Gov. Chris Christie in hot water over Bridge Scandal

[Moonbeam]

my own prediction, so someone can quote me and mock me for being wrong in a few months... 😉

unless a smoking gun comes out that directly ties Christie with this, I think he escapes with his national reputation in-tact, if a little dinged up. there's no chance this ends with him resigning.

I still don't think that he has a shot at the GOP nomination in 2016 if he runs at all, but signing the Dream Act this week was far more damaging to him in that regard than causing a traffic jam. the second he starts campaigning in Iowa, there will be ads blanketing the airwaves about Christie supporting illegals and wanting to give them all your jerbs and monies.

This sounds reasonable to me. The American people as a whole are busy trying to survive and aren't paying attention to politics. They know the corporations and the rich have taken any say they might once have had away.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Balancing the budget is a constitutional requirement in NJ. It is balanced every year.



Christie has used many of the same budgeting gimmicks that his predecessor used in order to balance the budget each year, even those he explicitly decried as dishonest as a candidate. I find his posturing on fiscal issues to be pretty unconvincing on the whole. I actually like the decisions he made on putting the NJ pension system on a more sustainable path (so long as the state actually follows it), but let's not pretend a lot of it wasn't opportunistic backloading.

I think he has done a decent job as governor in that respect, but I find his claims of restoring 'fiscal sanity' to be quite overblown. He has not been that different from Corzine.

Perhaps you can explain this backloading. I see that Christie's most recent budget of $33B includes $1.67B for pension funding which is an all time record for NJ. Seems to me he's doing his best to tackle a very difficult problem.

 

[fskimospy]

Perhaps you can explain this backloading. I see that Christie's most recent budget of $33B includes $1.67B for pension funding which is an all time record for NJ. Seems to me he's doing his best to tackle a very difficult problem.

It goes up to $5 billion+ in a few years.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

It goes up to $5 billion+ in a few years.

Hopefully Obama will have this economy humming by then and an extra $3.33B will be no sweat. We can only hope. Do you think Christie should have budgeted the full $5B instead of the $1.67B and ratcheting from there?

 

[fskimospy]

Hopefully Obama will have this economy humming by then and an extra $3.33B will be no sweat. We can only hope. Do you think Christie should have budgeted $5B instead of the $1.67B?

Hopefully so!

As for what he should be doing don't think that he should be talking up how restrained his budgeting has been while doing things like that.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Hopefully so!

As for what he should be doing don't think that he should be talking up how restrained his budgeting has been while doing things like that.

Many people in NJ have complained about the spending cuts. I'm no expert on such things but it seems to me that more aggressive funding would mean even deeper spending cuts than have already occurred and higher taxes as well. I don't think that the people of NJ would appreciate this shock approach...do you? I think Christie's approach is rational considering the current weakness of our economic recovery.

 

[Moonbeam]

Many people in NJ have complained about the spending cuts. I'm no expert on such things but it seems to me that more aggressive funding would mean even deeper spending cuts than have already occurred and higher taxes as well. I don't think that the people of NJ would appreciate this shock approach...do you? I think Christie's approach is rational considering the current weakness of our economic recovery.

Maybe he should work without pay.

 

[colonel]

It's Obama fault, people did not inflated tires correctly.

 

[waggy]

lol

I have to admit this is funny. The amount of hypocrisy on both sides is amazing. You have many saying there was no way that he couldn't know this was going on. But when people said that about all the shit with Obama's camp it was shot down.

How is it ok that Obama didn't know yet Christie HAD to know and should have (and yes he should have)?

on the other side you have people saying the same. he didn't know and people under him did something yet he was clueless about it. sorry no..that excuse just don't fly.

I don't think this will hurt him anymore then Bangazie did Hilary. In other words it's just not going to change a damn thing. wich is a pity. i thought Christie might be different and he just showed he is no different then any other politician. really don't know why that surprises me..

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Please, unlike Obama and the IRS thing this is Christie's deputy chief of staff, and unlike the Benghazi thing this is actually a thing.

 

[theeedude]

But but but... Obama!

 

[UberNeuman]

Could it be the Fat Lady is singing for the Fat Man?

 

[Phokus]

lol

I have to admit this is funny. The amount of hypocrisy on both sides is amazing. You have many saying there was no way that he couldn't know this was going on. But when people said that about all the shit with Obama's camp it was shot down.

How is it ok that Obama didn't know yet Christie HAD to know and should have (and yes he should have)?

on the other side you have people saying the same. he didn't know and people under him did something yet he was clueless about it. sorry no..that excuse just don't fly.

I don't think this will hurt him anymore then Bangazie did Hilary. In other words it's just not going to change a damn thing. wich is a pity. i thought Christie might be different and he just showed he is no different then any other politician. really don't know why that surprises me..

No, what's funny was your denial:

seems to be a reach to nail this to christie.

But keep pretending both parties are the same. It's funny watching you compare a real scandal (Chris Christie's) to a manufactured one though. Where's the smoking gun with Obama? *crickets*

 

[OutHouse]

^^^ liberals are such scumbags. lets blast a guy who had nothing to do with closing a bridge but totally defend the president for executing Americans without trial.

 

[theeedude]

Get Christie under oath and ask him all about the bridge closings. Let him either tell the truth or plead the fifth.

 

[Incorruptible]

Please, unlike Obama and the IRS thing this is Christie's deputy chief of staff, and unlike the Benghazi thing this is actually a thing.

