Spacemanvic wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
No, because that is what viewers actually want in News.... new stuff. Once the IRS Investigation learns some new stuff, it will then be in the news.

On second thought, forget everything I just said. It is much more fun when you are paranoid and believe in the vast left-wing media conspiracy. You want to believe!

Must be more fun to live in ignorance and think youre getting the truth....

 d-usa wrote:
The Republicans are the Democrats greatest allies at this point. I'm waiting to see if they can throw another election like 2012.

 Easy E wrote:
No, because that is what viewers actually want in News.... new stuff. Once the IRS Investigation learns some new stuff, it will then be in the news.

On second thought, forget everything I just said. It is much more fun when you are paranoid and believe in the vast left-wing media conspiracy. You want to believe!

Christie and the IRS
Contrast the Governor's contrition with Obama's lack thereof.

Now that we have your attention, allow us to explain. Governor Chris Christie apologized to New Jersey on Thursday for aides who closed traffic lanes in order to punish a Democratic mayor, and he fired a deputy chief of staff. We mention the IRS because Mr. Christie's contrition contrasts so sharply with President Obama's handling of the tax agency's abuse of political opponents and his reluctance to fire anyone other than a military general for anything.

In his long press conference in Trenton, Mr. Christie was properly contrite, saying he had been "lied to" by the senior aide he proceeded to fire. He also said he is withdrawing his support for his former campaign manager to run the state Republican Party because the man had shown "callous and indifferent" behavior toward the people inconvenienced by the traffic-lane closures. If Mr. Christie really didn't know about this cheap exercise in political payback, and nothing new emerges, the incident shouldn't interfere with the Governor's expected presidential run.

That doesn't mean Mr. Christie shouldn't learn from the experience. One lesson is that he's going to have to upgrade the quality of his advisers as he moves onto the national scene. The traffic-lane-as-vendetta ploy is so dumb and petty that anyone who would attempt it isn't ready for prime time. Never mind putting it in email.

Mitt Romney was supposed to be a crack manager, but he surrounded himself with campaign lightweights and he suffered for it. One of Mr. Christie's selling points for the White House will be that he is an executive who has run a sizable state, so the media will descend on Trenton even more than it did on Wasilla, Alaska, for Sarah Palin. Better to clean out the hack loyalists now.

Which brings us to the Obama Administration, which quickly leaked to the media that the U.S. Attorney is investigating the lane closures as a criminal matter. Well, that sure was fast, and nice of Eric Holder's Justice Department to show its typical discretion when investigating political opponents.

This is the same Administration that won't tell Congress what resources it is devoting to the IRS probe, and appears to be slow-rolling it. It has also doubled down by expanding the political vetting of 501(c)(4) groups seeking tax-exempt status. Lois Lerner, who ran the IRS tax-exempt shop and took the Fifth before Congress, was allowed to "retire," presumably with a pension. Acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller resigned under pressure but no other heads have rolled. Yet compared to using the IRS against political opponents during an election campaign, closing traffic lanes for four days is jaywalking.

We raise this mostly because our media friends have been complicit in dismissing the IRS abuses, and for that matter every other legal abuse during the Obama years. The exception is the Edward Snowden theft of National Security Agency documents, which so far have exposed not a single example of law-breaking.

Not that this should make Mr. Christie or any other potential GOP candidate complacent. Republicans operate under a double media standard that holds them to a much lower scandal threshold. In that sense the pathetic New Jersey traffic-lane scandal may be, as Mr. Obama likes to say, a teachable moment.

 Kanluwen wrote:
I like how you post an opinion article as though it's fact.

How ya doing there pot?

In less than 24 hours, the big three networks have devoted 17 times more coverage to a traffic scandal involving Chris Christie than they've allowed in the last six months to Barack Obama's Internal Revenue Service controversy. Since the story broke on Wednesday that aides to the New Jersey governor punished a local mayor's lack of endorsement with a massive traffic jam, ABC, CBS and NBC have responded with 34 minutes and 28 seconds of coverage. Since July 1, these same networks managed a scant two minutes and eight seconds for the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups.

