By now, it is so well established that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is a corrupt bully, that further reporting on his scandals ought to be suspended until the subpoenas for the investigations are in. MSNBC was covering Christie so much last month, I thought it was embarrassing. This nation is still at war in Afghanistan, we have a catastrophic, global environmental crisis, the US job market is still dismal, the US has an ongoing gun violence problem, reproductive and women's rights are under fierce attack, Guantanamo is still open, the wealth gap is the biggest it has been in nearly a century, and the US Congress is intent on destroying what's left of the nation - and I mean both sides of the aisle.
The Christie marathon, thankfully, has subsided a bit.
Now I'm not denying that Christie's quests for political vengeance, which have cost his state quite a lot in terms of money and image, is not significant. It is. He's the most prominent politician to engage in this sort of behavior since President Richard Nixon. Not that Christie is similar to the late Richard Nixon himself. Nixon was vicious and paranoid, seeing enemies and conspiracies everywhere. Christie is a vicious bully, a classic coward who attacks and demeans those weaker than he is. I leave it to the pundits and historians like myself to argue which is worse.
Here's what I think will be the big story until all the subpoenas are carried out. The editorial board of the Star-Ledger, led by Tom Moran, has issued what is essentially a retraction of their endorsement for Chris Christie in his 2013 reelection bid. He won, of course. It is too late, of course.
There is a fitting cliche: sin in haste, and repent at leisure. At least Moran is admitting the mistake, unlike, for example, the New York Times which allowed the Bush gang to push their imminent invasion of Iraq on its pages, backed the illegal war and published a quiet, partial retraction over a year later.
This is not a perfect story of journalistic excellence, however. If one goes to the link and reads Moran's retraction, he basically says that the Star-Ledger knew all about Christie's scandals and his bad character, and endorsed him anyway. So what else do they know? We'll find out as the investigation proceeds this spring.