Chris Christie, like Scott Walker before him, has spent very little time in the state he governs since he began his presidential campaign.  The New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed him, but newspaper editors working for publications in states other than Governor Christie's haven't endured, like New Jerseyites, the man's close and personal greasy bluster.  Still, like his Republican colleagues also running for president, Christie, like Walker before him, is a typical slimy politician seeking votes from those he will cease to care about if he ever wins any office beyond what he's already won in New Jersey, where his unpopularity continues growing since the start of his national campaign.
     I'm ceaselessly amazed by the low standards of American voters.  Christie's top aides engineered Bridgegate: unlawful lane closures on a heavily trafficked bridge connecting New Jersey with Manhattan, creating a jam meant to discredit a Christie opponent, the Mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey.   In a show of humility and courage, Christie distanced himself from the shits working for him, including one of his best friends.  They protected their boss, keeping him safe from consequences of dirty deeds done to put the fear in Chris Christie's enemies.  It's like when we were supposed to believe President Reagan had no idea members of his administration were enabling illegal arms transfers to Nicaraguan Contras.  If he didn't know, he wasn't on top of things, as one would expect a president to be.  If he did know, he broke the law.  My take on Reagan is that he knew, he broke the law, his involvement was covered by those who had his back, including some who went to prison for him.  About Christie, I think he knew or he was close enough to the truth that he should've been able to rein in his employees.  If, as he insists, he didn't know, he wasn't on top of things in his own administration.  Does that make him a good candidate for president?  He's either a crook or his head's up his ass.  Good choice, voters.
     Does it matter that politicians lie?  Did Lyndon Johnson's lie about the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" lead ultimately to the deaths of millions of Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, and Americans (the first three nationalities mainly)?  Should we conclude that "the ends justify the means"--that it's fine to say anything to get elected?  Does Trump really mean he wants a "temporary" ban on all Muslims entering the United States, or is he just teasing his supporters' hate brains?  His new campaign ad shows a long distance shot of people running from point A to point B as if at some barrier, implying the U.S.-Mexico border.  The image comes from Morocco, but that's a fact, and Trump has shown one can be a success without relying on facts.  Making "Mexicans" resemble a mass of ants doesn't make him a dehumanizing racist, right?  He's really a "nice guy," to use his own description.  
     Chris Christie, too, thinks he's a nice guy, a family man who loves New Jersey and loves America.                          Marco Rubio in his newly released campaign ad speaks about strength while an American flag breathes behind him.  There's nothing clichéd and insincere about that, is there?
     This new year will be a time of "getting it right" about politics, as one news media man put it.  Wrong-headed speculation about Trump and how he was supposedly always about to implode has been seen now as mistaken, although the same pundits and other commentators still get to say their shit on the various news programs.  Making political predictions is risky if one's job is on the line, not if it's regarded as time filler.
     In spite of poll numbers for a bottom rung candidate like Christie, I wouldn't count him out, at least in New Hampshire, where the governor may find more support on Primary day in February there than Donald Trump.  When it comes to voting, a different activity than answering poll questions, some Americans actually give a shit, not wanting to give support to charlatans and hate-mongers.  Nevertheless, I worry about voters' low standards in a country where Trump's most significant damage has been his cheapening of a political process already rotting on its own, making fellow candidates' minds exist and even thrive at his level, that of Democracy's poisoner.

                                                                             Vic Neptune