Thursday Reads
Posted: January 9, 2014 Filed under: Barack Obama, FBI, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, The Media SUCKS, the villagers, U.S. Military, U.S. Politics | Tags: Afghanistan War, Betty Medsger, COINTELPRO, Doyle McManus, Edward Snowden, Fox News, Gabriel Sherman, George W. Bush, Glenn Greenwald, Iraq War, J. Edgar Hoover, Joe Biden, Robert Gates, Roger Ailes 119 Comments
Good Morning!!
The Villagers are still nattering on about excepts from retired defense secretary Robert Gates’ new memoir Duty, which will be released on January 14.
The DC media is focused on Gates’ criticisms of President Obama and how they will embarrass the administration and negatively affect Hillary Clinton’s chances in 2016. What has impressed me so far in the excepts I have read is that Obama was wary of the military and willing to stand up to them. Some examples from an e-mail I received from Foreign Policy Magazine yesterday:
Gates on what Biden did to poison the military well: “I thought Biden was subjecting Obama to Chinese water torture, every day saying, ‘the military can’t be trusted.'”
On Obama’s approach to Afghanistan: “I never doubted Obama’s support for the troops, only his support for their mission.”
On Obama’s approach to Afghanistan: “I believe Obama was right in each of these decisions.”
On Obama and Bush: “During my tenure as secretary, Bush was willing to disagree with his senior military advisers on the wars, including the important divergence between the chiefs’ concern to reduce stress on the force and the presidents’ higher priority of success in Iraq. However, Bush never (at least to my knowledge) questioned their motives or mistrusted them personally. Obama was respectful of senior officers and always heard them out, but he often disagreed with them and was deeply suspicious of their actions and recommendations. Bush seemed to enjoy the company of the senior military; I think Obama considered time spent with generals and admirals an obligation.”
On Obama as an ice man: “I worked for Obama longer than Bush and I never saw his eyes well up. The only military matter, apart from leaks, about which I ever sensed deep passion on his part was ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military that Obama successfully pushed to repeal.”
On an oval office meeting that deeply pissed him off: “…Donilon was especially aggressive in questioning our commitment to speed and complaining about how long we were taking. Then he went too far, questioning in front of the president and a room full of people whether Gen. Fraser was competent to lead this effort. I’ve rarely been angrier in the Oval Office than I was at that moment; nor was I ever closer to walking out of that historic room in the middle of a meeting. My initial instinct was to storm out, telling the president on the way that he didn’t need two secretaries of defense. It took every bit of my self discipline to stay seated on the sofa.
Every one of those quotes made me like and respect Obama and Biden more. I’m sure I’m not alone in that reaction.
A couple more “criticisms” quoted in The Atlantic: Robert Gates: The Iraq War Undermined U.S. Efforts in Afghanistan.
President Bush always detested the notion, but our later challenges in Afghanistan—especially the return of the Taliban in force by the time I reported for duty—were, I believe, significantly compounded by the invasion of Iraq. Resources and senior-level attention were diverted from Afghanistan. U.S. goals in Afghanistan—a properly sized, competent Afghan national army and police, a working democracy with at least a minimally effective and less corrupt central government—were embarrassingly ambitious and historically naive compared with the meager human and financial resources committed to the task, at least before 2009.
Who doesn’t agree with that? Well, sure some right wing nut jobs, but the majority of Americans have completely soured on the Iraq war, according to many polls over the past few years.
Wars are a lot easier to get into than out of. Those who ask about exit strategies or question what will happen if assumptions prove wrong are rarely welcome at the conference table when the fire-breathers are demanding that we strike—as they did when advocating invading Iraq, intervening in Libya and Syria, or bombing Iran’s nuclear sites. But in recent decades, presidents confronted with tough problems abroad have too often been too quick to reach for a gun. Our foreign and national security policy has become too militarized, the use of force too easy for presidents. Today, too many ideologues call for U.S. force as the first option rather than a last resort.
