Be snooty with the legislature, shut down the government when you fail to negotiate a budget, close the beaches on 4th of July and get yr picture taken at the 'closed to the public' beach, waving arrogantly to the aerial photographer (ahh... the People). What a buffoon. He and trump deserve each other.
It's like what Professional POS Jeff Zucker said about CNN's free coverage of Trump in 2016 "He's good for ratings." You can bet even the Cretin News Network doesn't see him as "clickbait" any more.
Some in the msm must know the damage they're doing, fox in particular. Be interesting to watch for changes in the courts as plaintiffs attempt to collect damages to compensate for injury done through willful disinformation for profit.
I loathe a certain network's lineup, but be careful what you wish for. Certain members of this 6-3 radical/reactionary SCOTUS are itching to overturn NYT v. Sullivan and open the door to muzzling the free press.
Divert Hurricane Sandy relief funds away from hard-hit communities because they didn’t vote for you and give them to communities that weren’t hard hit but did support you.
I think the media’s love affair with Christie is also evidence that they love bullies because they see them as real men. Mika B. was a huge Christie sycophant and she was also impressed by Trump.
As for his pathetic book sales, that not only tells me that the public isn’t buying the media hard sell this time, but also that the Republican power brokers aren’t either. If they supporting him they would have made bulk purchases of his book to make him appear to be popular and the media would then have gushed over Christie’s “successful” book. That is a tried-and-true Republican strategy that has worked with our compliant media for years. It is yet another way the media helps Republicans create false impressions of their chosen people.
Chris Christie’s book is published by Threshold Editions, which you might be surprised to learn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Simon and Schuster, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS/Viacom. You can Google what other media properties CBS/Viacom owns; it’s quite extensive. CBS/Viacom has a reason to promote Christie and has enough market clout to make him a man of the moment, generate buzz, which in turn will make the other media conglomerates want to get in on him.
There’s a lot of log-rolling that goes on in the media, so I always look for who owns the log. This is another example of how media consolidation impacts the culture.
Great to know. At the same time, the fact that Dana Bash and CNN administered a one-hour love letter to him .... Well, it tells you that CNN actually will suck up to anyone on the right.
I know I must sound like a broken record, but Jeff Zucker is the guy who green lighted all the reality programming at NBC (including The Apprentice). Zucker “casts” the pundit/panel shows as if it was a reality show, and a bigger-than-life personality like Chris Christie must be catnip to him.
Anytime it is not a straight-news story, shut off CNN. Your brain will thank you.
Zuck was the guy who, when asked why CNN was giving Trump all the free airtime in 2016, replied "He's good for ratings." Anyone who had dealt with the SOB in Hollywood knew what was going to happen when he was hired at CNN. He was once informally voted "studio executive I'd most like to hang out the window, then drop" by members of the Writers Guild of America.
Zucker is evil, no question. But I'm reminded of when CNN started and Ted Turner was in his insane phase. Not a lot has improved, frankly, though it did inspire what I always thought was one of Russell Baker's best. In 1988, he did a column of stories he would have liked to have read about the presidential campaign and one went something like this: VP candidate Lloyd Bentsen posted bail money for presidential candidate Michael Dukakis after last night's debate. When Bernard Shaw of CNN asked Dukakis what he would do if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, Dukakis replied, "I'd do this," and put Shaw in a headlock and started choking and pummeling him. Dukakis was released, charged with assault.
Oh no. Ted was in bed with the GOP from the start and I still remember the first day CNN went on the air and played the race card. Vernon Jordan was shot and CNN just went all in that a white woman was sharing the same motel room. Disgusting. Turned it off.
I started calling him that when I posted regularly on Facebook, and even worked up a list of what is in the video that Putin has of him. It includes Mike Pence and a blow-up doll of Benedict Arnold.
Even Bill Maher treated Christie with kid gloves. Christie is a bully and the media is either afraid of him or see him as a reasonable Republican. Of course he's not and even if he was, he has no shot at the nominee while Republicans continue their Jim Jones cult like spiral into oblivion.
