Well, it really seems like, even here at Daily Kos, no one gives a crap about Christie anymore, but I sure as hell still care, so I'm going to document this if no one else does.
(I pretty much gave up caring about politics in general after last month's incredible disaster --since it just seems so completely pointless and hopeless to even try, in a country that's this irredeemably stupid-- but I still desperately want to see this monster --my governor-- get what's coming to him. That, at least, will still hold my interest, and hopefully give me ONE thing to feel good about.)
Nothing's happened in the progress of the Christie Scandal lately (or, more accurately, nothing publicly visible has happened, while LOTS of stuff may have happened behind the scenes), so this has inevitably allowed the Big Pig to regain his disgusting swagger, to pretend that there's no problem, to tell people the Scandal is over, and to continue to act as if he's a serious candidate for Prez.
It has also allowed the media to universally reverse their 'narrative' of the story, and settle into the notion that the 'new' story is 'Christie's Amazing Comeback: He's Bigger and Badder Than Ever;' 'He's Shrugged Off the Scandal, and Is Charging Ahead,' etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum, ad nauseum. (It truly makes me want to puke.)
Well, the last couple of days has finally brought a little news, but, as usual, the media, and the general public, have gotten it utterly backwards, and completely missed the real story.
The (ostensibly) 'BIG' story on Friday was, of course, the 'leak' of the Investigative Committee's interim report, and the 'stunning revelation' that it hasn't managed to convict Gov Christie of any crimes.
This, of course, in the real world, is not a revelation, not the least bit stunning, and in fact not a 'story' at all.
We already knew they haven't managed to find definitive proof of Christie's direct involvement in the actual planning or orchestration of the crimes; if they had, we'd have heard about it.
We also knew that it was fairly unlikely they'd be able to find definitive proof, in light of the incredible obstacles placed before them, in terms of refusal to testify by all the key perpetrators, withholding of evidence by the Feds, and an incredible lack of cooperation from Christie and his fellow thugs around the state.
So that was no story. What it was, is yet another carefully-planned PR initiative from the Christie Cabal, to try and 'push the narrative' towards the notion that 'it's all over; there's nothing to see here' and we can now move on to Candidate Christie, and watch that show.
That they'd make that attempt is no surprise. Get your 'soldier' Kevin O'Toole to send the report to all his favorite Fox and Faux-Fox affiliates, have your own pre-prepared 'spontaneous reactions' ready to go, and sit back.
Textbook Christie/Giuliani SOP (and exactly what they did a few months back with the supposed 'leak' from the DOJ).
What IS a little shocking is the incredible degree to which every media outlet in the world instantaneously fell into robotic lock-step, and slavishly repeated the verbatim 'talking-points' they'd been handed by Team Christie.
It took about five minutes from the 'leak' of the report to about 8000 headlines, all around the world, screaming NJ Probe Clears Christie or something to that effect.
It's sickening, to be sure, but is it really that great a surprise, to anyone who watches and sees what the media have become?
Anyway, that's all incredibly unfortunate, but it's bullshit and side-show.
Now, we come to what really matters.
Friday, the same day as the GIGANTIC BLOCKBUSTER STORY that the Committee, umm, hadn't managed yet to actually convict the Big Pig,... and 8000 screaming headlines that
Christie Cleared By NJ Investigation,...
... there was another story about the progress of the Christie Crime Scandal.
The first 'story' was instantly picked up by every news outlet in the world (8000 headlines is probably not an exaggeration); this story was picked up by NO ONE>.
Brian Thompson, of NBC New York, who seems to be widely regarded as the best veteran reporter on NJ politics anywhere (Steve Kornacki referred to him as the 'Gold Standard' for reporters on NJ politics), published a story --which he said he'd been working on for some weeks-- that 'multiple sources familiar with the Federal probe' have now told him that indictments are on the way, and probably coming soon.
At least SIX players are likely to be indicted, he claimed, and it could happen as soon as next month.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/...
Say WHAT?? Doesn't that sound like kind of a big story?
Run to Google News, for confirmation, or commentary, and what did you find? Nothing.
8000 screaming headlines on the aforementioned non-story PR stunt, and nothing on the Brian Thompson bombshell about the status of the Fed probe.
Now you might say, Well, it's really just hearsay: anonymous rumors from unknown people.... Who knows if it's valid?
Yeah, you might, but then the exact same thing was true of the last supposed 'leak' we heard about from the Fishman probe, a few months back.
That one had anonymous DOJ sources saying Fishman hadn't found anything, and wasn't going to. How these 'sources' could possibly know that wasn't clear at all, and the timing and seamless orchestration of the story and the subsequent 'spontaneous reaction' of the Governor and his Office and his lawyer, etc., seemed highly suspicious,... yet that anonymous rumor was instantaneously picked up by every news outlet in the world, and splashed across 8000 headlines in five minutes.
