Category: Hypocrisy

Who Says Irony Is Dead?

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Do you remember the theatrical release of the Atlas Shrugged Movie, imaginatively named Atlas Shrugged Part I? It was first movie of a 3 part series based on Ayn Rand’s magnum opus.

Yeah, I didn’t think so. It left theaters so fast that I don’t think that they had time to finishing the lettering on the sign.

Well, in their attempt to further
rip-off
monetize their gullible objectivist fanboi base, they made a fairly substantial DVD release that they are now having to recall:

100,000 “Atlas Shrugged” DVDs have been recalled for an important danger they posed to unwary consumers: the title sheet suggested that viewers help someone out besides themselves.

Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand that tells the story of an alternate reality version of America where all the millionaires get sick of the government taking over their inventions so they go on strike. The original title sheet for the movie said that in it, “AYN RAND’s timeless novel of courage and self-sacrifice comes to life…” This grave error posed a risk of fire. As in, it would make Ayn Rand fan’s heads spontaneously immolate upon reading it. So the producers recalled the 100,000 DVDs to replace the sheet.

The new sheet will read, “AYN RAND’s timeless novel of rational self-interest comes to life…” (Emphasis added.)

Needless to say, the idea that the overpaid* self-styled supermen succeeded in refuting Ayn Rand’s core message and now feel ethically compelled to correct this, at significant personal cost, is just chock full of Irony.

*If they are paid at all they are overpaid.

If a Republican Tells You That the Sky is Blue

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Personally confirm this, because his is probably lying.

The latest case is (probably) former GOP golden boy Mark Rubio who was caught lying about his family being expelled from Cuba by Castro:

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.

But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.

The supposed flight of Rubio’s parents has been at the core of the young senator’s political identity, both before and after his stunning tea-party-propelled victory in last year’s Senate election. Rubio — now considered a prospective 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate and a possible future presidential contender — mentions his parents in the second sentence of the official biography on his Senate Web site. It says that Mario and Oriales Rubio “came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.” And the 40-year-old senator with the boyish smile and prom-king good looks has drawn on the power of that claim to entrance audiences captivated by the rhetorical skills of one of the more dynamic stump speakers in modern American politics.

The real story of his parents’ migration appears to be a more conventional immigrant narrative, a couple who came to the United States seeking a better life. In the year they arrived in Florida, the future Marxist dictator was in Mexico plotting a quixotic return to Cuba.

Rubio’s office confirmed Thursday that his parents arrived in the United States in 1956 but noted that “while they were prepared to live here permanently, they always held out the hope and the option of returning to Cuba if things improved.” They returned to Cuba several times after Castro came to power to “assess the situation with the hope of eventually moving back,” the office said in a statement.

Yeah, right.

In 1956, Castro was in exile in Mexico until December 2.

His “revolution” was little more than a quixotic joke in 1956.

His parents ditched Cuba in 1956 because they did not want to live there any more.

Lame…

If They Believe Mayor Bloomberg, They Are Idiots…

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He’s claiming that the Occupy Wall Street people need to leave Zuccotti Park to allow for cleaning:

The small Manhattan square occupied by anti-Wall Street protestors for almost four weeks will be temporarily cleared for cleaning on Friday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg went to the protest site, where several hundred people are camped out, to explain the move, which would be the first time the demonstrators are asked to leave, the mayor’s office said.

Bloomberg said the owners of the plaza wanted to exercise their duty in cleaning it — and that this was their right, although protestors would be allowed back immediately.

My first question is why did they sell a public park to private owners?

It was not clear whether this signaled an attempt by the city to clear out the protest, which is being held in a privately owned plaza that the owners are obliged to make available to the public.

Holloway promised “protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned, provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park.”

Among new rules posted at the park are a ban on sleeping bags and other camping paraphernalia.

Yeah, like this this isn’t an attempt to shut these folks down.

Expect cops to start seriously breaking heads in the next week.

(on edit)

The deadline given by Brookfield is 7:00am EDT (GMT-4) today.

Chutzpah

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The old definition was murdering your parents and asking for mercy because you are an orphan.

The new definition is House Majority Leader Eric Cantor whining about delays in disaster aid to his district:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, is pushing for information on the status of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s request for federal disaster assistance for Louisa County residents in the wake of an earthquake there last month.