I don't know why I'm seeing her everywhere as of late, but I assume it's because of things like this...appearing to be "moderate" when necessary to get in front of a different audience.
That is another example of how the media creates stars. They won’t face the fact that they are creating, not reporting, the news when they do things like that.
The media gave AOC tons of attention but not the less glamorous but equally impressive Katie Porter, a woman who won in a red district. (This is not a criticism of AOC.)
I enjoy watching both in hearings. AOC comes prepared, uses words to take the witnesses apart and does a damn fine job. Katie Porter has that whiteboard and does her research. You'd think that witnesses would check and study up on the subject before they walk into the hearing room, because when Katie asks a question, she already knows the answer. She's trying to find out what you know.
Katie Porter, who has probably forgotten more about actual policy than socialite-soshalist AOC will ever know if she stays in Congress the rest of her life.
I am not sure that’s fair. AOC is very intelligent and seems to be well informed when she is involved in hearings. She even won a prestigious science award in high school. I don’t agree with her ideas or tactics all the time but she is no intellectual lightweight.
I heard Christie try to justify his fawning over Trump as patriotism. He insisted that even though Trump rarely took his advice, he kept providing it on the off chance that Trump *might* listen one day, and "do the right thing for the country." That was a blend of hubris and bullsh*t that would embarrass Don Rumsfeld (speaking of empty suits that the media loved). Another example of a media concoction was the hapless, spineless Paul Ryan, who we were endlessly told was a policy wonk. His policies were the political equivalent of cotton candy, but the media couldn't stop lavishing praise on him.
"How Christie was able to sell so few books after lining up so much national media attention during his marketing roll-out — “This Week” and “The View,” “Fox & Friends,” along with Fox News, Fox Business, the Daily Show, HBO twice, and CNBC — represents an extraordinary disconnect."
The former mortgage lawyer turned US Attorney (but allowed to actually run his office because of a near complete lack of relevant experience) was always far more supported by the mainstream media than the masses. So, to a degree, the book tanking is far more understandable than were he to have really good sales.
BTW, Karl's sales don't appear to be so great. That said, I don't care enough to check the actual numbers. I would guess, though, that the Woodward genre of sitting on important news to report til it's too late to matter isn't all that popular (Woodward excepted).
Actually, the numbers for Betrayal are good. There is a week's lag time, especially for just published books (both the Karl and Christie books went on sale the same day 11/16) in the sales reporting compiled by the Times and other outlets. Don't be surprised if you see Betrayal on bestseller lists this coming weekend. While the pandemic was good for book sales overall, most Americans don't read and they really don't read books.
Not relying on the mainstream for real news I in turn don’t rely on the Woodward genre books for info hence the lack of motivation to check out actual sales numbers on the Karl book.
Slightly more relevantly, I haven’t been a fan of Trump since the mid-1970s, on the political level since 1989 and his response to the Central Park Five. I’m not waiting for the mainstream media to catch up to the fact-based ideas that he’s historically unfit to be POTUS and has been directly responsible for the deaths of ~400,000 people from Covid.
I should add to the above that the Woodward genre books are per se morally abominable.
Woodward really does go where the winds are blowing. He wrote a positive book about Bush despite the evidence that he was unqualified and dishonest then wrote a critical one when his poll numbers had tanked.
Because of the essentially completely lack of relevant experience, the deal was that Christie could be US Attorney but he was required to have a Number 2 to actually run things. Can’t give you a cite but I’m sure a little online searching would pull it up.
I don’t consider a single Republican since the Reagan era fit for office so I don’t care enough about Christie to search for a cite.
Theodora, Christie had no experience in a federal courtroom and little criminal law experience so when then NJ Senior Senator Toricelli raised objections, Christie promised to hire a deputy with extensive fed courtroom experience if he was confirmed.
I just have never read about that. Guess I will have to look it up so I can send it to people I know who are impressed by the fact that he was US Attorney.
