Tom Moran, editor of the Star-Ledger, the largest newspaper in New Jersey, writes today that the editorial board regrets its endorsement of Governor Chris Christie. In Chris Christie endorsement is regrettable, Moran says the endorsement was a close call even before the scandals. I recommend this article as an interesting quick read, if for no other reason that we rarely read thoughtful self-reflective political people admitting their error, and the surprise ending is a duzzie of a kicker, worthy of progressive discussion.
During the fall campaign, the liberal TV hero Rachel Maddow ran a stinging segment ridiculing The Star-Ledger’s endorsement of Gov. Chris Christie. How could we endorse him, she asked, when we criticized him so harshly in the same piece? Had we lost our minds?
Moran responds, "not quite," saying it was a choice between "two flawed candidate", but now admits Rachel was right, "we blew this one."
Yes, we knew Christie was a bully. But we didn’t know his crew was crazy enough to put people’s lives at risk in Fort Lee as a means to pressure the mayor. We didn’t know he would use Hurricane Sandy aid as a political slush fund. And we certainly didn’t know that Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer was sitting on a credible charge of extortion by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
Even before this scandal train got rolling, this endorsement was a close call and a split vote among the editorial board. We regard Christie as the most overrated politician in the country, at least until now, a man who is better at talking than governing. We criticized him for trashing the working poor, for his tea party approach to the environment, for his opposition to gay marriage and a livable minimum wage. And so on.
Moran also notes that it was clear Governor Christie was a bully as he had boycotted their editorial board for years in an attempt to sway their coverage, but that Buono was also a flawed candidate and the editorial board felt they needed to have the courage to make a choice rather than sit out the endorsement the way, the less courageous New York Times board did.
In an interesting surprise twist, Moran warns the rest of us not to be smug, because we may end up in the same dilemma in 2016 and end up endorsing Christie ourselves.
Be careful, warns Moran, because as we turn our focus to the presidential race in 2016, we might wind up facing the same dilemma their board did in the fall. He speculates that Mike Huckabee will rise, now, with Christie's fall, but he will also inevitably crumble, leaving Rand Paul as the rising star. If some "dark secret" weakens Hillary Clinton, and it looks as if the choice will be between President Rand Paul and President Chris Christie, he would endorse Christie again, even knowing what he knows now.
1:01 PM PT: Thanks to simplify for suggesting this improvement to my post:
The key improvement would be to make explicit in the post that when Moran calls Buono a flawed candidate, he's full of shit.
Government and laws are the agreement we all make to secure everyone's freedom. -by Simplify