At the risk of being hauled up in front of a Blogger ethics panel on
charges of pedantry, I will now repeat a snip of something I wrote back on November 4, 2020:
...outside of the tiny circle of Never Trump Republicans who seem to exist
almost entirely on teevee and Twitter -- surprise! -- neither the tens of
millions of dollars that credulous Liberals poured into the Lincoln Project
nor the Liberal Political PornHub videos they cranked out budged even a
fraction of the Republican base one inch.
In fact, after four years of mayhem and madness, Republican support for
Trump actually deepened, widened and hardened this time around. From
Brother Charlie Pierce:
He Got More Votes Than Last Time
Almost half of the country looked at the way Donald Trump has
functioned as president since 2017 and said, definitively, that they
wanted four more years of it. We are who he thinks we are—a huge
proportion of us, anyway.
So how the hell did that happen?
Well, I'll tell you, but first allow me just a moment to bathe in the dark
hilarity of me -- a dirty, disreputable Libtard blogger nobody --
having to once again explain to Republican political professionals how their
fucking party actually works. A party which they made their
first fortunes building, and are making their second fortunes bitching
about.
So let's start with a term I coined and have been using for long time now to
describe the Republican base. "Reprogrammable meatbags" -- A term
which which I have been told many times sounds too harsh, but is simply the
literal truth. After all, we are all bags of meat. And as to the
other thing, indulge me a quick story which I've told once or twice on The
Professional Left podcast.
And then I told the story, but that's not why I'm reposting this today.
I'm reposting this to go on the record for the 5th or 6th time this year
about one of Trump's earliest and most reliable load-bearing stooges, Chris
Christie, who Very Many Liberals and Never Trumpers are now falling all over
themselves to applaud for "taking on Trump" in ways that no one else is doing.
And it's true that he's making a big splash all over the various media outlets which [checks notes] Republican voters never watch, never read and are pretty
sure are run by commie pedophiles.
Cooool.
Nonetheless, all the Very Serious People got very excited by all of this, and
are presumably holding themselves is a state of tantric pundit ecstasy by very
carefully ignoring the one very inconvenient fact about
Christie's campaign that
I may be literally the only person out there talking about. That for every right-handed haymaker Christie throws at Trump, there
is also a left hook aimed at Biden, for whom Christie has repeatedly said he
would never vote because Biden is apparently a doddering commie under the sway
of the "extreme left".
But it doesn't matter if he's shitting down our Liberal necks while he pisses
on Trump because -- wheee! -- at least he's pissing on Trump.
For fuck's sake people, have a little pride. And quit mistaking political
PornHub featurettes created to make Liberal ganglia twitch and Liberal wallets open for an
actual strategy that doesn't involve a gratuitous teardown of Joe Biden -- only
candidate who, in the end, has any chance of keeping Donald Trump the hell out of the
White House.
[Note: All the usual caveats about Trump dropping dead, fleeing
the country or landing in prison apply.]
In case you missed it, on June 7, 2023, former New Jersey governor and
failed 2016 presidential aspirant Chris Christie announced he was running for
president.
Again.
Because you're all so very smart, I'm sure all of you remember that Christie
was Trump's first serious endorser in 2016, and was the political IED who
cleared Marco Rubio out of the way in 2016 making Trump's nomination all but
inevitable.
And that is all Christie wants Republican voters to remember:
that he was a big Trump guy in 2016, but that once he got a good look at him
he realized how dangerous he was, and learned his lesson.
Except, of course, that's a lie. Which is not surprising because
Christie is a congenital Republican liar.
The reason Christie caught COVID in 2020 and almost died was because Donald
Trump lied about having COVID and gave it to Christie. And the reason
Christie was in such close proximity to Trump in 2020 was that
Christie was Trump's 2020 debate coach.
And did Christie vote for Trump in 2020?
You're damn right he did. From The Hill, October 20,
2020:
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) confirmed Thursday that he
voted for President Trump.
Chris Christie Says He Will be First in Line to Support Donald Trump in
2024.
