OPINION:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday said the media that so delighted in reporting the convoluted story that became “BridgeGate” owe him a big fat apology now that his name has been fully cleared.
“I do believe there’s an absolute bias and a rush to judgment. You all know this, you saw the coverage of me 15 months ago. I was guilty, I had done it,” Christie said on CNBC. “Now we’re 15 months later — Where are the apologies pouring in? Not one thing I said the day after the bridge situation has been proven wrong.”
Christie held an expansive press conference after the New York Times broke the “blockbuster,” literally answering questions until dumbfounded reporters ran out. He said repeatedly that he had no role — and more importantly, no knowledge — of a scheme to close several lanes on the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to punish a nearby mayor who, the Times said, failed to back Christie’s re-election run.
Stating the obvious, Christie said the media goes hog wild on what they consider Republican scandals, but then pooh-poohs Democratic scandals that far outweigh BridgeGate — such as the Obama administration targeting conservative groups and Hillary Clinton deleting 30,000 emails from her days as Secretary of State.
“I think if you objectively looked at it you would say it was. At the time Bridgegate was outgunning, six or seven to one the IRS scandal,” Christie said. “We don’t even talk about the email situation with Secretary Clinton — it’s as though it went away. Has there been coverage of the email situation with the secretary? Absolutely. But the intensity of the coverage and relentlessness of coverage is different.”
Christie noted that the mainstream media is virtually on top of each other in Manhattan, where the New York Times drives the coverage of the liberal TV networks — and where all the top “journalists” hobnob with one another at parties.
“The media unfortunately in my mind — and I’ve seen this acutely in the last couple of years — whatever is on front page of New York times is what they talk about,” Christie said. “That’s who they go to cocktail parties with, that’s what they do. So if you’re frustrated by that I apologize to you, but welcome to the real world.”
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