File this in the "Not the Onion" folder:
According to the Associated Press:
A last-minute change prevented what could have been an uncomfortable moment during the Sept. 11 museum dedication ceremony: remarks by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie followed by the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water.
"The original program for Thursday's ceremony had Christie's remarks followed by Idina Menzel's performance of the song. That sent social media aflutter with speculation that the scheduling was a jab at the governor over accusations that his staff intentionally clogged traffic near the George Washington Bridge to punish a political adversary.
As it happened, Idina fell ill and could not sing at all. Instead, her co-star in
If/Then, LaChanze (a 9/11 widow), sang
Amazing Grace. According to the Museum spokesman Anthony Guido, the change had nothing to do with the Simon and Garfunkel classic or Christie.
I guess in this one case, Christie had "wicked" good luck.
I learned this from Steve Benen, who noted that the song change did not save Christie from other embarrassments, such as his other featured appearance at a "fiscal responsibility" event sponsored by cat-food-purevyor-in-chief Pete Peterson's foundation.
Surprisingly, Christie was asked some tough questions by Shay's Rebellion correspondent Bob Schieffer (as Charlie Pierce would say) who asked him tough questions about how he can claim to be fiscally responsible in light of NJ's "$807 million budget shortfall; downgrades by credit-rating agencies; worry that the state can’t pay its pension obligations; and slow job growth."
Christie being Christie, he blamed anyone else he could think of, including his own economists, President Obama and his four prior successors. This, of course, ignores that when he first released his budget, David Rosen, the State's non-partisan budget director for New Jersey's Office of Legislative Services, projected serious shortfalls. As I diaried in Christie's Budget Bullying: The Worst You Can Be is Right, Christie responded in his usual low-key, diplomatic way, calling Rosen:
"Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers" and asked, "Why would anybody with a functioning brain believe this guy? … How often do you have to be wrong to finally be dismissed?" Christie went on: "It should be humiliating to him. Nobody in this state believes David Rosen, anymore, nobody. And nobody should. He's so wrong, for so long, that his credibility is now gone."
You'd think Rosen was someone really horrible, like a teacher.