Speaking about a previous interview on the topic, he said: "They asked me
directly could I vote for Joe Biden and I said absolutely not. I
didn't vote for him in 2020 and I certainly couldn't vote for him in 2024."
But that's not what I wanted to talk about.
I wanted to talk about how Chris Christie is running for president. What
sort of magic is he trying to weave that he hopes will be enough to snag
him both enough friendly media to fuel his campaign, and enough Republican
primary voters to clear the field of the rest of the pikers and pull him
within killing distance of Donald Trump?
It's a campaign designed to appeal to the mainstream media and all the Never
Trumpers who have colonized the media because it is rooted directly in their
holiest of holy texts.
Can you guess what that it?
Here's a hint.
When CBS's rapidly-aging-Sears-Boy's-Department-mannequin, John Dickerson, covered Christie's announcement that he was running for president, this is
what he said:
"Another candidate has launched his presidential campaign. Former
New Jersey governor and 2016 presidential hopeful Chris Christie started
his campaign with a dig against the front-runner."
Then Dickerson ran a video that was very carefully cropped at
this point.
Ooooh! Christie came right off the blocks attacking
Trump! Cool! Fight! Fight! Fight!
Except
that is not where Christie started at all.
Instead he started here. With (sing it with me now) Both Sides Do It:
Because for the
squealing, wretched, pinhead puppets of Gotham! reprogrammable meatbags of the Republican base, simply going after
Donald Trump as the corrupt, lying, racist, scumbag, fascist loser that he so
manifestly is never gonna fly. After all, everyone in that audience,
including Christie, voted for that corrupt, lying, racist, scumbag, fascist
loser. Twice.
No, the reprogrammable meatbags of the Republican base need a reason why
voting for that corrupt, lying, racist, scumbag, fascist loser
wasn't their fault. Why they really had no choice, because the Kenyan Usurper and the
dirty commie Liberals were the OG Destroyers of Worlds ... and Killery
Clinton was so much worse than Trump ... and Joe "The doddering
Marxist puppet of AOC" Biden was so much worse than Trump ... that both Chris Christie and the reprogrammable meatbags of the Republican base
had no choice but to vote for Trump, flaws and all.
Twice.
But now those reprogrammable meatbags have a choice!
Yay!
A choice who will unite the nation... even though they're positive that every Democrat is
secretly a dirty commie Marxist who wants to destroy Murrica.
This guy!
This corrupt slab of New Jersey political flotsam, who has a "Both Sides Do
It" answer in his back pocket for every occasion. Like, f'instance, mass
shootings.
You might remember that
almost exactly a year ago,
Christie was on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" where,
after Christie bragging about New Jersey laws already being tough enough on
guns, Stephanopoulos by very gingerly touched on the current
state of Christie's Republican party:
Stephanopoulos: It does appear that there's been a
hardening in the Republican Party around this issue.
Then, out of Christie's Lie Hole came the voice of two decades of David
Fucking Brooks. The inevitable all-occassion, Beltway-media-authorized
get-out-of-accountability-free excuse for every Republican atrocity:
Christie: Well, I think there's been a hardening on both sides. I think it's just a constant symptom of where we are in the country
right now. This is one issue that that's an example of but there are many
others where people in each party have decided that there's no compromise
here because there's no one on the other side willing to compromise and
they say that about each other and point fingers both ways.
And this is sum total of all the courage that Stephanopoulos could muster.
Stephanopoulos: Is this really a 'both sides' issue
though?
Then Christie filibustered for what seemed like hour, tossing out every turd
in the Both Siderist Turd Bag.
Because Christie knows the Magic Conjure Words that bring all the pundits to
the yard.
Which brings us to The Bulwark, and the full-body massage Christie just
recieved from Charlie "I'll Never Forgive Chris Christie" Sykes, who took
time away from his busy schedule of appearing on MSNBC every five minutes --
-- to make sure everyone knew that he had definitely forgiven Christie.
Which, of course, we all must now do, because somehow the enemy of my enemy
is now my supervisor.
Won't bore you with the whole thing. Instead we'll go straight to the
inevitable razors in the apple that you had to know was there even before
you hit "play".
