The New, Not Necessarily Improved, Chris Christie

[DonViejo]

By Lloyd Grove December 30th 2013 5:45 AM

In a flash, the 2016 contender has seen his reputation slide from straight-talking pragmatist to partisan bully. Could a local scandal really take down Hillary’s biggest competition?

Wow, that was quick.

It took Sen. John McCain, the straight-talking maverick from Arizona, eight long years—between the presidential campaigns of 2000 and 2008—to be transformed from media darling to media target. But for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the process was completed in a political nanosecond.

Less than two months after his landslide reelection, in which he beat Democratic opponent Barbara Buono by a 21-point margin, the Republican governor is undergoing the sort of media metamorphosis that sometimes befalls popular statewide politicians who dare to think of themselves as future presidents.

To paraphrase Franz Kafka, Christie awoke one morning last week and, reading the front page of The New York Times, discovered that he’d been changed into a giant bully. In his new media incarnation, he was suddenly a politician who wreaks petty revenge and humiliation on any poor soul who is unwise enough to cross him, and who countenanced the closure of two local access lanes of the George Washington Bridge, causing vehicular chaos for four days in Fort Lee, N.J., where the Democratic mayor had declined to endorse him.

This, for a public official who previously had been portrayed in the national media as a truth-telling, tough-talking executive who was willing to reach across the aisle to get things done.

:::snip:::

full article
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/30/the-new-not-necessarily-improved-chris-christie.html

[BlueMTexpat]

1. He got exactly what he deserved, IMO.

I just wish that the same fate would befall other GOpers sooner rather than later.

Given the retention capacity of too many already uninformed voters, however, it's probably not wise to count him out completely. Yet.

The same factors that may make comparatively reasonable GOPers think twice about him (any Dem who wasn't already skeptical about him needs to reexamine what their Democratic principles truly are) are exactly what GOPer TB'ers love. The meaner and pettier, the better in their eyes.

[CTyankee]

2. The fact that he is willing to go to such lenagths to get revenge is the most

troubling aspect of this, particularly when you ponder the president's role as a world leader. Pretty sobering...

[Gothmog]

3. The NYT has a good editorial on Politicians who Bully

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/opinion/sunday/the-elected-bullies.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1388440562-G4QsuW0laG8bpCnz2ROLKQ

Once in office, however, he begins using that prod more against political enemies than problems of state, wielding his powers to punish critics, skeptics and those of questionable loyalty, while lavishly rewarding supporters. The brashness that seemed fresh and appealing in a debate loses its charm when it becomes the vengeful voice of a city or state, and voters then regret their choice. At least until the next charismatic bully comes along.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is the most current example. As Kate Zernike of The Times reported last week, he has had aides deliver obscenities to a union official who criticized him on the radio. His administration removed the police protection for one state senator (and former governor) after the senator was seen as too dilatory in approving the governor’s nominees. When a Rutgers political scientist serving on the redistricting commission chose a plan favored by Democrats, Mr. Christie defunded two of his programs at the state university. And his associates have recently been accused of deliberately creating traffic jams in Fort Lee, N.J., in an act of vengeance against the city’s mayor.