On Friday, Cantor held a conference call with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Louisa County officials. A readout of the call provided by Cantor’s office indicates that he asked FEMA officials about the timeline and process for determining whether the agency would grant federal assistance.

Maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with your attempt to use FEMA as a political chip in the budget fight you pig felching hypocrite.

Things That Make Me Want to Smash My Clock Radio With a Sledge Hammer

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It goes off, and they have Bill “Felafel Man” Oreilly on pimping his book:

Last October, after NPR fired Juan Williams, O’Reilly went on Fox News and said NPR “is not a news organization” and “is basically a left-wing outfit” that “throw[s] out propaganda in violation of the First Amendment.” He called for “the immediate suspension of every taxpayer dollar going into the National Public Radio outfit” and likened the network to terrorists: “Terrorists want to create terror. Well what does NPR want to create? They’re intimidating, too.” To cap it all off, he called NPR “boring,” “dishonest,” and a “snake pit.”

………

So O’Reilly thinks NPR is a totalitarian snake-pit of pseudo-terrorism that shouldn’t get taxpayer money to promote its dishonest left-wing ideological agenda. Using taxpayer money to help sell his books, though, is perfectly fine.

And the interview itself was nauseatingly sycophantic.

Seriously, If I didn’t not donate to public radio because of their vociferous opposition to low power community radio, I would never give to them now.

Obama has lost Ed Shultz??

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Not what I expect from Ed

Ed Schultz uses the standard cop out that Obama is “Getting bad advice”, but he’s asking “Where’s Barry?”

He notes, accurately IMNSHO, that if Obama had been involved at any level, then at least three Senators would have been unseated, not just two.

John Nichols comes on toward the end, and notes that not only was Obama AWOL on Wisconsin, but he was a regular visitor until the entire conflict developed, and then he avoided the state.

Ed Schultz is an Obama fanboi, and it’s a huge part of his brand as a broadcaster, and even he feels compelled to say, “If only the Czar knew.”

Eddie, here’s a hint:  the Czar knows, and this is what he wants.

Obama’s self image, and reelection strategy, is all about his PPUS (Post Partisan Unity Schtick), because he (probably wrongly) believes that the voters will perceive his cowardice as strength, and because he is fundamentally unwilling to take any risks, or take any hits, even to the smallest degree, to support his allies.

This, by the way, is why the Democrats will lose the Senate, and not take back the House, inn 2012.  Barack Obama’s intention is to strip mine the base and the party apparatus, and to hell with the party.

I Agree With Matt Taibbi

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His thesis is that Obama’s capitulation is by design, not by timidity and cowardice:

But to a bunch of hired stooges put in office to lend an air of democratic legitimacy to what has essentially become a bureaucratic-oligarchic state, what good does such advice do? Would it have made sense to send the Supreme Soviet under Andropov or Brezhnyev a list of policy ideas for enhancing the civil liberties of Soviet citizens?

The Democrats aren’t failing to stand up to Republicans and failing to enact sensible reforms that benefit the middle class because they genuinely believe there’s political hay to be made moving to the right. They’re doing it because they do not represent any actual voters. I know I’ve said this before, but they are not a progressive political party, not even secretly, deep inside. They just play one on television.

For evidence, all you have to do is look at this latest fiasco.

………

We probably need to start wondering why this keeps happening. Also, this: if the Democrats suck so bad at political combat, then how come they continue to be rewarded with such massive quantities of campaign contributions? When the final tally comes in for the 2012 presidential race, who among us wouldn’t bet that Barack Obama is going to beat his Republican opponent in the fundraising column very handily? At the very least, he won’t be out-funded, I can almost guarantee that.

And what does that mean? Who spends hundreds of millions of dollars for what looks, on the outside, like rank incompetence?

It strains the imagination to think that the country’s smartest businessmen keep paying top dollar for such lousy performance. Is it possible that by “surrendering” at the 11th hour and signing off on a deal that presages deep cuts in spending for the middle class, but avoids tax increases for the rich, Obama is doing exactly what was expected of him?

It’s a much simpler thesis than all encompassing incompetence juxtaposed with a messianic complex.

I’ve used the term “Manchurian Democrat,” but Tiabbi is a much better writer.

The House Passed the Debt Deal

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And about half the Democratic caucus voted for it.

