MM: For fawning press, Gov. Christie's $400 million blunder gets flushed down the memory hole

[dennis4868]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012010006

It sure is nice how the Beltway press corps, while fawning over New Jersey's Republican governor, conveniently forgets about Chris Christie's most embarrassing and controversial moment in office. It's awfully friendly the way reporters look away from a telling example of how Christie actually governs and instead focuses its attention on the YouTube clips Christie's flacks post online showing the governor yelling at people at town hall forums.

Nothing like style over substance, right?

If you live in New Jersey, you might recall that in August the state was shocked to discover it had narrowly missed out on $400 million worth of desperately needed education aid from the federal government because New Jersey's application for the grant was flawed. In other words, a clerical error cost state schools $400 million dollars. (Christie initially tried to blame the Obama administration, before his claims were proven false.)

But that's not all. Christie own Education Commissioner, whom the governor fired over the incident, publicly blamed Christie for the failure to land the money, insisting the governor, who famously feuds with the state's teacher unions, put that political battle ahead of securing the federal funds, costing the state crucial points in the grant application. It was all kind of a big deal.

But if you live outside the New Jersey area, that's probably news to most people. Why? Because as the national press continues its voluntary/obedient role in hyping Republican Christie (apparently any governor now with a 51 percent approval rating is to be hailed as being "popular), the press has flushed the embarrassing $400 million episode down the memory hole.

In fact, in the last week, both New York and Newsweek printed up obligatory Christie's-a-star profiles and both managed to avoid mentioning how the governor's blunder cost the cash-strapped state $400 million in education aid.

What a coincidence.

And oh yeah, guess what else the press, led by New York and Newsweek, flushes down the Christie memory hole? A) While serving as a U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Christie often overspent on his travel expenses (i.e. fancy hotels) and left the DOJ holding the tab. B) The self-styled, small-government conservative earlier this year announced a massive state-run take-over plan that would have the New Jersey government virtually running Atlantic City, in charge of everything from the casinos to the police and garbage pickup. C) Christie's New Jersey still hasn't paid back the federal government the nearly $300 million it owes after the governor pulled the plug on building a new rail tunnel to New York City.

Christie as a free-spender? Christie as big government proponent? Christie as a deadbeat? Those pieces don't fit the media puzzle, so they're simply set aside for the rising Republican.

Behold your liberal media.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I should no longer be surprised and sickened by this crap....by I am...

I wonder if the NJites are happy with their choice. I think they will regret it..

[dennis4868]

2. And there are probably....

some unemployed people who, as of last night, lost their benefits, who actually voted for the repubs this past November....there is NOTHING a repub can offer the American people that will make their lives better (unless you are very wealthy)....Christie is a fraud because he has no problems on the government (over) spending on him personally but holds the line when the spending may help disadvantaged people.....

[BrklynLiberal]

3. I would be very curious to know how many who are currently unemployed

voted repuke..especially those that are about to lose their benefits...

[dennis4868]

4. I know 4 unemployed people in my city that voted for repubs...

because they said before the election that the repubs will get the jobs back like they always do....really sad....they are now devestated and last night 1 of these 4 people lost their benefits and he has no fucking clue what he's going to do....the main problem is that we have an uninformed electorate that gets tricked by the repubs and FOX News with all their propoganda....

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Yep...the media is complicit with the repukes. The ignorant and the fearful are manipulated by the

evil and the greedy.

http://markmaynard.com/?p=7501

<snip>

The best part of the article is the contribution by Thomas Frank, the author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. Here’s a highlight:

….Right-wing politics has become a vehicle for channelling this popular anger against intellectual snobs. The result is that many of America’s poorest citizens have a deep emotional attachment to a party that serves the interests of its richest.

Thomas Frank says that whatever disadvantaged Americans think they are voting for, they get something quite different:

“You vote to strike a blow against elitism and you receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our life times, workers have been stripped of power, and CEOs are rewarded in a manner that is beyond imagining… It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy.”

As Mr Frank sees it, authenticity has replaced economics as the driving force of modern politics. The authentic politicians are the ones who sound like they are speaking from the gut, not the cerebral cortex. Of course, they might be faking it, but it is no joke to say that in contemporary politics, if you can fake sincerity, you have got it made.

And here, according to the author of the article, is the big takeaway message from all of this… “If people vote against their own interests, it is not because they do not understand what is in their interest or have not yet had it properly explained to them. They do it because they resent having their interests decided for them by politicians who think they know best. There is nothing voters hate more than having things explained to them as though they were idiots. As the saying goes, in politics, when you are explaining, you are losing. And that makes anything as complex or as messy as healthcare reform a very hard sell.”

<snip>

[dennis4868]

7. thanks for posting that...

[BrklynLiberal]

8. It is one of my favorite articles....the quote is amazing.

[stevenleser]

5. People (MSM) are dying to portray him as a potential Presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016.

News flash. It is not going to happen. As I said here starting at 5:22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Drlu7_Yl8 (forgive the self promotion of linking one of my video's in the thread), there is no way a Northeastern republican gets the nomination.

If he got the nomination he would be potentially dangerous, but there is no way Republicans in Iowa or New Hampshire or the Carolinas vote for this guy over a Huckabee or Palin or any midwest or southern Republican.

[dennis4868]

10. I remember in 1999 and 2000....

the MSM was doing this very same thing with Bush and then look what happened....Christie is a fraud and the people will never know it because the so-called "liberal" media hides the fraud....

[zulchzulu]

9. Christie will eat himself to death. Let karma take care of him.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

[Mimosa]

11. As a U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Christie often overspent on his travel expenses

I bet it was all the restaurant and room service tabs. ;)

[dennis4868]

12. whatever it was...

he had no problems having us pay for it....WHAT AN UTTER ASSHOLE!