GOP Spin on Christie: Bad Bromance and Benghazi

Previous Related Posts
Christie Tries to Deflect and Dissemble on #BridgeGate
Christie's Well-Named Minion, Bridget Kelly
Christie Bridge-Splains But Holes Remain
Chris Christie and the #BridgeGate #BridgeGhazi #BridgeNado

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some in the GOP are desperately hoping that Chris Christie can save his reputation and still run for President in 2016. Others on the far right applaud his downfall because they consider him a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and his political demise will open up the field to more Tea Party Candidates. Either way, some of their statements about Christie and his chances are as nonsensical as they are full of denial.

Best '16 political news for @GovChristie : no one else in the field is strong/rising or had a great '13. He remains as strong as anyone else
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) January 12, 2014

Americans are a forgiving people, but they're forgiving when you take ownership, when you admit mistakes you take corrective action, and that's what Chris Christie showed.
He stood there for 111 minutes in an open dialogue with the press. ...Now if only Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would give us 111 seconds of that, would we find out some things we want to find out about Obamacare, Benghazi the IRS -- I mean Chris Christie has been open here.
~ RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on Meet the Press, via Newsmax

Is this as bad as the IRS scandal that Barack Obama basically just sort of brushed off? I think if we are going to be critical of Chris Christie, we have to be critical of a culture in Washington D.C. where Barack Obama has allowed one scandal after another to break and then say, oh, I didn’t know anything about it.
~ MSNBC Morning Joe host, Joe Scarborough

Make no mistake: Bridge-gate has hurt Christie and slowed, badly, the considerable momentum he built during a sweeping reelection victory in 2013. But, assuming that no other revelations emerge linking him to the closure of several lanes of traffic in Fort Lee, Christie remains the candidate — with the possible exception of former Florida governor Jeb Bush — who is best positioned to build the coalition of major donors, party activists and GOP elites necessary to win the nomination.
~ Chris Cilizza in Washington Post

Well, I would have to say that in this sort of feminized atmosphere in which we exist today, guys who are masculine and muscular like that in their private conduct, kind of old fashion tough guys, run some risk. […]
By which I mean that men today have learned the lesson the hard way that if you act like a kind of an old fashioned guy’s guy, you’re in constant danger of slipping out and saying something that’s going to get you in trouble and make you look like a sexist or make you look like you seem thuggish or whatever. That’s the atmosphere in which he operates. This guy [Christie] is very much an old fashioned masculine, muscular guy, and there are political risks associated with that. Maybe it shouldn’t be, but that’s how it is.
~ Fox News Anchor Brit Hume talking about his "bromance" with Christie, via Political Carnival

Brit Hume: "People who are chasing after Gov. Christie remind me of a pack of dogs chasing a car" [WATCH] - http://t.co/9G1i3sOu
— The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 3, 2011

This was always going to be Christie’s problem. People want a winner. And they want someone who can be a jerk at time, too. But they want the person to be their jerk, not an jerk who tries to make everyone else his whipping boy.
~ Erick Erickson of Red State

Have any of the RINOs, the Republicans in name only, the moderate Republicans, have any Republican establishment types come out and said they support Christie? They haven't. This is the thing, folks. This is the the thing. Republicans, when any of them get in trouble, I mean, it's like a bunch of wildebeests.
. . . They all stand aside and wait and see how it's going to end up because they are afraid to get involved and be tarnished.
~ Rush Limbaugh