In contrast, journalists such as Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos pounced on the developing Christie story. The GMA host opened the program on Thursday by announcing, "Chris Christie in crisis. Calls at this hour for the feds to step in, investigate the explosive e-mails."

Stephanopoulos later wondered, "One of the big questions right now, how much has it hampered his White House prospects?" Guest Matt Dowd insisted that, on a scale from one to ten, the controversy was already at a "four or five."

On the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley sounded a similar alarm: "Tonight, a potential presidential candidate caught up in scandal. E-mails show massive New Jersey traffic jams were engineered by aides to Governor Chris Christie as political payback."

NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams immediately spun the story as a political pitfall for the possible presidential contender: "In a jam. A big problem for a man with big ambitions. Tonight, how a traffic nightmare on the world's busiest bridge has spilled into a full blown scandal with the power to damage Chris Christie's political future."

Since Wednesday night, NBC included six reports over 14 minutes and 14 seconds. CBS devoted five reports over 12 minutes and 27 seconds. ABC managed 4 stories over seven minutes and 47 seconds.

As a comparison over the last six months, NBC featured a scant five seconds on updating the IRS story. CBS responded with a minute and 41 seconds. ABC produced a meager 22 seconds.

Although the media downplayed the IRS controversy from July through December (it first broke in May), it's not as though there wasn't much happening. As the Media Research Center documented, many potential story leads developed.

In December, House investigator Darrell Issa announced that the FBI and IRS chief counsel is stonewalling the investigation. In October, newly obtained e-mails showed that the scandal-plagued Lois Lerner, the woman at the center of the controversy, illegally gave Tea Party tax info to the FEC. That same month, it came out that an IRS official may have given confidential information to the White House.

These stories were buried by ABC, CBS and NBC, the same networks that have immediately deluged Republican Chris Christie, a 2016 contender, with coverage for his scandal.

 Easy E wrote:
No, because that is what viewers actually want in News.... new stuff. Once the IRS Investigation learns some new stuff, it will then be in the news.

On second thought, forget everything I just said. It is much more fun when you are paranoid and believe in the vast left-wing media conspiracy. You want to believe!

 Easy E wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
No, because that is what viewers actually want in News.... new stuff. Once the IRS Investigation learns some new stuff, it will then be in the news.

On second thought, forget everything I just said. It is much more fun when you are paranoid and believe in the vast left-wing media conspiracy. You want to believe!

Must be more fun to live in ignorance and think youre getting the truth....

Yeah, it is. I'm not angry and afraid all the time.

Class-action suit filed over bridge
By JOSE DELREAL | 1/9/14 6:52 PM EST Updated: 1/10/14 10:44 AM EST

A class-action complaint has been filed in federal court against top government officials connected to the George Washington Bridge scandal, the Fort Lee, N.J., attorney behind the move said Thursday.

The complaint — filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey by attorney Rosemarie Arnold — takes aim at key players in the controversy, naming Republican Gov. Chris Christie, his formeraide Bridget Kelly, former Port Authority officials Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, the state of New Jersey and the Port Authority as defendants.

As a class action, the exact number of members has not yet been determined, but according to the filing, it “includes any and all individuals and business owners” who were inconvenienced or hurt by the lane closures between Sept. 9 and Sept. 13. According to Arnold, the plaintiffs work or live in or near Fort Lee or New York City and are citing economic damages by the lane closures.

The complaint follows a whirlwind week for Christie, who said in a press conference Thursday that he was blindsided by a report in The Record that said senior members of his staff were connected with the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.

Arnold, who officially filed the complaint Thursday, said she was first contacted by potential plaintiffs about suing back in September when allegations surfaced that the closures were politically motivated. At the time, however, she was hesitant to move forward because of a lack of evidence. Following the revelation that top Christie aides were connected to the closures, she now feels confident moving forward.

