What the Chris Christie scandal tells us about the NSA spying scandal

Laurence Lewis

Community

Friday January 10, 2014 · 7:59 AM PST

2014/01/10 · 07:59

no image description available — Imagine Chris Christie staffing this place

National Security Operations Center, National Security Agency, NSOC, NSA

Imagine Chris Christie staffing this place

To any Democrat who has been dismissing as unimportant or otherwise excusing the NSA spying scandal, the Chris Christie implosion offers a very important lesson. I hope people will consider it.

Chris Christie's martyr act was laughable precisely because he has a long and deep reputation as a bully. That his closest aides and oldest friends would get caught so thuggishly attempting to punish a perceived political enemy was only surprising because the act itself was so stupid. The thuggishness was no surprise at all. And that's the lesson.

A week ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked the NSA if it spies on Congress, and the NSA's response that it treats members of Congress no differently than it treats anyone else was a tacit admission that it does. Which should be chilling, at face value. But now consider such an apparatus under a President Chris Christie. If Christie's thugs will shut down a bridge to punish a Democratic mayor for not supporting Christie's re-election, imagine what they would do with access to NSA spying data on Democratic members of Congress. That's the bigger lesson here.

The Chris Christie scandal is important on multiple levels. And one of those levels is what it tells us about the danger of the NSA's vacuum spying.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

What the Chris Christie scandal tells us about the NSA spying scandal

Comments are closed on this story.