Worst U.S. president backs N.J.'s worst governor

A rainy day in Hackensack.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Governor Christie continues to tell lies about his first term -- all of which are swallowed whole by The Record of Woodland Park -- so it's no surprise he sought the endorsement of former President George W. Bush.

W, you'll remember, told some whoppers of his own to get us into the ruinous war in Iraq (A-1).

Christie and Bush have other things in common besides being Republican and telling the Big Lie: 

The GOP bully's no-tax policies have wrecked the state economy (see L-7 today), and the inept Bush pushed the nation into the recession.

On Page 1 today, The Record quotes Christie telling the media at the Republican Goobers Association meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., he will use a message of "bipartisanship" to get other GOP governors elected.

This allegedly is the same message he used to win a second term on Nov. 5, reports Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, who sounds like she is already on the aspiring president's payroll.

Governor Veto

Hayes makes no mention of all of those highly partisan vetoes Christie unleashed to undo progressive legislation passed by the state Legislature's majority Democrats -- from a tax surcharge on millionaires to a hike in the minimum wage.   

What was the point of Christie, now chairman of the goobers group, inviting Bush to lunch on Thursday? According to The Record's story, the ex-president said nothing quotable (A-1 and A-4).

Kelly still gazing

Columnist Mike Kelly is back with more on the media's obsession with reporting where everyone was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago today.

In the past few weeks, The Record has been publishing readers' recollections, and ignoring the real question:

Will such conservatives as Tea Party fanatics, financed and armed by the trigger-happy National Rifle Association, ever try to take out another liberal president?

I notice two things about Kelly's Page 1 column: 

He's sticking with that dated thumbnail photo with his unflattering, shit-eating grin, and he continues to struggle as a writer, using "gazed" again for probably the thousandth time (fifth paragraph on A-1).

A special Margulies cartoon commissioned for the 50th anniversary of JFK's murder says more than the tired, tongue-tied Kelly could ever say (A-20).

More road hype

The Road Warrior continues to use exaggeration, distortion and hype to sell his silly column, as he does today on L-1.

He calls "distracted driving the single chief cause of highway crashes and deaths," when, in fact, speeding is the chief culprit.

Staff Writer John Cichowski, the addled reporter who writes the column, continues to give a pass to speeders, who also are most likely to get caught by the red-light cameras he demonizes.

In his last column on Wednesday, Cichowski wildly exaggerated the number of rush-hour drivers who get caught in the Route 4 east bottleneck, using the larger number of people who use the eastbound roadway day and night.

According to a concerned Hackensack reader:

"Road Warrior falsely indicated that 50,000 Manhattan-bound commuters experience traffic back-ups due to the reduction in traffic lanes from three to two on Route 4 in Teaneck.

"Road Warrior confused readers since there is a TOTAL of 50,000 Manhattan bound commuters during the entire day and night. Only a smaller portion of these commuters are affected by this traffic back-up around the times of the extended morning and afternoon rush hours.

"Road Warrior went on endlessly with his misleading analysis that the primary reason for this traffic congestion was due to Teaneck’s historical efforts to prevent commercial development on Route 4.

"The sole reason for this traffic congestion was that Teaneck's previous efforts for preservation of space prevented an additional third lane for eastbound Route 4."

For a blow-by-blow of all the flaws in the column, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior is suffering mental congestion

Crash diet?

In a historic first, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung didn't order dessert at The Original Mama Angelo's in North Arlington (BL-18).