Chris Christie's "federal experience" was raising money for the election of George W. Bush. He could not have found his way into a federal courtroom before he was appointed if unless you painted a line on the floor at the courthouse.
It was all over MSNBC too, but evidently soured on that after Nicolle Wallace took his lunch. OMG they gave him more airtime than the troposphere, and there are 15,575 more popular books out there. Does the New York Times have a worst selling list?
I’ve even stopped watching Maher. Used to be a go to show for me. He’s become way too cynical for my taste these days. He seems to like to book edgy/controversial people for the show. I think he’s had CC on in the past.
I too used to enjoy Maher’s show but it’s now unwatchable. Think that like a lot of male standup comedians (and he’s still one), he has had a hard time accepting the fact that mocking people is no longer funny. For Maher, that is mostly getting criticized for mocking different religions (in Maher’s case, think that’s members of the Jewish and Muslim faith). Now on his show, with the way he rants about it, you would think “wokeness” is the most dangerous thing facing our society today.
Knows a lot, whines a lot. His shtick has really gotten old, no longer relevant. Maybe he IS scared, I think when he hit 60, he had a wake (not woke) up call. Total conjecture, haven’t watched him since start of pandemic.
First of all, $ available for local newspapers is fabulous. The press laments the loss of local papers. Msm should be reporting about and hailing this great piece of BIF. As to Christie, msm seems to LOVE charming bullies in the R party. Moths to the flame.
USA is not news. Yes the huge conglomerates bought everything. Gannet bought the once excellent local newspaper in my town and ruined any hint of real reporting and journalism. And now the main section is USA Today. People still miss our once great newspaper here. With a serious infusion of money I can see a credible publication gaining a foothold here in my town. People are hungry for real journalism.
What MSM does not want is any serious, successful and meaningful journalism to exist. What we have now is not the news. We now have performance "news" with lots and lots of makeup and loud voices. Ugh. The MSM have complete control over what the majority of Americans are learning about politics and the world. Frightening. And with all that control comes big, big money.
Whether people want to admit it or not we have a version of State run media in this Country.
Sorry for the length. I see the media as a key component of a Democracy; or not. Thank You, sincerely, Mr. Boehlert for your work.
This is an exaggeration and sounds like things Trump supporters say. We do not have state run media, but will come much closer if the GOP wins Congress in 22 and the WH in 24, especially if Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch have their way in revisiting (and overturning) NYT v. Sullivan. To understand some of what's at stake, though, requires paying attention to the MSM—like the terrific and terrifying piece by Ruth Marcus published yesterday in WAPO on this new SCOTUS term and what the overwhelming "conservative" tilt portends.
There are plenty of superb reporters working at major papers, as well as columnists and critics, so to say they don't want any serious journalism to exist is wrong. There are also great independent outlets like ProPublica and small start ups (several in PA alone), as well as former longtime reporters who have gone solo whose work balances and expands on what the MSM produces.
Even the Beltway reporters do from time to time rise to the occasion, like the series on 1/6 recently published by (again) WAPO and the chilling 1/6 video timeline the NYT produced, as well as the Afghanistan Papers, also done by a WAPO reporter. Unfortunately, too many reporters and media are/get lazy, cut corners, and rely too much on memes and groupthink and their own biases. Which is why we need critical analysis from media watchers like Eric to point out their follies and failings.
I don't want to see the end of the NYT, WAPO, LAT, etc because a free press IS essential to our democracy. Outlets like these don't have "complete control" but they do have an outsized influence because people don't read widely (on average 20 minutes a day) if at all, and too many can't be bothered reading beyond headlines. They also can't be bothered looking for credible sources beyond the legacy press or social media.
As A Republican Christie was always a failure. 1) Romney asked this shining star to deliver a big speech on his behalf at the Rep. Convention. Christie made it all about himself. Hardly mentioned Romney.
