Christie gets face rake

There may be more to this than meets the eye. New Jersey's hacktacular Senate president -- the guy who sold out the middle class by agreeing to destroy government unions -- gave an extraordinary newspaper interview recently. Senate President Stephen Sweeney was talking to a reporter on the record when he called Gov. Chris Christie a "prick," a "bully" and a "punk."
All this is probably just Sweeney giving himself cover for his alignment with New Jersey's own Governor Gone Wild. And he should never, ever be forgiven for selling out our union brothers and sisters. But still, it's therapeutic to read what he had to say about Christie.

Some of the highlights:

This is all about him being a bully and a punk. 

I wanted to punch him in his head.

He’s just a rotten bastard to do what he did.

It’s like a bank robber taking hostages. And now he’s starting to shoot people.

He is a cruel man.

He’s mean-spirited.

He’s a rotten prick.

This is what Christie did, according to the Newark Star-Ledger:  

• cut the Senate and Assembly budgets, but not his own, a move that is unprecedented. He cut money from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, the outfit that sided with Democrats on this year’s revenue estimates.
• cut a fellowship program run by Alan Rosenthal, the Rutgers University professor who served as referee in this year’s legislative redistricting fight, and sided with Democrats.
• cut $45 million in tax credits for the working poor, $9 million in health care for the working poor, $8 million for women’s health care, another $8 million in AIDS funding and $9 million in mental-health services.
• added $150 million in school aid for the suburbs, including the wealthiest towns in the state.

Christie is on a two-week vacation with his family, so he didn't respond to Sweeney's comments. But his flack said they were inappropriate and disrespectful. She didn't say they were inaccurate.