There are two major angles to the Chris Christie bridge scandal. The most important angle here is the public safety hazard Christie’s staffers, and perhaps Christie himself deliberately created in order to apparently stymie Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. The other angle is closely related, but not as critical: the sheer thuggish stupidity of the Christie team.
In the hours following the release of emails from senior Christie staffers showing they clearly plotted to block traffic on the George Washington Bridge leading from New Jersey into Manhattan, we learned two damning pieces of information:
1) The effort to track down a missing 4-year-old child was hindered by the massive traffic jam in Fort Lee caused by the lane closures on the bridge. The child was eventually found, but the search was hindered by the traffic.
2) At least four EMT rescues were slowed due to the traffic. One of those rescues involved a 91-year-old woman who later died (it’s unclear whether it was the result of delayed treatment). Officials say two of the four rescues took twice as long as normal due to the traffic.
Yeah, but at least the Christie staffers really stuck it to Mayor Sokolich. Somehow. That’s the other side of this scandal: the sheer stupidity of this conspiracy.
3) “Let’s block traffic, piss off thousands of people and create a public safety hazard! That’ll show the, you know, mayor of, um, Fort Lee?” How the hell would the closure of bridge lanes and the subsequent traffic negatively impact Sokolich, politically or otherwise?… [CONTINUE READING]