Looking at the tally, my Congresscritter, Jon Sarbanes, voted against it, but Hoyer, Ruppersberger (no surprise there) and DCCC chair Van Hollen all voted for this sh%$ sandwich.

Any Democrat who votes for this deserves a primary challenge, and the fact that Van Hollen is running the DCCC means that you should not give to that organization, but instead choose your candidates a la carte, because the DCCC will continue to spend their money on spineless wimps with no moral compass.

As to the substance of the deal, words fail me, but they don’t fail the Rude Pundit (NSFW, but if you know the Rude One, you knew that).

Also, read Krugman, whose New York Times OP/ED, The President Surrenders, is a marginally more polite take down.

Me, I don’t think that Obama is as bad a negotiator as we would like to think.  I think that he is getting much of what he wants, and using Boehner as a useful idiot for political cover from his own base.

Teabagger Family Values

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The Teabagger Congressman who defeated Melissa Bean (no great loss, she was a horrible Dino) is being sued for $117,000 in unpaid child support.

He’s claiming poverty, but he loaned his congressional campaign $35,000, so I’ll just put it down to his being a sleaze ball:

U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh of McHenry owes more than $100,000 in child support and interest to his former wife, she alleges in a Cook County Circuit Court filing.

The dispute, set out in a court filing last December, remains unsettled. Walsh’s ex-wife says he is $117,437 behind in payments.

Walsh, 49-year-old Republican, entered Congress in January, swept into office with help from tea-party activists. He often appears on television demanding the country drastically cut its spending and pay its bills.

John Kenneth Galbraith nailed it when he said, “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

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“Democratic” Congressman Mike Ross (AR-4), has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2012:

The only Democratic congressman in Arkansas, Mike Ross, said on Monday that he will not seek a seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.

The announcement sent a shock through Arkansas political circles, and opened the possibility of a Republican replacement for the popular congressman. The redistricting process has left Ross’s district heavily GOP, with an uphill battle for Democrats there next cycle.

Note that he’s not only a member of the phoney Democrat “Blue Dog” Caucus, he is one of their co-chairs, and it’s these folks, who seem to value holding office above any hint of real political values, and they were the ones hardest hit by  the 2010 sweep, because people do not like voting for weasels.

Unfortunately, this means that the DCCC will doubtless find yet another phony Dem, and throw enormous sums of money at him, in the hope that he can make it to Washington, and vote against the party.

This is a Righteous Rant

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While I don’t agree with Riverdaughter’s suggestion that Hillary Clinton should primary Obama in 2012, Hillary is a spent force in presidential politics, but her basic thesis, that Mr. Hopey Changey is a “weak Republican in disguise,”, is one that I have maintained since October 21, 2007 (see the full story of what informed my opinion here).

I have to agree with Kevin Drum, this stuff ain’t eleventy dimensional chess.  He declined to extend the debt limit, and as a result now proposes gutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, because that is what he really wants.

In any case read Riverdaughter.

When I Called Him the Manchurian Democrat, I Had No Idea…

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Nancy Pelosi heard that Barack Obama was looking at gutting cutting social security, and it sounds like her response was to call him out:

After a contentious White House meeting with President Obama and other Congressional leaders, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) returned to the Capitol and drew an important red line: Members of her caucus won’t vote for a grand bargain to raise the debt limit and reduce future deficits if the final deal includes cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits — and that means it probably won’t pass.

“You [asked], ‘could the changes compromise the vote?'” Pelosi said at a Thursday afternoon briefing near the House chamber. “I said yes.”

It’s widely believed that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will need Democratic votes to raise the debt limit. Democratic leaders, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have offered to help him out — but not on Boehner’s terms alone. Pelosi has her own terms.

“We have been very clear Democrats are not supporting — House Democrats are not supporting any cuts in benefits for Social Security or Medicare,” she said.

I think that her calling him a bitch, which is what she did, might have something to do with the fact that he gave no advanced warning of his decision to Congressional Democrats:

Multiple senior House Democratic aides tell TPM that caucus members were caught off guard by news stories about President Obama’s push for deeper deficit and spending reductions — and particularly about the White House’s willingness to cut Social Security as part of a grand bargain to raise the debt limit.

