NJ Gov. Christie is Shocked, Shocked to be Called Names

A Privilege Reserved Only for Mr. Christie

Stephen Sweeney, the Democratic State Senate President of New Jersey has been unhappy with the Republican Governor of that state for cutting deeply into programs supported by Mr. Sweeney and his fellow Democrats. As a result, Mr. Sweeney called the Governor quite a few names.

In an interview with The Star-Ledger of Newark, published Sunday, Mr. Sweeney called the governor “a bully and a punk,” “a rotten bastard” and a few other names, including at least one best left unrepeated.

The Governor did not respond, having left of a two week vacation but a spokesperson did say

“The governor believes the language used was inappropriate and disrespectful to the office,

which The Dismal Political Economist could agree with, except for this

The governor is famous for berating people, albeit in language less salty than the words Mr. Sweeney used. He has called union leaders thugs and bullies, dismissed his Democratic critics as “hacks,” and labeled Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle “a jerk.” Asking the press to be tougher on Senator Loretta Weinberg, he said, “Can you guys please take the bat out on her for once?”

Mr. Christie is officially an active player in the Conservative  game, where the rules are “I get to attack you in the most vituperative of terms possible, you have to say nice things about me.”  It is very similar to the Republicans plea to President Obama to be fair and stop calling their plan to end Medicare a plan to end Medicare.