Christie's lawyers fail the "red face test" and the Guv doesn't care.

[chieftain]

Attorneys when evaluating whether to make a particularly outrageous argument consider whether the effort will leave them blushing from embarrassment in front of a judge. This whitewash of skullduggery is so transparently bogus that Christie's paid flack ought to hang his head in shame. But he won't. And the Governor won't because he got exactly what the taxpayers of New Jersey paid for-
a counter story that Fox can trumpet, a villain that can turn this into a he said/she said and a firewall from which Christie can relaunch his presidential campaign.
I have seen a lot of brazen cynicism in my 67 years but I don't know that I have ever seen such an inartful, unpersuasive effort made to sway public opinion. What it tells me is that Christie understands that in this world of alternative truths propagated by Fox and the decline of corporate media into complicity, ignorance and laziness any story no matter how laughable will serve as a rallying point for the GOP and its enablers.

[malaise]

1. Christie would like to think so too

Fux and RW radio will try but Christie is history

[chieftain]

3. Mebbe,

but I remember when we didn't have Nixon to kick around anymore.

[Laxman]

2. He Has Succeeded ....

in pissing off Mike Critchley. I saw him take down the U.S. Attorney's office on a mob case where they had informants, wiretaps and every other type of evidence you could imagine. He is incredibly adept at protecting his clients. Trying to lay this all on Kelly may seem like a good idea to Christie now, but I think it was a bad mistake. They just forced Mr. Chritchley's hand and I don't think they're going to like how he plays it.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Never heard it called that.

More frequently it is called the "laugh test" - can you make the argument with a straight face.

[cheyanne]

5. The stakes are high.

Will the people behind Christie and Samson, i.e. repug machine, developers, etc., really let this scandal break their hold on the governorship and Port Authority?

Are they powerful enough to make anyone think twice about crossing them? Could they ruin the not only the careers of anyone who talks, but also their families?


Nobody seems to be looking at the motive behind the closure:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/is-a-billion-dollar-development-project-at-the-heart-of-bridgegate

[Wounded Bear]

6. Big part of the problem...

Once the story gets into the blogosphere and the RW echo chamber it becomes a game of who shouts louder.

Traditionally, Repubs win that because money is speech and all that.

IMHO, our only hope is to get enough dirt on CC that all the money in the Fed can't whitewash it. Personally, I think he's toast, but my confidence level on that is not high.

[Gothmog]

7. The report was a joke

The report was released so that Christie could fly to Vegas to try to convince Sheldon Adelson to support him

[marions ghost]

8. That's it in a nutshell

There ought to be a lot of heads hanging in shame.

But that doesn't happen anymore.

[chieftain]

9. Yeah.

What Christie and his lawyers are doing drove me to write the post. The sad news for our country is that they are the trend not the exception. There is little downside to telling lies. The GOP understands this and it is a standard part of their candidates', operatives' and apologists' playbooks.

[marions ghost]

10. And it works

because half the people still don't believe (or want to believe) that politicians can be that evil. The other half knows they are, but many think it's OK. They're fine with ill-gotten power and opportunities for corruption--as long as it's on their side...

So, gotta a little bridge-gate? No problem. Just get a sleezebag legal crew to pump out lies at taxpayer expense, wait awhile for those to "take" --and you're good to go. That's the cynical strategy at work here. SO transparent. So despicable. New Jerseyites should be livid that their money went for this "report."

If we can't root out a large chunk of this kind of corruption I too despair for the future of this country. You are not alone chieftain.

---------

[chieftain]

11. The tea party woman yelling at Chris Hayes this week

seems to be the proud face of the Republican Party. Willful ignorance is not a sound foundation for self governance but it is an increasing facet of the good old USA.