How Christie's 'Bridge-gate' Scandal Helps Jeb Shrub Triumph In 2016

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How Christie's 'Bridge-gate' Scandal Helps Jeb Shrub Triumph In 2016
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is a big winner so far in the political scandal and cover-up engulfing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Bush, shown at left in his official photo, can remain comfortably in the background for the 2016 presidential race, and thereby avoid the kind of scrutiny imposed on front-runners like Christie. Christie, Bush's leading center-right rival for the Republican nomination, faces grave political wounds from a horrendous four-day traffic jam his top aides inflicted last September on Fort Lee, a commuter suburb of New York. Christie, right, staved off political disaster by a nearly two-hour press conference. The governor denied involvement and fired two top political advisers, Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Stepien. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie survived a political crisis Jan. 9, at least temporarily, by delivering a convoluted apology for a horrendous four-day traffic jam his top aides inflicted last September in a commuter suburb of New York. The big winner from the scandal and cover-up is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, left in his official photo. For now, Bush can remain comfortably in the background for the 2016 presidential race, and thereby avoid the kind of scrutiny imposed on front-runners like Christie. Christie, Bush's leading center-right rival for the Republican nomination, faces grave political wounds from his aides' zealotry in punishing travelers from Fort Lee, N.J. who tried to cross the Hudson River into New York. Christie, right, staved off political disaster by a nearly two-hour press conference in which he denied involvement and fired two top political advisers, Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Stepien, his 2013 campaign manager en route to a victory with 60 percent of the vote. In rambling responses to 94 questions, Christie portrayed himself as more of a victim than a perpetrator of the scheme. "I am not a bully," said a politician famous for his blunt style. Christie is going to surprise most opponents with his resiliency, according to a Louis Manzo, author of the forthcoming Christie biography Big Boy: Chris Christie's Appetite for Power . "I think he's going to survive," Manzo, a longtime critic of the governor shown below right, told me in a phone interview Jan. 11. "He's found a patsy, this woman Kelly," Manzo continued. "Christie and his team are going to make her the scapegoat, and blame just about everything on her." Manzo, a former New Jersey assemblyman who defeated a Christie-inspired federal prosecution on corruption charges, has spent five years researching his book, which is scheduled for publication in June and will include this year's revelations on the bridge scandal. Various Christie aides are implicated in closing two of Fort Lee's three access ramps to the George Washington Bridge, the nation's heaviest-trafficked bridge. The national headlines from the scandal overlook three matters about Christie and Bush that I have researched in-depth for the Justice Integrity Project and for my new book, Presidential Puppetry: Obama Romney and Their Masters Christie and Bush have each hidden scandals far more serious than what is being called "Bridge-gate" in Fort Lee. Bush greatly benefits from keeping a weakened Christie prominent as a prospective 2016 nominee while Bush remains above the party battles -- and scrutiny. Because the Bush dynastic ties overlap with Christie's power base Bush can readily overwhelm Christie and his presidential aspirations later in the 2016 race. After months of cover-up emails surfaced last week revealing that Christie's top staff wanted to retaliate against Fort Lee for still-unknown reasons. One oft-cited reason for reprisal was that Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, refused to support Christie's re-election last fall. Another possible target was State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D). She often criticizes Christie, who suggested in 2011 (as what he later called a "joke") that the media " take a baseball bat" to the legislator, then aged 76.