At a private caucus meeting Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told her members that if Obama’s serious about putting Social Security on the chopping block, he’d left her in the dark about it. And after an at-times-contentious meeting about how open Dems should be to significant entitlement cuts, leaders departed to the White House to read Obama the riot act.

And just to ensure that the day is a complete mess for Barry, his proposal to kill the New Deal and give it to the bankers was just enthusiastically endorsed by the craziest motherf%$#er in Congress, Allen West:

Reports that President Obama could discuss with Republicans the idea of cuts to Social Security and Medicare is picking up praise from a source that doesn’t usually have anything good to say about the President: Rep. Allen West (R-FL).

In fact, this is coming from a man whose military career ended after a torture-related incident, who has called Obama a “low-level socialist agitator”, and who has said that Medicare will destroy America: “I gotta tell you something: if you support Medicare the way it is now, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye.”

Seriously, when you look at how this is handled has me wondering if the production staff who created Gigli are running the White House staff.

It’s not only bad policy, it’s criminally stupid politics.

At some point, you have to start wondering if this crap is just stupid, or it’s what he really wants.

He Doesn’t Care About Policy, He Wants a “Legacy”

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And he knows that “only Nixon could go to China,” so Obama wants to be the President who gut social security:

President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.

At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation’s budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.

As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.

“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.”

(Emphasis mine)

Barack Obama is the Manchurian Democrat.

There is no formulation of right or wrong, there is no formulation of good policy, there is simply a “to do” list, where what is actually done does not matter.

90% of All Nursing Home Patients End Up On Medicaid

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Which means that it’s an issue that the Republicans will use to scare old people, but Obama and the Congressional Democrats are negotiating draconian cuts in the program, because they have some sort of twisted political suicide pact thing going on:

This would be brutal for the poor, particularly in Republican states, but even in blue ones. Governors are champing at the bit to cut enrollment and increase cost sharing. State budgets are still strained, and Medicaid is among the highest expenditures. Much of Medicaid spending goes to keep poor seniors in nursing homes, so a lot of the cuts would get targeted there. Which means that you can call this the “Force Your Mother-in-Law to Move In With You Act.”

Keep in mind that fully half of all the coverage expansions in the Affordable Care Act come from a Medicaid expansion. A removal of MOE [maintenance of effort requirements, which prohibit states from gutting the program] would basically undercut that; even though the federal government would pick up all the costs of the Medicaid expansion, states want to reduce their current level, and so the coverage expansion will just unravel. Or, the feds will put the burden on the states, and the states will just opt out of it. You’re talking about millions and millions of beneficiaries losing their coverage.

Un-dirtyword-believably stupid, particularly when Medicaid is a vehicle for much of the theoretical improvements in coverage under Obama’s precious Affordable Health Care Act.

I’m beginning to think that, notwithstanding his intellect, Obama really is not interested in doing anything beyond checking off boxes on something that resembles a standardized test, whether it makes a difference or not.

Ironically, that is his education policy.

So, Anthony Weiner Has Resigned

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I guess the rule here, even if you are a Democrat, because they were the ones screaming for him to go, is that unlike Craig, Vitter, Coburn, Ensign, etc., is that it’s not OK if you aren’t a Republican.

The Democrats are such willing hostages to Republican political terrorism that Stockholm Syndrome should be renamed Beltway Democrat syndrome.

The only thing more pathetic is the behavior of the press, which sees fit to treat real scandals from Republicans with decorum, but turns into an (even bigger) freak show when a Democrat does something.

One final note, I would not call Anthony Weiner a dick, because a dick has a head.

It’s Official, Libya is a Bug Hunt

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So a NATO Spokesman has just admitted that NATO is attempting to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi:

A U.N. resolution justifies the targeting of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a senior NATO military official with operational knowledge of the Libya mission told CNN Thursday.

Asked by CNN whether Gadhafi was being targeted, the NATO official declined to give a direct answer. The resolution applies to Gadhafi because, as head of the military, he is part of the control and command structure and therefore a legitimate target, the official said.

NATO has been ramping up pressure on the regime, employing helicopters last weekend for the first time against Gadhafi’s forces. Explosions are heard often in Tripoli, evidence of allied air strikes.

NATO began bombing Libya on March 31, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians who have been targeted by Gadhafi’s military.