2) ARC tunnel. Badly needed in the NYC area. Christie canceled the project to distract the public and press from a bad media story depicting him as having been played by the Dems.
3) When given the chance to appoint a US Senator, and give that “Senator” a running chance to beat Cory Booker in a special election, he choose a personal friend (an much better man than he) who didn’t even try to win the seat.
4) Repeatedly stiffed State Republicans to court Dems and never even tried to empower a successor (recently ignored the Republican Gubernatorial candidate). 5) Never engaged DJT in the primary because he was afraid of DJT’s power to motivate the faithful.
And much much more. But most importantly 6) said after 1/6 something like, if those actions aren’t impeachable, I don’t know what would be. AND NOW CAN’T RULE OUT VOTING FOR SOMEONE HE BELIEVED SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED!
So much like DJT, full of self love and zero integrity!!!
....Christie is one the dochiest crapholes out there, why believe this putz, both to Drumph and equally his constituents, he's one of the most toxic pricks that has ever existed, phkn him to Hades....
Be snooty with the legislature, shut down the government when you fail to negotiate a budget, close the beaches on 4th of July and get yr picture taken at the 'closed to the public' beach, waving arrogantly to the aerial photographer (ahh... the People). What a buffoon. He and trump deserve each other.
yet the press loves him
Msm always seeks out the shiny object, not the news.
It's like what Professional POS Jeff Zucker said about CNN's free coverage of Trump in 2016 "He's good for ratings." You can bet even the Cretin News Network doesn't see him as "clickbait" any more.
Maybe because they’re ‘colorful’ 😒
Some in the msm must know the damage they're doing, fox in particular. Be interesting to watch for changes in the courts as plaintiffs attempt to collect damages to compensate for injury done through willful disinformation for profit.
I loathe a certain network's lineup, but be careful what you wish for. Certain members of this 6-3 radical/reactionary SCOTUS are itching to overturn NYT v. Sullivan and open the door to muzzling the free press.
Divert Hurricane Sandy relief funds away from hard-hit communities because they didn’t vote for you and give them to communities that weren’t hard hit but did support you.
https://www.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/01/christie_awards_political_ally.html
I forgot abt that!
He is, and always has been, a sociopath.
I think the media’s love affair with Christie is also evidence that they love bullies because they see them as real men. Mika B. was a huge Christie sycophant and she was also impressed by Trump.
As for his pathetic book sales, that not only tells me that the public isn’t buying the media hard sell this time, but also that the Republican power brokers aren’t either. If they supporting him they would have made bulk purchases of his book to make him appear to be popular and the media would then have gushed over Christie’s “successful” book. That is a tried-and-true Republican strategy that has worked with our compliant media for years. It is yet another way the media helps Republicans create false impressions of their chosen people.
indeed….but only GOPs as real men. I can’t think of a time press rallied around a beloved Dem bully
Ha!..you never heard of Andrew Cuomo??
Dems are the Mommy Party after all so they can never be truly manly. Feeling people’s pain is what wusses do.
Sure is curious that the usual right wing players aren't buying Christie's book in bulk like they do with other right wingers...I wonder why...
This.
Chris Christie’s book is published by Threshold Editions, which you might be surprised to learn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Simon and Schuster, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS/Viacom. You can Google what other media properties CBS/Viacom owns; it’s quite extensive. CBS/Viacom has a reason to promote Christie and has enough market clout to make him a man of the moment, generate buzz, which in turn will make the other media conglomerates want to get in on him.
There’s a lot of log-rolling that goes on in the media, so I always look for who owns the log. This is another example of how media consolidation impacts the culture.
excellent pts
Great to know. At the same time, the fact that Dana Bash and CNN administered a one-hour love letter to him .... Well, it tells you that CNN actually will suck up to anyone on the right.
I know I must sound like a broken record, but Jeff Zucker is the guy who green lighted all the reality programming at NBC (including The Apprentice). Zucker “casts” the pundit/panel shows as if it was a reality show, and a bigger-than-life personality like Chris Christie must be catnip to him.