“At the time, I said, ‘You know, you have to be able to prove it. You can’t have these unsubstantiated allegations,’” Arnold said. “Now I think we have what we need. This is not a situation that complies with the 14th Amendment.”

Moving forward, the class listed in the complaint has to be certified by meeting certain criteria; Arnold said she is “100 percent” certain those steps will be cleared.

Arnold also stressed that her clients were not merely “inconvenienced” by the road closures.

“I have a client that suffers from panic attacks. And while she was stuck in this traffic, she started to have a panic attack. She and her husband were just trapped like rats,” Arnold said. “She walked out of the car, she threw up, and then she just wanted to leave, but she couldn’t walk home. The traffic was disastrous. And this was a deliberate attempt. This was the desired result of the political motivated closure.”

 Frazzled wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
No, because that is what viewers actually want in News.... new stuff. Once the IRS Investigation learns some new stuff, it will then be in the news.

On second thought, forget everything I just said. It is much more fun when you are paranoid and believe in the vast left-wing media conspiracy. You want to believe!

not really. Obama just appointed an Obama bundler to investigate Obama's administration for using the government to attack Obama's enemies. Strangely nothing about it in the NYT, WAPO, MSNBC, NBC, etc. etc. just those "right wing wacko" sites.

if this were Christie it would be wall to wall coverage.

 Ouze wrote:
How about you guys start a different thread about Obama and the IRS? The urge to make every single vaguely political thread about Obama is overwhelming, I know, but this thread is about Chris Christie's bridge thing.

 Alexzandvar wrote:
If your train of thought goes as this

>See something happen in politics
>find way to relate Obama no matter how indirect
>Proceed to harp on how Obama is the worst president ever
>Repeat

You need an intervention, and I don't say this because of just this thread, I say this because of how can't seem to go without shoehorning obama's failures into almost every thread.

I saw a post criticizing obama in the WH40k background section, holy crackers!

 whembly wrote:

 Alexzandvar wrote:
If your train of thought goes as this

>See something happen in politics
>find way to relate Obama no matter how indirect
>Proceed to harp on how Obama is the worst president ever
>Repeat

You need an intervention, and I don't say this because of just this thread, I say this because of how can't seem to go without shoehorning obama's failures into almost every thread.

I saw a post criticizing obama in the WH40k background section, holy crackers!

This is the OT forum...

Obama is the fething President of the United States? He ain't a nobody.... comes with the territory.

Funny how I tried to do a compare/contrast, ya'll want to attack me.

I guess it's working.

 Easy E wrote:
I think Whembly can take Fraz's crown as "Most Successful Poster at Trolling the Dakka Dakk OT Forum".

Sorry Fraz, no one stays on top forever.

Whembly, I doff my cap to you sir. Well done.

 Easy E wrote:
I think Whembly can take Fraz's crown as "Most Successful Poster at Trolling the Dakka Dakk OT Forum".

Sorry Fraz, no one stays on top forever.

Whembly, I doff my cap to you sir. Well done.

 Kanluwen wrote:
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

Seriously though, if you do not understand why the idea of a "left-wing media conspiracy covering up the IRS investigation" is ridiculous I think you might want to bow out of this discussion.

 d-usa wrote:
The Obamablaming is getting pretty pathetic when even whembly goes "wait...wut?".

 whembly wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
The Obamablaming is getting pretty pathetic when even whembly goes "wait...wut?".

That picture doesn't make sense... isn't that when those contractors were killed and strung up on the bridge shortly after the Operation Iraqi Freedom?

 Kanluwen wrote:
CHRIS CHRISTIE WAS IN FALLUJAH!

It all makes sense now! Thank you Spacemanvic for opening our eyes!

 whembly wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
The Obamablaming is getting pretty pathetic when even whembly goes "wait...wut?".

That picture doesn't make sense... isn't that when those contractors were killed and strung up on the bridge shortly after the Operation Iraqi Freedom?

 d-usa wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
CHRIS CHRISTIE WAS IN FALLUJAH!

It all makes sense now! Thank you Spacemanvic for opening our eyes!