Unsurprising. Since Gadhafi’s forces are not folding up under the air assault, the French and the British are desperate to avoid defeat, or worse, the need to send in ground troops, either of which will sink both UK PM Cameron and French President Sarkosy.

This was intended to be a neat neo-colonial adventure with the attendant electoral boost,  killing a few “wogs” for a few votes, but now its looking like a complete clusterf%$#.

2 Years Too Late, Timmeh

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So, the US Treasury is finally taking action against banks who have not engaged in HAMP in good faith:

As the nation’s housing market continues to teeter, the Treasury Department on Thursday penalized three of the nation’s largest banks for subpar performance in administrating a government-sponsored program to modify mortgage loans for distressed homeowners.

As part of a new assessment of mortgage servicers, Treasury officials said they would withhold incentive payments for the three banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — until the problems are resolved. At that point, those payments would be made, a Treasury spokeswoman said.

In May, the three banks received $24 million in incentives as part of the modification program.

The Treasury Department has previously withheld payments from mortgage servicers, but Thursday’s action focused on some of the biggest players in the program. Called the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, it is voluntary for mortgage servicers. Nearly all of the nation’s largest banks have signed contracts to participate.

Only, as Yves Smith observes, this is not accountability, it’s accountability theater, from the folks who so f%$#ed up HANP so badly that, “HAMP was so clearly a disaster that Treasury Department officials didn’t try very hard to defend it in a meeting with bloggers that I [Yves Smith] participated in last August. The best they could do was claim that it helped the housing market by spreading out foreclosures over a long time period,” so in this bit of atmospherics, the banks still get their money, they just won’t get it today.

Someone must have informed Timothy “Eddie Haskell” Geithner that even if Barack Obama would never fire him,* if the voters fire Obama, he’s still out of job.

*This fact that Geithner is unfirable makes a pretty argument against a 2nd Obama term.†
†We now have revelations that Larry Summers was more on the ball than he.

Why the Recess Appointment Exists

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Because when some narcissistic sociopath gets a bee in his bonnet and blocks a Nobel prize winner in economics from a seat on the Federal Reserve:

The decision by a noted economist Monday to end a 14-month wait for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is renewing concerns among some Democrats about the fighting spirit of the Obama administration.

The candidate, Peter A. Diamond, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Nobel Prize laureate for his work on labor markets, cited Republican opposition in asking the White House to withdraw his nomination.

But Democratic leadership did not press for a vote on the nomination, and Congressional aides said that the White House invested relatively little energy in fighting for Mr. Diamond. Moreover, they said that the administration had not submitted nominations for vacancies atop several of the federal agencies charged with overhauling and improving financial regulation in the wake of the 2008 crisis.

“There’s a deep feeling of frustration,” said one Democratic aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “No one wants to insult the administration or put them in a position that’s uncomfortable for them or worse for them. So you’re just sitting around waiting for them to take the lead.”

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said on Monday that the White House did everything it could to push the nomination, and he lamented the “partisan obstructionism” that had prevented approval of Mr. Diamond.

(emphasis mine)

Yes, “partisan obstructionism”, and the fact that your boss is a hopeless clueless chump.

Or maybe he really does not want meaningful regulation, and so he’s leaving seats empty, so that Geithner can continue to run things for the benefit of the banksters.

Your call, but I am leaning toward door number 2.

Giving into hostage takers just encourages more hostage taking.

BTW, you can read Diamond’s take on all of this here.

Christie Blinks

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After claiming that there was no need to reimburse the state for taking a state helicopter to watch his son play baseball (see earlier post), because the pilots need the hours to maintain their current rating, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has agreed to reimburse the state for the cost of the flight:

Reversing course, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reimbursed the state for personal and political travel on a state police helicopter, including a trip to meet with Republicans urging him to consider a presidential run.
Christie, a Republican, personally paid the state treasury $2,151.50 for his use of the chopper on two occasions in the last week to attend his son’s games in a state baseball tournament.

I don’t think that Christie, and his fans amongst the press and the Washington, DC crowd, realize just damaging this will be for him.

First, of course, is the whole “tight with a dollar, unless it applies to him” bit, but the second, and possibly more important, thing is that this lets the air out of his political personae as a “tough guy”, and reveals him to be a just another bully who has no guts when push comes to shove.

If the voters of New Jersey did not get that before, perhaps they do so now.