So Obama’s approach might have kept us out of Iraq, right? I don’t see that as a problem. I want my president to be wary of the military and hesitant to go to war. I want my president to get teary-eyed over granting rights to people who have been historically discriminated against and stay dry-eyed and rational when contemplating “military matters.”
So let Gates have his day in the sun. Today some in the media are already questioning whether his book may damage his reputation. From Foreign Policy again: Did Bob Gates’ New Book Just Trash His Golden Reputation?
Gates, 70, has unmasked himself as just another former Washington official writing just another kiss-and-tell in the soon-to-be-released Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, in which he takes shots at a sitting commander-in-chief, his top aides and Congress, an institution with which he often expressed frustration – but also respect. Gates was known for being discreet and sharp-minded, loyal to the office he occupied and careful about what he said in public. So deliberate were his public pronouncements about wars or national security policy or budgets that he became the E.F. Hutton of the Pentagon — everyone leaned in every time he had something to say.
But now his brand seems diminished by the scrappy, petty nature of many of his criticisms — even though some are substantive and legitimate — and a legacy he seemed quietly determined to protect may be permanently reduced to something less than what it once was.
We’ll have to wait and see. It’s also possible that the furor over Gates’ memoir will fade quickly, because another book is coming out on January 21, and it looks to be a lot more entertaining–the tell-all book about Fox News’ Roger Ailes, The Loudest Voice in the Room, by Gabriel Sherman. Excerpts started leaking out yesterday and they are wild! Check these “key revelations” from Gawker:
- During a salary negotiation in the 1980’s, Ailes offered producer Randi Harrison an additional $100 each week she would agree to have sex with him whenever he wanted.
- He also privately thinks of Bill O’Reilly as “a book salesman with a TV show” and Brian Kilmeade as “a soccer coach from Long Island.”
- During a 1990’s power struggle with NBC executive David Zaslav, Ailes was accused of making an anti-Semitic remark involving an obscenity and “the words ‘little’ and ‘Jew’.” NBC’s chairman and counsel believe “he probably said it.”
New York Magazine has published a lengthy except from Sherman’s book and it is the most fascinating and horrifying thing I’ve read in ages. Ailes is far weirder than I ever imagined. The article opens with a description of how Ailes moved into a rural town in upstate New York, hoping to return to his small-town roots, but instead bought the local newspaper and tried to transform it into a mini-Fox News. It’s a riot! Just a small except to whet your appetite for the bizarre:
As summer turned to fall, political issues began to arise. Alison Rooney, the copy editor, at first found reasons to be optimistic about the ownership change. She liked using the new computers to put out the paper and looked forward to the newsroom moving into a renovated two-story building on Main Street. But that honeymoon ended when Rooney laid out a press release from the Garrison Art Center that described a work invoking the “mythological story” of the Virgin Birth. After the release was published, the priest of Our Lady of Loretto wrote a letter to the editor, and Beth Ailes lit into Rooney. A few weeks later, Rooney got another dressing-down as she formatted a promotion of the high school’s upcoming production of Urinetown, this time from an editor who found the language offensive and removed the title of the show from the headline.
Another drama erupted after a reporter named Michael Turton was assigned to cover Haldane Middle School’s mock presidential election. After the event, Turton filed a report headlined “Mock Election Generated Excitement at Haldane; Obama Defeats McCain by 2–1 Margin.” He went on, “The 2008 U.S. presidential election is now history. And when the votes were tallied, Barack Obama had defeated John McCain by more than a two to one margin. The final vote count was 128 to 53.” Reading the published version a few days later, Turton was shocked. The headline had been changed: “Mock Presidential Election Held at Haldane; Middle School Students Vote to Learn Civic Responsibility.” So had the opening paragraph: “Haldane students in grades 6 through 8 were entitled to vote for president and they did so with great enthusiasm.” Obama’s margin of victory was struck from the article. His win was buried in the last paragraph.
