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The gravamen of the media’s case against Christie on Bridgegate seems to be that he is a “bully” — which I painstakingly gleaned from the fact that the governor is called a “bully” 1 million times a night on MSNBC and in hundreds of blog postings and New York Times reports. Christie is not a bully. If anything, he’s a pansy, a man terrified of the liberal media, of Wall Street, of Silicon Valley, of Obama, of Bruce Springsteen, of Mark Zuckerberg, of Chuck Schumer. It’s a good bet he’s afraid of his own shadow. (In fairness, his shadow is...

New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie will speak at 2014’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the American Conservative Union (ACU) announced late Sunday. The ACU’s decision to invite Christie comes after he was denied a speaking slot in 2013 and amid a scandal over politically motivated highway lane closures that may jeopardize the rough-and-tumble Governor’s political future. “We are very excited to announce that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will speak at CPAC 2014,” ACU chairman Al Cardenas said in a statement. “At this year’s CPAC — and through our theme ‘ACU’s Golden Anniversary: Getting It Right for 50 Years’...

Responding to embattled Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's scandals concerning "Bridgegate" and Hurricane Sandy Relief funds, conservatives have been more anti-mainstream media, anti-President Barack Obama, and anti-Hillary Clinton than pro-Christie.  Their support, though, has been far from enthusiastic, showing how difficult it will be for Christie to not only win the Republican presidential nomination if he becomes a candidate but to win in the general election if he gets the nomination. The mainstream media--and his friends at MSNBC--have turned on Christie, and conservatives have again defended an establishment Republican more than the establishment has ever defended them. Conservatives have pointed out that Christie has taken...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was greeted with a scattering of boos when he appeared at a Super Bowl ceremony in New York City on Saturday. The embattled governor wouldn't answer questions from the press about the bridge-gate scandal sparked when his top aides orchestrated traffic gridlock on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey as apparent political retribution. He has denied any knowledge of an plot.

Longtime readers here may recall that yours truly and others have written about liberties New York Times reporter Kate Zernike has taken with the truth, especially in her reporting on the Tea Party movement. Her penchant for inventing baseless stories about alleged racism in the movement once caused the late Andrew Breitbart to label her "a despicable human being." Breitbart might well have the same reaction to the hours-later revision made at Zernike's Times story Friday about Chris Christie. Several alert bloggers and tweeters noted that her story about Christie's knowledge of shut lanes on the George Washington Bridge conveniently...

If I am not mistaken, Governor Chris Christie said in his 100+ minutes speech that he did had knowledge (at some point in the past) of the lane closures -- but that knowledge was related to the lane closures being in connection with a study. Based upon this, how can Christie's words that he had no knowledge of the lane closures be used against him? I may be wrong, but it would seem that the only logical conclusion to the two seemingly diametrically opposed statements is that his words (that he had no knowledge of the lane closures) would have...

The New York Times changed the lede of its explosive story about former New York Port Authority official David Wildstein on Friday. Whereas the original story stated that Wildstein has the evidence to prove Gov. Chris Christie knew about the George Washington Bridge lane closings when they were happening, the new version has Wildstein saying “evidence exists.” […] This seemingly minor change carries a big difference in meaning. The original lede reads as though Wildstein is saying he specifically has evidence that links Christie to knowing about the bridge lane closures. The second lede suggests only that “evidence exists,” not...

He knew. The liberal New York Times reported today that Governor Chris Christie knew about the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge when they were happening. The New York Times reported: The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening. In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former campaign manager will plead the Fifth Amendment when he is asked about his role in an apparent plot to create a traffic jam in Fort Lee, N.J., according to a filing from his lawyer. The campaign manager, Bill Stepien, was one of two people disciplined for his actions related to the access lane closures, shortly after the apparent scheme was disclosed in a series of e-mails and text messages...

The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it. In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may stand accused of using Sandy money as both carrot and stick in his political battles, but that's not stopping him from asking the federal government for more help. The Star-Ledger reported Wednesday that Christie sent a letter to President Obama asking FEMA to extend its housing program. The program, the paper reports, would not directly bring money into the state, but instead cost the Federal government thousands in maintaining temporary homes for displaced victims. The housing, located in the Central Jersey facility of Fort Monmouth, currently houses 49 families but takes care of 80...