Friday's anonymous rumor, through the most trusted reporter on the NJ politics scene?
Picked up by nobody.
I checked again late Friday night. I found ONE source who had picked up the story (no joke: ONE): the Daily News had run a brief piece on Thompson's story.
That was it.
Saturday afternoon, I checked the tapes from Kornacki's morning show, and saw that he (and he alone) had bothered to follow up, and had in fact brought Thompson on the air.
To my shock, Kornacki got Thompson to reveal a LOT more detail on his show than he had in his original piece.
You really need to watch it.
http://www.msnbc.com/...
(Scroll to clip on 'Turning Evidence.')
Is it true? I've got no idea. It might be more bullshit.
It might be that a right-minded person in the DOJ somewhere got sick of seeing Christie swagger around the country, and decided to push back with a 'narrative-shift' of his own.
(Thompson says that's not the case: that he got this info from multiple sources, that they all corroborated each other, and that he's been cultivating this story for weeks, so it certainly wasn't a knee-jerk reaction to the sickening Christie PR-ploy on Friday.)
It might be that Thompson made the whole thing up --though I tend to think that's highly unlikely.
On balance, I'd guess that this set of anonymous reports is probably more credible than anything else we've heard to date. I don't think Thompson's the kind of guy to take this public unless he's extremely confident it's legit.
But we'll see. If nothing happens, then I guess we'll have to assume that this story was another pile of crap (or that something radically changed in the interim).
Here's the thing: If Thompson's reporting is anywhere close to correct, then everything I and a few other people have been saying for almost a year still holds completely true.
Everything is still as it seemed to be from January.
The (direct) perpetrators are caught red-handed. We know, for sure, that Bridget, and Wildstein, and Baroni, and probably Stepien, and certainly a number of people at the PA, committed serious crimes.
We know that there's proof of it.
We know that those people are in serious legal jeopardy, as long as the prosecuting authorities take their jobs seriously, and pursue those charges.
We know that those people weren't acting at their own behest, but were following directions from much higher authorities,... and we know that they have crucially-damaging information to offer up about those higher-ups, if they choose to do so.
We know that all of those perpetrators, in light of their own serious legal jeopardy, have powerful incentives to offer up the information they have --both in terms of minimizing their own legal plight, and also of personal revenge, for the incredibly shabby way they were callously sacrificed by the higher-ups to whom they had given their loyalty. (Obviously, Bridget and Wildstein immediately jump to mind in that light, though it's certainly true for others as well.)
We further know that several of them, through their lawyers, have already expressed their willingness and desire to offer up the info they possess, and make a deal.
(We don't have to guess that they might want to deal; we know they do, because they've already publicly said so.)
We know --for damn near a certainty-- that some of them have crucially-damaging info on 'General' Samson, as his fingerprints are all OVER every step of the Goddamn thing.
We know (again this is not quite a certainty, but it's awfully close) that 'General' Samson must have incredibly-damaging info about Gov Christie, and that, once again, he will have a powerful incentive to use that info in securing a deal for himself.
We also know that this investigation has access to about TEN TIMES the amount of information that we've so far been publicly apprised of --and that the Committee had access to-- and that they're certain to acquire much more still in the process of bringing charges against Samson,... if that hasn't already happened.
In short: everything I, and Scott Raab, and a few other folks here and elsewhere were saying last winter, spring, and summer still holds true.
The whole story is still fully intact.
All the same logic still applies.
Nothing the Giant, Oozing Pustule of a governor says changes any of that.
Nothing Fox News (or any other pathetic toady of a media source) says makes a difference either.
The fact that the Joint Committee hasn't quite been able to convict him all by themselves (though they have done an excellent job of catching him in half a dozen hugely-important public lies) is certainly unfortunate,... but it, also, changes nothing.
Like I've been saying for a year, all that really matters is what happens in Fishman's probe,... and all that really matters in Fishman's probe is that he takes his job for real, and actually pursues the case he's been given.
It's been obvious from Day One that the case was there to make; all that was required was that someone had the competence and integrity to actually go and make it.
All we really needed was for Fishman to do his Goddamn job.
Well, it sounds like he's probably doing it.
I'll say it one more time: Big Boy's going down hard.
When he finally hits the canvas, it will be the greatest day in the history of NJ.
(Looks like Chrissie's weight may have finally stabilized now, so that should make things a bunch easier for the Prison tailors.)
I'm still planning that party. This'll be a day for real celebration
Any like-minded folks with a bottle of cheap champagne will be welcomed.