Turton was upset, and wrote a questioning e-mail to Hunt, but never heard back. Instead, he received a series of accusatory e-mails from the Aileses. Turton had disregarded “specific instructions” for the piece, Beth wrote. “Do you anticipate this becoming an ongoing problem for you?” A short while later, Roger weighed in. Maureen Hunt’s instructions to focus on the school’s process for teaching about elections had been “very clear,” he wrote, and Turton’s “desire to change the story into a big Obama win” should have taken a backseat. Ailes described himself as “disappointed” by Turton’s failure “to follow the agreed upon direction.”
Soon afterward, Turton learned that Maureen Hunt had resigned, and Ailes continued his quest to bring “fair and balanced” to Philipstown.
John and Bonnie Raines, two of the burglars, at home in Philadelphia with their grandchildren. Mark Makela for The New York Times
Since I’ve been discussing new books so far, I guess I might as well continue. On Tuesday, The New York Times published interviews with some of the activists who broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania on March 8, 1971 and stole a massive number of files. They took the files to a remote location, studied them for ten days, and found evidence of the illegal FBI domestic spying program COINTELPRO. Unlike Edward Snowden, the burglars swore to keep their identities a secret so that the story itself would get all the public attention. From the Times article:
They were never caught, and the stolen documents that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters were the first trickle of what would become a flood of revelations about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups….
The burglars had, until now, maintained a vow of silence about their roles in the operation. They were content in knowing that their actions had dealt the first significant blow to an institution that had amassed enormous power and prestige during J. Edgar Hoover’s lengthy tenure as director.
“When you talked to people outside the movement about what the F.B.I. was doing, nobody wanted to believe it,” said one of the burglars, Keith Forsyth, who is finally going public about his involvement. “There was only one way to convince people that it was true, and that was to get it in their handwriting.”
That’s heroism in my book. They revealed real government abuses that had been almost unknown until they found the proof. Now one of the reporters who helped get the story out, Betty Medsger, has written a book called The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI. It came out this week, and I’m dying to read it.
By contrast Snowden and his PR man Glenn Greenwald have so far revealed very little that we didn’t already know or suspect about NSA domestic spying and have spent most of the seven months since they began rolling out their revelations 1) publishing articles about the NSA spying on foreign countries and their partnerships with foreign countries who have few espionage resources; 2) giving self-aggrandizing interviews and bragging about all the secrets they have; 3) Defending Snowden’s decision to defect to Russia. At the same time Greenwald has sold book and movie rights and worked on a media start up funded by libertarian E-bay and Paypal billionaire Pierre Omidyar. I haven’t heard anything about Greenwald sharing his earnings with Edward Snowden either.
Fortunately some in the media are beginning to point out inconsistencies in Snowden’s and Greenwald’s behavior. Here is an op-ed by Doyle McManus that lays out the case very well. Edward Snowden, in shades of gray I agree with just about everything he wrote.
Is Edward Snowden” Edward Snowden a whistle-blower or a traitor?
Debate over the renegade computer technician who leaked thousands of secret National Security Agency documents is too often reduced to that deceptively simple choice.
But it’s the wrong way to pose the question, because Snowden is both of those things at the same time. Yes, he’s a whistle-blower, and if that were all he had done, he would deserve our thanks for forcing a debate over the NSA’s swollen powers.
But he’s also a scoundrel who deserves prosecution and public condemnation. That’s because his leaks no longer seem focused on protecting U.S. citizens’ constitutional rights or toughening safeguards on the NSA. Instead, Snowden’s disclosures have expanded far beyond those laudable aims to exposing U.S. intelligence-gathering operations that appear not only legal but legitimate in the eyes of most Americans.
McManus is referring to revelations about the NSA doing it’s job, which is gathering foreign intelligence to protect national security. A little more:
“…most of those disclosures, from Merkel to Al Qaeda, have nothing to do with Americans’ right to privacy. Snowden has acknowledged that his ambitions go far beyond limiting what the NSA can do at home. “I have acted at great personal risk to help the public of the world, regardless of whether that public is American, European or Asian,” he told the Guardian in June.
