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| New Jersey as seen from the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. |
Although the editors at The Record of Woodland Park gave Governor Christie nearly the entire front page on Thursday, the main headline inadvertently cheapened everything he had to say:
Christie's two cents
From dictionary.com:
two cents
–noun—Idiom
1. something of insignificant value; a paltry amount: We wouldn't give two cents for their chances of success.
2. two cents worth, an opinion, usually unsolicited and unwelcome: Who asked you to add your two cents worth?
"Refuses to pay $271M ... without fight"
He said the state disputes the federal's government's "math" and will not pay "a nickle more than we think we have to." That's far from saying he refuses to pay the bill.
Taken together, the two heads qualify for "Stupid Headline of the Week."
But overall, the story and photos are some of the best public relations the governor has ever gotten -- all from the fawning editors on The Record's Editorial Board.
And the Borgs call this a newspaper?
A more accurate and compelling headline might have been "Christie: Sue me", or, given that the headline appears over his swelled head, just plain "Sue me" would do. Of course he doesn't flat out invite the federal government to sue him, but given the phrase's theatrical tone of mocking defiance ("Sue me, sue me, what can you do me" since I'm such a bigshot in the Republican Party now), it would convey the message he wanted to send via his visit to the all too complicit Record.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Whatever fits seems to be the new mantra on the news copy desk.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your suggestion, and there are others that would have conveyed the governor's combativeness and his lawyer's instinct to argue everything to death.
But his words often get him into trouble -- as they did with the $400 million education grant the state blew and now, it seems, with Amtrak taking over the Hudson River rail tunnel fiasco.
Not going to happen.
There's always:
ReplyDeleteFugetaboutit!
Would have been effective, especially above his ugly mug.