So it's his fault it fell, because he didn't order the lanes closed?

 Spacemanvic wrote:
Ohbumbo's mishandling of foreign policy lead to the eventual fall of the city. Not much of a peep in the media.

 Spacemanvic wrote:
Thats the photo of Fallujah bridge with the the dead contractors strung on it, which lead to the two battles for Fallujah.

SO......

Ohbumbo's mishandling of foreign policy lead to the eventual fall of the city. Not much of a peep in the media. Round Boy closes a bridge in NJ and there is a call for investigations.

 Goliath wrote:
Also, do you really have to constantly use those ridiculous names for Obama?

 Ouze wrote:

 Spacemanvic wrote:
Ohbumbo's mishandling of foreign policy lead to the eventual fall of the city. Not much of a peep in the media.

I see nothing factually inaccurate in your statements, nothing at all.

Scandals That Make News Media's 'Bridgegate Mania' Look Like a Joke
Whatever happened in New Jersey under Governor Chris Christie in regards to the already-infamous “bridgegate,” the open gloating by the media over the unacceptable behavior of the Republican governor’s staffers is extremely revealing.

Regardless of one’s views on Governor Chris Christie, this coordinated political feeding frenzy is liberal hypocrisy at its finest. Take a look at some of these over-the-top headlines:

Here are 25 underreported stories that most news media barely reported on, or blew by as quickly as possible because Democrats are involved.

1. Fast & Furious

Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt by the U.S. House for refusing to turn over Department of Justice documents related to the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal, which led to hundreds of Mexican civilians being killed and U.S. border patrol agent Brian Terry’s death. (See NBC News, August 3, 2011 and Independent Journal Review, June 29, 2012.)

2. Benghazi

Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith, Christopher Stevens and Glen Doherty were killed during the attack, which came without any rescue attempt by the Obama administration. Nevertheless, the White House tried to cover up what happened by blaming a YouTube for causing the terrorist attack, even though there was no protest at the Libyan mission.

3. IRS Targeting Scandal

The IRS not only admitted that it had targeted the Tea Party and other conservative groups during the 2012 presidential campaign in an effort to challenge their tax-exempt status applications, but it also apologized for doing so. But where is the rest of the investigation, and what about accountability?

4. AP/Fox News Tracking

Eric Holder, the man who abruptly recused himself from the AP & Fox phone records scandal, signed off on the private email search warrant claiming Fox reporter James Rosen was a suspected criminal. Holder appears to have misled Congress by feigning he knew nothing about it. The Department of Justice also tracked the phone calls of AP news reporters.

5. ObamaCare’s No-Bid Website

According to a senior watchdog reporter at the Washington Examiner, federal officials only considered one firm to design the ObamaCare exchange website instead of putting the task up for competitive bidding.

6. NSA Scandal

At a Congressional hearing, Senator Ron Wyden asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper if the NSA collect “any type of data” on law-abiding citizens. And Clapper said no. If the reports in the Washington Post and elsewhere on PRISM are accurate, then this statement appears to be a lie.

7. Weinergate

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner confessed that he tweeted a bulging-underpants photo of himself to a young woman and admitted to “inappropriate” exchanges with six women before and after getting married at a press conference in New York shortly before resigning. (See Huffington Post, June 6, 2011.)

8. Spitzer Prostitution Scandal

Former Governor Elliot Spitzer resigned after it was discovered he had engaged in financial transactions with prostitute Ashley Dupre. Spitzer is pictured above holding a press conference with his humiliated wife Silda Wall. Spitzer later landed a short-running show on CNN. (See NY Daily News, June 23, 2010.)

9. Jon Edwards’ Infidelity

In 2008, John Edwards admitted he had cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, with former campaign staffer Rielle Hunter during his second presidential campaign. He was later indicted June 2011 on federal campaign finance charges. (See Huffington Post, June 1, 2012.)

10. Chris Dodd – Countrywide Scandal
Former Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd (among five other politicians) received favorable loans from Countrywide that would have saved him up to $70,000, among other financial scandals. He is now Chairman of the Motion Pictures Association of America. (See NY Post, March 30, 2009.)

