http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/chris-christies-bridgegate-has-lot-common
During a key speech in the midst of the Watergate scandal that brought him down, Richard Nixon famously remarked, "I am not a crook."Last week another Republican with presidential ambitions uttered a similar line. "I am not a bully," said Gov. Chris Christie as the Bridgegate scandal was blowing up around him.The parallels are striking. One is the margin of the landslide victories in the elections at issue. Republican Nixon beat Democrat George McGovern by 23 points in that 1972 election. Republican Christie defeated Democrat Barbara Buono by 22 points in 2013.Another is in the timing. In both cases, the offense in question occurred in the run-up to the election. And in both cases, the offense was relatively trivial, but those involved decided to keep a lid on it until the campaign had concluded.That of course required a cover-up. Watergate led directly to the political axiom "The cover-up is worse than the crime." I suspect the same will hold true for Bridgegate.
does this show that republican politics have not changed it's MO since Nixon, we do know that he and Roger Ailes set about constructing the Fox news we all know and suspect. we also know that this plan is still in play possibly the grandfather of all their clandestine operations.
In Watergate it was that secret White House taping system. In Bridgegate it was those e-mails from Wildstein subpoenaed by the Assembly Transportation Committee.After they reached the media Wednesday, the governor called a news conference Thursday at which he expressed outrage at his underlings. But was he angry because they conspired to close the lanes for political purposes? Or because they were so inept that they got caught?Alas, those e-mails hit the papers. More firings followed. And now the scandal’s in the hands of the prosecutors. Unlike in Watergate, which featured the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" of pesky prosecutors, Christie has no power over the prosecutor who’s likely to be probing this case. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman answers not to Christie but to a Democratic president.That’s likely to mean a steady stream of revelations over the coming months, all of which will be covered in the national media. As in Watergate, character is fate. Nixon was done in by his insatiable lust for power. But I suspect Christie has a couple more tricks up his sleeve than even Tricky Dick had.
the one good thing in this investigation it can't be corrupted and whitewashed by the likes of a Darrell Issa grand republican inquisitor, i feel confident justice will prevail not sit in a right wing pail from now till 2016.