Well, OK. But that makes him, by his own description, a global crusader against NSA spying anywhere, not merely a whistle-blower against potential abuses inside the United States. It means some of his disclosures have made Americans safer against government prying, but others have probably made us less safe.
And for a man who proclaims himself a fighter for universal rights, accepting asylum in Russia and praising his hosts for their devotion to freedom does not strengthen his claim to consistency, let alone nobility.
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The latest big reveal from the Greewald-Omidyar media start-up:
Today Pierre Omidyar announced a key hire: recently Bill was editor of Entertainment Weekly, before that boss of the Yahoo home page.
Hahahahahahahaha! Entertainment Weekly and Yahoo–how revolutionary!
From the press release:
That should make for a weird publication. Muckraking and cat pics. Wait, that’s Buzzfeed.
Pretty much.
Chris Christie is supposed to be giving a presser at 11:00 am Eastern about the Fort Lee traffic scandal. I’m absolutely loving this.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/09/best-tweets-during-chris-christies-press-conference/
http://www.businessinsider.com/four-uncomfortable-questions-from-christies-press-conference-2014-1?op=1
Those Aisles anecdotes are hilarious. Did you see the Luntz thing earlier? These guys should be sent to a nice safe sun location with Nurse Ratchet!
No, what’s the Luntz thing?
there was an article about luntz last week that every one was laughing about … lemme see if I can find the link … it was an interview
Is this it?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-agony-of-frank-luntz/282766/
Yup…
That Luntz article was nice. Commenter at BJ said he had just got a new contract at CBS as a political consultant. I hope that’s not true.
Probably is true. Look at 60 minutes and say they haven’t gone Fox.
It is true. Someone posted a link about it a few days ago.
Interesting read up to the point when I had to stop. It amazes me how the Republicans just refuse to get it. The people are not wrong. The Republicans are. The first step in fixing your problem is admitting you have one and the Republicans haven’t even gotten to that point yet.
Some moron on twitter blocked me yesterday because I had the nerve to point out the differences between the COINTELPRO burglars and Edward Snowden. LOL
The people who’ve bought into Snowden’s line all the way are usually some kind of moron.
Some moron who can’t stand analytical thinking?
Christie throws Bridget Kelly under the bus and now he’s just lying through his teeth saying nobody else was involved “as far as he knows”.
Hahahaha! He’s “heartbroken” that kelly betrayed his trust.
Thanks for live-blogging it!
He’s heartbroken that his little cabal got caught
Christie says “This is the exception…not the rule…” of his admin. Yeah sure.
Stay under the bus, Bridget. Wonder if she’ll go to the unemployment line or the “I’ve got a nice story for you” line?
For our sake, I hope she tells her story.
Politico article shows that if Chris Christie had been nicer to people on the way up, they might have been more supportive of him now he’s on the way down.
I might be wrong, but I get the overall sense that one particular presidential hopeful for 2016 isn’t making the same mistake as was made in an earlier campaign by not taking out your opponents early. Christie is done. He’s obviously lying during this presser. And yes, I’m gleeful.
Lots of people are. Watching him campaign would be horrible. He’s just too nasty.
OMG! This is hilarious from Bob Cesca!
Caption of the Day (from Fox and Friends)
Perfect!
Not only hilarious but also true! 🙂
OHHHH!!!! Christie’s jumping around like a man on hot coals whose britches just caught on fire, in the crotch. He looks and sounds like a man who thinks he can talk himself out of this.
Yes! Let’s see how he fields the reporters’ questions.
lol
#bridgegate is trending on twitter and #BridgeGhazi is gaining steam.
LOL!!!! OMG….Christie reminds me of my son, who at 17 years old came home one summer evening sunburned, and tried to convince me he’d been working all day at his P/T job at KFC.
He was grounded at the time for staying out past curfew and was only allowed to work at his P/T job. We still get a laugh out of that one.