Christie: I think quite frankly the criticism of the
justice department under Barack Obama and Eric Holder is apt. I
think they used it to go after their enemies and I think they used it to
look the other way with their friends most particularly in the Hillary
Clinton situation.
Zero push back from Sykes because why would there be. After all,
this is the same trash Sykes used to traffick in back when he was the Rush
Limbaugh of Wisconsin.
Christie: I think the idea of of saying that, y'know, Trump
should have been given a pass on these obstruction charges and the
document charges because Hillary wasn't prosecuted that does nothing to
restore the rule of law. Because Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch and Jim
Comey decided to abandon the rule of law doesn't mean that you're
justified in abandoning it yourself.
Zero push back from Sykes.
Sykes then ask why the Republican party cannot quit Trump.
Christie: I think part of it is that there's been a divisiveness
that's been created in this country where people feel they have to
wear their uniform 24 hours a day seven days a week and that
there can't be any objective evaluation of how people on our own team are
doing or not doing.
Note the passive voice. "Divisiveness" somehow come into being or its
own accord. Like El Nino or the next Transformers movie,
"divisiveness" is a destructive forces of nature over which mere humans have
no control.
And now, here it comes...
Christie: And I think we see that in
both parties quite frankly. Because there really is
no other explanation for the Democratic party being uniformly behind Joe
Biden either. I mean every time you look at him you kinda know the guy's
not up to the job but yet they stick with him.
Yeah. That's the stuff.
Want more? Well here you go.
Christie: Because I think that the Republican base fears
Joe Biden more than they are angry if Donald Trump were to lose the
nomination. I don't think there's any scenario under which this
base, after how far Left Biden has gone in his tenure so far, would ever let him willingly become president.
Zero push back from Sykes.
Sykes: You've made it clear that you will not come around you
will not support Donald Trump if he is the nominee.
Christie: That's correct
Sykes: Okay, so what will you do if he is the nominee?
Christie: Y'know, look, my guess is I probably wouldn't vote for
president because I have to assume Biden's a nominee as well I couldn't
vote for Joe Biden and so I probably would just skip that line on my,
uh, on my ballot.
So, here we are. And by the Iron Rule of Alliances that was drummed
into my by all my Liberal betters, I now know that the enemy of my enemy is
always my friend. under all circumstances, no
matter how odious and out-for-my blood that "friend" clearly is. And
if I think otherwise, I'd best keep my fucking mouth shut because don't I
realize that Our Democracy Is at Stake!!!
However, by the Commutative, Associative and Distributive laws of
Alliances, to be a Good Liberal I'm pretty sure am now also required to sit
down and shut up because somehow the
second-cousin-(who-thinks-Joe-Biden-is-a-doddering-Marxist)-of-the-enemy of my
enemy is now also my friend.
And if that is true, then I must also be required to remain
seated and silent because somehow the-college-roommate-(who thinks Barack
Obama was the real racist)-of-the-second-cousin-(who thinks Joe Biden is a
doddering Marxist)-of-the-enemy of my enemy is now is now also my friend too.
And thus,
as I warned long ago, if you give a Never Trumper an Ouchless Redemption Cookie even though they
still hate you and everything you cherish...the next thing you know they'll
have colonized the media.
But don't worry your little Liberal head, because once they've colonized the
media, you can trust that they'll
never turn around and use those
Ouchless Redemption Cookies -- which you gave them --
to try to absolve and rehabilitate a shitbag like Chris Christie.
Except sooner or later, of course they'll let Chris Christie
waddle in. Whereupon he will shit all over Barack Obama, call Joe Biden
a senile Marxist and eat all the cookies.
And fuck no, he won't vote for Biden if it's Biden versus Trump.
And your job as an "ally" is to sit quietly and say nothing because, OMG,
don't you realize that Our Democracy Is at Stake!!!
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey endorsed Donald J. Trump on Friday, a major turn in a wild race and one that gives the New York businessman a major boost as he heads into the pivotal Super Tuesday contests.
