memeorandum: Christie won Fort Lee (CNN)

1:35 PM ET, January 9, 2014

Top Items:

Christie Fires Aide in Bridge Scandal as U.S. Opens Inquiry — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey apologized to the people of New Jersey on Thursday, saying that he was “embarrassed and humiliated” by revelations that one of his top aides and close associates ordered lane closings …

Discussion: New Jersey Online, Politico, The Plum Line, AMERICAblog News, Mashable, Taegan Goddard's …, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, The Week, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gothamist, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Outside the Beltway, Spectator, The Daily Caller, Booman Tribune, The Democratic Daily and Ed Driscoll

New York Post:

Staffer's head rolls as Christie looks to save neck over Bridgegate — Heads are rolling over Bridgegate. — Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday fired the top aide who brazenly plotted the crippling lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, multiple sources told The Post.

Discussion: Washington Post, Right Wing News, Taylor Marsh and Daily Kos

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Chris Christie, the George Washington Bridge and the IRS. — New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie has been tagged as a favorite, if not the favorite, for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. His landslide re-election victory in 2013, a quarter-century after the Garden State last voted …

Discussion: New York Times, Hit & Run, The Lede, The Federalist, alicublog, Guardian, Betsy's Page and The PJ Tatler

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Chris Christie announces 11 a.m. presser — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will hold a press conference Thursday morning, the day after controversy erupted over his office's involvement in a major September traffic snafu. — Christie will have a press availability at the governor's office …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, ABC News, ABC News, Booman Tribune, The Moderate Voice and The New Republic

Leigh Ann Caldwell / CNN:

Christie on bridge scandal: ‘I knew nothing about this’ — (CNN) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday said he was “embarrassed and humiliated” by the conduct of “some people on my team” over an unfolding political scandal, saying he knew nothing of their activities to apparently punish …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Post Politics, The Dish, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, Wonkblog, The Lead with Jake Tapper and The Reaction

CNN:

Christie won Fort Lee — (CNN) - It seems New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't need the backing of Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee after all. — Christie carried Fort Lee in his landslide re-election victory last November over little known Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

Discussion: Politico

Ginger Gibson / Politico:

Bill Pascrell on bridge flap: ‘Worst is yet to come’ — New Jersey House members aren't calling for congressional investigations into revelations that a staffer in Gov. Chris Christie's office called for the closing of lanes on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, Liberaland, The Hill, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Talking Points Memo and Riehl World News

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Chris Christie Live Blog — So the Chris Christie “I been duped” press conference is coming shortly and we'll be live blogging it here. You can watch the live feed of the press conference here. — 11:08 AM: “I am embarrassed and humiliated.” — 11:09 AM: Fired Bridget Kelly “because she lied to me.”

Discussion: Balloon Juice, AMERICAblog News, PoliticusUSA and American Prospect

New York Times:
The Bully Was a Dupe — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey …

Discussion: Taking Note, BizPac Review, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, American Spectator and The Week

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:
Christie Fires Top Aide ‘Because She Lied To Me’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNBC and The Hinterland Gazette

NY Daily News:
Christie's Waterloo — The George Washington Bridge fiasco …

Discussion: Washington Wire, susiemadrak.com and The Rude Pundit

Linh Tat / NorthJersey.com:
EMS responses delayed by GWB lane closures in Fort Lee

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Christie's Carefully Devised, No-Nonsense Image in Peril

Discussion: NorthJersey.com, New Jersey Online, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Democratic Strategist, Mediaite, First Read and Prairie Weather

Associated Press:
Christie fires aide, apologizes for traffic jams

Discussion: National Review and Hot Air

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Chris Christie's critics savor his misfortune

Discussion: CNN, ABC News, Power Line and Talking Points Memo

New York Post: Bridging Christie's troubled waters

Brent Johnson / New Jersey Online:
Fort Lee woman died as GWB closures delayed medical help, report says

Discussion: Mediaite, Firedoglake, NorthJersey.com, Capital New York, NewsBusters, The Moderate Voice, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and The PJ Tatler

John Dickerson / Slate:
The fate of his presidential campaign hangs on how he responds to the Fort Lee traffic scandal.

Discussion: ABC News, NY Daily News, RedState, The Daily Beast, Da Tech Guy On DaRadio Blog, The Week, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page, Post Politics and The Federalist

Jethro Mullen / CNN:

Dennis Rodman apologizes for North Korea outburst, says he'd been drinking — Rodman, ex-NBAers play North Korea — (CNN) — Former NBA star Dennis Rodman apologized Thursday for his much-criticized outburst about an American citizen imprisoned in North Korea, saying he was stressed …

Discussion: Global Grind, SI Wire, The Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Post Politics, National Review and The Reaction

Lucy McCalmont / Politico: Jesse Jackson: Dennis Rodman North Korea trip ‘illuminating’

Washington Post:
Dennis Rodman's flagrant foul behavior in North Korea

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, ABC News and CBS DC

Guy Taylor / Washington Times:

Iraqi ambassador slams Obama, praises Bush — Ambassador praises Bush's ‘ownership’ of relationship — NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: — Iraq's ambassador to Washington says the Obama administration doesn't fully grasp the consequences of failing to more aggressively combat a surging al Qaeda threat inside …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and VodkaPundit

Peter Baker / Reuters:
Grim Sequel to Iraq's War

Discussion: Lawfare, Mediaite, New York Times and Real Science

Fox News:
House GOP group rejects Obama's call for comprehensive immigration reform

Discussion: Right Wing News

CNN:

Swearing toddler removed from home — (CNN) — A Nebraska toddler who repeated a slew of profanities in an online video has been taken into child protective custody, Omaha police said Wednesday. — While authorities found nothing criminal in the video, officials from the Omaha police's Child Victim Unit …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Riehl World News and The Raw Story

Erik Wemple:

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow hunkers down on Koch Bros. claim — Mark V. Holden is general counsel at Koch Industries Inc., and he has a big file relating to MSNBC. The progressive cable network tends to make frequent references to Koch Industries and its politically active, free-market major shareholders Charles and David Koch.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

‘Great Society’ agenda led to great — and lasting — philosophical divide — The ambitious “Great Society” agenda begun half a century ago continues to touch nearly every aspect of American life. But the deep philosophical divide it created has come to define the nation's harsh politics, especially in the Obama era.

Discussion: The Mahablog

New York Times:
Progress in the War on Poverty

Discussion: The New Republic and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

Jordan Weissmann / The Atlantic Online:

The Poverty Line Was Designed Assuming Every Family Had a Housewife Who Was a ‘Skillful Cook’ — The official poverty line, as I wrote yesterday, is a dated and crude statistical concept that in many ways fails to capture America's historical success at fighting economic need.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Shakesville

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Sen. Durbin to GOP: Put down Ayn Rand books — Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked Republicans to stop reading Ayn Rand books and help Democrats pass legislation aimed to give struggling Americans a hand. — “I say to my conservative friends, put down those Ayn Rand books …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, CNN, PoliticusUSA, Shakesville and Politico

Politico:

Democrats blame big business for botched rollout — Democrats taking heat back home for Obamacare's rocky online rollout say don't blame them — blame Big Business. — Facing an onslaught of constituent frustration over problems with online exchanges, several Democrats have started pointing fingers …

Discussion: Hot Air, Pirate's Cove and Jammie Wearing Fools

Eleanor Barkhorn / The Atlantic Online:

School Wasn't Canceled for Bad Weather in 1882 — Record-low temperatures caused by the Polar Vortex have forced schools across the country to close this week. Weather-related school cancellations tend to raise anxieties about whether we're a nation of wimps.

Discussion: American Spectator