11. GSA Scandal

The General Services Administration or GSA held a lavish party during a five-day conference in Las Vegas, blowing over $820,000 in taxpayer dollars on shrimp and champagne, commemorative coins, and a mind reader/motivational speaker. (See ABC News, April 16, 2012.)

12. IRS Waste

The IRS blew $50 million dollars for extravagant conferences and ridiculous training videos, doled out $70 million in bonuses and even sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers at one address in Atlanta, Georgia. All without a slap on the wrist.

13. Solyndra/ Green Energy

The now-bankrupt solar energy company, was able to procure $535 million in government loan guarantees. This was after the Obama campaign received over a $100,000 in donations from the “green energy” company, partly bundled for the Obama campaign by major investor and oilman George Kaiser. (See WSJ, September 9, 2011)

14. Charlie Rangel

Resigned Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and current Congressman Charlie Rangel failed to report rental income from vacation property in the Dominican Republic as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income and assets on his financial disclosure statements. (See Huffington Post, July 29, 2010)

15. Maxine Waters – Banking

Current Congresswoman Maxine Waters was brought up on House ethics charges after personally lobbying for a bailout of OneUnited bank, where her husband had previously sat on the board and owned about $350,000 in the bank’s stock. (See Bloomberg, August 11, 2010.)

16. Tony Rezko

According to ABC News, convicted criminal and Obama bundler Tony Rezko made a sweetheart real estate deal with Barack Obama, saving the future president hundreds of thousands of dollars. Obama later said it was a “boneheaded mistake.” (See Townhall, July 16, 2012.)

17. Fannie Mae

Franklin Raines, former Fannie Mae CEO, received million dollar bonuses on top of $91 million salary at FM although the mortgage giant was at center of housing meltdown storm in 2008. Both Raines and former FM CEO Jim Johnson ($21 million salary) worked with the Obama campaign. Obama was the #3 receiver of campaign dollars from Fannie Mae, a so-called “private-public” partnership. (See Politico, October 31, 2011.)

18. Jon Corzine – MF Global

Billionaire bundler for Obama and former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, as CEO of the imploded financial services firm MF Global, apparently perjured himself in Congressional hearings, because he did order $200 million in funds to be moved from MF Global’s customer accounts to illegally cover brokerage accounts at JP Morgan Chase. Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon is a close associate of Barack Obama. (See Politico, May 14, 2012 and Bloomberg March 23, 2012)

19. Geithner Tax Evasion

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner failed to pay Social Security taxes, even though he was advised by his employer to do so. He only admitted to the tax evasion after he was caught by an IRS audit. (See Washington Post, January 19, 200.)

20. Jesse Jackson Jr.

The Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” that Jesse Jackson Jr. attempted to buy Obama’s Senate seat from convicted former Governor Rod Blagojevich by giving campaign contributions. He was later convicted of illegal misuse of campaign funds. (See Politico, December 2, 2011.)

21. David Wu

Oregon Congressman David Wu resigned after the teenage daughter of a friend accused Wu of “aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior.” (See CBS News, July 26, 2011.)

22. David Paterson

According to the NY Daily News, former NY Governor David Paterson “personally directed two female staffers to pressure a domestic violence victim who was pointing the finger at his right-hand man,” his aide David Johnson. (See NY Daily News, March 2, 2010.)

23. Eric Massa

Former NY Representative Eric Massa resigns after sexual harassment allegations were made by a male staffer. Massa later confessed to the charges. (See CBS News, March 5, 2010.)

24. Tom Donilon – National Security Leaks

National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, a man who before the Obama administration had no serious experience in national security, has been widely speculated to have leaked high level security secrets. (See Gateway Pundit, June 11, 2012.)

This list is just the tip of the iceberg from the past few years, surely many people who get news outside of the major left-wing news media can think of many other examples.

So, why is it that Chris Christie is responsibe for everything his staffers do, while nothing in the White House is Obama’s fault?l