An ugly speech from a truly ugly man

Governor Christie at a town hall meeting in Hillsborough on March 2, 2011. Has he gained more weight and gotten even uglier? (Wikipedia)

Editor's note: After I published this today, I had an OMG moment. If Editor Marty Gottlieb actually fired all of the people I listed, that would leave only Production Editor Liz Houlton in immediate charge of the newsroom. What a disaster that would be. See an addendum below.

'Make our country great again'

Have you ever heard any more outrageous B.S. from Governor Christie than this command, which The Record's editors used as the lead headline on Page 1 today?

Christie may be able to fool all of the gullible journalists who heard his keynote speech Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., but everybody else knows the GOP bully was just dealing in divisive politics as usual.

America is great -- has always been great -- and no crass politician like Christie can change that.

The Big Lie

In less than three years, Christie has cemented his reputation as the worst governor the Garden State has ever had:

He told and got away with The Big Lie about lowering New Jersey's high property taxes; the unemployment rate is the highest in 35 years; he killed the biggest expansion of rail transit in decades, then used mass transit money to fix roads; and at least three times, he vetoed a tax surcharge on millionaires despite a severe drop in state revenue.

And that's the short list.

What do the media do? They can't praise him enough, even though he is slowly dismantling the middle-class way of life in New Jersey.

Masturbating editor

Leave it to Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin to turn out another piece of masturbatory journalism on A-18, an editorial laughingly labeled, "Christie's vision."

Only the media and greedy conservatives could find inspiration in Christie's speech. 

As usual, dissenting voices were buried deep on the continuation pages today.

"Under the governor's policies, 'millionaires share in greater riches, while the middle class make all the sacrifices,'" said Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden (A-9).

Barefoot and pregnant

The Record also makes a big deal about a speech by Ann Romney, who the GOP presidential pick kept barefoot and pregnant for most of her adult life, though she likely walked on mink rugs (A-1).

Maybe her speech was a veiled pitch to all those Orthodox Jewish women in North Jersey who have been relegated by their pious husbands to be little more than baby makers.

The only Page 1 story not related to the convention is about Jay Alpert, one of the dozens of Christie cronies who got high-paying jobs -- this after the then-U.S. attorney doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees to a former U.S. attorney general and to a former federal judge. 

Two ugly celebrities

My wife looked at Page 1 today, and said, "Your two favorite people," referring to Christie and Mitt Romney. 

Then, she turned to A-2 and saw a photo of an overweight Oprah Winfrey, and called her "ugly."

That reminded me of Oprah's TV interview with our obese governor, and how this severely dysfunctional eater never asked him about his food demons or whether he is doing anything about child obesity in New Jersey.

Christie is a truly ugly man with ugly ideas. He's just the opposite of the kind of leader we need.

Here is a link to a post I wrote at the end of 2011:

Guess how much Christie weighs 

The firing list

About seven months ago, Marty Gottlieb left his prestigious editing position at The New York Times and took over The Record's Woodland Park newsroom.

In that time, coverage of municipal affairs in Hackensack and many other communities has gotten even worse than under the failed editorship of Francis "Frank" Scandale.

The chief blame lies with head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza and a third editor, Tim Nostrand.

Sykes' assignment desk has been so desperate to fill the Local news section it has resorted to Law & Order stories, and numerous photos of minor accidents and fires.

It doesn't look like Gottlieb is going to fire anyone. He likely took this job to fulfill the dream of many journalists to run their own papers before they retire.

If he suddenly develops a pair of balls, here's what he should do:

First, fire Sykes, Nostrand, Sforza and most of the other assignment editors.

Second, fire the editors of the so-called Business section, which has promoted friends of Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg one too many times, and has ignored the economic problems of Hackensack and other downtowns.

Third, diversify the columnists. 

That means firing Road Warrior John Cichowski, a supremely lazy reporter who rarely writes a column that isn't based on  readers e-mails and who has championed driving over mass transit -- a foolhardy position in one of the most congested regions of the world.

That means firing Mike Kelly, a homophobe who merely pushes around words and who is so afraid of stating his opinion, he fills his columns with rhetorical questions.

Fire Bill Ervolino, because readers are sick and tired of reading about his family, and want to see stories on the issues facing their families.

The Record once had Latino, African-American and a woman news columnist, and it's disgrace the newspaper never replaced them.

Fire Doblin, if for no other reason than to end the outrageous conflict of an editorial editor who also writes an opinion column that often praises Christie.

Fire Jean Rimbach and all of the other reporters whose bylines are few and far between, as they continue to trade on the friendship or unwavering support of Sykes, the powerful head of assignment.

Finally, fire Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill and her sidekick, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, for their relentless pursuit and promotion of unhealthy food.

Did I leave anyone out?

OMG

How did I forget Production Editor Liz Houlton, known far and wide as the "Queen of Errors"?

In the years she has been in charge of the news and feature copy desks, the quality and accuracy of headlines and photo captions have plummeted.

Houlton is chiefly responsible for allowing all of the errors that get into the paper every day. She must go.