Governor Chris Christie: Mafioso

Hey! Vinnie... 

How are your kneecaps?

You wan'em to stay that way?

Look, gumba.... 

Just sign off on The Big Man's agenda.

***

Christie's problem is that he's really, truly a bully. "Christie inhabits a rare space in American politics: He's a bully. He's followed around by an aide with a camcorder watching for moments in which Christie, mustering the might and prestige of his office, annihilates some citizen who dares question him...He's someone who uses his office to intimidate people and punish or humiliate perceived enemies...What's dangerous for Christie, though, is that now every political reporter in the country will begin believing rumors of his punishments and hunting down evidence of his retaliation. And things Christie was able to do before to wide applause -- like berate a schoolteacher and then have his staff upload it to YouTube -- will begin feeding a very different kind of narrative. Chris Christie rose because he's a bully. It might be why he falls, too." Ezra Klein in The Washington Post.

About that bullying meme. "One of the key raps on Christie is that he's a "bully" and that he engages in naked power politics. That rap hasn't hurt him with voters -- until now -- because they perceived Christie as bullying people who deserved to be bullied and using strong-arm political tactics to make New Jersey's government work better. Christie's governing style led to bipartisan agreements on budgets and employee benefits reform, and the targets of his ire were unpopular: teachers' unions and distrusted municipal officials. But now we're seeing an example of Christie's team doling out punishment in a way that was both incompetent and petty. This isn't just about the Christie administration engaging in unseemly retributive politics; it's about them being bad at it." Josh Barro in Business Insider.

Christie just blew his chance at being president in 2016. "Several things come together to make this scandal especially devastating to Christie. One is that it's very easy for voters to understand: He punished a town because its mayor endorsed his rival. There are no complex financial transfers or legal maneuverings to parse. Second, it fits into a broader pattern of behavior...Why would they circle around a candidate teeming with corruption scandals, when they could instead nominate a more conservative alternative with a more attractive personal image? What reason, at this point, does any Republican have to nominate Christie?"Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine.

Why Christie's story still doesn't make sense. "Here's what I don't buy. Let's stipulate that this hare-brained scheme was hatched by Christie's staff and appointees without his knowledge. Therefore, he didn't know about the lane closures or their motivations before Sept. 13, when Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye (a New York appointee) started complaining about them. There have been 117 intervening days, during which Christie accepted the resignations of two of his Port Authority appointees who are caught up in this scandal. I assume he and his top staff have had a lot of conversations during that time, trying to figure out exactly what happened in Fort Lee. Did his people really manage to keep him in the dark for that entire time such that he's shocked today?" Josh Barro in Business Insider.