National

I shouldn't be so surprised, but I am. Carney got the main points right. Social Security isn't a budget problem, and the long term fix is pretty easy - raise or eliminate the wage cap.

Currently, only the first $113,700 in an individual’s annual wages are taxed to help fund Social Security. By raising or eliminating the payroll cap we can raise hundreds of billions for the Trust Fund and extend the life of the program for nearly 75 more years. To make sure this proposal is fair to people at all income levels, individuals whose wages exceed the current cap could also receive a corresponding increase in benefits.

Markos is willing to entertain the possibility that Christie had nothing to do with the original lane closings. So put that aside for now. He approaches the scandal from another angle:

[W]hy would his aides think it would be okay to screw some small-town mayor (and everyone else on that bridge) over a meaningless irrelevant endorsement? I mean, who expects endorsements from the rival party, and then gets so upset when they don't get it to go to such great lengths as this in retribution? And who gets excited at the idea of schoolchildren getting stuck on that bridge? They thought it was fine because of the culture that Christie has created, one of intimidation and bullying. Remember that bullying incident where he screamed at the school teacher? That wasn't caught by a rival campaign tracker. That was caught on camera by a Christie staffer, and they put that stuff online. They're proud of that! So given that Christie once boasted that "for better or for worse, this staff will reflect my personal style of leadership and decision-making," it shouldn't be surprising that it reflected the worst of his personality. Or put another way, his staff didn't go rogue. Now, his "I didn't know a thing" schtick, however implausible, at best paints him as a clueless dolt who can't handle his staff—completely counter to the persona he's built over the last several years as a hands-on in-the-trenches roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done governor. You can't be blissfully unaware of what your top staff is doing and then claim you are deeply involved in the governing business. But worse for him, the "bully" narrative is now set in stone. It was his greatest source of strength but now it's been neutered. I doubt his staff will be posting any other YouTubes of him being a dick to ordinary people. Good luck with that.

When I saw that Sean Barney was ready to run, I knew a long bank of switches were being flipped, and guys in short sleeved white dress shirts wearing ties and bulky headsets were saying, "Mission?" "Mission Control is GO!," "Houston?" "Houston is GO, flight" ...as well as other rocketry stuff to each other back at Carper HQ. I heard Carper talking up Barney eight years or so ago at a Jeff/Jax and figured, "Okay, this is happening." And so it is. But can a product of Carper, Inc keep his human heart? The experience of John Carney says that it is a long-shot. Beholden to banks? Check. Utterly ignoring issues of social and economic justice? Check. Is Sean Barney going to be more of the same? His background, and what he says about himself anyway, actual provides a slim ray of hope that he might not be another Carper clone.

Andrew Sullivan: "Perhaps it is no big surprise to discover that governor Chris Christie is a vindictive, petty egomaniac contemptuous of the people he serves. But it’s hard to avoid that conclusion when you’ve pored over the new tranche of emails that show how he and his staff made life miserable for a large number of New Jerseyans – and, yes, trapped unnecessarily in traffic is misery, even when you have the gorgeous scenery of the George Washington Bridge to absorb. The point was punishment of a mayor who didn’t endorse the governor, whose re-election was cruising for a landslide victory in any case." Christie has more than one problem here. He has been revealed as a deeply petty man, willing to sacrifice the public good to pursue narrow political vendettas – not exactly a qualification for a president. But he has also repeatedly denied all of this. Is he a bully? Or a liar? Or both?" Andrew Sullivan is my barometer on the moderate former Republican who is a social liberal, to whom Christie was very attractive. Obama won those voters in two elections. If Christie has lost Sullivan, his campaign for the presidency is already over.

Recently released emails and text messages make it clear that Chris Christie used threats and coercion to gain endorsements from New Jersey mayors and that the administration played a direct…