It takes a real scumbag to believe this crap. An innocent man was arrested and 4 Americans lost their lives and your piece of shit obama blamed a video.

 

[bradly1101]

On the news tonight I saw Mr Christie deliver his words of contrition and denial from behind the biggest podium I've ever seen. He looks downright svelte behind that thing.

 

[HomerJS]

What a pretentious dick.

He said "I fired my DCOS because she lied to me"

Fuck what she did to Ft. Lee she lied to me?! How dare she!!

 

[werepossum]

Fort lee has 35,000 people in 2.8 square miles.
It borders Cliffside park with 24,000 people in 2.5 square miles
Englewood 27,000 people in 5 square miles.

If you look at the map you can see the impact that the lane closings have as traffic gets rerouted. Millions of people are impacted as they head towards NYC.

Oh, I quite understand. That's a good part of what makes this so atrocious, as most of the people inconvenienced never voted for Fort Lee's mayor and probably couldn't even name him.

Put it this way: We have to deal with the very occasional elected or appointed official who is a total waste of skin, just a miserable excuse for a human being. If I did something in my power to inconvenience thousands of people so that one of these cretins caught heat, I'd be fired in a heartbeat even though I'm a partner. I'd EXPECT to be fired. I would not want to work for anyone who would not fire me. These people either assumed that Christie would be okay with this or just didn't care, or maybe not smart enough to come to the inevitable conclusion. Either way, not good. Character is what you do when no one's watching and while this isn't politically fatal, Christie's perceived character (or depending on how you look at it, his judgement) just took a big hit.

Mayor of Toronto laughing at Christie now.

Better sketch put both of them in together.

Better add in Obama, since his favorables are 10 points lower than the mayor's. “How does this make Obama feel, huh?” Leno asked during his opening monologue. “You’re better off smoking crack than passing Obamacare! Would’ve been up ten points! Would’ve been ten points higher.”

http://redalertpolitics.com/2013/11...ter-off-smoking-crack-than-pushing-obamacare/

my own prediction, so someone can quote me and mock me for being wrong in a few months... 😉

unless a smoking gun comes out that directly ties Christie with this, I think he escapes with his national reputation in-tact, if a little dinged up. there's no chance this ends with him resigning.

I still don't think that he has a shot at the GOP nomination in 2016 if he runs at all, but signing the Dream Act this week was far more damaging to him in that regard than causing a traffic jam. the second he starts campaigning in Iowa, there will be ads blanketing the airwaves about Christie supporting illegals and wanting to give them all your jerbs and monies.

Agree completely. But politics is a matter of slight percentages, and for people like me who like a lot about Christie but also dislike a lot, this is a killer. Not as bad for him as the Dream Act, but bad enough.

 

[chowderhead]

Chris Christie is a big fat liar. He claimed he knew nothing until yesterday but couldn't sleep for the last two nights. Why did Christie call Governor Cuomo back in early December to complain that Cuomo's appointee to the Port Authority
"was pressing too hard to get to the bottom of why the number of toll lanes onto the bridge from Fort Lee, N.J. was cut from three to one in early September."
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304477704579254012674389146

 

[kage69]

^^^ liberals are such scumbags. lets blast a guy who had nothing to do with closing a bridge but totally defend the president for executing Americans without trial.

Scumbags huh? Why, did the term 'bully' suddenly become synonymous with 'known terrorist with blood on his hands'? I'm always surprised by how willing you guys are to embarrass yourselves with such comparisons. You don't get to where he is without being able to scatter your tracks, especially with underlings like that. Quit being so naive and read between the lines, it insults your intelligence.

I think Chris "Fat Chance" Christi, although plain spoken and not given to PC mumbo jumbo (nice traits IMO) really is a bully, which incidentally also puts him firmly in douchebag territory as far as I'm concerned. Having said that he's no terrorist or AQ recruiter. I'd love the chance to make his little camera buddy regret hitting Record, but if you think he belongs in the same argument as al Alawki, get help. Those scumbags of yours are able to see the distinction, why can't you? Should I go out on a limb here, sans search function, and say you probably were outraged over the possible IRS aspect to PACs in this last election? Try being intellectually honest, please.

And enough with the execution without trial thing, you're just announcing how selective and narrow your view of American life is, and that politics decides it's range (the Benghazi Effect I call it). Americans are taken down all the time without due process, here at home. Should I pull another balancing act out on that limb and say you don't have any kind of history being disgusted with cops having to shoot homicidal maniacs, hostage takers, or the 'suicide by cop' brigade?

 

[Nintendesert]

I guess I need to be an East Coaster to be outraged by this?

 

[UberNeuman]

I guess I need to be an East Coaster to be outraged by this?

I'd guess you're a toad. Any person in office that takes out their spite on their "enemy" by attacking/denying the citizens of something that means life to them on a daily basis and which means death to those that are old and can't receive the medical services that they need because of pettiness....

 

[theeedude]

Chris Christie is a big fat liar. He claimed he knew nothing until yesterday but couldn't sleep for the last two nights. Why did Christie call Governor Cuomo back in early December to complain that Cuomo's appointee to the Port Authority
"was pressing too hard to get to the bottom of why the number of toll lanes onto the bridge from Fort Lee, N.J. was cut from three to one in early September."
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304477704579254012674389146

If he in fact tried to get someone to back off asking questions on this matter that he supposedly knew nothing about, life is going to get complicated for him very fast.

 

[fskimospy]