Anytime it is not a straight-news story, shut off CNN. Your brain will thank you.
Zuck was the guy who, when asked why CNN was giving Trump all the free airtime in 2016, replied "He's good for ratings." Anyone who had dealt with the SOB in Hollywood knew what was going to happen when he was hired at CNN. He was once informally voted "studio executive I'd most like to hang out the window, then drop" by members of the Writers Guild of America.
First, hello old friend TC.
Zucker is evil, no question. But I'm reminded of when CNN started and Ted Turner was in his insane phase. Not a lot has improved, frankly, though it did inspire what I always thought was one of Russell Baker's best. In 1988, he did a column of stories he would have liked to have read about the presidential campaign and one went something like this: VP candidate Lloyd Bentsen posted bail money for presidential candidate Michael Dukakis after last night's debate. When Bernard Shaw of CNN asked Dukakis what he would do if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, Dukakis replied, "I'd do this," and put Shaw in a headlock and started choking and pummeling him. Dukakis was released, charged with assault.
And we think it started with Wolf Blitzer. :)
Oh no. Ted was in bed with the GOP from the start and I still remember the first day CNN went on the air and played the race card. Vernon Jordan was shot and CNN just went all in that a white woman was sharing the same motel room. Disgusting. Turned it off.
Well, SOMEONE had to succeed John McCain as a phony creation of the media, and Senator Huckleberry Adolf Pederasty of South Carolina blew his chance.
Thanks for the legit LOL.
I started calling him that when I posted regularly on Facebook, and even worked up a list of what is in the video that Putin has of him. It includes Mike Pence and a blow-up doll of Benedict Arnold.
Even Bill Maher treated Christie with kid gloves. Christie is a bully and the media is either afraid of him or see him as a reasonable Republican. Of course he's not and even if he was, he has no shot at the nominee while Republicans continue their Jim Jones cult like spiral into oblivion.
In a similar vein to Christie not criticizing Fox, here's Nancy Mace (R-SC) appearing on Fox & CNN the same day! https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1465145531655548928?t=jmeC08IYUzKADEcKrRZyJA&s=19 You'll notice she's wearing the same outfit in both interviews.
I don't know why I'm seeing her everywhere as of late, but I assume it's because of things like this...appearing to be "moderate" when necessary to get in front of a different audience.
That is another example of how the media creates stars. They won’t face the fact that they are creating, not reporting, the news when they do things like that.
The media gave AOC tons of attention but not the less glamorous but equally impressive Katie Porter, a woman who won in a red district. (This is not a criticism of AOC.)
I enjoy watching both in hearings. AOC comes prepared, uses words to take the witnesses apart and does a damn fine job. Katie Porter has that whiteboard and does her research. You'd think that witnesses would check and study up on the subject before they walk into the hearing room, because when Katie asks a question, she already knows the answer. She's trying to find out what you know.
Katie Porter, who has probably forgotten more about actual policy than socialite-soshalist AOC will ever know if she stays in Congress the rest of her life.
I am not sure that’s fair. AOC is very intelligent and seems to be well informed when she is involved in hearings. She even won a prestigious science award in high school. I don’t agree with her ideas or tactics all the time but she is no intellectual lightweight.
Just a bit green (pun not intended:) She IS young.
Another shiny object ....
I heard Christie try to justify his fawning over Trump as patriotism. He insisted that even though Trump rarely took his advice, he kept providing it on the off chance that Trump *might* listen one day, and "do the right thing for the country." That was a blend of hubris and bullsh*t that would embarrass Don Rumsfeld (speaking of empty suits that the media loved). Another example of a media concoction was the hapless, spineless Paul Ryan, who we were endlessly told was a policy wonk. His policies were the political equivalent of cotton candy, but the media couldn't stop lavishing praise on him.
THIS!
