Now that the sun has officially set on Chris Christie's public service and personal credibility, I hereby use the power vested me by the stewardship of the
new New Jersey governor
Phil Murphy, plus the morally courageous ridicule of
Bruce Springsteen, to pronounce this thread officially closed.
I had every confidence that Christie's departure from office would showcase his political/social tone-deafness and vulgarianism, and I'm delighted to report that he didn't let us down.
Quote:
Business Insider: On the day New Jersey elect(ed) a new governor...Chris Christie fell into an old habit that has come to define his governorship...
(To) a constituent who was upset that the governor hadn't attempted to merge the constituent's township...Christie said..."It's easier to sit here and complain. But you know what? That's the joy of public service. It's serving folks...like you that is really such a unique joy. It really is. You're fabulous."
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But that was only the opening act:
Quote:
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Bloomberg: ...(A)t Newark Liberty International Airport...Christie...and the state trooper who accompanied him for his security detail...was blocked from a VIP entrance he had used for eight years, and directed to stand in...screening lines at Terminal B like anyone else, according to a person familiar with the incident...The order came from police for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport...
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About ten days after being laid off from a job I'd had for nine years, I had to make one last visit to the personnel department. I did so by doing what I'd done practically every day for each of those nine years: entering the office building, getting on and off the elevator, exchanging pleasantries with employees who were passing through the reception area, and bypassing the reception desk. As I was completing my appointment with the personnel representative, some security guards showed up.
Why? Because it had never entered my mind that since I didn't work there anymore, I should have conducted myself as a mere visitor "like anyone else." I suppose I should have been embarrassed by my carelessness, or offended that I'd been suspected of be a "suspicious" character. But all I could do was laugh and say "Force of habit -- guilty as charged!"
Quote:
Talking Points Memo: The former governor...attempted to enter the airport through a special access area with his state police escort that he reportedly used when he was governor. A Port Authority (police) officer stopped Christie from using that entrance and escorted him to the regular entrance...
Christie denied the claims in...tweet(s)...saying he was led to one entrance...but was then informed by the (Transportation Safety Administration) that it was the wrong entrance and he was directed to a different gate: “Neither option was the way I entered the airport as Governor (wrong in the story) and (the) PAPD officer never denied me entry at either place (also wrong in story)...”
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If Christie
was "led" to the first gate, it was most likely the result of his
telling the PAPD officer that he wanted to use the gate that was reserved for the New Jersey governor. But I'm willing to believe that Christie simply made the same innocent mistake that I had, and therefore neither he nor they were to blame. His response is the problem: retaliating by portraying himself as the victim -- then elevating himself to the hero -- by attacking "false" reports that he'd tried to "evade"
both gates.
So it's appropriate that this thread is ending on such a sour note. In addition to making it that much easier to say
"Good riddance, Governor Soprano," it also makes me that much prouder of the effort that everyone invested in reading all this over the past three years. So I won't say goodbye -- I'll just say "Thank you for the 30 views a day," and "Would you please take off your shoes before passing through the scanner, sir?"