Time to Play Deflection Bingo with Christie Defenders
So the governor of New Jersey constantly screams at people and employs staffers and cronies across the state who create multiday traffic jams for the pure bloodsport of vaguely defined revenge. So what? ask his (admittedly few) defenders in the wake of the limply titled “Bridgegate.” Leave the guy alone. Why is the media world so fixated on the troubles of the man with a heart of solid gold?
HOST HOWARD KURTZ : So what about this bully narrative [surrounding Chris Christie]?
FOX SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST BRIT HUME: Well, I would have to say that in this sort of feminized atmosphere in which we exist today, guys who are masculine and muscular like that in their private conduct, kind of old fashion tough guys, run some risk.
FOX CONTRIBUTOR LAUREN ASHBURN: Feminized?
KURTZ: Feminized.
HUME: Atmosphere.
KURTZ: By which you mean?
HUME: By which I mean that men today have learned the lesson the hard way that if you act like a kind of an old fashioned guy’s guy, you’re in constant danger of slipping out and saying something that’s going to get you in trouble and make you look like a sexist or make you look like you seem thuggish or whatever. That’s the atmosphere in which he operates. This guy is very much an old fashioned masculine, muscular guy, and there are political risks associated with that. Maybe it shouldn’t be, but that’s how it is.
Yep, Brit Hume, with a raging boner, leans back and sighs, Next thing you know they’ll give women the vote.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is also defending Christie, saying, hey, it was campaign season, you “miss” a lot of hilariously petty revenge plots from your staff when you’re busy campaigning. Never mind that this scandal only really began after Christie’s reelection and, as Christie claimed, he only heard about it last week.
But the main thing Christie defenders—or deflectors, we should call them—are offering is one word. Not quite a portmanteau; it’s more of a German term, with two words sort of smashed together: ObamacareIRSBenghazi. Or the extended version: whataboutObamacareIRSBenghazi. As in, “What about Obamacare and the IRS and Benghazi scandals?” Look at ’em go, helpfully curated by Yahoo! News:
“Chris Christie has been totally open here,” Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday. “He stood there for 111 minutes in an open dialogue with the press. Now, only if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would give us 111 seconds of that, would we find out some things we want to find out about Obamacare, Benghazi, the IRS.”
[. . .]
“I think he took the bull by the horns, held people accountable, fired people,” Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “And I think it is a very big difference than how this administration has handled things — IRS, Benghazi, you can keep your health insurance if you want it. Nobody’s been fired over that.”
[. . .]
[Karl] Rove continued: “I think his handling of this, being straightforward, taking action — saying, ‘I’m responsible’ — firing the people probably gives him some street cred with some tea party Republicans, who say that’s what we want in a leader, somebody who steps up and takes responsibility.”
“You’ll notice we haven’t been hearing a lot from the Clinton camp about this,” he added. “Contrast both with Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton’s handling of Benghazi.”
I’d just say that the reason Christie is being “straightforward” and “taking action” is because his staffers were caught red-handed saying, more or less, let’s destroy Fort Lee for fun! Prior to that, if we recall, Christie’s primary response to inquiries into the matter was to make fun of the reporters asking him about it.
Anyway, stop beating up on Chris Christie, you catty feminine girly people.