Though former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not included in a Public Policy Polling survey of potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders, she was still overwhelmingly the most liked person among Republican primary voters. According to Public Policy Polling: The best liked person we tested on this poll with Republican primary voters is actually Sarah Palin who has a 70/20 favorability rating. She's followed by Huckabee at 64/18, Ryan at 58/18, Paul at 58/21, Bush at 56/18, Cruz at 45/20, and Christie at 40/38. Most of those numbers are similar to what they were a month ago but Christie's seen a...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Mayor Bill de Blasio may have harshly criticized New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his administration’s recent “bridgegate” scandal, but for one night, at least, it was all water under the bridge.

Instead of getting to the truth of the Bridgegate affair, the new Legislative Select Committee on Investigation is looking more likely to obscure or distort the facts. **SNIP** But the Democratic majority structured the committee in ways guaranteed to cast doubt on its findings. Moreover, it has no mechanism for public input, no ceiling on costs and no limits on its scope or methods. For starters: With eight Democrats and four Republicans, the group’s extreme partisan imbalance undercuts any sense of shared purpose. Such a brazenly stacked deck sets the stage for unproductive bickering instead of thoughtful debate. The lack...

One hint on U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s political ideology comes from his 1995 campaign for the State Assembly, when he attacked two other candidates, Anthony Bucco and Michael Patrick Carroll, for supporting a repeal of the ban on assault weapons. A reader sent PolitickerNJ.com a copy of the mailer from that campaign after Matt Friedman’s story on conservatives wanting to know where the federal prosecutor stands on some state issues.Christie's position won't hurt him as a general election candidate in a state where polls over the last decade have constistently demonstrated support for an assault weapons ban.  His exposure is...

In Governor Christie’s efforts to solve New Jersey’s education problems, yesterday he visited the Dudley Family School in Camden to discuss some of his plans for school programs in the Garden State. ......................................................... One of the big education announcements that he made in Camden is plans for an after-school dinner program for kids in six of the city’s schools. Research has shown that when kids are hungry, that affects not just their academic performance, but also their behavior.

At the end of last year, embattled NJ Gov. Chris Christie took control of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), which acts as a kind of super-pac for GOP gubernatorial campaigns. In 2010, a cycle comparable to the upcoming elections, the RGA spent well over $100 million to support GOP campaigns for governor. Governors up for reelection in November have been among the first to defend Christie in his current scandal.  Soon after the Bridge-gate scandal broke, the nation's Governors met in DC for a regularly scheduled conference of the National Governors Association. Several Republican Governors spoke out in defense of...

<p>New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell were the first victors in the Tea Party wave, riding fresh conservative enthusiasm--and outrage over Obamacare--to victory in November 2009. The left, predictably, is trying to link Christie's bullying scandal and McDonnell's corruption indictment to that Tea Party support. The truth, however, is that they dumped their Tea Party principles and supporters long ago.</p>

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will likely be invited to this year's annual Conservative Political Action Conference after being snubbed last year.American Conservative Union (ACU) Chairman Al Cardenas, whose group runs CPAC, said Christie is "being looked at differently this year" because of his likely presidential campaign.Cardenas told The Hill that there haven't been any final decisions made but said Christie's 2016 potential makes it more likely that he'll get an invite this year, even as a brewing scandal over a bridge closing last year and other accusations of political playback have swirled around the governor.According to Cardenas, last...

Chris Matthews really doesn’t listen when he speaks.  On every program since Chris Christie’s bridge scandal broke on January 8, the MSNBC anchor has smeared the Republican governor as just like Richard Nixon in Watergate. Matthews has done this for nine straight shows, including the January 20 edition. However, on the same program, with no sense of self awareness, a thought occurred to the anchor.  He announced that if “it is discovered that Governor Christie did not encourage political revenge, did not signal that this is the way he wanted political business conducted, then he will be exonerated before the...