"How Christie was able to sell so few books after lining up so much national media attention during his marketing roll-out — “This Week” and “The View,” “Fox & Friends,” along with Fox News, Fox Business, the Daily Show, HBO twice, and CNBC — represents an extraordinary disconnect."
The former mortgage lawyer turned US Attorney (but allowed to actually run his office because of a near complete lack of relevant experience) was always far more supported by the mainstream media than the masses. So, to a degree, the book tanking is far more understandable than were he to have really good sales.
BTW, Karl's sales don't appear to be so great. That said, I don't care enough to check the actual numbers. I would guess, though, that the Woodward genre of sitting on important news to report til it's too late to matter isn't all that popular (Woodward excepted).
Actually, the numbers for Betrayal are good. There is a week's lag time, especially for just published books (both the Karl and Christie books went on sale the same day 11/16) in the sales reporting compiled by the Times and other outlets. Don't be surprised if you see Betrayal on bestseller lists this coming weekend. While the pandemic was good for book sales overall, most Americans don't read and they really don't read books.
Not relying on the mainstream for real news I in turn don’t rely on the Woodward genre books for info hence the lack of motivation to check out actual sales numbers on the Karl book.
Slightly more relevantly, I haven’t been a fan of Trump since the mid-1970s, on the political level since 1989 and his response to the Central Park Five. I’m not waiting for the mainstream media to catch up to the fact-based ideas that he’s historically unfit to be POTUS and has been directly responsible for the deaths of ~400,000 people from Covid.
I should add to the above that the Woodward genre books are per se morally abominable.
Woodward really does go where the winds are blowing. He wrote a positive book about Bush despite the evidence that he was unqualified and dishonest then wrote a critical one when his poll numbers had tanked.
“allowed to actually run his office because of a near complete lack of relevant experience”??? I have never heard about that. Links, please.
Because of the essentially completely lack of relevant experience, the deal was that Christie could be US Attorney but he was required to have a Number 2 to actually run things. Can’t give you a cite but I’m sure a little online searching would pull it up.
I don’t consider a single Republican since the Reagan era fit for office so I don’t care enough about Christie to search for a cite.
Theodora, Christie had no experience in a federal courtroom and little criminal law experience so when then NJ Senior Senator Toricelli raised objections, Christie promised to hire a deputy with extensive fed courtroom experience if he was confirmed.
I just have never read about that. Guess I will have to look it up so I can send it to people I know who are impressed by the fact that he was US Attorney.
Chris Christie's "federal experience" was raising money for the election of George W. Bush. He could not have found his way into a federal courtroom before he was appointed if unless you painted a line on the floor at the courthouse.
Woodward has caught a lot of criticism on that point.
It was all over MSNBC too, but evidently soured on that after Nicolle Wallace took his lunch. OMG they gave him more airtime than the troposphere, and there are 15,575 more popular books out there. Does the New York Times have a worst selling list?
Yeah NICOLLE🔥🔥🔥
My biggest hope is that the crazy Rs turn on each other, eat their own. MTG is already attacking McMarthy. Lie down w/dogs=fleas Let the games begin!
I was surprised and disappointed that he was one of Bill Maher's 2 panelists/guests on the season finale.
I’ve even stopped watching Maher. Used to be a go to show for me. He’s become way too cynical for my taste these days. He seems to like to book edgy/controversial people for the show. I think he’s had CC on in the past.
I too used to enjoy Maher’s show but it’s now unwatchable. Think that like a lot of male standup comedians (and he’s still one), he has had a hard time accepting the fact that mocking people is no longer funny. For Maher, that is mostly getting criticized for mocking different religions (in Maher’s case, think that’s members of the Jewish and Muslim faith). Now on his show, with the way he rants about it, you would think “wokeness” is the most dangerous thing facing our society today.
Knows a lot, whines a lot. His shtick has really gotten old, no longer relevant. Maybe he IS scared, I think when he hit 60, he had a wake (not woke) up call. Total conjecture, haven’t watched him since start of pandemic.
Once again, Eric the Great NAILS IT!
