05.27.12
FAT MAN
Krugman goes off on New Jersey governor Chris Christie:
Quick quiz: What’s a good five-letter description of Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, that ends in “y????
The obvious choice is, of course, “bully.??? But as a recent debate over the state’s budget reveals, “phony??? is an equally valid answer. And as Mr. Christie goes, so goes his party.
Until now the attack of the fiscal phonies has been mainly a national rather than a state issue, with Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, as the prime example …
Here’s the story: For some time now Mr. Christie has been touting what he calls the “Jersey comeback.??? Even before his latest outburst, it was hard to see what he was talking about: yes, there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison.
Yet Mr. Christie has been adamant that New Jersey is on the way back, and that this makes room for, you guessed it, tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
Last week reality hit: David Rosen, the state’s independent, nonpartisan budget analyst, told legislators that the state faces a $1.3 billion shortfall.
And it just so happened I had a song for the guy, an adaptation of Nazareth’s “Fat Man” from ’72. It’s an evergreen because Christie, being the a way overstuffed national figure, is reliably and regularly in the news.
Paul Ryan was done up a few weeks ago. And the Republican Party being full of people hell bent on giving all the national swag they can to the wealthy at everyone else’s expense is too easy to lampoon. Still, it makes no difference, about like trying to shame a bag of garbage into walking itself into the dumpster.
If you really know your early Seventies hard rock: Yes, that is Dan McAfferty of Nazareth’s dubbed in vocals for the choruses. And I do play it live.