The Depravity of a Christie “Town Hall”

It’s All About Christie

Every Issue Is Turned Into An Attack on Public Employees 

Desperation Disguised As Political Circus

Citizens treated Like Children

Gov. Christie ignores questions from "Bridgegate" protesters at Flemington Town Hall (3/20/14)

“I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem, I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless, the government must house me.’ They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.” ~~~ Margaret Thatcher 10/31/87

I had the distinct displeasure today to attend my first Christie “Town Hall” in Flemington. Never again.

I went and arrived early with the intent to to join protesters or hecklers, or to support the work of intrepid journalists.

I thought maybe I’d at least get to photo some State Police abuses, especially after the Attorney General embarrassed them with his Order to stop taking pictures of protesters.

I found none.

During the performance, I did manage to cough out a few “Wolff & Samson” and “Koch Brothers” (like the “Blowjob” scene in Animal House) during the Governor’s  demagoguery, but the media guys I was standing with were outright hostile or quietly embarrassed by my lame attempts – which made me want to shout out a good question like:

Last week you tried to kill the electric car.

Why did your BPU just kill off shore wind?

But there was to be none of that today.

The Gov. spent the first full 40 minutes self promoting – eating up time for questions from the people he claimed to have come to listen to.

His soliloquy was a bare knuckle partisan attack on public sector workers, their pensions, their health and retirement benefits, their ability to organize and represent their interests, and the Democrats in the legislature who protect those labor rights and interests.

Christie attacked teachers for not wanting to “compete” as individuals – he claimed he got all this from his mother.

But what I heard was not motherly love and compassion, but the Ayn Rand radical individualist, anti-social, ravings of Margaret Thatcher. At root, Christie agrees with Thatcher that “There’s no such thing as society” – he is on a mission to attack all things public.

The Gov. faced mostly softball questions, which he turned into an attack on public employees every time.

But he also faced 4 critical questions – implementation of medical marijuana, higher education funding, the firing of Bridgette Kelly of Bridgegate fame, and self promotion in “stronger than the storm” ad campaign.

Yet he still managed to turn valid criticism into attack.

He attacked the individual questioners, or he attacked the sources of information they relied upon – he called NJ Policy Perspective a Corzine front group –  or he attacked the media for propagating false and misleading information.

The hypocrisy was stunning – as the Gov. used ad hominem tactics, half truths, spin, and flat out lies to attack his critics.

The entire perverse show was a circus – a scripted stunt – from the introductory music to the “We Take Care of Our Own” Springsteen finish.

It is shocking that the NJ and national media don’t simply ridicule this format and the Gov.’s sickening and depraved rantings.

handful of protesters outside Flemington Town Hall