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| Xeogaming Forums - Debate Shrine - Gov. Chris Christie of NJ's "Bridgegate" scandal |
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Elara Divine Mamkute Dark Elf Goddess Chaos Imp Penguins Fan Ms. Invisable          Since: 08-15-04 From: Ferelden Since last post: 99 days Last activity: 99 days |
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So in a nutshell, a scandal has broken out that a top aide to Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was aware of massive lane closures and traffic jams on the Washington Bridge on Election Day this past November when the Governor was up for reelection.rnrnChristie is denying any knowledge of this, but there have been some damning messages that are at least making his staff look really, REALLY bad. With Christie vying for a run for president in 2016, this could destroy his chances. rnrnWhat are your thoughts? Do you think that he knew, that he perhaps even ordered it? Do you think he honestly did not know? Beyond that, how does the governor handle this situation? One person involved has resigned... but would the best move be to sack his entire staff? (Last edited by Elara on 01-09-14 11:09 AM) |
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Rogue If you're reading this... You are the Resistance Since: 08-17-04 Since last post: 633 days Last activity: 442 days |
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| What's the deal with the bridge closure? It wasn't really reported on this end of the country. | |||
Katana Dark Wizard \"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"  Since: 08-15-04 From: Philadelphia, P.A. Since last post: 1554 days Last activity: 1372 days |
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Originally posted by Rogue I'm strongly assuming that it has something to do with preventing democrats from voting that day. **shrugs** There's a few things to consider here. Do I think he knew about it? I would be incredibly on the fence about that one, but there's evidence that he did. If there's facts to speak of, then there's no arguing the situation, ya know? What would have made me consider that he was unknowing however, is the nature of the job and how busy of a person any governor is. Brings me to mind Henry Ford and his example of "I don't need to know everything about everything, all I have to do is push this button and the expert I need appears." notion. Some jobs are THAT incredibly busy and good leadership isn't just in your OWN ability to carry the weight, but in your ability to choose the best people to be by your side. So, anyway, Christie or not, that's the type of situation I kinda weigh in on when a very busy "job" is under fire, not just a particular person. The only thing I'm disappointed in is this: there are other facts that would be extremely relevant that should be readily available in articles like these. This is only a national thing due to the implications it holds to the future. Right NOW, it is also MAJORLY local. Therefore, as Rogue has proven, there are plenty of more than intelligent people who would scratch their heads and go "so uh...what does this mean? It was a traffic jam. First you East Coasters are complaining about your "earth quake" and now you think you can hold a candle to the traffic we live with?" I'm poking a little fun, but in all seriousness, I think the writing on this topic is terrible everywhere I turn. I'd love to be corrected if I am wrong, but every time I read about this, he article is more about attacking Christie in general under the guise of a bridge situation. If they want to attack the guy, there are plenty of reasons to do so. He's a politician. They're all crooks.  But in all seriousness, if they want to highlight how this is a future national problem should he get a nomination, people who are not local to the situation shouldn't have to separately google the location of this bridge and the demographics surrounding it to see the relevancy on this being an attempt at tampering with an election. Call the guy an asshole for purposely allowing a bridge to have that kind of issue? Fine. But don't start pointing fingers about an election issue without providing those demographics. Not that extra research shouldn't be encouraged, but what's the point in being able to research when the things you find don't highlight their headlined point?
**sigh** I'm rambling. Sorry. |
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Elara Divine Mamkute Dark Elf Goddess Chaos Imp Penguins Fan Ms. Invisable Since: 08-15-04 From: Ferelden Since last post: 99 days Last activity: 99 days |
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| It doesn't seem that it has anything to do with tampering with the election results. The evidence has mostly been indicating that this was retaliation towards the mayor of Fort Lee where the bridge is located for not endorsing Christie for reelection. As for why it matters that this particular bridge was closed, the George Washington Bridge is the busiest bridge in the nation and connects New Jersey to New York City
The focus on all the reports that I am seeing are more on the "How did he honestly not know?" and the excuses and responses he gave... such as pointing out that the calls for an investigation into the bridge closure resulted in Christie dismissing and attacking the people asking for it, yet when the story broke with proof that his administration had a role in it, he pleaded ignorance of the issue. Rogue, here is a basic breakdown that does a decent job of explaining it all. (Last edited by Elara on 01-12-14 09:01 PM) |
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Rogue If you're reading this... You are the Resistance Since: 08-17-04 Since last post: 633 days Last activity: 442 days |
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Originally posted by Katana Bahaha, that's essentially what I hear people say if ever Bridgegate comes up. Which is all of once. And I was only overhearing someone else talking about it to another person. ((Off topic, but I should also mention that living in an area that's only having gone down to 50 degrees in temperature or so this winter -- and where people such as myself have never fully experienced living in places where it goes into the negatives -- I'm surrounded by lots of mixed comments about the weather the rest of the country has been enduring. The most common is a feeling of gratefulness and extreme sympathy for those living in much colder climates. BUT, there are still the Californians who want to rub it in, as though anyone who DOESN'T live here is a moron, should "suck it up," and so on. Doesn't help that there's that viral image going around with California marked as "LOL." More than that, many are oblivious to the plight of other Americans. Believe me, I just came from working an anime convention, surrounded by teens and 20-somethings who didn't understand what I was getting at when I said, "It's not so bad out here. Just think how it is in the Midwest right now," as they freaked out about it being slightly nippy when they had to wait in a line outside for the masquerade. Just pointing this out when it comes to the differences in what's reported here and how many here just don't get what's wrong in other places of the country, no matter how informed they may be.)) Just to confirm, Bridgegate is definitely not reported here, at least in any of the capacities I'm used to getting my news. If anything, it would have been a 10 second brief, buried in the news. Political cartoons I've seen are simply of an incredibly obese man, marked "Christie," sitting on a bridge and holding up traffic. No other information than that. So yes, to Californians, it's just people complaining about things Angelenos, San Franciscans, and people from the many cities here suffer on a daily basis, so it's just puzzling for people to hear, "There was traffic on a bridge, and a politician knew about it!" I mean, there's more to it, but people here don't know the significance. (Last edited by Rogue on 01-13-14 02:47 PM) |
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Elara Divine Mamkute Dark Elf Goddess Chaos Imp Penguins Fan Ms. Invisable Since: 08-15-04 From: Ferelden Since last post: 99 days Last activity: 99 days |
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| Yeah, I think that is one of the things I don't miss... "It happened outside of California? Who cares?"
