Christy's 107 Minute Conference Had Everything: a Patsy and a Pathetic Bully

    The pathetic bully is obvious: it's him. As the Daily News puts it, he gave us 107 minutes of painless self-flagellation. Ok, it was painless for him. It was a little different for Bridget Kelly-yes, she's the 'patsy' of the title. Everything is being put on her and Christy's campaign manager.

    "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s one-hour-and-forty-seven-minute self-serving, self-pitying display of contrition on Thursday was a climactic act in a brazen cover-up that threatens to further unravel his political career."

     "Ever so thoroughly the governor scoured the thesaurus for words of apology, regret and painless self-flagellation while nervily playing the victim and mercilessly destroying the aide who played only a supporting role for the George Washington Bridge political revenge plot."

     "Christie needed blood to express his outrage to the public, so he drew it from deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly for the sin, the governor said, of lying to him. Perhaps, Kelly did lie, although it seems incredible that anyone would flat-out attempt to deceive an intense, emergency inquiry."

     "Regardless, Christie made roadkill of Kelly and his former campaign manager while wholly exempting the close pals who were central to the lane-closure conspiracy that caused four days of gridlock and dangerously slowed emergency response in Fort Lee. Pathetic."

      Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/christie-load-bull-article-1.1571541#ixzz2q7H6lXeN

     Standard operating procedure-let some patsy be the sacrificial lamb for the public's demand for blood and let the higher ups skate. Wildstein who it turns out goes way back with Christy-back to high school, though the Governor claims that Wildstein was a dork back then not cool enough to hang with him-was before a New Jersey state legislative committee, pleading the 5th. 

     "The governor gave three truly guilty parties, David Wildstein, Bill Baroni and David Samson, passes. Each is a Christie lieutenant who held a high position at the authority. While their exact roles are still hidden — and Christie saw no reason to inquire about them — each either engineered, concealed or did nothing about the interstate transportation outrage."

      "Wildstein took the Fifth Amendment before a New Jersey legislative committee shortly after Christie concluded his sad-a-thon. Call it luck for the governor, or call it loyal service by a political hatchet man hoping for even a small shred of a repaid favor sometime in the future."

     "Wildstein’s subpoenaed emails put the lie to claims that the Port Authority shut the lanes as part of a misguided traffic study. In truth, the closures were pure payback to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie’s reelection. Sokolich is a Democrat; Christie is a Republican."

     Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/christie-load-bull-article-1.1571541#ixzz2q7H6lXeN

     As for Christy's claim 'I am not a bully', it's a truly Nixonian moment for him. 

    “I am not a bully,” said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

    "It was said with the same mild defiance with which President Richard Nixon, a onetime New Jersey resident, once declared, “I am not a crook.”

     "We shall see. As for his own White House ambitions, it may still be a bridge too far."

     http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/theswamp/2014/01/i-am-not-a-bully-christie-declares-so-wheres-he-now-left

     However, as much as he sings this sad song about how two aides lied to him, it's clear that he knew what was going on much earlier. 

      "When PA Executive Director Pat Foye, a Gov. Cuomo appointee, got wind of the traffic nightmares after four days, thanks to a reporter’s inquiry, he sent emails to the official responsible for the bridge and to that official’s boss at 6 a.m.

They reported back that Wildstein had ordered the lanes shut with directions to alert no one, including cops, firefighters and Foye. Not only that, Wildstein showed up early on the morning of the first day of the closures to inspect the chaos."

      Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/christie-load-bull-article-1.1571541#ixzz2q7UQSVu7

         He surveyed the damage he had wrought-is sociopath too strong a term?

        "Foye ordered the lanes opened and reported Wildstein’s actions to the departed Baroni, who was Christie’s appointee as PA deputy executive director, and to Samson, who remains Christie’s appointee as authority chairman."

        "Right then and there, both men had a duty to inform the governor about what had happened and to take disciplinary action. Key question: What did they tell Christie? He says nothing."

        "What’s clear is that Baroni concocted a blatant lie about a traffic study, and Samson took no known action. Then, on Oct. 1, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Foye had angrily informed all of them as to Wildstein’s actions. Christie saw the story and did worse than nothing."