Rudy Guiliani's Chris Christy Defense: Truth By Arrogance

     While Christy probably did as well as can be expected in the aftermath of such embarrassing revelations, he may well be setting himself up for more trouble down the road with his insistence of total innocence himself of any involvement. Former NYC Mayor Guiliani thinks that his arrogance proves he's not lying:

     Giuliani argued that Christie has an alibi in the matter: the governor’s own, mocking comments about the issue when he was asked about the lane-closure flap.

“If he knew that he had vulnerability in a situation like this or had any inkling that [aides did know], he certainly would have been more quiet about it than he was,” said Giuliani.

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/new-jersey-republican-governor-chris-christie-george-washington-bridge-scandal-fort-lee-102000.html#ixzz2q3OyhVLt

     Unfortunately, he might if he's arrogant enough not keep quiet-which is what I think happened. After all, one reason he might have mocked them is because he arrogantly assumed he's untouchable and they could never prove what they claimed and so he had carte blanche. 

     I must say I'm very skeptical of this claim that he knew nothing about it. I think it's almost impossible to prove that he didn't know and didn't approve of what was going on. In Watergate, Nixon had very little overt involvement in Watergate, and yet when interviewed, those who participated in it said that he didn't have to tell them to do it-as it was understood. In these situations, you kind of know what the boss wants. 

    Certainly everything will-as always-be done to give Christy plausible deniability. I guess I don't find any kind of denial of involvement in this case plausible. 

     "Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor, offered words of encouragement to Christie, although she was among the few elected officials of that rank who did."

    “I’ve watched my friend Gov. Christie work through a difficult situation today. He did the right thing in taking responsibility in a tough situation,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “That’s the kind of leadership that earned him the huge level of trust he has in New Jersey.”

     "Ex-Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, had a different perspective."

     “I have been predicting for months that he would implode and so I’m not surprised that this has happened,” he said in an interview. “It’s almost incomprehensible to me that he did not have knowledge of this, or that he did not purposely choose to have knowledge of it and his staff understood that … we’ll just see what happens, but I don’t think what he is saying is very credible.”

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/new-jersey-republican-governor-chris-christie-george-washington-bridge-scandal-fort-lee-102000_Page2.html#ixzz2q3R3MAvC

     Christy is going to do everything he can to argue that this is 'an exception' in his Administration. 

      “This is the exception,” he said. “It is not the rule of what’s happened over the last four years in the administration.”

     http://thinkprogress.org/home/2014/01/09/3141001/aide-fired-vendetta/

     Even if this were true, it would be a pretty big exception. It's like saying I have no police record accept the time I molested a kid. Is that an extreme analogy? No, because what he did here was the political equivalent of molesting a child-at total betrayal of the public trust. 

      For the record, this is not the first time he's stood condemned of using his office to exact political retribution. 

     "But while Christie claimed that this was “not the way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years” and denied being a bully, accusations ofpolitical retribution have long surrounded the governor. For instance, former Gov. Richard Codey (D) accused the Christie administration of “sending a message” by denying him state trooper protection after he publicly disagreed with Christie. The same day, a Codey cousin was fired from his position at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a former Codey aide was removed from the New Jersey Office of Consumer Affairs."

     "After then State Sen. Sean Kean (R) told a reporter that Christie erred in not calling for a state of emergency sooner, during a 2010 blizzard, Christie’s staff banned Kean from attending the next news conference Christie held in Kean’s home district. A Christie aide told the Star-Ledger that Kean “got what he deserved.” Rutgers Professor Alan Rosenthal saw his state funding slashed after backing a re-districting map more favorable to Democrats and last year, confirmation of a judicial candidate recommended by State Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R) suddenly stalled after the legislator voted against Christie’s public medical education system reorganization."