Chris Christie, Disaster Governor or.....

[Laxman]

is it "Disaster of a Governor"? I'm sure you know where I stand on that question-and my conclusions certainly have a sound foundation in facts. So excuse me, but it's time for another rant.

It's very easy to fall into the trap of making fun of the boorish fat man, well frankly because Mr. Christie is indeed a boorish fat man. Like an aging rocker waddling out on to the stage to perform his greatest hits to an adoring audience, he never disappoints his fans as he unleashes a predictable set of arrogant, snide, rude and confrontational remarks. But this performance art masks a much deeper problem; that his reign has been horrible for New Jersey and his persona as a hero in the face of disasters is nothing more than a ginned-up circus act. Let's consider that aspect of his carefully crafted facade.

When Hurricane Sandy hit NJ, he actually had to ask Jeb Bush if touring the damaged areas of the state was a good idea before venturing out. He courted the President and advocated for disaster aid-which was the right thing to do. But, having received billions in assistance, Christie decided it would make a much better slush fund to reward his allies and curry favor with potential endorsers than to actually use this windfall of cash to help his impacted constituents and reduce vulnerability to future storms. He opted instead to re-build in place and turned to his tried and true strategy of insults and bullying towards anyone who didn't immediately fall into line. So, more than three years later, there are still people not back in their homes after Sandy and, more alarmingly, no comprehensive strategy to protect the large areas of the state that are at-risk to the dangerous combination of sea level rise and future storms. He has never really been called to task for what, at best, could be described as bungling the recovery effort. His fleece clad T.V. tour was nothing more than a cover for him to fleece the taxpayers.

However the good governor wasn't done inflicting damage on his former home state. While off gallivanting around his new home in New Hampshire things continued to go awry back in the Garden State. It's not just the threatened record 10th credit downgrade the state now faces. Last week, before the blizzard hit, New Jersey was notified that it had gotten a bare minimum award in the competitive grant program designed to encourage innovative projects, increase resiliency and reduce risks of future disasters. That program was created with the intent of steering large sums of money to New Jersey (similar to the $175 million awarded to NYC) because that's where millions of people are at-risk. Instead, due to the Christie administration's stubborn refusal to acknowledge or react to climate change, sea level rise and the vulnerability of his state, NJ lost out to places like Minot, ND. Now no disrespect meant to North Dakota, but one well-designed project in New Jersey could theoretically protect millions of people and billions of dollars in property while a hundred projects in sparsely populated North Dakota couldn't give you nearly that same "bang for your buck". So, thanks to Christie's presidential ambitions and his lack of vision, a once in a lifetime grant program that was rigged to send money New Jersey's way, ended up diverting those funds elsewhere.

A week later, the blizzard hits and Christie actually has to be shamed into returning to the state that actually pays him to be governor. I guess he didn't ask Jeb for advice this time. Now, if you're not from this part of the country you might be inclined to say "it was just a big snowstorm, what's the big deal". Aside from the fact that 30 million people or so were buried under 2 feet of snow, a couple of days of persistent onshore hurricane force winds has a particularly nasty affect on coastal states like NJ. Since our great leader decided that resiliency and reduction of vulnerability wasn't really a priority for him, there were parts of the NJ coast that never addressed these isssues and as a result, suffered particularly bad flooding. This was inconvenient for Christie coming just before the New Hampshire primary and all. So hoping to take advantage of a good crisis, he patted himself on the back, touted how nobody died in his state (except for those 5 dead people), declared everything was under control and high-tailed it back to the Granite State to resume trying to bamboozle the voters there into believing he was a competent governor. But, reality can be a bitch.

Here on Earth, places in New Jersey's southernmost coastal counties experienced flooding that was over a foot higher than what they saw in Sandy. (In fact, a bit farther south in Delaware they experienced flooding that exceeded the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 that was formerly the storm of record). News footage of snow and ice floating through the flooded streets of places like Stone Harbor and Wildwood contradicted Mr. Christie's claims. While bloviating once again at a "town hall" meeting in New Hampshire that included his false claims that there was no flooding damage back home, a young woman had the temerity to ask Mr. Christie about the actual flood damage that had indeed occurred. Like the 60-year olds in KISS launching into a stirring rendition of I Want to Rock N Roll All Night Christie went to the old reliable combination of sarcasm, snark and bullying. Not content with merely lacing into his nervous young questioner, he went on to refer to the mayor of the heavily damaged town of North Wildwood as "crazy". The mayor, a republican and Christie supporter (hopefully now formerly) was at least in a position to fight back, unlike the young woman at the Town Hall. This is more than just bad behavior. It exposes the real danger of this guy.

