The emerging scandal over Chris Christie’s staff causing traffic jams does not come close to dooming him for 2016.
Earlier today there was a major break in the scandal surrounding allegations that New Jersey Governor Christ Christie’s staff played a major role in causing traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey by shutting down lanes on the George Washington Bridge in an act of political revenge. The traffic jams where allegedly created in response to the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, refusing to endorse Christie for reelection in 2013.
Christie, a promising contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has long portrayed the allegations as a bit of a joke, but newly released emails show that his deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly emailed a Christie appointee at the Port Authority telling him “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” A little while later a number of lanes on the bridge were shut down on the first day of school.
While this scandal certainly is not good for Christie (the governor) or Christie (the presidential aspirant), a number of commentators have unfortunately jumped up to claim that this dooms Christie’s chances for the White House. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait went so far as to claim that these new allegations, “…will probably destroy Christie’s chances in 2016.”
I really doubt this. First of all it’s not clear if this scandal will even reach Christie himself. Kelly has already resigned and it is quite possible that this whole fiasco was just some overzealous staffers trying to please their boss without his knowledge or okay. It’s also possible that Christie will be able to claim this and nobody will be able to prove him wrong. In fact it’s not even clear what laws might have been broken by causing a traffic jam out of political spite.
Secondly, past campaigns are filled with scandals that were supposed to doom candidates that never really played out. Indeed for every scandal like the sex scandal that doomed Gary Hart’s 1988 bid, there were scandals that failed to pan out like the Iran-Contra Affair that supposedly would end George H. W. Bush’s chances and Gennifer Flowers’ allegations that supposedly would end Bill Clinton’s aspirations as well.
Finally, it’s not at all clear that party actors, the folks who actually decide nominations, will necessarily abandon Christie in mass for even a fairly serious scandal. I doubt he could survive being criminally indicted, but if he was just forced to do a staff shakeup and apologize this could easily be forgotten in about a month. In short, the allegations don’t help Christie, but he certainly isn’t out of the hunt yet. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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[…] revenge, broke as a major national news story. I’d still argue that this ongoing scandal doesn’t automatically doom Chris Christie’s chances at becoming the Republican nominee for president in 2016, but the […]
I would like to add that the media tends to lean heavily toward the Democratic view point. Many celebrities seem to be Democratic themselves. There is a difference in how news is reported about Dems vs Republicans in our country and this should be kept in mind as we gather facts on both Dems and Republicans.
Of course he knew about it. The phrase “plausible deniability” was invented by politicians. Don’t fall for this crap. If he didn’t know that would mean he’s too stupid to be in the position he’s in. But he knew. They all know. They always do.
The issue is really about how long the public’s political memory is. It’s not so much about how badly he behaved as it is the *timing* of his bad behavior. In the U.S. today, voters’ memories are amazingly short. If he made that traffic jam in January 2016, then yeah, it would doom him for 2016. But, 2016 is two years away. That’s a millennium for us American voters. I remember when Joe Biden’s political career was totally doomed because of plagiarism in one of his speeches. He became a running joke, he was doomed to obscurity, etc. Then everyone… Read more »
Wake up and smell the coffee. Rachel Maddow broke yesterday that given the date of the “traffic” email from his deputy chief of staff, the obvious reason Christie did this is because a fight with NJ senate dems over his state Supreme Court nominee who was rejected the day before that email was sent. The senate dems leader represents Fort Lee. Christie called them “animals”. He’s toast.
Oh, I’d agree it’s certainly possible he’s toast, but it’s certainly possible he’s not. Only a few months ago we were hearing that Obamacare’s website problems meant 1. the law would be repealed, 2. Obama’s presidency was effectively over, 3. the Democratic Party was doomed for all time, 4. liberalism was also effectively over.
It takes time to see how things shake out.
Once people realize the real reason for this retribution was the very ugly scandal around the way he treated the Supreme Court nominees, and the video surfaces of him calling dems ‘animals’, the TV commercials will write themselves. He will never ever make it through a GOP primary in 2016. Frankly, given how badly this scandal stinks and the direct links to his administration, the real question is not whether he will run for Pres in 2016, but whether he will even be able to finish his term as NJ Governor. This is not just some petty political scandal. This… Read more »
Yeah..because we know how reliable political TV commercials are. Rachel Maddow shared a “theory”. She has no proof of what the real reason was behind the situation. Hopefully only time will tell what is really true. Considering that Christie has had a darn good run, and the biggest dirt that the press or Democrats where able to drudge up on him regarded his weight, which many petty jokes and name calling went around from the Dems, may I remind you Bill, I suspect there are some who are just jumping at the bit to make “theories” and hypothosize before we… Read more »
You haven’t proven that CHRISTIE did this. And I’m amused you think the word “animals” even registers on the outrage scale in political invective. Our President has used the term “teabaggers” to describe members of the opposing party… That’s pretty nasty yet he has survived without any damage. If Christie goes down it will be because someone is able to tie him directly to the scandal; not for using a relatively mild term to denounce political rivals in the midst of a fight… If he is definitively tied to the lane closure- then I agree. He shouldnt be allowed to… Read more »
Maybe some people don’t know what “teabagging” is?