And HA to the whiny kids at the con... they would shit themselves on an actual cold day. The big thing that is being focused on with this story now is "Why did this happen?" and "Was the Governor involved?" It is possible that his chief of staff gave this order behind his back... but if she did not and he was in fact involved... well... that falls under the flaws on felony abuse of power. To figure out the part of his involvement, we have to figure out the why... there are at least three theories currently floating around. One is that it was retaliation against the Mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie (there is credible evidence of this happening to other mayors so it is possible), retaliation against the leader of the Democrats in the NJ State Senate for rejecting his choices for judge appointments (not as plausible since she has a rather large district and Fort Lee is only a small part of it), or that this was done to mess with a $1B (yes, B as in billion) development deal for a property whose value is based on quick access to the George Washington Bridge via those very same access lanes (this theory is also still possibly connected to the retaliation against the mayor idea just in a different way) |
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Lord Vulkas Mormonus Vile High Xeodent of Xeomerica.  Since: 10-29-04 From: North Carolina, United States. World, Sol System, milky way Since last post: 94 days Last activity: 94 days |
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| My thoughts ont his are kind of really simple.
Guys, it's a bridge being closed down, and I mean not even a whole bridge, just some of the lanes. I really hope that he has bigger things to worry about. Of course some people sent some e-mails about it (which I'm honestly going to be shocked if he read), but honestly, if he's setting himself up to watch every road/bridge closing in the state, then he has some serious issues with delegation and organization. Thinking about it, it really can't have anything to do with the election, because there's no way to target a specific political party like this, and there's really no reason for him to want to do this for malevolent reasons. I'm just going to chalk this up to a brain fart on the part of one of the aides which then was blown up because it's a slow news day. "My goodness, republican governor caused... traffic!" Maybe it's just me, but honestly, I am lost as to what the big deal is with this. (Last edited by Lord Vulkas Mormonus on 01-15-14 11:46 AM) |
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Cteno Super Shotgun Moderator Since: 01-11-05 Since last post: 92 days Last activity: 89 days |
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| I'm in the same boat as Vulkar. He has proven to be somewhat shifty in the past, but the whole bridge ordeal honestly seems like cherry-picking. | |||
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Elara Divine Mamkute Dark Elf Goddess Chaos Imp Penguins Fan Ms. Invisable Since: 08-15-04 From: Ferelden Since last post: 99 days Last activity: 99 days |
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| The nature of the emails shows that it wasn't a brain fart, and they were shooting emails back and forth to each other while it was going on, as well as purposely ignoring the mayor of the affected city.
Are they focusing on it a bit much? Yeah, but at the same time I do think that this should not be something that should be shrugged off and ignored. I think the reason that they keep focusing on it is that he keeps getting caught in lies about it. In the scramble to cover his own ass, he seems to be digging himself deeper and deeper. And let's face it, people find that fascinating. |
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Lord Vulkas Mormonus Vile High Xeodent of Xeomerica. Since: 10-29-04 From: North Carolina, United States. World, Sol System, milky way Since last post: 94 days Last activity: 94 days |
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| You know what I think that this really teaches me though? The power of the press.
I mean, here we are with an honestly pointless news story, and because they are the press, they have the power to create a gigantic scandal, causing anyone and everyone to investigate him. That said, they also have the power to create controversy by not reporting all of the info that they have. http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/01/politics/christie-emails/index.html These are the e-mails that the press is talking about, and there is a ton that's censored so taht we can't read it, and it's mostly just leaving condemning quotes that out of context can seem pretty bad. However, also in there is a bit about how it was closed because some town was requesting a traffic study which by my undertanding is the reason for those lane closings. Within these e-mails, the governer also clearly is stating to those working with him how he's afraid that the press will think that he was trying to do it out of punishment and that is was most definitely not because of that. CNN decided to censor anything that might make this more clear. So basically? My honest opinion remains, when we have other issues like how much health care is ripping people off and how many other political fiascos are going on, who cares about this? I mean seriously, this guy has enough of a checkered past that we can already guess he won't make it through the primaries come election season, who cares about him causing a traffic jam? Oh, and just a side note, he also reopened three lanes earlier than they wanted for the study because the traffic was so bad. I'll be shocked if anybody reports that. |
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Elara Divine Mamkute Dark Elf Goddess Chaos Imp Penguins Fan Ms. Invisable Since: 08-15-04 From: Ferelden Since last post: 99 days Last activity: 99 days |
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| Then why hasn't he stated that? In fact, why is it on record that an official from the New York part of Port Authority ordered it opened, not the governor who has been claiming he didn't know the bridge lanes were closed?
For his primary chances... given the circus we saw in 2012 with the Republican candidates, I really don't think his checkered past will hurt him. Not as much as other things like going after the tea party. Primaries are crazy. |
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