Krauthammer Thinks Christie Could Be 'Toast'

[DonViejo]

TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 10, 2014, 10:02 AM EST

The potential political fallout from the George Washington Bridge scandal is really quite straightforward, according to conservative idol Charles Krauthammer.

"Well, look, I think this is not rocket science," Krauthammer declared Thursday on Fox News. "Christie is now hostage to the truth. If he told the truth and he had no knowledge of this, it will hurt him. If he didn't tell the truth — and we will know it for sure, one way or the other — if he did know about this, he's toast. It's rather simple."

Krauthammer, revered by Republicans and conservatives, said that Christie's professed ignorance to the lane closures on the bridge could still damage him — although not fatally.

“Christie’s strength is how tough he is, but it can become a negative if the toughness is a petty toughness,” he said.

more:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/krauthammer-christie-bridge-scandal-toast

[gordianot]

1. Krauthammer needs to stay out of New Jersey and hope Christy never makes it National.

The powers of the Chief Executive would be nightmare in the hands of a bully and thug like Christy.

[BlueStreak]

2. Most of America has a short attention span. But this might not go away.

If Christie had admitted it right after it happened, and said "hey, my team got a bit revved up, and made a really stupid move. I am firing them immediately, and will make it clear my office will not engage in petty political tricks like this." it probably would have lal been over. It is the denial, the hedging, and then the downright arrogance of pushing one of his staff to be AG that will do him in. Now they will push to get Christie to put this on record under oath that he had no knowledge of it. And if that happens, they will cut a deal with his cronies to turn on Christie. The AG confirmation just creates more of an opportunity to get more and more of this under oath. And the AG candidate sure can't plead the 5th and still get the AG job.

But that is all the worst case for Christie, and probably will not happen because of the short attention span issues. Christie's real problem is that he already was a tenuous candidate among the primary base. And now the Bridge-o-caust (or whatever CNN is calling it) will have the Party Money spooked. At some point they will decide this guy isn't worth all his baggage, especially considering the base is all that excited about him in the first place.

I keep hearing the same names pop up: Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, and Paul Ryan. That is nuts. None of them will get the nomination, and none of them is electable. The party money will turn to Jeb Bush, who is playing it smart right now -- not making any waves. He is the only one out of that whole bunch they can trust. (They might be able to trust Ryan, but he is no more electable than Sarah Palin.)

The Party Money has a real problem because Christie was their default guy, and it is very possible that Jeb really doesn't want to run.

[CTyankee]

3. Ha! It takes a snarling prick to KNOW a snarling prick, doesn't it?

I like it when that happens...

[Beacool]

4. You know that a Republican is toast when even other conservatives make fun of him.

I turned on the beginning of Hannity's radio show to see how they played out the debacle. He has a female producer who is also a member of a band and she's the lead singer. She sang "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and changed the lyrics to reference Christie. It was actually quite funny.

[BobUp]

5. Krauthammer Thinks Christie Could Be 'Toast'

People didn't need Krauthammer to say this, I wrote Crispy was toast yesterday.

Newly released emails shows more involvement of more people.