Mr. Christie was a candidate himself until he came in sixth place in New Hampshire’s primary. Seeing his political career facing an abrupt conclusion at the end of a second term as governor following his faded presidential campaign, he was said to be is deeply angry with Senator Marco Rubio, according to three people with direct knowledge of his thinking. He blames Mr. Rubio’s “super PAC” for halting his momentum in New Hampshire in December with a string of slash-and-burn ads.
“He’s been my friend for many years, he’s been a spectacular governor,” said Mr. Trump, standing with Mr. Christie at a press conference in Fort Worth, Texas, for the announcement.
“I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump,” said Mr. Christie, noting they have been friends for a decade.
...
“I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump,” .... said President Trump's nominee for United States Attorney General.
And like *that*, any lingering bruises from last nights cage match become yesterday's news as Trump gives the ADHD media a newer, shinier and more quotable bauble to chase.
Social Security projected to hit insolvency by 2034
Social Security and Medicare are inching slowly toward insolvency, according to annual trustees reports on the entitlement programs released Wednesday.
Social Security’s retirement and disability trust funds, combined, are on track for insolvency in 2034 — one year later than the entitlement program’s trustees predicted one year ago.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters at a briefing that the funds are “secure today and will remain secure in the years to come,” but warned that they are also “facing challenges that need to be addressed” by Congress.
...
From Chris Christie's jabbering shout-hole as he tries to scare the crap out of the elderly:
CHRISTIE: Well, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago.
And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years...
I know that with all the gazintas and take-aways, cipherin' can be really tricky, but no matter how hard I bang my head with a rock, or how loud I crack up Limbaugh ,I can't make 2015 + 7 come out to equal 2034.
I suppose it's like the tides in that way. Mysterious.
Thus once again performing the single function for which Ron Christie gets paid: providing valuable cover-fire for the worst people in America. From "NewsMax" (Motto: News for people who find 'World Net Daily' just a little too high-falutin'):
Ron Christie: Obama's Racist Pastor Far Worse Than Scalise's Error
Followed by +120 of exactly the kinds of comments you would imagine.
Sadly, the hopes of all eleven Professional Beltway Reasonable Conservatives appear lie in ruins as their 2016 Dream Ticket of Capo Chris and The Mooch is stabbed repeatedly in the neck by all the Terrible Liberal Media Bias!
Obviously this is nothing but excellent news for John McCain.:
Governor Chris Christie shown here on September 11, 2013 -- at the peak of the #bridgegate GWB Sabotage -- yucking it up with #bridgegate GWB Sabotage field marshal David Wildstein -- a guy with whom Christie swears "he had had no contact...in a long time, a long time, well before the election."
He is also very sorry and deeply shocked to discover that his closest political confidantes and fixers are awful, vindictive assholes who made up a vast, elaborate and dangerous plot to fuck over the Mayor of Fort Lee for no reason whatsoever.
You have now watched the entire, two-hour, Christie presser.
The basic theme of the press conference was that Big Chicken was responsible for one thing and one thing only -- of trusting people who preyed on his well-known innocence and his extensively documented and deeply held faith in his fellow human beings. Hell, he didn't even know the mayor of Fort Lee's name! He searched his soul and that's what he came up with -- he, Chris Christie, was sold down the river and, because he, Chris Christie was sold down the river, the people of New Jersey, embodied by him, were also betrayed. He was humiliated. He was deceived. What a world it is when a man cannot trust the hacks whom he appoints to serve him. Jesus H. Christ in the HOV lane, Nixon threw Haldeman and Ehrlichman out the windows with more compassion and fellow feeling than Christie demonstrated yesterday.
He apologized to the people in Fort Lee for allowing this passel of Judases to do these terrible things to him. How, he asked, could they possibly look at him berate schoolteachers and reporters and act like a general jackass throughout his political career and think he possibly could sit still for such obvious thuggery? He was a maverick. He works with both sides. He took an oath. Why is he the only honest man in this whole mess? It's a heavy burden he carries, a lonely road he walks, but he will do it on behalf of the people of New Jersey for what he's done to them by allowing such terrible, awful, horrible things to be done to him. "This was the job I asked for, and I gotta do it!" What a man is this. Stay under the damn bus, Bridget.
