“The Governor Must Go”

From “Chris Christie should resign if bombshell proves true,” Editorial Board, New Jersey Star–Ledger:

“Forget about the White House in 2016. The question now is whether Gov. Chris Christie can survive as governor.

“David Wildstein, the man who ordered the George Washington Bridge lane closures, is now pointing the finger directly at Gov. Chris Christie, saying the governor knew about the lane closures in September when they occurred.

“That directly contradicts Christie account at his Jan. 13 press conference when he made this statement: “I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it… I first found out about it after it was over.”

“If this charge proves true, then the governor must resign or be impeached. Because that would leave him so drained of credibility that he could not possibly govern effectively. He would owe it to the people of New Jersey to stop the bleeding and quit. And if he should refuse, then the Legislature should open impeachment hearings.

“By the governor’s own standard, lying is a firing offense. Here’s what he said about his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelley, at the same press conference: “There’s no justification for ever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. As a result, I’ve terminated Bridget’s employment.”

“One hopes that he would consider lying to the people of New Jersey as an offense of equal magnitude.

“Wildstein’s statement means that others who have been implicated in this scandal will probably come forward now as well, hoping to strike deals with prosecutors before their testimony becomes redundant.

“When you layer of top of this the criminal investigation in Hoboken, and a separate investigation of Sandy spending by the federal Departmentof Housing and Urban Development, it becomes difficult to see how Christie can function.

“This is a shocking development.  Christie is now damaged goods.  If Wildstein’s disclosures are as powerful as he claims, the governor must go.”

The GOP Will Save the Prez

From “Why the GOP thinks it could blow it,” Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, Politico:

“Republicans are worried one thing could screw up the political gift of three Obama administration controversies at once:  fellow Republicans.

“Top GOP leaders are privately warning members to put a sock in it when it comes to silly calls for impeachment or over-the-top comparisons to Watergate.  They want members to focus on months of fact-finding investigations — not rhetorical fury.”

Asking this group to put a sock in it?  Fuhgeddaboudit.  They don’t know from fact finding, they only know rhetorical fury. 

Paranoid Fringe 1, Newtown Children 0

Crazies in and out of Congress are threatening to impeach President Obama over his executive actions on guns.

Yes, those actions are very scary.

For example, he is going to nominate a director for the ATF.

He’s going to begin a conversation about mental health.

He’s going to begin a campaign to emphasize safe and responsible gun ownership.

He’s going to clarify what mental health services Medicaid must provide.

He’s going to offer additional training for active shooter situations.

Nominations and conversations and campaigns and clarifications and training, oh my!

All of the executive actions he outlined today are pretty wimpy and none of them can be interpreted as taking away anyone’s Second Amendment rights.

All the big stuff, the meaningful stuff is going to Congress, and it looks as if we may get better background checks, but we won’t get a ban on assault weapons or large ammo clips.

I can’t believe that this moment is going to slip away, but now I think it is.  And if Sandy Hook doesn’t get us to act, I have no idea what will.

It’s awful enough that those beautiful children and brave teachers died.  Even worse is that they will have died in vain.  Even worse is that the paranoid fringe is going to win.