Christie's 'explanations' just seem to make things worse for him

I don't know why I thought of Marion Barry when I watched film from Chris Christie's press conference the other day.

Well, maybe I do. In an attempt to distance himself from the outrage against lane closures in Fort Lee, N.J., that made the morning commute into New York more difficult, Christie fired aide Bridget Kelly and blamed her for the closures.

"She lied to me," he said.

And of course that reminded me of the hotel room scam in which Barry, then the mayor of Washington, D.C., had been caught using cocaine. His response:

"Bitch set me up."

I'm not sure how much of a suspension of disbelief it requires to believe Christie -- a tough guy and a hands-on governor -- didn't know exactly what his aides were doing. There were certainly inconsistencies in his statement. For example, he said he had just learned about the problem the day before, but he also said he had suffered through several sleepless nights over it.

Apparently Kelly is expected to take the brunt of the blame, and an e-mail she sent to Port Authority executive David Wildstein (a Christie appointee) looks particularly bad.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Wildstein was less wordy.

"Got it."

Wildstein and Kelly

That exchange makes it obvious the "traffic study" that ostensibly caused all the problems wasn't for the purpose of actually learning anything. Even if we take a giant leap of faith and assume Christie was not involved, it is apparent the lane closings were political retaliation against Fort Lee officials who had not supported Christie for re-election.

So Christie spent the better part of two hours playing the victim, insisting that he had nothing to do with the lane closings. As if he didn't have problems enough, he made a statement that probably will not go away for a very long time.

"I am not a bully."

If the governor is as smart as he is reputed to be, my guess is he regretted that sentence as soon as it had left his mouth. You don't get anywhere in politics by telling people you are "not" something or other.

Ask Senator Christine O'Donnell of Delaware.




Oh, wait. She lost, at least in part because of "I am not a witch."

It's difficult to imagine she would have won anyway, but when you find yourself parodied by late night comedians, you're in a heap of trouble.

Then of course there is the one that never will be forgotten, from a press conference President Richard Nixon held during the Watergate scandal.



Say one thing for Nixon. He will be remembered when our world is a frozen ball of ice orbiting a burned-out cinder of a sun.

People were calling him a lot of things, but the word "crook" rarely entered into the conversation -- until he put it there. There were plenty of people saying, "Hey, maybe he is a crook."

As for Christie, it's silly these days to write anyone off politically. Voters seem to forgive and forget everything when they like someone, just as they also refuse to give someone credit for anything if they don't like him.

"I am not a bully."

I don't know if all that's true, but it certainly looks as if he is something else.

A liar.