My question was “How do you get sunburned working at the counter at KFC?” his answer was. “I ate lunch outside”. I made him pull his pants down, his legs were sunburned too. I said “you ate lunch, outside, at KFC, with your pants off?”.
Oh, Mouse, that is so funny!
Iiar, liar, pants on fire!!!!
He’s “naive”. He knew nothing about it. The poor dear has been surrounded by corrupt people. Who knew?
He’s in full “Eddie Haskel”. Gee Mrs. C, I had know idea people could even act like this!
Eddie Haskel, EXACTLY!!! “Hmmmmmmmm…..Hmmmmmmm” ….. “I didn’t even know” “Hmmmmm……Hmmmmmmm”
When did he become aware of the fact the lanes were closed on the bridge? He said he didn’t know anything until yesterday. He’s said 6 times, Bridget, Bridget, Bridget, Bridget, Bridget……..and fire Bill, Bill, Bill. You know he was a just bricklayer elected to be governor. He was a lawyer, who specialized in LAW, in particularly election laws, and government affairs.
His action was to fire B & B, and go back to work helping the republican party.
So apparently he was completely clueless and somebody else has been running the state of NJ all along. He. Did. Not. Know. and he’s heartbroken about it.
My reply would be, don’t the people of NJ deserve a gov who is really in charge and running things? Who was responsible for all of those supposed good things he did after Hurricane Sandy?
He is only taking questions from his hand picked reporters.
I guess he had no better choice than to say, “I didn’t know…”, but who the hell is going to believe that? Now he’s trying to act like a politically naive babe in the woods. Pffffft!
Now his joking with the press about “putting out the traffic cones” himself makes him look the total fool.
His initial reaction should be enough to throw him out of office. What a cavalier response to something that jeopardized the safety of the people of his state!!
He conveniently overlooked investigating early on what was going on at the site of the bridge, until yesterday. Again he is a LAWYER, and a Politician.
Yep, He has no defense except “Hmmmmmm…..Hmmmmmm…. I didn’t even know…..Hmmmmm….Hmmmmm”
Christie said he “hasn’t gotten mad yet”. Why not, he gets mad at middle aged female school teachers during town hall meetings who ask reasonable questions about his policies, but he doesn’t get mad at his staff of Thugs? Really????
LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!!!!!
I love that he’s getting petulant with the questions. He just can’t hide his bullying ways. Bullies gotta bully.
The reporters aren’t going to acquiesce and he’s not a guy who knows how to deal with direct challenge without flipping into direct attack mode. Retribution by closing down access to the busiest bridge in the world seem totally Chris Christie to me.
Yep. Signature.
He’s toast. All that working out and lap band surgery for nothing!!!! 🙂
Hahahaha!
He said he acted swiftly…(once the emails came out and they were caught red-handed!)
Very Nixonian. “I am not a crook”.
Perfect on what would have been Nixon’s 101st birthday…
You and Janice have me laughing – I can’t stand to watch this guy because I just start shouting at the television and I scare my dog.
I had no idea today was the birthday of Milhous. Thanks for that info. And I know what you mean about the dogs, When I yell at the TV. my dog runs to the front door and barks. She may need a pet psychologist.
The classic denial of a liar is, “Why would I do this? It makes no sense for me to do it!”
I can’t help but compare the Golden Gate Bridge to the Washington Bridge. I recall after 9/11 that these bridges fell under Homeland Security. I recall the days that the orange alert went out about Golden Gate, and the governor was on high alert to respond and say something, and he did. So what I am telling you, is that he knew about the closure. Do you really think the Golden Gate Bridge could close lanes and not be in contact with the governor? Do you really think that study can take place, with the busiest street in Boise, Idaho closed, and the governor doesn’t know?
I can’t help but think of the Nixon Days………….I didn’t know nothing about Watergate. And why on earth did he not call for outside independent investigation to this horrible situation, Jesus H. Christ, he’s was a prosecuting attorney.
