Discussion:

Discussion for article #235916

Christie’s choices now are to plead that he is so incompetent that he had no idea what his staff was doing, or he can plead that he is so corrupt that he saw nothing wrong with using state property to gain revenge against a mayor of a small town. Neither choice will enhance his creds as a presidential candidate. I intentionally left off the choice of pleading utter stupidity, but it looks more and more like that is the choice that fits the data best. And, that choice will benefit Christie, since our voters have already shown that they value stupidity over almost everything (never forget those voters went for GWBUSH)

Even if he had no idea that his staff was doing this, clearly his staff thought it was something Christie would approve of. There are no options available that can make Christie look anything but petty and vindictive at best, and downright cruel at worst.

After all this time and money spent investigating, this is all they got? How bad is this for CC or how is it worse than the day the e-mails were released? Why did they have to cut a deal with DW? And how can BK say she didn’t conspire with DW when it’s right there in the e-mails? And 2+ years apiece? What a joke.

Can Bridgette really make statements like she did today, then invoke the Fifth when it comes to trial?

She doesn’t have to take the stand on her own behalf, but how else will she prove she is innocent?

It would be even more justice if people who were stuck in the traffic jam sued these people for damages. What if someone was late to a job interview and didn’t get a job as a result? Or someone who couldn’t get to a hospital in time and something happened to their health that shouldn’t have? Any accidents that occurred because of this?

When you really step back and think about the abuse of power here, and the hubris, it’s kind of breathtaking. That they thought nothing of fouling up the lives of so many people - and those kids on buses, really makes this so much more than just a ‘traffic jam’. I have no problem with 5+ years in prison for all involved, and a whole lot of community service. Really really lame.

Tick tock, tick tock…

Two words: Awesome. Sauce.

Takes the schaden in my freude to a whole new level.

The biggest mistake they made was picking the first day of school so that children, I repeat children, were caught up in this very adult mess. If my child had been on a bus held up for hours, someone in this group of “thugs” would be dead.

Why the news blackout on Christie defrauding the PA of NY & NJ bond holders out of $1.8 billion dollars?

Why does TPM and the other media focus on this case where we have no concrete proof of Christie’s involvement, versus the Pulaski Skyway “bridgegate” where we have irrefutable proof of Christie’s guilt?

Google “chris christie pulaski skyway fraud”

Wildstein has lost a TON of weight - did you notice? That’s yet another way he must be enjoying sticking it to Christie after Christie’s cruelty to him.

91 lbs.

This is some damned fine popcorn. Noms! Lulz!

An old woman was walking down the road when she saw a gang of thugs beating a poisonous snake. She rescued the snake and carried it back to her home, where she nursed it back to health. They became friends and lived together for many months. One day they were going into town, and the old woman picked him up and the snake bit her. Repeatedly. “O God,” she screamed, “I am dying! Why? I was your friend. I saved your life! I trusted you! Why did you bite me?”
The snake looked up at her and said, “Lady, you knew I was a snake when you first picked me up.”

—H.S. Thompson.

That’s what really stands out about this case. Ordinarily, when Republicans are making life miserable for large numbers of people, they can at least maintain the fiction that they’re doing so in service of some higher ideological cause - breaking the cycle of dependency, reducing the debt burden on our grandchildren, allowing free markets to produce the inevitable paradise, etc., etc. That’s almost always a fiction, of course - the real motivation for most of their policies is usually mean-spiritedness, greed, or vindictiveness.

In this case, they were driven solely by vindictiveness. They have no cover whatsoever, not even good old-fashioned greed.

It wasn’t an endorsement for re-election that mattered. It was leveraging that endorsement for 2016. Christie’s people wanted to say “look how bipartisan he is! he got all those democrats to endorse him for re-election, even.”

These people are lucky not to be charged with domestic terrorism. They hijacked a public utility.

I went for popcorn, alas the shelves were empty.