The Media's Gift to Governor Christie

RICOCHET

“The Accidental Governor.”

That what Arizona’s political class called Jan Brewer after Janet Napolitano left for Washington, turning the unassuming Secretary of State into the top executive. Several Republicans thought Brewer wouldn’t like her demanding new role and assumed she wouldn’t even run for election once she finished her partial term.

Far more conservative candidates lined up to run for governor. Then the middle-of-the-road Brewer was advised to sign a popular anti-illegal immigration bill. The Arizona Republic mischaracterized SB1070 as cruel, draconian nativism and the national press ran amok. Suddenly, the compromising, tax-raising, moderate Brewer was rebranded as the ideological love child of Barry Goldwater and Ayn Rand.

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As MSNBC showed Arizona state flags with swastikas and CNN broadcasted Brewer burned in effigy, the race for governor was over—but not in the way the media intended. The Accidental Governor trounced actual conservatives in the primary and won the general in a landslide. Unintentionally, the MSM’s overreaction rebranded a “squishy RINO” as a fire-breathing conservative.

The Democrat Media Complex is doing it again. With a few ill-placed traffic cones, the press has turned on Governor Chris Christie with a partisan vengeance. Jumping over the bodies of Benghazi, the empty bank accounts of IRS victims, and the twitching circuitry of Obamacare, the Fort Lee lane closures are being treated as the scandal of the century.

Sunday shows featured wall-to-wall coverage, CNN is excavating boxes of Trenton documents, and MSNBC has practically rebranded themselves as The NYC Commuter Report. By the weekend, I expect a Maddow-hosted documentary titled "Blurred Lanes" or "All the Governor’s Cones."

As I’ve said before, any abuse of power is serious and should be investigated thoroughly. But it’s impossible not to notice the MSM’s toggle from eye-rolling dismissal to political colonoscopy depending on the D or R after an executive’s name.

Despite the unhinged press coverage, Christie should send each network a bouquet. As with Jan Brewer, suspicious Republicans are rallying to the moderate’s side. While the New Jersey governor’s overall approval rating has dipped ever-so-slightly, it has actually gone up among Republicans. The prevailing attitude is “if the liberal media hates this guy so much, how bad can he be?”

It’s a long way to the 2016 primaries. But with enemies like the overreaching press corps, why would Christie need friends?