The scandal surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has created a separate cottage industry on the right, one best characterized as the “I know I am but what are you” defense.
The two houses of the New Jersey Legislature are conducting parallel investigations into what is being called “Bridge-gate” — or the purposeful disruption of the region’s traffic for political purposes. Several people close to Christie — his deputy chief of staff, two high-ranking officials with a bi-state transportation agency and potentially others — are accused of shutting toll ramps to the George Washington Bridge in the town of Fort Lee as political payback for a local Democratic mayor’s failure to endorse a Republican governor. Or it was retribution against a Democratic state senator for her part in scuttling Christie’s judicial appointments. Or possibly was tied to a massive redevelopment project. The reasons remain unclear, which is why the Legislature has issued subpoenas and numerous high-ranking officials have resigned or been fired.
These investigations are appropriate. “Bridge-gate” – can’t we find a better name for this? – is about the abuse of state power and government resources for apparently political purposes and ultimately inconveniencing and endangering New Jersey commuters and Fort Lee residents. Democrats and liberal media outlets have been running with the story, as is to be expected, given Christie’s national profile and his administration’s carefully crafted image as a confrontational politician.
The response on the right can be summed up – in the words of Dick Polman and others – as “But but Benghazi!” Karl Rove invoked it. So did Reince Preibus and others (here is a good summary from Dave Weigal.
Cal Thomas, the long-time political columnist and Fox News contributor, makes the case. He doesn’t excuse Christie or the governor’s administration, but he makes it clear that he views the decision to go after Christie as essentially a political one – especially in light of the supposedly more important scandals engulfing the Obama administration: Benghazi, the IRS’ refusal decision to grant non-profit status to some conservative groups and the failures of the Affordable Care Act.
One wishes the media would grill President Obama over far more important matters with the same zeal they have applied to Governor Christie.
In light of A, B, C and D above, closing two lanes leading to a bridge is nothing. It does, however, again expose the media’s agenda and their intention to bring down anyone who is a potential threat to a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Has Thomas watched any television or read the newspaper over the last year or so? I seem to remember wall-to-wall coverage of the botched launch of the federal Affordable Care Act website – it was all Obamacare all the time for about two months late last year.
Consider the below graphic from Right Wing News and The Patriot Press, which has been making the rounds on Facebook:
The message is pretty clear. Here are four major scandals (at least as defined by Fox News) that met with silence from “Democrats,” which is supposed to cover a rather large and amorphous entity that includes not only the Obama administration, but members of Congress and the Senate and the media. The one scandal under investigation? A “Traffic Jam” – a phrase designed to make light of the abuses under investigation.
The premise, of course, is false, as the Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian points out. This “specious (and probably predictable) reaction” to the Christie scandal, she writes, “is a silly attempt at misdirection by whiny conservatives” who apparently have short memories of the extensive coverage that all of the above scandals elicited.
The reality, I must add, is that some of the loudest voices demanding investigation of domestic spying have been Democrats and members of the progressive community and Republicans (Lindsay Graham, John McCain, Fox News) have been at least as quick to call Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden traitors as establishment Democrats like Diane Feinstein.
And there have been a string of investigations into Benghazi, the IRS and Fast and Furious scandals, including Congressional inquiries (led by Republicans) and significant reporting by the major news outlets. The latest on the IRS scandal – IRS employees are accused of denying tax-exempt status to conservative groups on political grounds – hit in January, when the FBI announced it would not be filing criminal charges. Does this end the matter? No. The FBI is continuing its investigations, as is a Congressional panel – though U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committeeand the man driving the investigation, “has not exactly been on fire to resolve the matter,” as Kelly Phillips Erb points out on Forbes.com.
So the conservative argument falls apart for a number of reasons. First, it essentially is a variant of the tu quoque fallacy, but rather than arguing “he did it, so I can too,” conservatives are saying “they didn’t do what they were supposed to do, so you shouldn’t here.”
Second, it is a variant on the ad hominem attack, which seeks to use the identity or character of someone to undercut his or her argument. In this case, what is being argued is that Democrats are making this an issue only because they are Democrats – which means you shouldn’t take their arguments seriously. (There is some of this in the response to conservatives, with some on the left dismissing every defense of Christie as being suspect.)
Third, the analogy between these other scandals and the bridge controversy is weak, as I hope is clear from above. They have been investigated and reported on, which undercuts the premises of the GOP argument (that they were met with silence).
But rhetorical rigor no longer matters in our politics. Maybe it never did. What’s troubling, however, is the degree to which our political debate has excised any sense that we are discussing real policy. It is about ratings and rantings and it is more important to score partisan points than to actually make a coherent and logical point about policy and the lives of Americans.
The alleged abuses of power at the center of the bridge scandal need investigation. No amount of name-calling and obfuscation should intefere.
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Hank Kalet 