Bridgegate report: New crisis, different woman, same Old Boys

[Beach Rat]

Wow, here's a pretty good summation of the tactic of portraying Bridget Kelly as an unstable woman scorned. Kapow Mr. Mastro, take that! Here's an excerpt. You need to read the whole thing. It isn't that long.

In a report designed to clear Gov. Chris Christie of any wrongdoing in the George Washington Bridge controversy, the characterization of Bridget Anne Kelly by Christie’s attorney, Randy Mastro, was a direct lift from “The Old Boys Club Handbook.”

As read by Mastro before a bank of television cameras, the report portrayed Kelly essentially as a woman scorned, saying Christie’s former deputy chief of state and his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, had been “personally involved,” that she had “seemed emotional,” and that Stepien had ended the relationship.

Despite the fact the investigating attorneys had interviewed neither Kelly nor Stepien, their report implied the two were not speaking at the time the access-lane closures had been ordered, and that Kelly’s jilted-woman status may have been at the root of the order.

It’s the classic psychological profile of a woman — if you’re from the 14th century. It holds that, at times of crisis, women become emotional, irrational, unstable and unreliable.

Mastro told American Lawyer that his report had no sexist undertones. Kelly’s irate attorney, Michael Critchley, begged to differ.

“(T)he report’s venomous, gratuitous and inappropriate sexist remarks concerning Ms. Kelly,” he said, “have no place in what is alleged to be a professional and independent report.”

Venomous, gratuitous, inappropriate. Got that right.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/03/bridgegate_report_new_crisis_different_woman_same_old_boys_opinion.html#incart_river_default

[Spazito]

1. This opinion piece is right on point, the writer nails it...

thanks for posting this, it is well worth the read.

[monmouth3]

2. I do hope she is really irately furious over this portrayal and really

spills it all. You want emotion???? I'll give you some GD emotion...Ahhhhh a Jersey Girl can dream

[Laxman]

4. Fran Wood Doesn't Write Much Anymore...

she must be really pissed! This was a pretty good rant! Not to mention right on target.

No, Kelly’s email was clearly a reference to prior discussion — enough discussion that triggering action could be reduced to eight words. The recipient(s) required no further explanation. The recipient(s) knew what she meant, and acted on it.

Identify that circle of discussion, what they said and when they said it, and you’re a lot closer to the answers than grabbing “The Old Boys Club Handbook” and flipping to the chapter titled “PMS, Unrequited Love and Other Causes of Female Hysteria.”

[Squinch]

3. Kick. It's actually funny, how knuckle-dragging they show themselves to be.

[seabeyond]

11. iama perusing replies to find the men on du that uses these comments on us, to be outraged in this

Op

not seeing them

[central scrutinizer]

5. She had the "vapors"

Hysterical and hysterectomy come from the same root word

[Beach Rat]

6. I do declare!

Ods bodkins! Do you think they realize just how bad it all sounds?

[Laxman]

8. Ods Bodkins?

I'm going to have to start using that! 18th Century language for 18th Century thinkers

[cui bono]

7. The ironic thing is that by doing this Christie is painting himself as a terrible leader.

Why would he delegate so much responsibility to her then?

It also makes one wonder about what he expects to gain from this. She has no reason now to not tell everything she knows. Perhaps some immunity is in order?

[Oilwellian]

9. Way to go, Republican Neanderthals

All women will identify with this story and remember your stunning stupidity while in the voting booth.

[seabeyond]

10. yes. and that is why when duers use "a woman scorned" bullshit i call it out for the sexist crap

it is

when when a handful of duers talking about feminists issues pull out " emotional, irrational, unstable and unreliable and hysterical" most all of us call out that crap. along with shrill.

that is the old boys handbook. we recognize. we know. people used to stay quiet. we do not anymore.

garbage.

[Laxman]

12. Stupidity At This Level...

almost seems purposeful. Are they really so confident of their ultimate vindication that their are comfortable to continue with retaliation as ususal? As this article points out-what the hell were the lawyers in the room-especially the women-thinking when they took the report in this direction?

Whatever Mastro’s motivation for including Kelly’s personal life in his report, it drew nearly universal condemnation as anassault on a woman for no apparent or logical reason, other than to shred her reputation and send a not-so-veiled message that she’d receive more such treatment if she decided to break her silence and reveal whatever she knows about others in the administration and their roles -- if any --- in the lane closure episode.

It all seemed so stupidly unnecessary. Mastro had the goods on her: Her “time for some traffic troubles in Fort Lee,” message and the subsequent e-mail exchanges she had with Wildstein, electronically chortling over the havoc they’d created.

He and his team could easily have pinned the entire scheme on her and Wildstein without the amateur psychoanalysis.

It raises also questions about the judgment of other members of Mastro’s investigative team, particularly the women, who apparently didn’t object to the rhetorical destruction of Kelly.

Didn’t anyone in this roomful of high-powered lawyers utter “Whoa, this is trouble,” upon reading the portrayal of Kelly? Did no one foresee the potential adverse reaction to alleging that Kelly was victimized by her own hormones and couldn’t help herself from retaliating against someone?

Even in his appearance on a Sunday morning news/talk show, Mastro was defiantly unapologetic, defending his work with the snarky observation that some people “can’t handle the truth.”

So, for a million bucks or so, Christie got a guy who can quote Jack Nicholson.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/03/31/opinion-sexist-portrayal-of-bridget-kelly-puts-bridgegate-back-on-front-page/

[malaise]

14. Desperate times call for desperate measures

and Christie et al are desperate.

[spanone]

13. k&r...