“As a conservative columnist at a university in one of the most liberal states in the country, there’s not much I can do to expose or change the media hypocrisy over these two issues. But I ask that every voting American look into every important issue and “scandal” before drawing a final conclusion.”
Eric Stubben
[follow id = “EricStubben”]
Eric Stubben is a mechanical engineering sophomore and Mustang News conservative columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finally made a blunder. And he won’t hear the end of it for a long time.
After Christie’s top aides authorized a temporary closing of the George Washington Bridge that connects New York and New Jersey, the media has taken aim at Christie. With evidence that the aides closed the bridge for political gain, Christie has been doing quite a bit of apologizing and explaining.
Because the bridge closure happened during election season and Christie was in full “campaign mode,” it’s entirely likely Christie had no knowledge of the closure. Still, no evidence has been found directly linking Christie to the bridge closure. Christie issued a 108-minute apology speech on Jan. 9, stating innocence while pledging to get to the bottom of the situation within his administration.
The startling issue isn’t the bridge closure itself, but the media’s hypocrisy about the situation.
Christie’s bridge scandal directly parallels the Obama administration’s Benghazi scandal. However, most media outlets are quick to place blame on Christie over the bridge incident before placing blame on President Obama over Benghazi. American media’s left-leaning bias is another story in itself, but the Benghazi and “Bridgegate” events have been given incredibly uneven press coverage, especially for their relative size and effects.
First of all, the attacks in Benghazi resulted in the loss of four American lives. The bridge closure resulted in hundreds of Americans maybe being forty minutes late to work. In the grand scheme of politics (and life), four deaths is quite a bit more important than a few days of being late to work. However, most of the mainstream media is not treating it this way. Whether it’s because the bridge closure is Chris Christie’s first major mistake or because Christie is seen as a major threat to the next Democratic presidential candidate, we may never know. But for now, the bridge closure coverage is out of control.
It’s also important to note that the Benghazi attacks were directly traced back to President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both were aware of the situation as it was happening, but refused to authorize military action to protect the consulate. Unfortunately, that’s not enough evidence to sell the media on the mistakes made in Benghazi.
After each of these “scandals,” as the media has dubbed them, the responses by each politician are telltale signs of each one’s character. After Christie found out about the bridge situation and the news leaked to the media, he issued an apology. Christie didn’t blame Democrats. He apologized, promised to get to the bottom of it and moved on.
President Obama, on the other hand, didn’t stray much from his usual course. He blamed Republicans for trying to disrupt progress and undermine his administration, while failing to take any responsibility for his actions. Clinton also continued to deflect blame, even as she went through Congressional hearings over the attacks. Neither one would even concede the attacks were committed by terrorist organizations until days after the event was leaked to the media.
Last week, the New York Times published a “tell-all” article on Benghazi. The article conflicts with part of the Republican story, but also conflicts with President Obama’s version of the Benghazi attacks. It’s tough to know if we’ll ever know the true story of what happened in Benghazi.
Another hypocrisy of the parallelism between Benghazi and “Bridgegate” comes from the New Jersey Assembly. Many Democratic assemblymen claim that if the bridge closure can be directly traced back to Christie, they will try to impeach him. Although impeaching Christie would be difficult with his high public support, even initiating the process is very controversial.
While there are no grounds for impeachment over the Obama administration’s reaction to the Benghazi attacks, the results of his actions were far more serious than the results of the bridge closure. If the media truly wants to be considered fair, unbiased or politically central, more answers must be demanded from the Obama administration over the Benghazi incident.
I reiterate once more that Christie made a mistake. He let his own staff slip out of his hands, even if just for a little while. But these days, that’s all that it takes for the media to obsess over any politician (especially a Republican). As a conservative columnist at a university in one of the most liberal states in the country, there’s not much I can do to expose or change the media hypocrisy over these two issues. But I ask that every voting American look into every important issue and “scandal” before drawing a final conclusion. Remember, the truth isn’t always what you read or hear; sometimes, the truth requires a little more digging.