Gee, I was wondering why his book wasn't showing up on The New York Times Best Seller List?
First of all, $ available for local newspapers is fabulous. The press laments the loss of local papers. Msm should be reporting about and hailing this great piece of BIF. As to Christie, msm seems to LOVE charming bullies in the R party. Moths to the flame.
*with a Tony Soprano vibe?🤔😒
"The press laments the loss of local papers." But wouldn't MSM see local media as a competitor?
Not sure. My local paper features lots of USA Today pieces in addition to local news. The big guys seem to own everything.
USA is not news. Yes the huge conglomerates bought everything. Gannet bought the once excellent local newspaper in my town and ruined any hint of real reporting and journalism. And now the main section is USA Today. People still miss our once great newspaper here. With a serious infusion of money I can see a credible publication gaining a foothold here in my town. People are hungry for real journalism.
What MSM does not want is any serious, successful and meaningful journalism to exist. What we have now is not the news. We now have performance "news" with lots and lots of makeup and loud voices. Ugh. The MSM have complete control over what the majority of Americans are learning about politics and the world. Frightening. And with all that control comes big, big money.
Whether people want to admit it or not we have a version of State run media in this Country.
Sorry for the length. I see the media as a key component of a Democracy; or not. Thank You, sincerely, Mr. Boehlert for your work.
This is an exaggeration and sounds like things Trump supporters say. We do not have state run media, but will come much closer if the GOP wins Congress in 22 and the WH in 24, especially if Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch have their way in revisiting (and overturning) NYT v. Sullivan. To understand some of what's at stake, though, requires paying attention to the MSM—like the terrific and terrifying piece by Ruth Marcus published yesterday in WAPO on this new SCOTUS term and what the overwhelming "conservative" tilt portends.
There are plenty of superb reporters working at major papers, as well as columnists and critics, so to say they don't want any serious journalism to exist is wrong. There are also great independent outlets like ProPublica and small start ups (several in PA alone), as well as former longtime reporters who have gone solo whose work balances and expands on what the MSM produces.
Even the Beltway reporters do from time to time rise to the occasion, like the series on 1/6 recently published by (again) WAPO and the chilling 1/6 video timeline the NYT produced, as well as the Afghanistan Papers, also done by a WAPO reporter. Unfortunately, too many reporters and media are/get lazy, cut corners, and rely too much on memes and groupthink and their own biases. Which is why we need critical analysis from media watchers like Eric to point out their follies and failings.
I don't want to see the end of the NYT, WAPO, LAT, etc because a free press IS essential to our democracy. Outlets like these don't have "complete control" but they do have an outsized influence because people don't read widely (on average 20 minutes a day) if at all, and too many can't be bothered reading beyond headlines. They also can't be bothered looking for credible sources beyond the legacy press or social media.
As A Republican Christie was always a failure. 1) Romney asked this shining star to deliver a big speech on his behalf at the Rep. Convention. Christie made it all about himself. Hardly mentioned Romney.
2) ARC tunnel. Badly needed in the NYC area. Christie canceled the project to distract the public and press from a bad media story depicting him as having been played by the Dems.
3) When given the chance to appoint a US Senator, and give that “Senator” a running chance to beat Cory Booker in a special election, he choose a personal friend (an much better man than he) who didn’t even try to win the seat.
4) Repeatedly stiffed State Republicans to court Dems and never even tried to empower a successor (recently ignored the Republican Gubernatorial candidate). 5) Never engaged DJT in the primary because he was afraid of DJT’s power to motivate the faithful.
And much much more. But most importantly 6) said after 1/6 something like, if those actions aren’t impeachable, I don’t know what would be. AND NOW CAN’T RULE OUT VOTING FOR SOMEONE HE BELIEVED SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED!
So much like DJT, full of self love and zero integrity!!!
....Christie is one the dochiest crapholes out there, why believe this putz, both to Drumph and equally his constituents, he's one of the most toxic pricks that has ever existed, phkn him to Hades....