointed the head investigator yesterday.
So yeah, it’s pretty well established that the President wasn’t involved, nor was anyone close to him, so not equivalent to the Christie thing. But you can’t handwave it away as nothing either. It’s still very likely that supporters of the President working in the IRS were targeting his political opponents.