He has no interest in governing. His only real policy positions have to do with what furthers his political career. This might be entertaining, but as the damage that occurred in last weekend's storm illustrates, there are serious consequences to bad policies and abdication of governing responsibilities. As the "Christie for President" show continues it's off-Broadway run in New Hampshire, maybe this latest performance will finally get the message across that this guy isn't just a bad candidate, he's downright dangerous. Maybe the curtain will finally come down on this horror show.There are aspects of his ambition that are just plain hazardous to the health of anyone caught in its path. Yeah, "look at the obnoxious fat man" might make for good television and a few laughs but there's no laughing about the damage he's caused. The next time Christie touts his experience dealing with disasters, let's hope someone points him in the direction of a mirror and explains that the greatest disaster to befall NJ in the last hundred years will be staring right back at him.

[Beach Rat]

1. The Saturday night high tide was pretty scary!

There was some flooding a couple of blocks over from me but nothing really bad. I know LBI got flooded pretty badly. To quote Bob Dylan, the wind it was howling and the snow was outrageous.

(I've got a question, can you post pictures from your phone on here?)

[Laxman]

2. Mops For Christie....

a gofundme page to raise money to send the governor some mops! The silver-tongued devil has done it again.

https://www.gofundme.com/mops4christie

[KamaAina]

3. tRump could always send him the one on top of his head

[Laxman]

5. Good Lord....

what is that?

[KamaAina]

6. An Amazonian flannel moth caterpillar

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018757008

[Laxman]

4. Here Is Someone Conveying What I Tried To.......

in the OP above except in a far more articulate manner. I have to give props to Mr. Golden for this extremely thoughtful and biting assessment of Mr. Christie. Please read it because I believe it has applicability far beyond just calling Christie on the carpet for his behavior. It speaks to our politics today, particularly the hate mongering republican brand....

Opinion: Have You No Sense of Decency, Gov. Christie?

One of the most riveting moments in American political history occurred more than 60 years ago -- June 9, 1954 to be exact -- when Boston attorney Joseph Welch leaned across the witness table in a U. S. Senate hearing room and said to Sen. Joseph McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

It was a scene so powerful that it’s been replayed hundreds of times, embedding itself forever in political lore: Welch, sitting a mere six feet from McCarthy and, in only 17 words, delivering a comment so withering in its impact that it marked the start of the decline in McCarthy’s appeal to the American people.

Had Welch been in the audience in Hooksett, NH, Monday, he might have been moved to pose his famous question to Gov. Chris Christie, after the governor responded to what appeared to be a college-aged young woman who asked why he was campaigning when parts of the New Jersey shore remained submerged in sea water driven onto their streets by the storm that battered the region the previous weekend.

“What do you want me to do?” Christie shot back, “go down there with a mop?”

It was a deliberate and cruel humiliation of a young woman who asked what a great many people in New Jersey felt after Christie reluctantly returned to the state, spent a day here and then fled back to New Hampshire to resume his campaign.

It demonstrated yet again that his capacity for arrogance and condescension is unlimited. He’s unable, it seems, to resist the temptation to demean and belittle anyone who questions him or expresses an opinion contrary to his.

In a news conference the next day, Christie characterized his “mop” comment as a joke and suggested that the young woman who asked the question was a “plant,” someone who showed up at his event and attempted to embarrass him with her inquiry.

There were some who got the joke and others who did not, he said, but the reactions were not his concern.

In the same town hall forum, Christie told his audience that the mayor of North Wildwood was “crazy” for comparing the damage to his community to that inflicted by Hurricane Sandy more than three years ago. A day later, he apologized to the mayor.

He accused a reporter of “making it up” after he asked the governor to respond to criticisms of Christie’s comments that the Shore had endured no residual flooding damage.

At the time, television footage, news photos, and the Internet were brimming with photos of ice floes drifting along two- and three-foot deep waters in communities in Cape May and Atlantic counties.

Christie, though, boasted to New Hampshire audiences that his response to the storm was so effective, so positive that it demonstrated he possessed the kind of leadership needed in the next president of the United States.

His lack of civility and history of insulting and denigrating anyone he considers the least bit impertinent is well known. From calling people idiots to telling them to “sit down and shut up” to suggesting they were intellectually deficient, Christie cut a swath through political civility and achieved national recognition as a new kind of public figure unafraid to smack down opponents whenever and wherever he found them.

He’s called public employees “pigs” for advocating for their pensions and benefits and accused public school teachers of placing their financial well-being ahead of their commitment to their students.

Whether he intended his cutting, sarcastic reply to the young woman in New Hampshire as a joke, though, it went too far. Here he stood, the 52-year old governor, former United States Attorney and candidate for president, treating someone barely out of her teens as unworthy of his time and attention.

His lack of respect for her and his refusal to extend the most minimal courtesy was striking. He dismissed her as though she was a 6-year-old who asked her father for a second scoop of ice cream.

The sycophants with whom he’s surrounded himself may find his persona endearing and clever. To the rest of us, it’s ugly.

Christie’s supporters in the Legislature and elsewhere may have cringed in private over this latest incident just as they have in previous similar cases. Their silence in public is likely to continue.

Joseph Welch died in 1960, but his words -- “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” -- remain as powerful and insightful today as they were when first uttered seven decades ago.

Read it here: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/01/26/opinion-have-you-no-sense-of-decency-gov-christie/#