It don’t add up, he’s got going to allow an independent investigation, I suggest someone take it out of his hands, and get to the bottom of this. I have heard enough from him.
Oops.he is NOT going to allow an independent investigation. Hey it sounds like he cooking up a conspiracy. Yes there is something more he can do.
From twitter, this is brilliant…
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka 2m
“I am not a crook.”
“I am not a witch.”
“I am not a bully.”
America, this is the Republican party. #bridgegate
When the Christie pc is over, please go look at this. Hysterical!
18 pics that show Vladimir Putin is an ’80s action movie villian:
http://likes.com/comedy/18-pics-that-prove-vladimir-putin-is-an-80s-action-movie-villain
Those were great. “He’s open on Sunday”. LOL
MSNBC and CNN is broadcasting Bridgeghazie, and I went to FOX, and they’re talking about how wonderful and great Robert Gates’s book is.
The problem with Robert Gates, is that he didn’t know when to go home, the party was long over. I mean I even know when to do that.
lol
Ist Chris Christie still droning on an on? Jesus H. Christ!!!
He’s in control till hell freezes over.
http://www.crazyphotos.com/Hell_Freezes_Over.html
Don’t know how to post a photo, so here’s the link.
ahh…………got it.
Let’s see if I can post this. Christie to Bridget Kelly…
Whatever you do Bridget, DON’T GO FISHING!!!!
😀
Hard to understand why he kept talking so long but I’m guessing he wants the country to be watching this rather than the actual committee hearing about the bridge closure…
http://new.livestream.com/NJOLS/ATR1?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia
Exactly, Janice! Thanks for the link – I just tuned in and Wildstein is refusing to reply “on advice on counsel.” The attorney is advising to reply that way on all questions. This will be interesting.
Wildstein pleading the fifth. On the advice of council…
I hope he’s held in contempt.
Assemblyman Giblin just tried shaming Wildstein to cooperate with the committee – said he didn’t think Wildstein should be the fall guy and had his own past reputation to protect and that he, Giblin, knew him better than his attorney.
Maybe they’ll grant him immunity from prosecution if he talks. Even that may not be enough, he knows Christie’s reach much better than we do.
“Hard to understand why he kept talking so long”
And all this time we thought his girth was so large because he is overweight, now we know most of it is just HOT AIR!!!
He probably dropped 50-60 pounds during that press conference.
This was so funny on twitter, I had to retweet it..
BeTheChange Fuentez @tvoccupy 55m
#bridgegate “I said block the fridge you idiots not the bridge” Chris Christie on diet plan gone crazy
Haha……dial a bridge?
That is too funny.
that is funny as hell…all I keep thinking about is Christie saying old Dick Nixon’s line….you won’t have Chris christie to kick around anymore. I bet cartoons will have that with a play on christie as a big ball or something.
Ahhhh! Good explanation from some dude on Andrea Mitchell show. State assembly investigation had subpoena power which was due to expire next week. Christie tried to stay out of it hoping subpoena power would expire and it would all go away. When the emails got released, that changed everything and now committee’s subpoena power will be renewed and he had no choice but to own his involvement.
Charles P Pierce: Big Chicken Exposed
Yesterday, Charlie didn’t think this would hurt Christie too much. He has now revised and extended his opinion and his remarks. 🙂
OMG! I’m halfway through and I’m laughing my butt off!! This is brilliant.
Charlie is the most consistently funny writer I know of on, or off, the net. He amazes me with multiple posts a day.
From a comment at Charlies: “I never thought that the clogged artery that would kill Chris Christie was a lane on the George Washington Bridge.”
Christie’s buddy is pleading the 5th, I’d be pleading for the 5th if I was in his shoes. He’s screwed if he does talk and he’s screwed if he doesn’t. Career over and out!!!!
The committee is going to hold him in contempt of the committee – misdemeanor.
Better than nothing.