Ultimately, (as one wag once noted) Rod Blagojevich’s real-real crime was using his Outside Voice to talk bluntly and stupidly about things which every sentient mammal in Chicago knows you only talk about obliquely using your Inside Voice.
Blago and his crew broke the only hard and fast rule in politics -- "Don't Get Caught" -- and for that he will spend many years in the house of many doors.
Apparently, word of this fundamental rule of Big Time Politics never made it East of the Alleghenies.
Email scandal mars Christie's chances for presidency; governor apologizes
...
In an explosive story Wednesday, the Bergen Record revealed a cache of private emails that seemed to show Christie’s staff and appointees orchestrated the closure of lanes leading onto the George Washington Bridge to plague the small town of Fort Lee, whose Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, had failed to endorse Christie for reelection.
This is dirty politics at its worst. It's like chucking a brick through a window because a shopowner won’t pay you protection money. No one wants a potential president who acts like a mob boss.
The lane closures, starting on Sept. 9, resulted in four days of what the Record called “paralyzing gridlock” in Fort Lee, a small town of 35,000, as folks trying to get across the bridge into Manhattan were stuck in jams that lasted for hours.
Here's the money quote in the emails, from the Record's story:
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, one of three deputies on Christie’s senior staff, wrote to David Wildstein, a top Christie executive at the Port Authority, on Aug. 13, about three weeks before the closures. Wildstein, the official who ordered the closures and who resigned last month amid the escalating scandal, wrote back: "Got it."
Kelly’s feckless email is bound to go down in history as one of the all-time great political blunders. It becomes the smoking gun that kills Christie’s national political aspirations. Whether he knew about the plan, Christie hired the people and created the atmosphere that allowed this sort of behavior to flourish.
Governor Christie is already deep into the inevitable next step in political fire-control -- the blaming of the underlings:
[Updated 2:16 p.m. PST Jan. 8:In a statement released late Tuesday afternoon on his official website, Christie responded to the scandal: "What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. One thing is clear: this type of behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions."
Those with a freakish memory for political scandal may remember way back in 2000 when then-Mare Daley made a similar attempt to quickly distance himself from the fucked-in-the-head snow removal plan of his newly-appointed Streets and San Commissioner, Al Sanchez. Aides reminded Hizzoner that seeing as how he's known Sanchez for years and had just appointed him with great fanfare...pretending that he'd never heard of the guy or that he was shocked that Sanchez was a goof probably wasn't going to fly.
So Daley, being Daley, threw an arm around Sanchez and declared him a fucking genius! And there Sanchez would remained, right by Da Mare's side and in-effect running one of the clout-generating engines of Daley machine called the Hispanic Democratic Organization...until a few years later when he got himself indicted for his part in the massive Hired Truck scam, at which point Hizzoner got a brand new mudflap named Ron Huberman to stand between himself and the scandal that was swallowing half of his cronies and went back to "Al Sanchez? Who dat?"
Eventually Al went away for awhile. Two-and-a-half years which, considering he coulda been doing 20, was not a bad deal. And now that he has paid his debt to society and is once again an upright citizen, what does Al plan to do next?
Convicted political boss Al Sanchez running for Cook County board
Former Chicago Streets and Sanitation commissioner rigged hiring to benefit party's foot soldiers
December 03, 2013| By Rick Pearson and John Byrne, Chicago Tribune reporters
Former Chicago Streets and Sanitation boss Al Sanchez, shown in 2010 before the verdict, was convicted of scheming to rig city hiring. He's now running for Cook County Board.
Former Chicago Streets and Sanitation boss Al Sanchez, shown in 2010 before the verdict, was convicted of scheming to rig city hiring. He's now running for Cook County Board. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune 2010)
Former Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez, convicted on federal charges of rigging hiring to benefit political foot soldiers, filed Monday to run for the Cook County Board seat previously held by William Beavers — who is headed for prison.
...
And why in the world does "Convicted political boss Al Sanchez" think he has a hope in hell of landing a seat on the Cook County Board? Because through it all, Al Sanchez kept his fucking mouth shut. Here endeth the lesson.
