Tony Soprano for president?
by digby
I’m sure you heard more today than you ever wanted to about bridge closures in New Jersey. But man oh man this is an amazing editorial from the New Jersey Star ledger:
Emails released today revealed two political bombshells: Gov. Chris Christie’s office had advance knowledge of the traffic nightmare at the George Washington Bridge that crippled Fort Lee in September. And his top officials at the Port Authority did indeed close the lanes as a form of retribution against the town’s mayor.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Christie’s deputy chief of staff wrote to David Wildstein, a top Christie appointee at the Port Authority. Wildstein answered, “Got it.”
Which confirms what critics have suspected all along: This was an outrageous misuse of public resources, a reckless endangerment of the public, and apparently a massive lie.
[…]
Christie has said that after checking with his staff, he determined that no one from his office was involved in these lane closings. He scoffed at the very idea that it was political retribution against the Fort Lee mayor for refusing to endorse his re-election, and joked that he had moved the traffic cones himself.His attempts to laugh this off now appear to be dishonest, though we can’t yet be sure that he personally knew about the correspondence of one of his top aides. Still, Christie bears responsibility either way. If it turns out he did know, he is obviously lying and unfit for office — let alone a 2016 presidential run.
And even if he did not, his officials are liars. If Christie can’t control them, how can we trust him as a potential future leader of our country?
Personally I don’t think it’s even slightly possible that Christie didn’t know about this. He’s just that kind of guy:
“The fact is, I didn’t know Fort Lee got three dedicated lanes until all this stuff happened, and I think we should review that entire policy because I don’t know why Fort Lee needs three dedicated lanes to tell you the truth,” Christie said at a Dec. 13 press conference. “And I didn’t even know it until this whole, you know, happening went about.”
He added later: “The fact that one town has three lanes dedicated to it, that kind of gets me sauced.”
He’s very cute. The question is, how many people want a thug for president? Here’s at least one that does:
Rush Limbaugh…“The point of the story is that Christie will do payback. If you don’t give him what he wants, he’ll pay you back.” [Rush Limbaugh, Rush Limbaugh Show, 1/8/14]
.