A normal response to hearing that your staff caused this to happen would be to ask “Why?”. Since Christie kept insisting it made “no sense” to go after the mayor of Fort Lee then what was behind the efforts of his staff to cause this to happen?
But Christie did a “Fred Astaire” around that one by declaring he did not want to be involved in the middle of an investigation. Really? These are your top aides. People you have known and trusted for years yet you did not question why they did this and caused you to do a mea culpa in front of a press corps you hate?
That answer made no sense since it would be the first thing on my mind to want to know why I was put in political jeopardy by my own staff.
Unless, of course, I already knew the answer.
Big Chicken is burned toast. 😉
tpm: Christie’s Bridge Scandal Dominates N.J. Headlines (PHOTOS)
Roger Ailes Claims That Democrats and the Left Want Sarah Palin Dead
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/08/roger-ailes-claims-democrats-left-sarah-palin-dead.html
No one wants her dead although she is an embarrassment to women frankly. Maybe we go ballistic because such putrid crap spews out of her mouth. Sheesh.
We don’t “want Sarah Palin dead” we want her to stay up there in Alaska and keep an eye on the Russians.
“She’s recognizable, she’s attractive, and she still has the message of stop raising taxes.”
He forgot to add, she’s dumb. She may be dumber than George W., it’s a close call. .
I don’t want her dead. Then there would be even more publicity. I just want her to go away and never come back.
Professor discovers previously unpublished Mary Shelley letters http://bit.ly/1lF5lrh
Cool!
Idiot Republicans just can’t help themselves. Their rebranding efforts seem minimal.
Texas GOP chair attacks ‘Abortion Barbie’ Wendy Davis and ‘Hispanic’ running mate
I look back, with faded memory. Back in Oct 2010, he had been elected, and he shut down the Trans Hudson tunnel project. In 2012, he stood by that decision, which had been long planned to relieve the severe congestion across the Hudson River, he said it was a matter of principle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/nyregion/christie-stands-by-his-decision-to-cancel-trans-hudson-tunnel.htm
New Jersey had to repay around $95 million to government over this Hudson tunnel. From what I understand this all led to higher transit fares and highway tolls, he refused to create jobs and relieve the congestion.
I can’t help but was a seed planted, that something more is going on here……….something that could include the mafia. Kickbacks, or just a greedy cat. Regardless, this is the man that the republicans selected to lead their party. This man ought to be impeached, that way he can be a certified republican, and they can say it is in his genes.
Rachel is doing one hell of job on Christie……………she is interviewing several top level people from Fort Lee, and they all seem to be using the word “fear”…………….the other thing I can’t find much on is the Fort Lee Redevelopment funding……………billion dollar project has got to have federal monies. I bet tomorrow we are going to hear more about this. Something is fishy for sure.
Good. I’ll listen to the rerun later.
Christie has appointed Bridget Kelly’s boss as Attorney General, and he will go before the senate next week for confirmation. You recall, Bridget was Christie’s Deputy Chief staff and was fired without any questioning from Christie. Kevin O’Dowd is the current chief of staff, and was hire over year ago. He is now in place to squash the investigations. Bridget I think only worked as Deputy Chief for less than a year. This is getting to be about King Christie, not governor Christie.
Nobody knows the trouble he’s seen. Nobody knows his sorrow
one hopes so anyway!
Danielle @DCPlod 8 Jan
Next step: “Chris Christie (D-NJ)” graphic on Fox
John Schindler @20committee 8 Jan
Hey peeps – gonna be on MSNBC tonight 10.15 (2215) EST to discuss Sen Rand Paul & #NSA ….tune in if ya can!
BB, Did you catch this? I missed it and may have to stay up for the rerun.
Jeez that was yesterday 🙂
He got preempted by the Christie story.
From the Tar Sands Blockade group…
Texas Supreme Court Favors Landowner Over TransCanada in Eminent Domain Case
This case would not only effect the pipeline from Canada down, it will kill the one currently being built from Cushing, OK to Beaumont, TX. The property rights wingnuts on the court seem to have gotten one right.